IF...

I’ve been trying desperately to come up with some words of wisdom in the aftermath of events which are swirling about since the presidential election.  It’s in uncertain times like these which leaders must emerge as the masses need and want direction, a focus, a dream to conceive and achieve.  This is the exact time when a true leader acts as that beacon of light in the thick fog drawing those in who have been swept out with the dangerous tide.

For the past several days, Kipling’s poem “If” has been swirling in my head. I continue to be mesmerized by his words and their profound meaning and inspiration to me personally as a leader. Each of the poem’s sixteen couplets illustrates a leadership attribute, and together they provide a leadership framework on which to reflect, refine and reignite. Take a moment and read for yourself and renew your spirit to fuel and propel those you lead, forward.

“IF”

If you can keep your head when all about you  
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;  
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:


If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;  
 If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;  
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;  
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:


If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,  
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’


If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,  
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,  
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,  
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! LEADER!

Be good to yourself…
 

Ron

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more; you are a leader. - John Quincy Adams