“Questions of implementation are of no consequence until the vision can be imagined. The imagination must come before implementation. Our culture is competent to implement almost anything and to imagine almost nothing.”
— Walter Brueggemann, American Protestant Old Testament scholar and theologian
I decided long ago . . . to define my own destiny and refuse to have it defined for me. I fully understand that trying hard doesn’t always guarantee success. Success is often a fluky thing, dependent as much on luck and favor as on hard work. But while hard work may not guarantee success, not working hard almost always guarantees failure.
Trying hard and working hard is its own reward. It feeds the soul. It affirms your will and your power. And it radiates from you, lighting the way for all those who see you.
Charles M. Blow, American journalist and columnist for the New York Times
“I didn’t join to be honored, I was just honored to serve” Staff Sergeant Clint Rutherford, two time Purple Heart recipient speaking at his retirement
The art and science of influencing others to willingly follow you.
Leadership is more than influence. Influence without will leads to things being partially completed or poorly complete leading to even more problems. The real challenge of a leader is to inspire people to want to accomplish goals.
Inspire.
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise that control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but inform their discretion. Thomas Jefferson (quoted in The Making of The Atomic Bomb – Richard Rhoades)
“The very essence of leadership is [that] you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”— Theodore Hesburgh
If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.
Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1905-1991, Polish-American author
Beware of your thoughts, they become your words.
Beware of your words, they become your actions.
Beware of your actions, they become your habits.
Beware of your habits, they become your character.
Beware of your character, it becomes your destiny.
– Unknown
It’s remarkable that men should be so arrogant and secure when there are so many, indeed countless, evidences around us to suggest that we ought to be humble. The hour of our death is uncertain. The grain on which we live is not in our hands. Neither the sun nor the air, on which our life depends, lies in our power, and we have no control over our sleeping and waking. I shall say nothing of spiritual things, such as private and public sins which press upon us. Yet our hearts are as hard as steel and pay no attention to such evidence – Martin Luther, 1483-1546
In the end, that is what we all must do. Stand where we feel led. Stand straight, stand tall, and try hard to remember that other folks might be led to stand elsewhere.” Phillip Gulley