Is There Such Thing as a Neutral Leader?

Good Morning!

I hope your week was challenging, fulfilling and full of opportunities for growth!

In a good way...I hope that you "...won some and learned some..."

Life would be really boring without all of that!

For those of you who have created a "Vision Board," I hope that the images are going from paper to reality and that those things that have gained substance...are as good as you imagined!

It is so wonderful to be able to chase your dreams...it is just as wonderful to make those dreams a reality...making room for new dreams! DARE TO DREAM...and DARE TO MAKE THEM REAL!

Last Sunday night's update generated a lot of email from people who did not necessarily agree with me...COOL! This is what the updates are all about! To challenge your thinking and make something great come out of the very exercise...many people (perhaps most) are not capable of this type of challenge! I am proud of you who step up and do that!

There were comments like...


"That's a dangerous position to take...or it is just plain stupid" or...

"I have to eat, I can not afford to always do what is right...get real!" or...

"You take this stuff too seriously...It is just a job...why do you take that stuff so seriously?" or...

"Leadership is important...but it doesn't matter...they are just people!" or...

"I think that people like us should take a position of neutrality...it is the only way we can make a difference"

Interesting thoughts...

Let's start with a quote from Elie Wiesel...

"...Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented..."

WOW what an awesome statement! It drives home what people are actually doing when they say things like..."it's not my fight...or I am too busy...or they want to do something but don't..."

More than 6 million people died because people take that position...and millions of lives are ruined every year because of statements like that...

These are not statements of well-intentioned people...they are statements of the guilty!

I could not put it any better! So clear...so concise...so pure...and...so true!

I can not find a situation where that statement is not true!

A true leader...and as I think through this...ANYONE can not, in right conscious remain neutral or silent when another person is wrongly oppressed...

Think about that...what kind of person is it that sits idly by and watches an injustice...or remains silent when a few simple words would make all of the difference?

A Coward...

Selfish...

Uncaring...

Cruel...

Insincere...

As a matter of fact...neutrality is condoning the act...and it makes the neutral individual as guilty of the act as the oppressor themself.

Elie...

Thank you for clarity of thought...through the simplicity of your words...

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote...

"...The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone..."

Enough Said!

Now that we have quoted Elie Weisel and Harriett Beecher Stowe...let go with a quote from Joni Mitchell...from a song in the 1960s...actually Bob Dylan had a version of it too!


"...Don't it always seem to go...
...That you don't know what you got til it's gone..."


The fact of the matter is...

People often do not realize what they had until it is gone...

It is a type of entitlement! A VERY subtle one...

People do not appreciate smooth roads until there are potholes!

It is NEVER too late to take a stand...

It is NEVER too late right a wrong...

It is NEVER too late take a stand for the opporessed...

It is NEVER too late to be the leader that you are meant to be!

Enough Said!

Who are you?

Good Evening!



It is still the weekend (10:00pm Sunday evening) so I guess that this still qualifies as a weekend update!


Today I saw an interesting statement...and it made me think...


I did not necessarily agree with it, as it was written...so I created a variation that was more meaningful to me...


Here goes...


It is not the circumstances that we encounter, in our lives, that make us who we are...


It is how we respond to those circumstances, that shows what we are made of...


I love that thought!

I realize that I spend a lot of time on the finer points of one's character...especially in relationship to becoming a leader of people. It is critical to have an extremely sound foundation to build leadership skills upon. Even a "single chink," in one's armor will become apparent when given the responsibility for the lives and livelihood of others.

Am I saying that you must be perfect before you take on a leadership role...NOT IN THE LEAST!

I am saying that you have to be keenly aware of your weaknesses and constantly on guard for situations that will open the door for the weakness and its subsequent impacts to enter.

I am also suggesting that most people who believe themselves as leaders...are not...because they delude themselves into believing the possess what it takes to be one! If you are not constantly scouring your foundation and observing the fruits of your beliefs...you are not a leader...

A leader should agonize and constantly improve...a leader should constantly be making good on the mistakes of the past...a leader should recognize what pain and sorrow their short-sightedness has caused and make it right! A leader does not decide and move on...

True leadership is a heavy burden...because it carries with it all of the sins of the past and there is no forgiveness for those mistakes, until they have been rectified...WITH INTEREST!

Our real character and integrity shows through how we act and react in situations...

"It is not my fight..."

"I do not have time..."

"I have my own job..."

People (who are in leadership roles) have actually said these kind of things!

It breaks my heart!

I can not fathom a life so selfish and shallow...

On second thought...I can!

This too makes me sad!

People of passion...stop...they assess the impact of their words and actions...they care...they desire the best! Perfection is not attained in one fell swoop...but in the sum total of repair of past mistakes, plus the good that they have achieved and the promise of the future!


These are true leaders!

It is not what life has handed you that makes you a leader...

It is what you did with what it gave you!

One's true character becomes apparent when faced with decisions...

Where you a hero...or did your self-serving nature shine through like a beacon?

A great person once said..."Let your light so shine..."

What color is your light? REALLY!

Do not delude yourself...

Stop and think...be honest...

I can not think of one person alive on this earth who is pure of heart...and consistent in their integrity...

But I can find people who are honest with themselves and are working to continuously improve, not only upon the present and the future...but on the mistakes of the past...

Who are you?

A leader is not an individual of compromise...

Compromise puts a person in the middle...one can not be a leader from the middle...just follow!

In a race...the person in the middle is just another loser! One among many!

A leader can not compromise...without losing! It is a sad but true fact!

Compromise never creates anything but mediocrity!

A leader constantly seeks out and makes things right!

Who are you?

Enough Said!

A Writer's Responsibility

Good Morning!

It's the weekend...something that nearly everyone looks forward to!

Why is this so?

Usually because the week is full of...

...stuff that you have to do...
...stuff that you do not want to do...
...stuff that is unfulfilling...
...stuff not aligned with your passions...
...stuff that is not you, your dreams or aspirations...

The weekend is a time to get away from those things that drain you and your energy...

What do you do with your weekend?

Sleep in?
and...
Hide from reality?

Or...

Are you taking steps to make next week more fulfilling...and more in line with what you really desire in life?

Are you taking the available time to make a difference in the single most important person...YOU!

Are you in control and attempting to take control over your destiny?

Are you writing your legend?

or...

Have you simply surrendered to being a just another member of "I wish, but can't...because" club?

Statistics has played a devious game with us...

We are always a statistic!

Depending on which aspect of our life it is...we qualify to be some statistic...

In other words, we are placed somewhere along the "bell curve."

That is an interesting mental picture...we reside somewhere on the bell!

Think about that...the vast majority resides around the mean (which is like the city center)...then as you get further from the city...in any direction...the population drops off...until...you get to a place where it is uninhabitable...a vacuum!

Where do you live (on that bell)? Where do you want to live (on that bell)?

Depending on which city (characteristic)...the closer to the city...the better...

In other cases...get as far away from the city as the air allows!

Sounds like a father's advice...and you already knew that! Take control...build your house where you want to build your house...take up residency and refuse to move...don't sit and let someone else...who doesn't care about you...tell you what to do...and where and how to live!

So...

Enough said!

I arose early...thinking not about fatherly advice or bell curves...

But specifically what a writer's responsibility is to be...

I think that I have distilled it into one sentence...

A writer's responsibility is to plant new words and ideas in the minds and hearts of his/her audience.

It is a interesting challenge!

To first gather an audience...sow seeds that will change them...and under the chosen constraints of their method of communication...not just lay the seed on the surface of their lives (where a moderate breeze can blow it away)...but push it deep into their soil where it can sprout into their own personal fruit!

A writer is a farmer...but not in the complete sense of the term...

Just the planting part!

Better put...a writer is a sower!

Shifting gears...

"Same old...same old..." most often has a bad connotation...

"Same old...same old..." can take on an entirely different meaning when the "same old" is just what you want to be doing!

"OH...come back to reality...real life isn't like that!"

The reality is that we let life do this to us!

The reality is that we let work take control of our week...leaving us just the scraps (the weekend!)...we have allowed ourselves to be deluded into thinking it is OK...

There have been glorious times when the week was what we wanted to be doing...

There were times when you couldn't wait for Monday...and that the weekend was a barrier to cool things!

Get them back!

Enough said!

Have a great a glorious weekend!

Rest!

Change your week!

On Suffering

Question: When do we suffer?



Answer...When there is no one that you can trust to share it with!

Do not go it alone!

You only get to play "one round" in the game of life...no mulligans...no re-hits...no dropped balls!

A key to happiness is to find a trusted individual or individuals to walk it with you...AND you with them...

Enough Said!

Have You Found Your "Cause?"

Good Morning!

Happy Labor day!

For many people...this is simply just another day away from "work!" This may be a good or bad thing...

For the astute...it is some time to take a moment to assess "what you are" and "who you are"...without interruptions...

Is "what you are doing"...what you want to be doing? If it is...are you doing it the way you want to be doing it?

Is it the environment you want to be doing it in?

Interesting questions...

Human nature is interesting in this regard...

People seek comfort and desire stability...so they seek "worlds" that are predictable and familiar...

If those worlds are the worlds that they want to be in...GREAT! But in a majority of the time...it is not what they want!

The strange thing...is that these same people...do nothing to make their worlds better...they simply submit to "that's the way it is!" and go on complaining quietly...or worse yet...abdicate to life and stop complaining whatsoever!

"Awwww...that is just the way business is...or it's different now..not better or worse...just different..."

How sad it is to hear those phrases!

It is the talk of the weak and submissive...those who lack backbone or the internal integrity to make a difference!

Harsh words? Yes...but I too, assess my work, my motivations and objectives...I have fierce conversations with my self, that are often "just what I do not want to hear!" Yet I know that there is no better person to have them with...than yourself...if it pushes you and elicits actions to make a difference!

The most telling question about yourself is this one..."Whose fault is it?"

If there is any inkling of someone or something other than yourself in the response...then the answer is probably wrong!

Take the reins and make what you want the way you want it! No one really cares! It is your life! It is your work...It is quite egotistical to think that we have significant influence much beyond our immediate sphere!

You are the master of your happiness...do not abdicate your happiness to an illusion...or put it into the hands of someone who does not really have your best interests in mind!

So how do we get happy? By doing what we want to do...the way we want to do it!

Simple equation huh?

Find a "cause" and go after it with everything you have...

It does not have to be something like "feeding dying children in some obscure part of the world"...a great cause...yes...but that is not what I mean by "cause!"

A "cause" is your mission...what you want to do...AND...how you want to do it...

It is your dream fulfilled...

It is your REAL meaning...

Think about that...if your mission is REALLY you...are you going to allow someone to compromise it...or use it or laugh at it...or downplay it... NO!

It is YOU...

This is what Labor day should be about...recognizing our labors and the integrity with which we accomplished what we have!

Did we hurt people along the way?

Did we lie?

Did we fail to meet promises?

Are we who we say we are?

Labor Day is for Laborers...not "Users!"

Yet they continue to reap the benefits of our labor! WHY...because we whimper...fear and compromise ourselves, our integrity, and our very beliefs for a lesser good!

I love the parable of the "Good Samaritan." It is about a guy who was beaten and robbed and left to suffer in a ditch...many pious people walked by...turning their faces to their real calling...then a lowly guy...A Samaritan (for those who do not know...a Samaritan was not regarded very highly by that ancient society)...saw the fellow and picked him up...and tended to his wounds and so on...

You do not have to be a religious person to grab the lesson of this story...

At any moment we are walking down paths...and the ditches are littered with people who need help...and comfort...

Yet we turn..."it is not my fight..." we say...
...YES IT IS!

"I am too busy..."
...NO YOU ARE NOT!

"I have more important things to do..."
...NOT ANYMORE...YOU MISSED IT!

Your integity is tested and shown by situations just like that!

Who you really are shines like a light house!

Ask youself...Laborer or User?

"I am more political savy than that..." we may think...BUT...

YOU HAVE NO INTEGRITY!

Labor Day is for Laborers...not Users!

Do not allow them to reap the benefits of your work!

So...

Have you found "Your Cause?"

Have you looked?

Really looked?

Where do I start?

It is something that is already there within you...



Be Yourself



Enough NOT said!

Have a Happy Labor day!

You have earned it!

Making the Biggest Impact...in Life and Career...

Good Morning...

Sometimes a person needs to switch things around to make sense of the world...so rather than ending with a video-clip...I am going to start with one!




One of my favorites...for many reasons...

Of all of the reasons...the one that comes to mind as I write to you today is the hidden message within "Seizing the Moment!"

Poets have a way of cutting through all of the callous of life and in very few words hitting the crux!

Walt Whitman is one such poet!

Has anyone ever told you that your life is poetry?

That is something that we should strive towards...either as a person or in our journey towards meaningful leadership!

Poets like all artists (in fact any master) create their enduring masterpieces under the umbrella of two of life's extremes...

Extreme Pain...

and...

Extreme Discipline!

Let me add a third...EXTREME DEFIANCE...to what life hands them!

That is the true badge of a "Master!"

Whether is it a Master Poet...

or a Painter...

or a sculpture...

or a Physicist...

or a Statesman...

or a Master Blackbelt...

or...you name it...

Mastery is the Key to extracting everything that your choices have to offer in life and make all the difference between success and mediocrity!

I have watched the world deceived into believing that broadening one's experiences and "enrichment" is the path to seek!

I have watched it ruin many an effort and career! AND the lives of talented people!

Organization's tout the benefits of "job enrichment" and "cross-training."

I see "enrichment" and "cross training" as an opiate that placates the frustrated and emotionally under-developed individuals who have yet to find themselves! Whether intentionally or unintentionally...the purpose of such organizational efforts only keeps "these children" busy while the company sucks what value out of them that they can...until they can no longer be retained! Then..."OH WELL!" It is like trying to keep a 3-year old entertained during a 12 hour auto-trip!

I regress!

Let's walk down the road to self-discovery...it may be a scary walk...but I challenge you to walk with me!

So how do you really know if you have found yourself?

The answer to this question is the easiest of all of those we need to answer!

If you do not "hurt" or "suffer" the answer..."

If it does not pain you to watch helplessly as the world does foolish things...

If you do not revel in the small victories that take you one step closer to the end...

If you are not engulfed by what you are doing...and can not wait to challenge the next day...

You are probably living in a rather superficial existence and...

You should challenge yourself to DIG DEEPER!

Find the pain!


"Suffer" a cause!


It is there...we just often hide from it or deny that it exists!

It is safer that way! You have nothing to lose! You have not "vowed" to lose it all...it order to achieve a great thing...the bottom-line of that type of existence is that you will never be part of a legend!

If you look down deep and there is none there...

Than put one there!

Pain and suffering or a "cause" has not foundational criteria!

It can be self-imposed or it can be a natural result of life itself!

The neat thing about "finding a cause" is that any seed can be planted...and the ground in which it is planted will determine what grows! That is counter to the way the world works!

Someone once said..."the biggest mistake that a person can make...is not starting!"

Plant a seed...any seed...and it will grow and bear the fruit you were meant to produce!

A Master needs to work in the "medium" of pain and suffering and a cause...or their masterpieces are superficial and will pass away as soon as others turn their face from the creation!

They create only a short story...not a legend!

Such works of their hands need to be engrave within the thoughts and hearts of those who encounter it...no matter how briefly! Their work needs to touch a basic need of others and generate...no elicit action and support!

Pain and suffering are universal...anything you pick has something in common with millions of people...do not delude youself into believing that you are unique...you are not!

You can not call yourself a Master, unless your work endures!

You can not call yourself a Master unless your creations are challenged by critics...and they endure!

Those are the timeless elements of a true creation...the "Master-pieces!" They must be planted in and spring forth from the most basic of the needs of the human condition!

Go to the "base" of Maslov's hierarchy! That is where the "great works" grew from! That is where the roots...once they take hold can not be uprooted! I have seen nothing of value grow from the higher tiers...such as "self-actualization!" Plants growing from there are shallow...temporal. They have no depth...no roots...no lasting value!

WOW! Talk about a controversial set of topics!

So let's walk the "Carpe Diem" road for a moment!

I believe that that clip caught the essence of Whitman's struggle...millions have seen it...but so few really grasp the deep value...those superficial observers of life say..."I get it...squeeze everything you can out of the moment!" BUT...

The fact of the matter is...if you are meant to be making orange juice and you have peppers in your hands...squeezing that moment will not give you orange juice!

You must be selective in what parts of life you allow into your hands!

Herein lies the second part of the Master's struggle!

Extreme discipline!

A poet limits himself to expression within a certain rhyme and meter scheme! Just as an Artist does to oils, or a Sculpture to marble...a Physicist to math...

The beauty of their work is found in their ability to communicate their cause or message in a media that is understood by those of "like mind!" To capture and communicate the essence of their pain!

There exists no Masters...with a general and broad skill-set...they were specialized and focused! They chose one thing and dedicated their lives to it...until they squeezed every drop from it...and only after they shared that nectar with the world around them...with those of "like minds!" It was for that and that only were they lauded!


What they did and did so well...was to apply that finely tuned skill to every aspect to their life...and it only appeared that they had achieved the status of Renaissance man! Yet all of the Masters were specialists...

I was guided long ago not to seek a broad set of skills...it being explained to me that that we are vessels...with a truly limited capacity! Adding to what I did well...only diluted my talent. I was only told that I was ready to move to the next aspect of "honing"...after I perfected what I was already doing...or I could move if I decided that I should totally cast off what I was doing...NEVER to revisit it!

Every choice should have life changing ramifications! You can not have it all or even try to pursue it all..."unless you want the flavor of oatmeal!"

A recent study concluded that multi-tasking is a delusion...that people who pride themselves in multi-tasking are significantly less productive and effective than single focused people! I have been saying that all along! It is nice to be vindicated! My advice to multi-taskers...

TAKE SOME RITALIN!

Stop lying to yourself...

Pick something and try to do it well!

Don't jump to the next thing...until your have perfected the first!

What good are you doing in handing the world a half-hearted piece of art!

Watch the "Trombone Player Wanted" video again!

And this time LISTEN to it!




Find your strengths and play to them!

Find your "cause!" ( I have another update coming on finding your cause...watch for it)

Do not seek to broaden your horizons until you perfected the one your are currently working on...don't jump too soon...

Specialization is the Key to true enjoyment of life...

A leader's challenge is to maintain the focus on the discipline!


Carpe...Carpe Diem! Seize the Day...Make your lives EXTRAORDINARY!



Enough Said!

Have a great weekend!