Wisdom from the Summit. . .

“Leadership means vision, cheer, leading, enthusiasm, love, trust, verve, passion, obsession, consistency, creating heroes, coaching, and numerous other things.”

Tom Peters

I’ve Been Thinking. . . about the honor of leadership.

 

I recently attended an event entitled The Global Leadership Summit. The two day simulcasts featured speakers from various walks of life and leadership perspectives.

 

I managed to glean several insightful, challenging, and pertinent one-liners from our dynamic speakers that I thought you might enjoy contemplating. I encourage you to choose one or two of these bits of wisdom to dwell on for a concentrated period of time. How could you use this insight to grow yourself as a leader?

 

Here you go. . .

 

Everyone wins when a leader gets better.

 

True Responsibility of a Leader: Never Accept the World as it is - but What it Should Be.

 

Leaders build teams primarily because they don’t have a clue what they are doing and are hoping they can find someone who does. (You have to admit this is funny – probably a bit of truth as well)

 

The moral failure of a leader will challenge the integrity of others as well. Integrity lost cannot be fully restored.

 

EVERY life is capable of greatness. . . a leader’s responsibility is to create opportunities for that greatness to be revealed.

 

The greatest danger is not failure but being successful and not understanding why you are successful.

 

Great Leaders are Incessant ‘Tinkerers.’

 

At the core of leadership is trust. . . do people trust me? To the degree you are trusted, you are free to lead.

 

Destroy your enemies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . by turning them into your friends.

 

If your people can’t do an accurate impression of you when you’re gone, you don’t communicate enough.

 

Vision ---- makes the present indefensible and unacceptable (think about that one).

 

People need to be reminded rather than instructed.

 

Core Values – something you are willing to get punished for.

 

Things that seem impossible today will be inevitable in retrospect.

 

Honor is given. Respect is earned.

 

Note to Older Generation: If you’re not dead. . . You’re not done leading!

 

Note to Younger Generation: Honor those above you by serving those below you with integrity.

 

Greatness is not a matter of circumstance but conscious choice.

 

Signature sign of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.

 

When Things Are Tough, People Become More of Who They Are.

 

Don’t Allow Differences with Others to Become Personal.

Leaders Move People from ‘Current’ to the ‘Preferred’ Future

Leader. . . YOU are the most DIFFICULT PERSON you will ever lead. . . . . . OUCH!

 

“The number one reason leaders are unsuccessful is their inability to lead themselves.”

 

Truett Cathy
Chick-Fil-A Founder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Row, Row, Row Your Boat

“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment.”

Dr. Viktor Frankl

I’ve Been Thinking . . . about a recent conversation with someone who wasn’t sure they were in the right career. Their level of discontentment and unhappiness with life was troubling. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Gilford Highet in The Art of Teaching recalls the provocative and humorous story of the famous orchestra conductor Toscanini who once arrived on tour in a new city and took over an orchestra he had never conducted before. He started conducting and after a minute or two noticed that the first violin player looked odd. He was playing well enough, but his face was all distorted, and when he turned a page of the score, he grimaced as though he were in great pain.

Toscanini stopped the orchestra and said, “Concert-master! Are you ill?” The first violin’s face at once returned to normal.

“No, thank you,” he said, “I’m quite all right Maestro. Please go on.”

“Very well, if you’re sure you’re fit,” Toscanini said. “Begin at D, please musicians.” And off they went again. But the next time Toscanini glanced at the first violin, he saw him looking worse than ever. His face was all drawn up to one side, his teeth were showing between wolfish lips, his brow was furrowed with deep clefts; he was sweating painfully, and breathing hard.

“One moment, please. Concert-master, you really look ill. Do you want to go home?”

“No, no, no Mr. Toscanini, please go ahead.”

“But I insist,” said Toscanini. “What’s wrong, are you having an attack, would you like to lie down awhile?”

“No, I’m not ill,” said the first violin.

“Well, what on earth is the matter?” said Toscanini. “You look awful, you have been making the most agonizing faces, you’re obviously suffering . . .”

“To be quite frank,” said the first violin, “I hate music.”

Imagine playing in an orchestra and not loving music. How absurd. Yet, everyday people are involved in jobs they don’t enjoy. Still others are engrossed in careers they don’t want. Work becomes an irritating necessity that strips them of professional adventure and satisfaction.

Remember as children how we sang over and over again the words of the famous song Row, Row, Row Your Boat? Let me refresh your memory:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

These lyrics contain a powerful message. Row, row, row whose boat? That’s right . . . YOUR boat. Not someone else’s boat or the boat someone told you to row. What boat (career) do you want to be in? Quite simply, if you hate music, then playing in the orchestra will not make work a dream. A nightmare would be more like it.

“Each one of us has some kind of vocation,” said Thomas Merton. “We are called by God to share in His life and in His kingdom. Each one of us is called to a special place in the kingdom. If we find that place we will be happy. If we do not find it, we can never be completely happy.”

Do you love your vocation? Do you go home from work feeling fulfilled and satisfied? Do you begin each day looking forward to the challenges awaiting you? Is there a sense of peace about this being the job you were specifically chosen to do?

If you answer “yes” to these questions, the chances are good you are rowing your boat, doing what you choose and love to do. If, on the other hand, you immediately answered “no,” I assure you, a better fit between you and what you do is possible.

Find your passion. Clarify what’s important to you. Never mind attempting to be like someone else. Know who you are and what you have a burning desire to do. Move in the direction of your niche and enjoy the journey as much as the ultimate destination. Begin rowing YOUR boat today and experience the achievement and satisfaction reserved for you.

If you don’t love what you do, you have two choices. You can either change what you’re doing or you can change what you love.

Billy Wilcox

Live Long And Love It

“First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to zip up your fly; and then you forget to unzip your fly.”

Branch Rickey

I’ve Been Thinking. . . about Branch Rickey’s comment. I’m not sure why I chuckle to myself every time I read it. Maybe it’s because I’ve played the first half of my life (plus a few) and have attempted to lightheartedly anticipate the future. Or maybe it’s because I’ve experienced ‘most’ of what he has talked about.

Of all the classic quotes and thoughts I’ve collected over the years, my file on aging is the most entertaining and enlightening.

One of my favorites. . . “I’m finally learning that I’m about as old as I feel right after I demonstrate how young I feel.”

Columnist Doug Larson writes, “The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball!” Now if you think you’re too old to be throwing snowballs just remember; you’re never too old to become younger. It’s not how old you are that matters; but how you are old.

Most of us at one time or another contemplates retirement. “Retirement at 65 is ridiculous,” spouted George Burns. “When I was 65, I still had pimples.” Later, Burns was more emphatic about retirement; “I’ll never retire because there isn’t a thing I can’t do now that I didn’t do at 18...which gives you an idea of how pathetic I was at 18.” Maybe this is why at age 96 George Burns signed a five year deal with Las Vegas’s Rivera Hotel instead of one for ten years, because he wasn’t sure the resort would last ten years. Leave it to George Burns to add his unique flair to the aging process.

You can be sure Mark Twain remained youthful with his imaginative mind. He once commented, “When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.” I’m sure he also found it convenient to forget those things he found less than pleasurable. His classic comment that “age is mostly a matter of mind, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” served him well.

Washington Irving reminded us that, “whenever a man’s friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old.” Bernard M. Baruch would have kept Irving’s comment in perspective with his youthful belief that “old age is always fifteen years older than I am.” I especially like that one.

“I think we’re finally at a point where we’ve learned to see death with a sense of humor,” Katherine Hepburn said in an interview. “I have to. When you’re my age, it’s as if you’re a car. First a tire blows, and you get it fixed. Then a headlight goes, and you get that fixed. And then one day, you drive into a shop and the man says, “Sorry, Miss, they don’t have this make anymore.”

Art Linkletter once told an audience, “There are 4 stages of humankind, Infancy...childhood...adolescence...and obsolescence.”

Rabbi Harold Kushner took a more philosophical approach and offered this insight: “I would rather think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to come together and make sense.”

Bob Hope declared that he “discovered the secret of eternal youth. I lie about my age.” Face it, we can lie as long as we want, but the longer we lie the older we get. What’s critical is that each year we receive the gift of life; we live it with more fullness than the year before.

“We have added years to man’s life,” commented Louise M Orr. “Now we face an even greater challenge - adding life to these years. In other words, we have given the American people the opportunity to enjoy nearly twice as many years as did their ancestors and now we have the obligation to help turn old age into something more than a chronological period of life.”

Maybe we could benefit from the reflective thinking of baseball great Ernie Banks. “I don’t live in the past. Some people tell me they’ve got this mental image of me frozen in time, like it was 1958 forever. Well, it’s not, I like getting old. Just remember, you only live once. And if you do it right, once is enough.”

Let’s let Douglas MacArthur have the final word on this subject. These were his comments in his farewell address to the cadets at West Point.

“Whatever your years, there is in every being’s heart the love of wonder, the undaunted challenge of events, and an unfailing childlike feel for “what next” on the job and in the game of life. You’re as young as your faith, as old as your doubts; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of your heart, there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage; so long are you young.”

“A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.”


Edward B. LeWinn, M.D.

Fallen On Rough Times

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

Agatha Christie

I’ve Been Thinking. . . about the importance of keeping life in perspective.

On 10:32 Saturday morning Larry approached our table in Bryant Park in New York City. “I’m sorry to bother you,” he apologized. “I’ve fallen on rough times. Could you spare some money?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I won’t give you money but I’ll buy you some breakfast at the La Bain Quotidien coffee shop. Come with me.” (It’s just across the street from the park where my wife and I had just purchased our morning goodies to enjoy in the park.)

Larry agreed. As we walked he talked. “I lost my job as a security guard and my wife threw me out,” he said. “I’m cold. I’m hungry. I have nowhere to go.”

I really didn’t care about the accuracy of Larry’s story. In fact, I could care less if he was lying through his teeth. I had prayed that morning that God would place someone in our path that day who needed to be loved and that I would respond with unconditional love.

We walked and talked. Larry ordered a large coffee and almond pastry. I paid the bill and we parted our ways with a handshake and a mutual “God Bless You.”

Later that morning we walked deep into Central Park in New York City. You’ve probably seen the bicycle form of transportation in the city. A strong, but normally, naturally thin, muscular person cycles you in a small carriage fit for two.

We took our first ever eight block ride through Central Park to the “Met” (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Omar was our “driver.” He had immigrated to the United States – to survive. He was from Mali.

“If you have no money in Mali,” Omar said, “you die! I decided to pursue my happiness in America.”

“Are you glad you did? Are you happy?” I asked.

“I’m alive,” he responded. Wow! That was powerful!

Upon arrival, I paid the hefty bill he announced, along with an appropriate tip for the short, but uphill trek to the museum.

We shook hands and shared a mutual, “God Bless You!”

In 1993, North Carolina basketball coach, Jim Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. He had recently discovered that he had incurable cancer and had been given six months to live. He ended his acceptance speech with these words:

“I urge all of you to enjoy your life, every precious moment on this earth. Spend each day with some laughter. Don’t be afraid to feel….to get your emotions going. Be enthusiastic, because nothing great can be accomplished without enthusiasm. Live your dreams.”

Whether you can relate to Larry, Omar or if you are privileged to live a run-of-the-mill normal life, Jim Valvano’s advice is all inclusive.

It’s a great day to be alive! Despite the pain, challenges, disappointments, hurts, mysteries, losses . . . you get the point. . . I’m blessed to be alive. Thank you Omar, Larry, Jim Valvano and late Presidential Press Secretary James Brady. . .

“You gotta play the hand that’s dealt you. There may be pain in that hand, but you play it. And I’ve played it.


James Brady
Presidential Press Secretary

The Best Keep Getting Better

“The quality of an individual is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.”

Ray Kroc

I’ve Been Thinking. . . about getting better.


In the late 1600’s, three rural families dominated the musical instrument industry. Working in shops located side-by-side in the Italian village of Cremona, these families produced the finest in violins.

The Amatis family hung a sign outside their shop that read: “The best violins in all Italy.” Not wanting their creations to go unnoticed, the Guarnerius family posted a sign that read: “The best violins in all the world!” The famous Anton Stradivari, known to produce the finest, most expensive stringed instrument, boasted his world-wide notoriety by hanging a sign on his front door which simply read: “The best violins on the block!”

Stradivari was a self-taught violin making perfectionist. He refused to develop a relationship with “good enough.” Using primitive tools and working alone until late in life, Stradivari created a standard of violin quality unmatched by his competitors. Each violin had to meet his personal standards. His passionate attention to detail allowed him to make the bold statement; “Other people will make other violins but no one shall make a better one.”

Can you make that same claim? Other people may do what you do but no one will do it better. Henry Ward Beecher suggested, “Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself.” To be the best you can be requires an unquenchable desire to continually make your best better. The exciting result is that your commitment to personal excellence will last a lifetime and beyond.

“Once you’re labeled ‘the best,’” said Larry Bird during his prime in the NBA, “you want to stay up there, and you can’t do it by loafing around.” In his off-season, Larry Bird lifted weights, ran, and worked on new moves and shots. “If I don’t keep changing,” Bird told Esquire magazine, “I’m history.”

Are you the best? What effort are you putting forth to get there, and, if there, how are you refining your skills to make sure you don’t become unfortunate “history?”


The best keep getting better.

Jessica Tandy, Oscar winner for her role in “Driving Miss Daisy,” was asked in Vis a Vis if any of her performances have left her unsatisfied. “All of them,” she instantly replied. “I’ve never come off the stage at the end of a performance and said, ‘Tonight, everything was perfect.’ There’ll always be some little thing that I’ll have to get right tomorrow.” Such is the reason why her performance in the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” once again won her outstanding reviews.

Are you raising the bar on your current idea of excellence? The best keep redefining better.

No one knows for sure who invented the cupcake, but there’s no question who improved it. D.R. “Doc” Rice is credited with injecting the cream filling and putting the squiggly white line atop the cupcake’s chocolate icing at Continental Baking Company’s Detroit Plant. Rice’s changes in the original devil’s food cake hand-covered with vanilla or chocolate icing formula, led to widespread popularity of the snack.

What areas of your life could become better with an ‘injection’ of innovative thought and action?

The best make things better and raise the bar.

Michelangelo received a visit from a friend as he worked diligently on a sculpture. After a brief chat, the friend left but returned later to find Michelangelo working on the same statue. Thinking the statue was nearly completed on his last visit and seeing no visible change, he exclaimed, “You haven’t been working all this time on that same statue, have you?”

“Indeed I have,” the sculptor replied. “I’ve been retouching the facial features, refining the leg muscles, polishing the torso; I’ve softened the presentation of some areas and enhanced the eye’s expression.”

“But all those things are insignificant,” responded the visitor. “They are mere trifles.” “That may be,” replied Michelangelo, “but trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.”

“Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle.” I love that concept! Although simply spoken, the consequences have monumental impact. People who pay attention to the “little things,” the seemingly insignificant, produce excellence in larger matters. The best pay attention to the trifling details.

Take inventory. What small details in your life have you overlooked? Are there functions that appear insignificant? Renew your commitment and give attention to these finishing touches.

“I am a big believer in the ‘mirror test.’ All that matters is if you can look in the mirror and honestly tell the person you see there that you’ve done your best.”


John McKay

Become An Enemy of Mediocrity

The signature of mediocrity is not unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.

Jim Collins

I’ve been thinking . . . about how annoying mediocrity is.

Aldous Huxley lamented, “The tendency of the masses is towards mediocrity.” In a world of conformity, average, ordinary, sameness and yes, dreaded mediocrity; innovative companies find being the best of mediocre nauseating. Instead, there is a sense of urgency inspiring them to reinvent excellence; to imagine and create what could be.

World class is unreachable if being just a little bit better excites you. Tom Peters said: “If you are spending all your time trying to incrementally improve what you do, you are not spending enough time reinventing it, going for quantum leaps or blowing it up.” Gradual improvement, doing things just a little different then you’ve done them in the past, rarely produces eye catching, foot-stomping, award winning results.

World class performance requires a visual & mental transformation . . . seeing your operation, your position or your life as you’ve never seen it before. Think about who you can become. What are all the possibilities for outrageous innovations? Dare yourself to envision the unknown. . . even the presently considered impossible.
World Class is all about creating one-of-a-kind, ‘WOW’, unforgettable experiences. How can you be so good at what you do that people can’t help but applaud your efforts? Quoting Tom Peters once again: “If you are not distinct you will be extinct. If when you do what you do very well and it is still just ordinary, you have work to do.” What separates you from the masses?

The way things have always been creates a powerful magnetic force to keep things the way they are . . . or as close as possible to the current comfort level. The possibility of discomfort can dramatically stymie any effort to take giant steps towards reinvention. Find a way to dump the baggage that forces you to a standstill. Continually recreate the status quo, don’t protect it.

As Cynthia Barton Rabe warns, “what we know limits what we can imagine.” Why? Because, as some wise Texan once declared; “If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you’ve ever got.” If you keep doing things the way you’ve always done them or you do them the same way everyone else does, what is going to set you apart from anyone?

What’s your passion? Where would you like to have unmatched performance? How can you become uncommon? Where can you invest your energy to move from ordinary to extraordinary? From average to world class? It’s simply not good enough to be simply good enough.

World class isn’t about winning. . .
World class isn’t about the competition . . .
World Class isn’t about beating someone. . .
World Class is about setting a higher standard. World class is about transforming what you can do to be considered among the world’s best at what you do.

William Taylor was the co-founder and founding editor of Fast Company Magazine. In his newest book Practically Radical, Taylor suggests that in order to stay relevant in a changing world, “You have to be the most of something: The most elegant, the most colorful, the most focused.”

What would you tell people you are “the most at?” According to Taylor, “it is not good enough to be ‘pretty good’ at everything. You have to be the most of something.” If potential customers don’t clearly see what sets you apart, then the competitive advantage is literally non-existent.

If you don’t yearn for excellence, then you will soon settle for acceptable or good enough. The next step is mediocrity, and nobody wants to pay for mediocre! It all begins with becoming an enemy of mediocrity and a friend to tremendous, exceptional, outstanding. . .

“Mediocrity is a region bound on the north by compromise, on the south by indecision, on the east by past thinking, and on the west by lack of vision.”

John Mason

It’s All About Team

“The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.” 

Bill RussellBoston
Celtics Hall of Fame

I’ve been thinking . . . about teamwork.

The concept of teamwork seems to be worn out. Maybe we’ve overused the term without fully understanding the intent, process or outcomes. Regardless, I’m well aware that lip service without practical application or personal commitment has bred indifference to this age old concept.

I’m beginning to lean more toward the idea of “team spirit.” Legendary basketball coach John Wooden defines it as “an eagerness to sacrifice personal interests and glory for the good and greatness of the team.” I love that definition.

What would happen if everyone on your team agreed to give up just one of their personal interests for the good of the team for 30 days? What if each person was willing to sacrifice personal achievement or satisfaction for the team’s success? What if “we” rather than “me” guided all decisions for a month? I’m talking more than a token effort here. Let’s think about a full-fledged selfless pursuit of team spirit.

Sound simple? Maybe. There are substantial egos, agendas, selfish interests, personal hang-ups and a host of other issues you’ll have to contend with. Try it anyway. Challenge your team. The potential results are worth the required effort.

Let me illustrate. I’ m normally glued to the Olympics. There’s something about patriotism combined with watching sports I know very little about, cheering my heart out, celebrating the successes and grieving the losses. Personal and team success is undoubtedly magnified in this venue.

Let’s go back in time to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Michael Phelps was having a wonderfully successful Olympic experience. He was prepared for yet another event. His competition was favored teammate Ian Crocker who had posted the best times in the world for the 100-meter butterfly. It was fabulous race. Spectators were engaged. The television announcers called the event with unguarded enthusiasm. Somehow Phelps managed a last second surge and touched the wall 1/100th of a second ahead of his competitors, in route to another gold medal.

Everyone knew nineteen-year-old Phelps entered the Athens games intent on chasing Mark Spitz’s record of seven medals. The quest was still within reach. But then, Phelps shocked everyone by producing one of the most unexpected and memorable moments of the 2004 Olympics.

Immediately following the butterfly competition, Phelps and teammate Crocker sat together for a television interview. They both talked about the importance of team and how happy they were for each other. It was unusual display of team spirit especially in light of some egotistical showboating and boasting on the part of other American athletes. Phelps and Crocker genuinely shared the spotlight and unpretentiously shared the glory of the moment. It was heart warming and probably unprecedented.

Shortly thereafter a special announcement shocked the Olympic world. Michael Phelps had decided to step aside allowing Crocker to swim in his place in the upcoming 400-meter relay. Phelps told the media Crocker was better in this event than he was and the team had a better chance to win with Crocker than with him. You’re kidding. Even though he had earned the right to swim this event, he decided to give Crocker an opportunity to earn his own gold medal. When the buzzer sounded and the relay began, Phelps was in the stands, enthusiastically cheering on Crocker as the U.S. team went on to capture the gold.

Phelps’s decision rocked the Olympic world. His concession made headlines around the world. Why? Because this display of selfless team spirit is so rare in the athletic world. Or is it just the athletic world. Could it be rare in your world as well?

Team spirit is all about understanding that we succeed only to the degree we help our team succeed. G.K. Chesterton is credited with saying, “There is the great man who makes every man feel small, but the really great man is the man who makes every man feel great.” It could also be said the really great team player is the one who knows how to make the other person successful.

Team spirit. . . the realization by each team member that they are only as good as their team’s ability to succeed. That’s powerful stuff.

When it comes to your teammates, you want to compete in such a way that instead of competing with them, you are completing them. Those are two different mind-sets.

John Maxwell