In the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou," the character Ulysses Everett McGill (played by George Clooney) says "hard times flush out the chumps." An interesting comment, given what have been, for many people, challenging times. What might this phrase, "hard times flush out the chumps," mean if we view it from a 360 perspective, as if we were taking snapshots as we walk around the idea?

In one view, you could say that "hard times flush out the chumps" means that challenging times bring out the worst – a.k.a. chump – behavior in people. The rudeniks or charlatans – whether habitual or situational. For example, a colleague shared news about a particular lawyer who (and this is no joke) routinely wheeled his blind mother-in-law into various small businesses so he could then turn around and sue them for ADA violations. Apparently, his intention was to get the business owner to settle out of court in order to avoid more costly legal fees of fighting back. This fellow would no doubt win the Halliburton and Enron "Creative Revenue Generation" award.

Yet "hard times flush out the chumps" may also apply to those people who plagiarize or steal materials that they didn’t create – their "hard times" being chronic lack of the courage, creativity and self-initiative it takes to conceptualize, write and produce your own material. It could also mean that people, feeling pressured or fearful, act out from their less skillful selves and are just unpleasant, intolerant or judgmental. Or, like the movie’s Everett noted, hard times make people willing to believe just about anything. Here, he was referring to the overly naïve. Eager to delegate his or her own personal responsibility to someone else, rather than bucking up and taking action for him or herself, these folks are often fast-food for the charlatan (see above).

On the other hand, "hard times flush out the chumps" could mean that challenging circumstances flush out the less committed, unfocused or risk-averse, those who don’t have what it takes (or find that it's not worth it) to see it through. Hard times definitely flush those folks, probably for their own ultimate benefit.

For those who are committed (who, determined to pursue their vision, are unwilling to be flushed by hard times), there are any number of new opportunities, ways of seeing, ways of recommitting and clarifying, that are made evident by the "hard times" that challenge the old ways or routines of inflexible, complacent, or change-resistent people – and we've all been there.

"Chumps" could also mean old ideas, or ways of thinking or doing. Hard times flush these chumps because, like a door that closes, they no longer become viable pathways. When hard times flush these chumps, they create incentive for finding new, more creative opportunities and ways of doing or thinking about things.

Regardless, all of these Chump Examples (and I’m sure others that I haven’t thought of here) can be effective and positive teachers. In the worse cases, "chumps" can teach us how we don’t want to be. In the best case scenarios, we might welcome "chump flushing" by hard times because it challenges us to be more skillful, clear, resourceful, creative, faithful, and courageous in finding new "non-chump" behaviors and approaches and talents.

In order to learn from "the chumps," though, we have to be aware. As Yogi Berra said, "You can learn a lot just by watching."