“Be Brave, Bold, and Courageous. Change cannot wait for some other person.”
– John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon
I was listening to a great episode of Fareed Zakaria – Global Public Square on “How to Lead” from some of the world’s best leaders past and present. This was a great way to think about leadership as we head into a tumultuous week ahead.
Doris Kearns Goodwin on past Presidents.
On Roosevelt:
“He had an empathy that people loved him for and he was really able to communicate and bring people together.”
“The Rock of democracy would founder when people begin seeing each other from different regions or races and religions as the other rather than as common American citizens.”
On Lincoln:
“He wrote hot (angry and emotional letters) and would set them aside for a couple of days and many times not send them. He knew he needed to be objective and when anger and emotions did not serve.”
General Stanley McChrystal
“Leadership is now about you. It’s a relationship with people. Not a title or a paycheck. It’s the responsibility to lead the people you have not the ones you wish you had. Give them what they need and not what you think you need from them.”
“Leaders are not unicorns. They are people we empower. They reflect who we want to be.”
I will leave you with thoughts from John Lewis:
“This takes me back to the late ’50s and ’60s. I thought we had changed. In so many ways we have to go back and teach another generation and teach ourselves we have work to do. We have a lot of work to do. I am optimistic and hopeful about the future. We will have setbacks but we will get there.
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Colin
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