Curious about Leadership: What Constitutes an Excellent Leader? Where Can I Get the Best Leadership Information?

“True leadership lies in guiding others to success. In ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well.” - Bill Owens, American politician

“One secret of leadership is that the mind of a leader never turns off. Leaders even when they are sightseers or spectators, are active; not passive observers.” - James Humes, American lawyer

The business group that I have joined is focused on leadership. I just returned from a three day conference hosted by this group and attended by 30,000 positive and excited team members. Coinciding with the event was the presentation of the top selling book, Launching a Leadership Revolution, written by the founders of group, Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward.

Another book on Leadership that just hit the stands and that I also highly recommend is The Secret Language of Leadership by Stephen Denning. Denning is a well known business storyteller who shows us "How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative."

What does it take to become an effective leader? We were asked at the Conference to name the top leaders of today. How about CEOs with integrity and leadership skills? Who are the leaders in the sports arena? In politics? In our lives? How many leaders can you name? It is scary when we realize what a challenge this can be.

So, I decided to share the great quotations I found that refer to leadership. In the general category we have:

• “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” - Mohandas Gandhi, Indian leader
• “Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” - Harry S. Truman, American President
• “Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.” - Harold S. Geneen, British businessman
• “Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint.” - Lewis H. Lapham, American editor
• “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower, American President

And a few more:

• “Honor bespeaks worth. Confidence begets trust. Service brings satisfaction. Cooperation proves the quality of leadership.” - James Cash Penney, American businessman
• “Leadership comes in small acts as well as bold strokes.” - Carly Fiorina, American businesswoman
• “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” - Ralph Nader, American lawyer
• “Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.” - Jesse Jackson, American activist
• “Leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do something you are convinced should be done.” - Vance Packard, American writer
• “I don't know what leadership is. You can't touch it. You can't feel it. It's not tangible. But I do know this: you recognize it when you see it.” - Bob Ehrlich, American politician

And, a couple to chew upon and think about:

“This is a time for leadership and judgment that is not compromised in any fashion. This is a time for transparency and a thorough investigation.” - Cynthia McKinney, American politician

“Leadership requires the courage to make decisions that will benefit the next generation.” - Alan Autry, American actor

So, I ask you, are you a leader? If so, what will it take to become a better leader? If not, the good news is that leadership is a skill. By working on it daily, you will achieve it.

Curious about Community: What Kind of Community Are You a Part Of? Or Are You Looking for a New and Perfect Community to Join?

“I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in.” - Anita Roddick, British business woman

“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” - Mitch Albom, American writer

I know that I am writing my weekly blog a day late. It is because I just took part in a three day Leadership Conference engineered by the business community I joined this past July. And, even though I know that the outcome will be working, sharing and paying off my debts, I joined it for the community of those involved.

In the past I have attended many conferences, but none so large (30,000 attendees) or inspiring. I have found the community I was searching for. Those who belong are positive, excited, and “fired up.” They are all working on improving their skills: leadership, relationships, personalities, presenting, selling and more. I could keep on going. Just know that this community is working together to have fun and make a difference.

The two quotations I started with sum it all up perfectly. However, I found many others that I want to stretch you and your minds with:

• “The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.” - William James, American philosopher
• “The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles.” – Plato, Greek philosopher
• “Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It's important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It's the way in which we ourselves grow and develop.” - Dorothy Height, American activist
• “The open society, the unrestricted access to knowledge, the unplanned and uninhibited association of men for its furtherance - these are what may make a vast, complex, ever growing, ever changing, ever more specialized and expert technological world, nevertheless a world of human community.” - J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist
• “A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet
• “The real community of man is the community of those who seek the truth, of the potential knowers.” - Allan Bloom, American philosopher

Some quotations with a bit of a twist or different interpretation of community:

• “There is more than a verbal tie between the words common, community, and communication... Try the experiment of communicating, with fullness and accuracy, some experience to another, especially if it be somewhat complicated, and you will find your own attitude toward your experience changing.” - John Dewey, American philosopher
• “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” - Rollo May, American psychologist
• “I think that every person has to make a genuine contribution in their lives and the institution of work is one of the main vehicles to achieving this. I'm more and more convinced that individual leaders can create a human community that will, in the long run, lead to the best organizations.” - Warren Bennis, American writer
• “Community colleges are one of America's great social inventions a gateway to the future for first time students looking for an affordable college education, and for mid-career students looking to get ahead in the workplace.” - Barbara Mikulski, American politician
• “Any institution becomes a community - whether it's a high school or a boarding school or a publishing company or a small town where everybody knows certain things about people.” - Alice Hoffman, American author
• “Fortunately art is a community effort - a small but select community living in a spiritualized world endeavoring to interpret the wars and the solitudes of the flesh.” - Allen Ginsberg, American poet

And, as always, two for you to chew upon:

“You take care of you and your family first. Then you go to your neighborhood, and then you spread it on out within the community.” - Al Smith, American politician

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” - Marianne Williamson, American author

Just remember that we are the sum total of those we hang out with – our community. What kind of community are you a part of?

Curious about Freedom: How Much Do You Have? And, How Important Is It to You?

Definitions: Freedom:The state of being free; exemption from the power and control of another; liberty; independence. Privileges; franchises; immunities. Exemption from necessity, in choice and action; as, the freedom of the will. Frankness; openness; unreservedness.


“Freedom is a man's natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not prevented by force or law.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman


I wonder how aware we are of our freedom advantages. We are free to jump at a new opportunity, to make the choices that will determine our futures, and to decide what, when and how to take the necessary actions. Really, our biggest problem is that we have so many options, we hardly know where to start. But that is not a viable excuse for not starting!


As I have been mentioning over the last three months, I have started working with a company that focuses on achieving freedom. This includes freedom from debt, freedom from having to stay in a job you don’t love, freedom to become “job-optional,” freedom to retire by the age of 30 or younger, and the freedom to become a “stay-at-home” mom and/or dad.


Yes, it won’t just happen. It does take work and effort, but it is possible. I have already experienced meeting those who are enjoying their freedom. As the American architect Maya Lin stated, “To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.” It is the American Dream in action.


This week’s quotations were wide and many. Here are a few of the positive ones:

• “What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for oneself the alternatives of choice.” - Archibald MacLeish, American poet


• “Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving the citizen as much freedom of action and of being as comports with order and the rights of others, the institutions render him truly a freeman. He is left to pursue his means of happiness in his own manner.” - James F. Cooper, American novelist


• “Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.” - Oprah Winfrey, American entertainer


• “Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.” - Robin G. Collingwood, English philosopher


• “Freedom is from within.” - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect


• “I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression.” - Amy Tan, American novelist

Here are a few with a different twist:

• “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychologist


• “A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” - Albert Camus, French philosopher


• “There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.” - Erich Fromm, American psychologist


• “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” - Abraham Lincoln, American President


• “It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.” - Mark Twain, American author


• “In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from.” - Peter Ustinov, English actor

Here are three more for you to think about:

• “Who ever walked behind anyone to freedom? If we can't go hand in hand, I don't want to go.” - Hazel Scott, American musician


• “Freedom - to walk free and own no superior.” - Walt Whitman, American poet


• “A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” - Jim Morrison, American musician

What does freedom mean to you? How free do you feel?

Curious about Approach: How We Approach Everything (People, Sales, Careers, Learning, Life and Goals) Can Be the Most Important, Yet Most Difficult

“My own approach, whenever I do something like this, is to try to learn how the other person thinks, so that I can anticipate him.” - Roger Zelazny, American writer

I have been reading, with great attention to the details and suggestions, Frank Bettger’s book, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. The book is incredible in its total scope!

I recently completed the chapter where Bettger writes about the importance of approach and ways to approach a potential client. It prompted me to consider how I approach everything from people to sales, my career, learning, my life, goals and so much more!).

I started listing my approach and approaches – along with those I aspire to. When I network at an event, I work on being approachable. When I am in a selling mode, I work on being a listener who asks great questions. In my career, I work on a professional approach. As for learning, I use an enthusiastic approach to new information. You get the idea.

How about your approach and approaches? How do you approach you day(s)? Do you set them up to be positive?

The number of quotations in the area of approach were overwhelming. Here are a few that I found especially interesting and enlightening:

• “If we all knew we were going to live to be 150 years old, we'd all approach our lives very differently.” - Eric Bogosian, American actor
• “The analytical approach to working with the mind is enormously helpful. It's something very clear to fall back on.” - Richard Gere, American actor
• “The reason why I have survived as long as I have survived is what my friends, comrades and supporters thought was an extraordinarily cautious approach.” - Ernst Zundel, German activist
• “What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.” - Ray Charles, American musician
• “My basic approach to interviewing is to ask the basic questions that might even sound naive, or not intellectual. Sometimes when you ask the simple questions like 'Who are you?' or 'What do you do?' you learn the most.” - Brian Lamb, American businessman

And, then there are those with a bit of a different twist:

• “The land of literature is a fairy land to those who view it at a distance, but, like all other landscapes, the charm fades on a nearer approach, and the thorns and briars become visible.” - Washington Irving, American writer
• “We must be vigilant in our actions towards criminals, and innovative in our approach towards solving crime.” - Thomas Menino, American politician
• “If you take the approach that you want to scrape every last nickel off the table, that'll work one or two times, but after awhile, your reputation will precede you.” - Tom Hicks, American businessman
• “Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” - Tony Robbins, American author
• “The English approach to ideas is not to kill them, but to let them die of neglect.” - Jeremy Paxman, British journalist

Here are some more for you to consider and chew upon:

• “You're in a much better position to talk with people when they approach you than when you approach them.” - Peace Pilgrim, American activist
• “Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.” - Mark Twain, American author
• “Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning.” - Denis Waitley, American writer
• “Some people approach every problem with an open mouth.” - Adlai E. Stevenson, American politician

Interesting topic and word! Let me know about your approach and approaches.

Curious about Overwhelm: What Overwhelms You? and How Do You Handle It?

Definition: to cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to engulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly. To cause to surround, to cover.

I have many careers and the tasks and needs of each career often coincide. I usually, however, can deal with this without becoming overwhelmed. This past week and weekend, on the other hand, put me into a state of overwhelm. I started to feel immersed, overpowered and surrounded by all of the perceived commitments I set for myself.

I decided that the quick way to write this week’s blog – already a day late – would be to look up a few quotations and zip through them along with sharing my thoughts and feelings. As so often happens, the quotations put a new spin on the topic and were also so interesting that they took me out of my overwhelm state.

So here goes with some of the best that are in the genre of self improvement:

• “Sound character provides the power with which a person may ride the emergencies of life instead of being overwhelmed by them. Failure is... the highway to success.” - Og Mandino, American author
• “Enlightenment must come little by little - otherwise it would overwhelm.” - Idries Shah, Indian author
• “Dream small dreams. If you make them too big, you get overwhelmed and you don't do anything. If you make small goals and accomplish them, it gives you the confidence to go on to higher goals.” - John H. Johnson, American businessman

My question to you is, “Should we ‘Dream small dreams?’” There are many approaches to goals and reasons why we don’t achieve them. Small goals do lead to higher goals, if we truly want those higher goals. Oftentimes, big goals are set because of what others want us to accomplish, not what are the burning desires we actually have.

I especially relate to what the actor Campbell Scott said, “Directing is: you're overwhelmed the whole time. Your mind never stops. If you care about it. You wake up in the morning and you begin thinking about it and then you go to sleep at night and you're still thinking about it.” Apply this approach to whatever profession you pursue. Yes, you are overwhelmed the whole time, but it is wonderful and useful “overwhelm.”

I also relate to the Welsh explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, who wrote, “I did not see the whole. I only saw this rock ahead of me; I only saw this poisonous snake which I had to kill in order to take the next step. I only saw the problem directly in front of me. If I had seen the whole thing, I would have been too overwhelmed to have attempted this.”

I feel that this is great advice when you have what so many call, “Too much on my plate.” By focusing on one problem at a time – not worrying about the “whole” – I competently make my way out of overwhelm and move on easily.

Here are a few more quotations for you to think about and chew upon:

• “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
• “Man has a limited biological capacity for change. When this capacity is overwhelmed, the capacity is in future shock.” - Alvin Toffler, American author
• “Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” - Desmond Tutu, South African leader
• “If I cannot overwhelm with my quality, I will overwhelm with my quantity.” - Emile Zola, French novelist

Meanwhile, I would love to hear from you about overwhelm. Do you ever feel it? And, how do you deal with it? Have a great week!