earn the faith of others

Many aspiring leaders think that leadership is about being the smartest person in the room, the loudest, the most charismatic, or the wealthiest. None of these is true.

It’s about faith. Start small. Achieve results. Earn confidence. Listen hard. Be empathetic. Think before you talk.

Over time, you will earn the faith of others. When you do, don’t let it go to your head. Don’t suddenly act like an ego-driven Master of the Universe. Once you do this, the faith that people have in you will start to erode.

Leadership isn’t complicated, but it is hard. No one ever said it was easy to earn and hold the faith of others. But it is easier when you understand that this is what powers all effective leaders.

Bruce Kasanoff

"Leadership in One Word = Faith." Forbes. 7/23/2015

making someone else more happy

The longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that, after all, the one thing that is most worth living for—and dying for, if need be—is the opportunity of making someone else more happy and more useful.

Booker T. Washington

Up from Slavery: An Autobiography. Doubleday, Page & Company, 1907

As quoted in "The Wisdom of Booker T. Washington." by Michael McKinney. Leading Blog. 2/14/2011

why did they do what they did?

Dismissing actions we don't admire merely because we don't care enough to have empathy is rarely going to help us make the change we seek. It doesn't help us understand, and it creates a gulf that drives us apart.

Seth Godin

"Empathy." Seth's Blog. 8/12/2015

a decent public speaker

It’s really not that difficult to be a decent public speaker. Just make sure you do these things:

1. Tell some honest, inspiring stories, preferably your own.
2. Begin and end with one simple message that makes sense.
3. Show pictures or nothing, but skip all text and bullet points.
4. Offer plenty of takeaways; stuff they can do tomorrow.
5. Make people laugh, a lot.

As long as your talk satisfies these acceptance criteria, nobody will care that there’s glue and duct tape all over it.

Jurgen Appelo

"How to Turn a Bad Presentation Into a Good One." NOOP.NL | The Creative Networker. 3/25/2015

the air charged

My experience has been that there are times to teach and times not to teach. When relationships are strained and the air charged with emotion, an attempt to teach is often perceived as a form of judgment and rejection.

Stephen R. Covey 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Simon and Schuster. p.40