When Your Difference Becomes Your Strength
The Misfit Who Led the Way
“The things that make me different are the things that make me.”
— A.A. Milne
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When Your Difference Becomes Your Strength
1939 was a rough year for Robert L. May. His wife was dying of cancer and the medical bills were crushing him. His boss at Montgomery Ward had just handed him what seemed like a throwaway assignment. He was tasked with writing a Christmas story for a giveaway booklet. Nothing fancy, but something the store could hand out to shoppers instead of the usual coloring books.
May sat down at his Chicago work desk, broke, exhausted, and with his wife’s health declining. As he looked out at the fog over Lake Michigan, he started sketching a character. A misfit … an outcast … a reindeer with a glowing red nose that made him the butt of all jokes at the North Pole.
He almost named him Rollo. Then Reginald. But something about “Rudolph” stuck. May’s children’s book grew from a reflection of his own life—feeling small, overlooked, burdened by circumstances he couldn’t control. But in Rudolph’s story, May wrote about something he needed to believe: that what makes you different can become what makes you important.
Montgomery Ward printed 2.4 million copies that first year. By the time Christmas rolled around, Rudolph was everywhere. Ten years later, May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks turned the story into a song. Gene Autry recorded it, and we have heard it every December since.
What most people miss in the catchy song is that Rudolph’s story is more than a reindeer with a shiny nose. It’s about belief and the quiet power of standing out when the world tells you to look and act like everyone else.
Rudolph didn’t fit in. The other reindeer made that painfully clear. They laughed, excluded him from their reindeer games, and pushed him right aside.
Sound familiar? Has it happened to you?
Every leader, coach, or team member has experienced this in some form. Maybe you spoke up when others stayed silent. Maybe your approach didn’t match the crowd. Maybe the very thing that made you effective also made you uncomfortable to be around. Maybe you did something great but no one else recognized or appreciated your efforts.
Rudolph didn’t change his ways. He remained who he was … a red-nosed reindeer. His big break came when someone—Santa—saw his difference in a way others did not. It was precisely what the big guy needed.
“Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”
That question changed everything for Rudolph, and his peculiar nose. His nose didn’t become less red or less unusual, but someone finally recognized that what set him apart was the answer to the problem no one else could solve. What does this mean for all of us?
Use your difference as an advantage, not a liability. Rudolph didn’t succeed by becoming like everyone else. He succeeded by leaning into what made him different. The people who are difference-makers are rarely the ones who blend in best. They’re the ones who see differently, think differently, and aren’t afraid to glow red and look a bit different. What makes you different is an asset—it allows you the ability to see and experience life in a unique way.
Belief unlocks potential. Santa didn’t fix Rudolph. He didn’t train him or coach the red out of his nose. He simply believed in him and invited him to lead. Great leaders see beyond what team members can do to recognize the unique contributions each person brings—especially those others overlook and create space for that difference to shine.
Crisis reveals strength. Rudolph’s moment didn’t come on a sunny day. It came in fog so thick that even the most experienced reindeer couldn’t navigate. When the weather was perfect, Rudolph’s nose was a joke. When the storm hit, it became salvation. The same is true in life. The qualities that seem odd or unnecessary in calm times often become critical when conditions shift. The person who asks hard questions. The one who thinks ten steps ahead. The teammate who refuses to follow the herd.
Rudolph didn’t use his differences to prove himself; he used them to serve others (and to help deliver presents to kids around the world!). He could have stayed bitter and told the other reindeer to figure it out themselves. But when Santa came calling, he stepped up to guide that sleigh.
Robert L. May wrote Rudolph’s story during one of the darkest seasons of his life. He created something that has outlasted him by generations, a story that reminds us that our struggles don’t disqualify us … they prepare us. As you celebrate the holidays, what’s the red nose that makes you the difference-maker you are?
“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”
— Coco Chanel
Connecting this quote to the story. Rudolph became irreplaceable not by fitting in with the other reindeer, but by embracing the very difference that everyone else dismissed—his red nose—which turns out to be exactly what the moment requires.
This week’s Chasing Influence tip: Great leadership begins with discovering what each person is uniquely built to do.