Stories about Individuals from the Darkness

In the Gospel of Matthew, it is stated that we should “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.” And, complementary to this, it is said that from him who has no talents “shall be taken away, even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.” In the Gospel of Matthew, those who are considered ‘have nots’, like the third servant, are worthy only to be cast into ‘the darkness’, away from civilization and reward. In a more contemporary context, to whom does the Biblical third servant correspond? Or, in other words, what would a modern third servant look like? In talent management, who are the employees and recruits whom we ought to identify as ‘have nots’, as un-talented? In this chapter, I will tell the stories of six individuals from the worlds of sports and business who were recognized and treated as un-talented ‘have nots’. They were clearly in the allegorical darkness, did not receive much, and were certainly not considered to be talented individuals. Despite their circumstances, each of the six made it into the limelight and became successful in fields ranging from athletics to law, entrepreneurship, and management, and today — with the benefit of hindsight — are recognized as deserving reward and recognition.