Wednesday; August 21

If there is a modern American success story, it might be Bill Gates.  Gates is a man who transformed his life from being “average” to being one of the wealthiest men in the world.  While wealth is not always a sign of success, it does cause us to take a look at someone’s philosophy of life and Bill Gates is pretty quotable.  Among some his gems are:  “Success is a lousy teacher.  It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” and “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” and “I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.”.   I don’t care how much money he has made, those are some pretty insightful observations.
There is another quote from Gates that has gotten my attention, “As we look ahead to the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”.  When I recently read this observation I was taken back to a conversation I had with a friend of mine in which we were discussing how the term “leader” has been misapplied.  Too often people think that leadership is the same thing as management or power.  The term leader is often defined as someone who gets something done or someone who sits at the top of an organizational chart, but the truth is that is a leader is someone who influences others to become the best they can be.  They teach, they train, they mentor, they inspire ... in other words, they turn their focus on others – not to meet a quota or design a better widget, but to build a better person.
I hope that the up and coming generations adopt a better understanding of leadership.  When we help others grow into the people they can be, we all benefit.
Think About It!

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