Expressing Courage
Leadership is an expression of courage. We need courageous leaders, who are willing to stand up and lead by example.
We live in a time of self-care crisis in America. Everyone is told they are either a victim or an oppressor and the color of one's skin is the sole determinator of one's success, or lack thereof, in society. Rather than agreeing to disagree, and that people are entitled to hold different opinions, dissenting speech gets you kicked off social media or canceled altogether.
Racism is suddenly seen everywhere...and in everything. Rather than learn from our history, we want to erase it. The vast majority of our educational centers, especially our university systems, teach young, impressionable minds what to think rather than how to think. Gone are the days of teaching the three "R's" and challenging them to pursue their dreams, goals, and aspirations.
Independent thought is being replaced with Groupthink and if you don't conform to one specific way of thinking, you're an outcast, a rebel, or you're labeled a domestic terrorist.
Add to all of this, so-called microaggressions, Wokeness, and political correctness run amok and we now see everyone is offended, finger-pointing, and finding fault with other people.
News flash. We are ALL imperfect people.
History reminds us that once a people group loses its national identity, it reverts to tribalism with each subgroup looking out solely for its own interests and not that of the collective.
Division promotes hatred, and hate furthers the divide. It's an endless cycle of tribalism that moves us into huddled groups of fearful, angry, resentful people, looking out for solely our own interests. Tribalism promotes class warfare by focusing on our differences, the exact opposite of promoting a sense of national unity that focuses on what we all share in common, the challenges and struggles we've overcome, and the progress we've made.
This is how a nation is destroyed from within.
The problem we have today is a complete and total void of values-based, others-focused leadership in America today. We are leadership bankrupt, and that's a dangerous place to be.
So how do we turn this around?
Leadership.
Values-based, others-focused leadership.
Leadership is an expression of courage. We need courageous leaders, who are willing to stand up and lead by example. Valuing people because they are part of humanity, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, creed, or national origin. We value people because they are part of one critical race - the human race.
All lives matter, because all people matter. This is the mantra of values-based leadership. No one is more valuable, or less valuable, than anyone else. Race, color, religion, creed, sex, or national origin doesn't matter. Values-based leaders believe that every single person on the face of the earth is here on purpose, for a purpose. Each of us has intrinsic value, incredible worth, and a unique set of talents and abilities that define us.
When we value people, we see their intrinsic value and worth, and we treat them as the valuable individuals they are. When we see everyone as valuable, how we treat one another changes for the better. We encourage them, support them, and applaud their successes.
When we see people as valuable, we don't envy their success. We celebrate their WINs as we watch and learn how they have become successful, so we too can apply those success principles in our own lives. This is how we all succeed at a higher level.
When we value people, we look for opportunities to add value to them.
When we value people, we stop competing with one another, and we start complementing one another - helping each other fully develop their talents and abilities so each person can rise to their full potential. We treat other people the same way we want to be treated, with dignity, honor, and respect.
When we value people, we want to help them do more, accomplish more, and become more. As such, we become others-focused in our approach. We selflessly help other people get more of what they want in life without any expectation of reciprocation. But we do this with the confidence that if we help other people get what they want, they in turn will do the same for us.
Courageous, values-based, others-focused leaders teach others how to rise to their full potential and fulfill their passion and calling. They teach others their current situation doesn't define them, and that situations are subject to change - and they can be their own change agent to change this for the better.
Courageous, values-based, others-focused leaders help others move beyond reliance on a subsistence handout that keeps them trapped in a world of lack and hopelessness. They focus instead on giving others a hand-up by helping them cultivate their gifts and talents to become more, do more, and achieve more.
They mentor and coach others to become a better version of themselves. To discover, develop, and deploy their own "Black Belt Leader" within, allowing them to "MASTER Their Lives" as they rise to their full potential and experience a newfound level of success and significance as they learn to lead themselves well, make good choices, see others as valuable, and treat them accordingly.
It's an attitude of honoring, respecting, serving, encouraging, equipping, supporting, and adding value to others as we would want them to do for us.
When we stop judging people by the color of their skin, their ethnic identity, gender, or their national origin and start judging people by the content of their character, we rise to the ideal Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and those who came before him envisioned. The very same foundational ideals this nation fought a civil war over - the ending of class warfare that divided people by racial or ethnic lines.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is ONLY ONE critical race - the Human Race, of which we are all a part. Let us value each human as the unique, one-of-a-kind gift of God that they are, and be others-focused in how we live our lives.
If we ALL can do that, we put an end to hatred, division, class warfare, and tribalism and we rise to become ALL that we were created to be as a species. One is too small a number to achieve greatness. Think of the greatness we can accomplish, the goodness we can do for humanity, when we value one another and strive to add value to each other every single day.
This requires courageous leadership. The time for this is NOW!
Are you up to the challenge?