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

Anyone who leads people or aspires to be a leader, knows that getting people to do what needs to be done requires a finetuned ability to motivate and inspire them. Gone are the days when people did things because their livelihood depended on it, and put up with the bossy attitude of supervisors who did not lead with wisdom and kindness but as a whipcracking master of slaves. The world has grown up and refuses to be treated that way.

A true aspect of Leadership lies in the inherent ability to motivate people to excel and give of their best. There are many motivational speakers and as many different methods to ignite a fire inside the hearts of others that has them raging to get into motion and to accomplish impossible dreams. Each speaker purports to know the hidden secret and is willing to impart it for a certain financial consideration. Read More→

Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough. We must do.- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My father, who is a doctor,  came by his education against great odds. His mother was a young widow without any significant education and worked hard to make ends meet and to give her little boy the best chance at life, the gift of education. He often burned the candle at both ends , working in the fields by his mothers side during the day, walking ten miles to get to school, and then staying up late at night to study by candlelight and kerosene lamps.

He  delighted in the pursuit of knowledge, was grateful for the opportunity to learn and dedicated himself to a focused application of everything he learned . It is little wonder then that he was the best student in his class. He found favour with teachers, Medical School professors and Accomplished doctors who stepped forward to ensure that he continued to get every chance to progress, and he often speaks of them with fervent gratitude and affection.
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 Two of my all time heroes are Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln – Both extremely intelligent , well educated gentlemen that led nations without losing the humble touch and they retained their authenticity and simplicity despite the power they wielded.

And here are some of the powerful things they said that have greatly encouraged me  in my pursuit for meaning  in a world gone completely irrational.

Whatever you do will be insignificant. But it is very important that you do it. – Gandhi

Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition. – Abraham Lincoln.

Both did not have the  attributes of physical beauty or strength – but what they had in abundance was a gentle wisdom and a fantastic sense of humour – and most of all that ever present humility. They wore their Power lightly without the usual trappings of arrogance and boastfulness as many modern leaders tend to adopt.

They were not about image and public relations and designer clothes. Lincoln who was known for his very plain, gaunt looks famously said: God must love the common man, he made so many of them.

Gandhi spun a loin cloth for himself out of Indian grown cotton in defiance against the Manufactured Cotton fabric that the British Rule imposed upon pre-Independence India .

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Reputation is character minus what you have been caught doing – Michael Iopace

Who will tame the Tiger? The Tiger Woods debacle occurring funnily enough at the start of the Year of the Tiger seems almost like a contradiction in terms.  This has hardly been his year so far!

  Reputation is a notoriously fickle beast. 

 It took talent, skill and many hours of relentless practice to establish him as the much admired Wunderkind of Golf.

It only took a few poor choices and the viral power of Internet broadcasting to blast his squeaky clean reputation and marriage to smithereens in a matter of seconds.  

 This makes personal and corporate reputation management a hot topic these days.

A point to note is that it was his performance on the golf course that put him on the pedestal, but it was his personal actions off the field that toppled him over. What has one to do with the other you may ask?  Everything!

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 Peter Jackson’s superhit movie trilogy based on  J.R. Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings, has as its   central character,  a small hobbit called Frodo who  has been charged with a great responsibility. He has been given the “one ring” of a great and terrible power and is the only one who has the moral courage to destroy it before it falls into the hands of Sauron, the Dark Lord who will use its powers to enslave all of Middle-Earth.

His courage falters and in a moment of utter despair  he wishes that the ring had never come to him and that none of this has happened. However, given the enormity of the responsibility , he takes it on , little though he is and with enormous courage and willpower he is ultimately triumphant and is able to destroy the Ring in the volcano where it was forged. Read More→