Wishes For Today’s Leaders
As we complete a week of transition for our country, we say farewell to the leadership of one administration and welcome the leadership of a new administration.
Regardless of who you voted for in November, we all know that the crises facing our nation now demand strong, committed and forward-looking leadership from our local, state and national government officials, from our non-profit organizations and from our business executives.
In that spirit, I would like to share with you this week a poem about leadership from an inspiring writer, John O’Donohue:
For A Leader by John O’Donohue
May you have the grace and wisdom
To act kindly, learning
To distinguish between what is
Personal and what is not.
May you be hospitable to criticism.
May you never put yourself at the center of things.
May you act not from arrogance but out of service.
May you work on yourself,
Building up and refining the ways of your mind.
May those who work for you know
You see and respect them.
May you learn to cultivate the art of presence
In order to engage with those who meet you.
When someone fails or disappoints you,
May the graciousness with which you engage
Be their stairway to renewal and refinement.
May you treasure the gifts of the mind
Through reading and creative thinking
So that you continue as a servant of the frontier
Where the new will draw its enrichment from the old,
And may you never become a functionary.
May you know the wisdom of deep listening,
The healing of wholesome words,
The encouragement of the appreciative gaze,
The decorum of held dignity,
The springtime edge of the bleak question.
May you have a mind that loves frontiers
So that you can evoke the bright fields
That lie beyond the view of the regular eye.
May you have good friends
To mirror your blind spots.
May leadership be for you
A true adventure of growth
I invite you to ponder these words. Look in the mirror.
How can you be a better leader?
How can you fulfill your leadership potential?
How can you best continue your lifelong leadership journey?