LEADERSHIP CULTIVATION

CBS Video recommendation

Check out this free video from CBS. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/obama-asked-why-do-people_n_323251.html Watch it now!

Win One For Teddy, Pass Health Care Reform

America lost a genuine hero and champion of everyday people with the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy.  Teddy showed us how much we can achieve when we refuse to succumb to personal failings.  It's a known fact we can be our worst enemy and the biggest hindrance to personal success. But Teddy after experiencing so many bumps in the road, recovered to become maybe the greatest Senator in the history of the United States. His many detractors unwittingly may have been his biggest motivators.

Teddy had a problem with alcohol abuse and who can blame him after having to deal with the loss of all his brothers and a sister early in his life.  What an awesome burden?  I think I can cut him some slack.  Yet I am amazed that so many people with weaknesses (that would be everybody) hold Kennedy and others like Michael Vick to hypocritical standards that lack empathy or compassion.

A major lesson we can learn from Teddy's life is never delegate responsibility for personal success or failure to others. This week as television fed us a steady diet of Teddy's successes and failures, I couldn't help but think about Senator Jim DeMint's proclamation that "passage (or the lack thereof) of health care reform would be President Obama's watershed moment." If DeMint was paying attention, surely he came to the realization that life and political careers are full of watershed moments. Using DeMint's rationale, it could be said that health care reform is a Teddy Kennedy watershed moment as well. But given the obvious respect and affection that Democrat and Republican lawmakers had for Teddy, I hope they will put partisan politics on hold and pass a comprehensive health care reform bill.  What better opportunity exists to solidify the legacy of a friend. The "Gipper" aside, I hope they do it for Teddy.  May he find rest from his labor.

The Professor, the Police Officer, and the President

I think most of us are familiar with the phrase "let cooler heads prevail." On the outside looking in that was probably not the case with the situation where Harvard Professor Skip Gates was arrested by Cambridge Massachusetts Police Officer James Crowley. I can see where Professor Gates might have gotten a little testy if he perceived that Officer Crowley had pressured him more than was required to establish his identity as he stood in his own residence. I can also see where Officer Crowley might have intentionally pressed harder if he perceived that Professor Gates had unduly resisted his request for cooperation.

I also understand President Obama coming to the defense of a friend whom he felt might have been mistreated or been the victim of racial profiling since it falls within the realm of reality. Since he is the President of the United States and doesn't always check his polling numbers before he responds, President Obama's candidness, Professor Gates' resistance, and Officer Crowley's insistence on making what was in my opinion an ill-advised arrest, extended the shelf life of an unfortunate incident. 

Yet hindsight is 20/20. I think all principals would agree to a do-over if it was possible. In Bible study, my pastor taught that it is not a sin to get angry.  He said the sin occurs when we stay angry. Judging from their recent positive actions, it appears that the central cast members of this short story are repentance, wish to reconcile their differences and move forward. It remains to be seen if casual spectators, the mainstream media, and interfering back seat drivers let them.

Sometimes A Burden Goes Undetected...Until It's Removed

The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies.  It is filled with many transformations.  One of the most memorable ones is the scene where the house falls on the wicked witch of the west.  The black and white movie transformed into color and instantly everything became brighter.  That's the feeling I got when Barack Obama was declared President-Elect.  Instantly everything became brighter.  And when Barack spoke to the people, tears flowed like the Nile River.

They were tears of joy and tears of disbelief.  Like most Black people in America and apparently a lot of White people too, I never thought that in my lifetime, I would see a Black man elected President of the United States. I know that the country talks a good game when it comes to equal rights, but on this night, actions spoke louder than words. I felt a burden lifted from my shoulders that quite frankly I didn't know existed.  Something magical had happened. It was a transformational moment. 

It was as if for the first time in the history of the America, Black people had been granted full citizenship.  The reality was overwhelming. Jesse Jackson cried. Colin Powell cried. Condoleezza Rice cried. Even Barack Obama's Fox News nemesis, Juan Williams, cried.  All accomplished Americans, they too were overcome by emotions that refused to wait for a private moment.  And it wasn't just Black people that experienced that Twilight Zone feeling. I saw that same look of disbelief in the faces of White Americans as well. And they also were not immune to emotional release. Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central cried and White commentators interviewing crying Black people, cried as well. 

Barack Obama had said that now was our time for change. He had inspired us with his words and now been chosen to lead us.  And John McCain was so gracious in defeat.  Even though Obama was not the unanimous choice of White Americans, it doesn't matter.  No longer can it be said that America will not elect a Black person as president. Black Americans now look at White Americans differently and there is absolutely nothing that they can do about it. There is a feeling of greater trust. And the so-called great divide between Black and Hispanic Americans is now formally declared a myth.  A transformational event has taken place and a burden that many of us didn't realize existed, has been lifted.

For Barack Obama, It's in the Blood

Any wonder why Barack Obama has such a passion for trying to get people to work together with civility, it's in the blood!

From the Charlotte Observer, dtd. March 26, 2008, by Denise Lavoie, Associated Press Writer;

"Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee."

Read the full story here.

Young Leadership Cultivated

The headline of the Guilford Record Section of the Sunday October 28, 2007 Edition of the Greensboro News and Record, boldly declared "Students leading boycott".  The story caught my attention and admiration because it tells how 40 students from High Point Central High School of High Point, NC, the "Furniture Capital of the World", are leading a national boycott of violence.  The efforts of these students highlight that it's never too early to lead. 

The students and the Community in Schools of High Point, "the organization overseeing the student-lead boycott" deserve to be commended for their initiative and determination to help make this world better through active participation in the improvement process. These kids will undoubtedly contribute to the harvest of good and capable leadership for service tomorrow.

Sidebar:  The effort of these 40 young students personifies "the light at the end of the tunnel".  Next up...progress is needed in eradicating the glorification of violence from the music of some hip hop artists.