LEADERS CAN LEARN FROM DR. KING
Recently, I read a novel by prolific author David Baldacci. Baldacci, an attorney by training, has penned dozens of novels over the years, including several popular series centered around the same characters. The book I read, “A Calamity of Souls,” is a stand-alone 2024 novel that Baldacci has been working on for almost a decade because it is somewhat autobiographical. If you like novels, especially those with legal themes, I highly recommend this one.
Baldacci grew up near Richmond, VA, where this novel takes place. The story starts immediately after the 1968 assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. I was in college that year, and I remember vividly the anger and sadness that swept the country after those killings. The murder of Dr. King resonates for us this weekend as we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday, which has become a federal holiday.
Dr. King was recognized as an inspiring leader by millions of people. And because this weekly newsletter focuses on leadership and this is the weekend that the country commemorates Dr. King, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite leadership quotes from Dr. King:
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”
“If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”
“Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one wise man forgets himself into immortality.”
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
Dr. King’s quotes remind us not only that he was an inspiring leader, but that we as leaders can learn from his example. We can focus on:
– Being great listeners and paying attention to other people’s viewpoints
-Being a “people farmer” and helping our teammates grow, both as employees and as people
-Rising to challenges and difficult decisions while we serve as leadership role models
-Showing those we work with what “servant-leadership” is truly about
-Striving extra hard to understand the perspectives of people with whom we disagree
-Serving as role models for doing our jobs as well as we can every day
I encourage you to read and then re-read these quotes. Pick out a few that resonate with you. Reflect on their meaning.
Think about how they connect with your own leadership.
Ponder how you can take Dr. King’s words and use them to incentivize you to improve your own leadership.
If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!
-Larry