Rockfest Day 28 - Think Pink

Pink Cadillacs. If you lived in Texas for any length of time in the 1970s and 1980s you saw these obsequious Cadillacs everywhere. And you see them today in all 50 states, these pale pink trophies announcing that the driver is held in high regard by her company and peers.

Mary Kay Ash was known as one of the greatest woman entrepreneurs in American history. The company she founded, almost by accident after getting passed over for a promotion for someone she trained, is today a global organization. Mary Kay products sell by the billions in revenue by independent beauty consultants. But what really sells more than the beauty creams and the bronzers is the Mary Kay philosophy.

In her three books, one used by Harvard Business School, Ms. Ash maintained that the way to be successful in business was not through competition but through the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto to you. That is a radical departure for a business model. But it blew the doors off her competitors and her company has been growing since the day she founded it in 1963 with $5,000 seed money.

Ms. Ash's legacy and her philosophies infuse the company. She is beloved and respected by her beauty consultants. They hold her and the company she built in very high regard. They take its messages to heart and try to spread her priorities of God first, family second, career third in all they do. I attended a consultants’ meeting once years ago. They were some of the nicest, most cheerful, smart and genuine people I’ve ever run across. And they love their Cadillacs.

The pink Cadillacs are awarded as a beauty consultant earns profits and hits her goals. Today the company awards more than just Cadillacs and the consultant can pick her prize from jewelry to exotic trips, but the Cadillacs are legendary. And the most visible.

Whenever you see one on the road you know instantaneously who the driver works for. You know without a thought what the driver’s priorities are and what her philosophy is. Chances are good that you won’t see that pink Cadillac used as a get-away car or involved in a high speed chase on the six o’clock news. The woman driving that car stops traffic but for all the right reasons.

But what if you did? What if you did see one run a red light or driving 60 in a 35? Your first thought would be to say mean things under your breath about the driver. But your second thought might be to say something about the company the driver represented. Something about how she was not living up to its philosophies. You might go so far as to think that perhaps the company’s philosophies were somehow flawed because of what this one representative did.

That is not likely to happen to someone who has worked so hard and achieved a beloved pink icon of the American roadway. She will treat the car with dignity and respect. Knowing that wherever the car goes, her company and its founder go with her. But it is likely to happen to you and me.

We are representatives of the One whose philosophies and teachings we follow. Wherever we go, we are visible expressions of the One we work for. What we say about Who we believe in, must match our actions about What we believe in.

As a follower of Jesus, I am not called to merely believe in Him. I am not called to merely have faith in Him. I am called to be a living, breathing outward expression of Him.  If my words say I am but my actions don’t bear that out, that is not only a poor reflection on me – it’s a poor reflection on Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t tell the lie, but He will take a hit for it.  Jesus doesn’t run the red light, but He will pay a price for it.  Jesus doesn’t gossip about others, but He will be cut down by it.  If I take shortcuts to get through life, I am not diminished, Jesus is.  We can hurt the One we love by what we do, or we can put love into action and build God up in the world.

It is true that our actions speak louder than our words. I don’t drive a Mary Kay Cadillac but I can still think pink.
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