it’s 3:00 a.m. and I am sitting straight
up in bed I’m my mind is racing I’m
totally stressed my husband wakes and
asked what’s wrong and I say Who am I
and what is my purpose in life you know
what he said perfect
he said I’ll go back to sleep and that’s
when I realized that whether you’re a
realist like my husband or a dreamer
like me you will ask that question of
yourself sometime during your life now
that evening I realize that I’d been
floating through life you know I was
working hard having fun and making
choices to please others then life got
complicated
I floated into some leadership positions
and I realized no matter how hard I
tried I could not please everyone yeah
that was a turning point I realized that
I had to change and what’s worse is in
the back of my mind there was a little
voice that kept saying when you work for
the applause of others you put your life
in the hands of another now that’s scary
so I decided I had to make choices that
night and the first choice was easy I
was not going back to sleep the second
choice was tougher I wanted to answer
those darn questions that woke me up
that night the first one was Who am I
have you ever tried to write that it was
impossible so I skipped it I went on to
the next question what is my purpose in
life and I realized I could dream there
because you know I had known good
leaders and their impact and I’ve seen
not-so-good leaders and their impact
I knew that my purpose in life was to be
the best leader that I could be so I
decided I was going to come and speak
here now I don’t think I’d have the
courage to speak with you about my life
except I know that every one of you will
take that journey within to find your
leadership and I hope that something I
share here will be a value to you one of
my biggest lessons was you must be
courageous now there are many aspects of
leadership courage I’ll share two of
them with you to be courageous
you must choose courageously you know
that your first choice your second
courageous choice is not going to turn
you in to the outstanding leader you
could be in fact mistakes will be made
and that’s the scary part
your choices could either lead to
success or failure so I discovered that
it reduces a stress when I think of each
choice as a practice and regardless of
what the results are I know I’m going to
learn then I’ve discovered the secret
question there’s only one question you
asked when you practice making choices
and that is what am I to learn from this
or what am I to learn from this mess
usually right so when you ask that
question
you cannot lose because you always learn
much more that way and your energies
focus on how I can apply what I learned
to the next steps in my journey the
second aspect of courageous choice
choices is caring courageously you know
I thought great leaders were always calm
logical always strong until the day a
young man walked into my office and told
me his child had an incurable
I had no words logic failed me we sat
together and I shared his pain and his
sadness and we cried together years
later he told me how much that minute
meant to him you see
caring courageously means showing your
heart having the compassion and empathy
for others so authentic leaders know
they must have the courage to show their
true heart well as I practiced all these
courageous things I realized I was
learning more about myself but it was
still hard to organize my thoughts until
I realized that I could describe what my
values what my strengths and what my
passions were and they helped me feel
very comfortable with myself and the
more comfortable I felt about myself the
more ready I was to learn about others
and learn about their passions their
strengths their values and when I did
you know it opened up amazing new worlds
to me because I was empathizing and
being with others you know when I
realized that that’s how I would know
more about myself I had this crazy urge
to start sharing what I learned now you
know those are just simple truths I just
shared with you but still kind of helped
somebody and luckily right in the middle
of my journey was an opportunity there
was a group of people who put together a
leadership program for the community I
joined I was so excited to share
everything I learned with them until to
my humble surprise they taught me even
more so Maria she was in the first class
and she was already a supervisor
and she wasn’t sure she was really a
leader until she discovered her values
and her top value was doing the right
thing for those people who she led and
she that doesn’t mean doing the nicest
thing doing the popular thing or doing
the easiest thing it really meant doing
the right thing for each person’s
journey she courageously made tough
decisions she resisted pressure she knew
what she had to do for each person she
focused on that and as she proceeded in
that way she became more and more sure
that she was an authentic leader Maria
has been promoted moved up in her career
and yet even now seven years later when
I meet someone who knew Maria they tell
me about the time she did the right
thing for them and I always think about
Clark when I think about strengths Clark
was a self-avowed geek I wonder how many
of you were out there like that he was
very proud of his talents there and he
went through life logically until he
joined our Leadership Program and he
discovered a strengthen stuck inside
himself he never imagined he learned
that he was good with people like you he
was good with people and he could build
strong relationships it changed how he
looked at his home his work in his
community life in fact you know about
quality time his quality time was with
anybody that he met and he worked with
so he was promoted to an IT group to
manage an IT group and he also won the
ordinary extraordinary man award in our
community when I think of people who
taught me about passion
that would be Manny Manny taught me that
it doesn’t matter what age
you can find your passion you see Manny
grew up in a loving but poor family
and sometimes at the end of the month
there was not enough to eat when he was
in high school history teacher said
we’re going to have a pop quiz contest
and the person who makes the best score
in that month is going to get free
pizzas you know Manny went from a C
student to an A student and he took home
those pizzas but he took home something
much more important which was he could
choose and act so he could improve his
life or the life of others
Manny grew up to be a leader in our
community but he developed a passion for
helping at-risk kids and when he joined
our leadership program his goal was to
develop a leadership program for at-risk
kids within a year of when he completed
the program he’d found enough sponsors
to make his dream a reality you know I
learned so much from those three people
and the other leaders that I realize it
is for all of us
critical to understand our values our
passions and our strengths in order to
take that journey and be able to answer
our own tough questions before they wake
you up in the middle of the night as for
me my original purpose which was to be
the best leader that I could be it’s
bloomed into helping others be the best
leader that they can be and I hope when
you start your journey
move along your journey to find that
leader within you that you will agree
with Picasso the brilliant artist who
said the meaning of life is to find your
gift and the purpose of life is to give
it away
[Applause]
up in bed I’m my mind is racing I’m
totally stressed my husband wakes and
asked what’s wrong and I say Who am I
and what is my purpose in life you know
what he said perfect
he said I’ll go back to sleep and that’s
when I realized that whether you’re a
realist like my husband or a dreamer
like me you will ask that question of
yourself sometime during your life now
that evening I realize that I’d been
floating through life you know I was
working hard having fun and making
choices to please others then life got
complicated
I floated into some leadership positions
and I realized no matter how hard I
tried I could not please everyone yeah
that was a turning point I realized that
I had to change and what’s worse is in
the back of my mind there was a little
voice that kept saying when you work for
the applause of others you put your life
in the hands of another now that’s scary
so I decided I had to make choices that
night and the first choice was easy I
was not going back to sleep the second
choice was tougher I wanted to answer
those darn questions that woke me up
that night the first one was Who am I
have you ever tried to write that it was
impossible so I skipped it I went on to
the next question what is my purpose in
life and I realized I could dream there
because you know I had known good
leaders and their impact and I’ve seen
not-so-good leaders and their impact
I knew that my purpose in life was to be
the best leader that I could be so I
decided I was going to come and speak
here now I don’t think I’d have the
courage to speak with you about my life
except I know that every one of you will
take that journey within to find your
leadership and I hope that something I
share here will be a value to you one of
my biggest lessons was you must be
courageous now there are many aspects of
leadership courage I’ll share two of
them with you to be courageous
you must choose courageously you know
that your first choice your second
courageous choice is not going to turn
you in to the outstanding leader you
could be in fact mistakes will be made
and that’s the scary part
your choices could either lead to
success or failure so I discovered that
it reduces a stress when I think of each
choice as a practice and regardless of
what the results are I know I’m going to
learn then I’ve discovered the secret
question there’s only one question you
asked when you practice making choices
and that is what am I to learn from this
or what am I to learn from this mess
usually right so when you ask that
question
you cannot lose because you always learn
much more that way and your energies
focus on how I can apply what I learned
to the next steps in my journey the
second aspect of courageous choice
choices is caring courageously you know
I thought great leaders were always calm
logical always strong until the day a
young man walked into my office and told
me his child had an incurable
I had no words logic failed me we sat
together and I shared his pain and his
sadness and we cried together years
later he told me how much that minute
meant to him you see
caring courageously means showing your
heart having the compassion and empathy
for others so authentic leaders know
they must have the courage to show their
true heart well as I practiced all these
courageous things I realized I was
learning more about myself but it was
still hard to organize my thoughts until
I realized that I could describe what my
values what my strengths and what my
passions were and they helped me feel
very comfortable with myself and the
more comfortable I felt about myself the
more ready I was to learn about others
and learn about their passions their
strengths their values and when I did
you know it opened up amazing new worlds
to me because I was empathizing and
being with others you know when I
realized that that’s how I would know
more about myself I had this crazy urge
to start sharing what I learned now you
know those are just simple truths I just
shared with you but still kind of helped
somebody and luckily right in the middle
of my journey was an opportunity there
was a group of people who put together a
leadership program for the community I
joined I was so excited to share
everything I learned with them until to
my humble surprise they taught me even
more so Maria she was in the first class
and she was already a supervisor
and she wasn’t sure she was really a
leader until she discovered her values
and her top value was doing the right
thing for those people who she led and
she that doesn’t mean doing the nicest
thing doing the popular thing or doing
the easiest thing it really meant doing
the right thing for each person’s
journey she courageously made tough
decisions she resisted pressure she knew
what she had to do for each person she
focused on that and as she proceeded in
that way she became more and more sure
that she was an authentic leader Maria
has been promoted moved up in her career
and yet even now seven years later when
I meet someone who knew Maria they tell
me about the time she did the right
thing for them and I always think about
Clark when I think about strengths Clark
was a self-avowed geek I wonder how many
of you were out there like that he was
very proud of his talents there and he
went through life logically until he
joined our Leadership Program and he
discovered a strengthen stuck inside
himself he never imagined he learned
that he was good with people like you he
was good with people and he could build
strong relationships it changed how he
looked at his home his work in his
community life in fact you know about
quality time his quality time was with
anybody that he met and he worked with
so he was promoted to an IT group to
manage an IT group and he also won the
ordinary extraordinary man award in our
community when I think of people who
taught me about passion
that would be Manny Manny taught me that
it doesn’t matter what age
you can find your passion you see Manny
grew up in a loving but poor family
and sometimes at the end of the month
there was not enough to eat when he was
in high school history teacher said
we’re going to have a pop quiz contest
and the person who makes the best score
in that month is going to get free
pizzas you know Manny went from a C
student to an A student and he took home
those pizzas but he took home something
much more important which was he could
choose and act so he could improve his
life or the life of others
Manny grew up to be a leader in our
community but he developed a passion for
helping at-risk kids and when he joined
our leadership program his goal was to
develop a leadership program for at-risk
kids within a year of when he completed
the program he’d found enough sponsors
to make his dream a reality you know I
learned so much from those three people
and the other leaders that I realize it
is for all of us
critical to understand our values our
passions and our strengths in order to
take that journey and be able to answer
our own tough questions before they wake
you up in the middle of the night as for
me my original purpose which was to be
the best leader that I could be it’s
bloomed into helping others be the best
leader that they can be and I hope when
you start your journey
move along your journey to find that
leader within you that you will agree
with Picasso the brilliant artist who
said the meaning of life is to find your
gift and the purpose of life is to give
it away
[Applause]
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