No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This week we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King was a minister, a civil-rights activist, a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1964), a promoter of equality, an inspiration for harmony and growth, and a great leader. He has been quoted hundreds of times, and we wanted to highlight a few:
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
As leaders it’s up to us to rally team members, ensure shared goals are supported, and to create opportunities for collaboration.
Learn a little about the past, and you may end up with a pretty nice future.
Awareness is key! What worked well? What changes could be made to be more effective?
If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
Not everything goes as planned, expect and plan for obstacles and be persistent.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Courage faces fear and thereby masters it.
Successful leadership requires courage. Leaders empower themselves and others to go farther than they ever dreamed possible.
People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.
Clear and timely communication, inclusion, and building relationships eliminates walls.
And, we’ve shared this before but it’s worth sharing again. Professor Wadhwa provides the following insights from Martin Luther King, jr’s “I HAVE A DREAM” speech:
- Great leaders do not sugar-coat reality
- Great leaders engage the heart
- Great leaders refuse to accept the status quo
- Great leaders create a sense of urgency
- Great leaders call people to act in accord with their highest values
- Great leaders refuse to settle
- Great leaders acknowledge the sacrifice of their followers
- Great leaders paint a vivid picture of a better tomorrow
May no one rain on your dreams, may you inspire others to never give up on theirs, and may doing “right” always be a priority!
The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.