Sermon Illustrations

John Maxwell in his book Failing Forward tells of a story Sergio Zyman, a vice president in fortune 500 company. After 20 years of lagging sales, Sergio believed the company needed a fresh approach.

People listen to Sergio, after all in 1982 Sergio introduced the company to a new product and sales soared. So when Sergio introduced his idea of a new product in 1985 little did he know the negative reaction that greeted him.

What did Sergio invent?

NEW COKE – It lasted 79 days and cost the company 100 million dollars and Sergio lost his job.

What a huge mistake.

Some would say it was a colossal failure and yet, If we are honest we have all made mistakes – maybe our mistakes were not as costly as Sergio’s but we all made mistakes.