Rushmorean Servant Leadership
Christ’s Entry Into Brussels
James Ensor
I was prompted today to write about servant leadership; or really leading from where you are. Really I guess I am combining three important concepts to leadership here, but I believe they are not mutually exclusive. First, I believe leaders must be servants, not title holders. Second, I believe everyone must have the ability to lead from where they are, and finally, I believe we must use Christ’s model and lead from the middle.
Let’s explore my three thoughts. As leaders we lose the right to be selfish. Leadership is about serving others, not wielding power because of a title. Great leaders please others, not themselves. The great leaders I admire add value to others’ lives. We should also, as effective leaders, emulate Christ’s model. Finally, as a servant leader we must remain life-long learners and teachable. As the saying goes, “Leaders are Learners.”
Every day when I walk into school, I remind myself that it is not about me. It is about everyone else that I serve. My goal is to make myself the most dispensable person in the building. Imagine how effective our team will be if every person is empowered and has been given the personal, professional growth to lead, educate, and operationalize everything in our high school.
Additionally, I believe we must lead from where we are. I am a card-carrying believer that every person in our high school is a leader – from the person who empties the trash to the students, the teachers, and right to me. I learn from someone in those groups each and every day. Wheatley (2007) promoted a more unstructured style of leadership, which promotes self-organization. She contended that most leaders use control and imposition rather than a self-organizing process (Wheatley, 2007). I believe the more control is imposed on people and situations the more they are made uncontrollable. Wheatley (2007) considered self-organizing systems to have the capacity to create for themselves the aspects of organizations that we thought authoritarian leaders had to provide. Therefore, it is important for leaders to create a culture where individuals are free and the need to create is met (Wheatley, 1992, 2007).
We really need to move from leader-centered organizations to leadership-centered organizations. There must, in my opinion, be a sharing of leadership responsibilities. Schultz (2011) asserted that by flattening the hierarchy and moving toward a shared leadership model, positive outcomes result from a reciprocal influence between leaders and followers. This is the concept I mentioned as my third concept of Christ’s model of leading from the middle. Schultz (2011) recommended sharing leadership with others. This is really important on two fronts – 1. I want everyone in our organization to be empowered to provide leadership anytime they see a need; and, 2. I want to be leading from within right along side everyone, not out in front where I can’t see what is going on. From the middle I can help pull people along and can also help push. Effective leaders are hands-on and operational giving them the situational awareness necessary to be curious, learn, and take action.
I included the image of my favorite painting in this post – Christ’s Entry Into Brussels, by James Ensor. I was first introduced to this painting when I read Leading Change: Overcoming the Ideology of Comfort and the Tyranny of Custom by James O’Toole (1995). This book is displayed in my office as one of the top five literary influences on my life. In this book O’Toole introduces the idea of values-based leadership that he calls, Rushmorean Leadership. Based off of the leaders chiseled into Mount Rushmore. As O’Toole said: “I prefer to think of the four as the best representatives of a school of values-based leadership dedicated to democratic change” (O’Toole, 1995, p.21). It is important to think about how all four Presidents led: they listened to others, encouraged dissenting opinion, empowered authority to their subordinates, and led by example instead of power, title, manipulation, or coercion.
Now, back to the painting by Ensor. If you enlarge it you will find Christ in the middle where we always find Christ, among us. Look close at the painting and you will find him in the middle of chaos, just like most of us lead in every day. Remember, he led by becoming one of us and teaching us among us. He would not have had to do this, but it was the only way. He led by example, he listens, and he empowers us each and every day to be the best we can be to serve. Take a moment and reflect on your role as a servant leader. Would O’Toole call you Rushmorean? Are you leading from the middle like Christ?
References
O’Toole, J. (1995). Leading change: Overcoming the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Schultz, D. (2011). Sharing leadership. Leadership Excellence, 28(2), 16-17.
Wheatley, M.J. (1992). Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization from an orderly universe. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Wheatley, M.J. (2007). Finding our way: Leadership for an uncertain time. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Win The Day!
My “Win The Day!” Plaque Made By My Son, Heath
It seems like such a simple phrase, but “Win The Day!” has really become my mantra as a principal of a turnaround academy. I must admit that it was actually my son, Heath, that turned me on to this phrase and the importance of living it. Heath, at age 11, is a huge Oregon Ducks fan. He even has a goal of playing for the Ducks, whose mantra is “Win The Day!” It really has even become a part of the University of Oregon football program. Heath has studied the program and has taught me what it means to them.
Win The Day!
Chip Kelly’s top-ranked Oregon Ducks claim “Win the Day” as their motto. It’s splashed on a Eugene billboard, in the locker room and in giant letters on the players’ entrance to Autzen Stadium. With the Ducks’ offense smoking opponents and Kelly inspiring a gurulike following, “Win the Day” has become a team identity, a fan rallying cry and even a brand. “To me, it means you take care of what you can control, and what we can control is today,” Kelly said. “I think people too often look way down the road — you know, ‘I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to be conference champion, national champion.’ If you don’t take care of Tuesday, that’s not going to happen.”
‘Win the Day” resonates with me, because to accomplish stuff, you have to focus on the day. As a leader, I need all of our team of teachers and staff to hone in like a laser on those things that we have control of and that we can do today. My most treasured item in my office is three foot piece of 2×4 that my son found in the garage and made into a “Win The Day” plaque for me. Heath painted it in Emmerich Manual High School colors. Trust me, I look at it every day. I even have teachers who come into my office and touch it like the Oregon Ducks players do.
Winning the day can mean many things, but to me it means giving all I have every day and making the most out of the things I can control. As a leader, I owe it to all those I serve to “Win The Day!”
Tending The Leadership Fire
Last night as we sat around the fire visiting, my son, Heath, asked a very astute question. He asked: “Dad, why won’t one log burn? It takes several to make a fire.” This was a great question and I explained that fire needs a “critical mass” in order to burn well. Just one log sitting in a stove will not ignite or burn. You must first establish a good draft in the chimney or fire pit and a good bed of red-hot embers to achieve a good burn.
A good Flame means a good Fire – Much of the heat from wood is in the form of the gases we know as “smoke”. If you burn your stove improperly, lots of unburnt smoke will escape up the chimney and cause excess creosote (tar) formation on your chimney and also pollute the great outdoors. A proper fire BURNS this smoke. In general you should always see a flame on your fire. This is a simple gauge of whether you are burning properly. A smokey fire is a dirty and inefficient one!
Leave some space between the wood – Musicians say “it’s not the notes we play that make great music, it’s the spaces between the notes”…same with a fire. Cris-Crossing your wood or placing odd-shaped pieces in the fire help the airflow through your stove or fireplace.
Now think about all the qualities and requirements of a good fire I just included above. Do we not need all the same qualities when tending our leadership fire?
It is nice to sit and watch the fire, watch the flames flicker but soon if you only watch and don’t feed your fire it dies down. You start to feel the chill back in the air. You must get up and put on another log on the fire. As leaders, we must have the situational awareness to make sure our organizational fire is stoked with the right people all burning together as a roaring learning organization.
You need to feel like a roaring fire about getting a sale, about new members and about helping others. That is true leadership. You are cheating yourself if you are not feeding the fire. When you have a good fire going people feel that. They want to join and work with you. They feel the warmth, peace and security.
Discipline is required so the flames within you and the others in your organization never die down to an ember. Be a pro, be a leader and keep the fire growing within yourself and those you lead. Do not let the fire burn down to coals that need a poke to get started again.
Examine yourself. Be honest. Do you have your fire blazing everyday? You need to put logs on your fire to keep it going. Be possessed by your fire. Do the things required to succeed. Work at your situational awareness, work with your team; educate yourself, read each day. You can’t just sit back and watch the fire. It will go out. It has to be fed. One log by itself will not burn with any heat or intensity. Each day you need to put logs on your and your organization’s figurative fire.
Stay focused on your goals. Stay focused on your organization’s goals. Be aware of how you can tend to the goals of those you lead. Think of how it feels to reach those goals.
Keep your leadership fire burning bright!
Tend your organization’s leadership fire!
Learn From The Day!
I just finished Cal Ripken, Jr.’s book, Get In The Game: Eight Elements of Perserverence That Make The Difference (2007). It was an incredible book on leadership and learning! There were so many takeaways, but the one that stood out the greatest was Ripken’s (2007) formula for learning – Awareness >; Curiosity >; Learning. This was an incredible formula that he described.
When you are aware of something you get curious. This curiosity leads to learning. We must strive to be aware of those things we don’t know. More importantly, however, we need to be aware of those things around us we need to be curious of. In my case this awareness may be what is happening with the culture of my school, new ways to bridge the learning gap with students, or more effective ways to lead. I am always curious and spend time reading, collaborating with others, and studying to satisfy this curiosity with learning.
I was particularly touched by the phrase that Ripken (2007) quoted from his father, Cal Ripken, Sr., who said: “Get in the game. Do the best you can. Try to make a contribution. LEARN FROM THE DAY. Apply it to tomorrow” (Ripken, 2007, p. 247). My favorite sentence there is, “Learn from the day!” We need to remember to take time and reflect each day on what we have learned.
My challenge to you is to be AWARE, be CURIOUS, and LEARN FROM THE DAY!
Proverbs 29:18
For the second week in a row I am going to reference a Bible verse. I received an email from one of our teachers this week thanking me for the leadership I have been providing. I really appreciated the email, but also appreciated the reminder of what it says in Proverbs 29:18: “where there is no vision, the people perish but blessed is he who keeps the law.” It was great to see this reference in his email.
I love references to Proverbs because I read a chapter a day, as there are 31 chapters. Perfect for a daily reading. I learned this from reading Steven Scott’s The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: King Solomon’s Secrets To Success, Wealth, and Happiness.
This reference was so appreciated because I believe having a vision is so important. More important than the vision is the action. You can plan and visualize all you want, but until you “do” nothing happens. We have a vision for a great school for our students and are working very hard to provide that.
Am I Done? No!
The Horizon Has No Boundary
Yesterday (September 29, 2012) I had the honor of addressing the graduates of the Northwest Indiana Campus of the University of Phoenix on the beautiful campus of Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana as their keynote speaker. Earlier in the summer I addressed the University of Phoenix graduates of the Indianapolis campus with a speech I titled “It’s Not All About You!” When asked to serve as the keynote speaker again for another campus I asked what they wanted me to focus on. They told me to give the same speech I had in Indianapolis. I featured that speech in my blog on July 4th. To read the speech click here.
The University of Phoenix has an incredible graduation ceremony which features graduates reflecting on their experience with the university. I was moved by the student speakers yesterday. One, Sherri Green, told about how she had gotten tired of training individuals with degrees to take her jobs. She then told how she started her degree and then was in an accident and had to fight through a long rehabilitation to finish her associates degree. Throughout her speech she kept referring back to a question – “Am I Done?” Then she would say, “No!” She finished her speech with “Am I Done?” “No,” she continued, “I have now started my Bachelor’s Degree!” I was so moved because my speech of “It’s Not All About You!” could easily be retitled “Am I Done? No!” because I spent a great deal of time talking about a very important point – YOU MUST BE READY FOR WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW YOU NEED TO BE READY FOR!
This also goes right along with my new definition of a Lifelong Learner: Education continues an unfinished past into the future. Think about it; this applies to all of us. We all have an unfinished past. As James P. Carse put it in the tremendous book Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life As Play and Possibility (Carse, 1986) one never reaches a horizon. It is not a line; it has no place; it encloses no field; its location is always relative to the view. One can therefore never be close to one’s horizon, though one may certainly have a short range of vision, a narrow horizon.
Those of us who live life as an infinite game see life as theatrical and never ending. We see our death happening while we are living. The finite see it happening at the end of life. “We are never somewhere in relation to the horizon since the horizon moves with our vision” (Carse, 1986). In other words, every move I make is toward the horizon not toward a boundary. As Carse (1986) put it: “Who lives horizontally is never somewhere, but always in passage.” I am hoping you are like me and what to live horizontally, because; I AM NOT DONE!
Reference
Carse, J. P. (1986). Finite and infinite games: A vision of life as play and possibility. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Mind Vs. Brain
I just finished reading Walter Isaacson’s Einstein. Besides being a great read, I learned so much from reading this book. From an educator’s perspective I found it amazing that Einstein always believed that he had no special talent – he was just as he said, “passionately curious.” This points to the important fact that we have a tremendous obligation to help our students develop and find their curiosity. Einstein posited that the brain was wired and set up as it was, but we all have the ability to develop the mind.
It is important for us to develop and create minds that question. Individuals with intuition and imagination are crucial to our future. The locksmith of the atom and universe also realized that power without wisdom is deadly. The events of the time that Einstein lived was proof of this. Along with developing the free mind and curiosity we must have tolerance and humility. Einstein was a very humble man and we can all learn a lot from his example!
Mending Fences
As most of you know I live on a farm. My son raises Jersey dairy cows so one of the jobs that periodically has to happen is fence maintenance. I got to thinking how true this is in leadership of organizations as well. There are basically four jobs my son and I were doing:
#1. Checking for areas that needed maintenance or repair.
#2. Tightening up loose wires (we have high tensile fence).
#3. Replacing fence staples that had popped out (the fence staples hold the high tensile wire to the posts).
#4. Cleaning out and spraying weeds around the fence.
If these four maintenance items are taken care of regularly a fence will remain strong and do it’s job. Let’s look at each of these actions individually and compare them to leadership in an organization.
Checking of Areas of Needed Maintenance/Repair
Marzano (2005) calls this situational awareness and has it as #2o on his list of 21 Responsibilities of a Leader. Situational awareness is knowledge of what is going on in the school (or organization), feelings and emotions, day to day activities. This will allow the leader to anticipate any issues, or be better prepared should a situation arise (Marzano, 2005). It is very important that we, as leaders, know what is going on in our organizations. We must be out checking the fences, so to speak, knowing what is going on. As I always say, “People by day, paperwork at night.”
Tightening Up Loose Wires
Our high Tensile fence makes use of eight wires (heavy gauge) that are tightened to give them strength. Loose wires encourage the animal to try to go through. Because I believe in the flattened hierarchy of the learning organization (Garvin, 2000) I really believe in a tight-loose approach to leadership. Successful organizations ensure every person, regardless of position, has a clear understanding of what the vision and mission is and the ability and the opportunity to achieve the goals and drive results. Movement toward a tight-loose culture, which is high on clarity and empowerment, enables all employees to lead from where they are and be effective ambassadors for their organization.
Replacing Fence Staples That Have Popped Out
This may mean at times we may need to bring new people in to replace employees that just aren’t getting it done or provide professional development to get individuals back on track. This goes back to my first point of being situationally aware of what is going on.
Removing the Weeds
This point is so important to leading an organization. Weed removal is analagous to leading in a complex organization. Just as the fence needs a clear pathway to realize it’s full potential, so do our team members. An ideal environment contains the correct mixture of diversity, climate, capability, and potential. The key is to cultivate them and diligently remove the competition (weeds) and through really understanding (situational awareness) their different needs, build lasting relationships.
Hopefully, these four points of fence mending and maintenance can help you do a better job of maintaining your organization!
References
Garvin, D. A. (2000). Learning in action: A guide to putting the learning organization to work. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Marzano, R. J. (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Twas The Night Before!
“Make It Happen”
Well here we are the Saturday before school starts at Emmerich Manual High School. As the new principal of one of the state’s turnaround academies I am so excited to finally have students here on Monday morning. I am so excited about our ADVANTAGE: Putting Students First!
For this week’s post I would like to share with you the letter I put in our first newsletter that will be given to the students on Monday. Here it is:
Hello Emmerich Manual High School students, parents, and community stakeholders,
It is with great excitement and anticipation that I write this first entry in our school newsletter! On Monday, August 6, we officially begin our partnership for the critically important task of providing highly effective learning for the students of Emmerich Manual High School. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to serve as your Principal. I want you to know I am excited to be taking this journey with you.
As a teacher my mission statement was always “to be a steward of high student achievement and performance through rigor, relevance, and relationships.” These will continue to be cornerstones that I believe are very important to highly effective teaching for our students. I would also add the fourth “R” of “Results Driven.” If we truly put our students first we will be victorious in this endeavor together and our students will win the results of high student achievement and performance and being college and career ready.
In my office I have a picture titled “Make It Happen.” The inscription reads: “Greatness is not where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – But sail we must, and not drift, nor lie at anchor,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes. This picture has a brass plate with the inscription: Emmerich Manual High School Advantage: Putting Students First, additionally, the picture is matted in such a way to have signatures put on it. I am having all staff sign this picture as a reminder that everything we do will be driven by putting our students first.
This is going to be a very exciting year. We have an incredible staff and enthusiastic and well-prepared teachers that will be facilitating engaging learning for our students. Also, I cannot wait for our athletic seasons to start, especially with the return of football.
Please know I am proud to be serving as your principal; this will be an exciting journey as we sail toward putting the students of Emmerich Manual High School first!
Positively,
Byron L. Ernest, Principal
It’s Not All About You!
Last Saturday, June 30, 2012, I had the distinct honor of addressing the graduates of the University of Phoenix with the keynote graduation address. It was such an honor to address the the 2,500 in attendance and I would like to share my speech with you here:
Members of the University of Phoenix Class of 2012:
This experience, as your keynote graduation speaker, very much like my career in education was not a goal that I set out to accomplish. Instead, because of the collaboration of many others, has been just like my career in education – an incredible journey that I will value forever – a journey that has led me in front of you today.
There was no epiphany when I said, “I am going to be a teacher!”
There was no pressure from home to be a third generation educator. There was no epiphany where I said, “I am going to be Indiana’s Teacher of the Year or Principal of Emmerich Manual High School, one of Indiana’s first turnaround academies.”
What I had were fans, a supportive front line, and a great coaching staff. Let me explain why I use the football analogy here. I had the opportunity a few years ago to meet and visit with Terry Bradshaw, the storied quarterback for the Pittsburg Steelers. He told me a story that has turned into one of the greatest educational and leadership lessons I know. Here’s what he said, “Byron, I was standing on the four yard line ready to score a touchdown in my fourth Super Bowl win, knowing this would be my last game before my retirement. I took a timeout and did not go to the sideline but spun around and looked at all of the fans, I looked over at our bench and coaches, and then I looked at my offensive line who had given me so much protection and opened up holes for so many huge plays to happen, and finally I looked over at my running backs and receivers who always made me look good.” Byron, he continued, “I realized right then and there that my amazing professional football career was not about me. It was about something much bigger – all those others that I just spun around and looked to.”
Today for you, just like Terry Bradshaw’s experience, is much bigger than just you. In fact as much as today is about celebrating your personal achievement of graduation – it’s not all about you. It’s about having a strong support network that I know supported you in this process. You know who that support network is – it is the faculty, friends, and family – make sure you thank them. In fact I would like for you to stand right now and join me in giving that support network a hand.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to understand what I have said and continue to say about my educational experience and career – It is much bigger than me. Hopefully my journey of ending up in front of you today can serve as a platform for others to follow.
Why is this bigger than me? Let me share with you my story of how I even ended up in education. I became a teacher because a professor at Purdue University cared, and pulled me into his office for a conversation one day that would change my life forever. Dr. Hobe Jones, my Purdue University Animal Science professor and counselor, said, “Byron, have you ever considered a career in teaching?” After giving what was probably a Hannah Montana type response of “You say what?” He knew I had not considered this as an option. After I promptly told him I had come to Purdue in Animal Science, and was going to graduate on time (keep in mind this was the spring semester of my sophomore year) he said, “Byron you are a great student and I will make sure you graduate on time.” Reluctantly, I agreed to graduate from Purdue with two B.S. Degrees. One which I never thought I would use – Agricultural Education and the other in Animal Science. It is interesting that with the focus now on content area mastery, I look back and really value my Animal Science Degree because it gave me the extra content area mastery to succeed during the teaching part of my career. It is Dr. Jones’ caring guidance that I tried to emulate every day as a teacher and now as a principal of an inner city school.
Can you imagine if I would have had to plan out my life’s journey in exact detail at the time Dr. Jones was recommending I become a teacher? Why, I would have had that all screwed up. It’s about BEING PREPARED FOR WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR. Let me say that one more time – It’s about BEING PREPARED FOR WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR.
You have made the first step in achieving this by graduating in your chosen field of study today. But make no mistake, your diploma is not an award, it is a ticket – a ticket to an incredible journey of giving back and continued learning! As the late John Wooden put so eloquently, “Its what you learn after you know it all that counts!”
Let’s break that giving back down by first looking at the University of Phoenix Mission and Purpose: University of Phoenix provides access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the productivity of their organizations and provide leadership and service to their communities. Notice it did not say that the University of Phoenix would award you a diploma, and you could then go have a party!
I’m not saying that is not allowed, but I am saying we need to take a look at how you now live out the mission and purpose by which the University of Phoenix facilitated your education.
Let’s break this down into three parts. #1. Access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals. As you graduate, University of Phoenix has done their job for the first part of the mission and purpose, but only to the extent of your professional goals today. Realistically, those may change, or even be changed for you tomorrow. Again, remember what I said earlier, YOU MUST BE PREPARED FOR WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR! The beauty of this is you have been empowered with the foundational knowledge to become or continue to be a lifelong learner. My challenge to you is to never be satisfied! Continue to take on educational challenges. We all need to be pushed.
Let me share one of my favorite parables. It is about the King who stood upon the banks of a mighty river with his daughter, the princess. His courageous warriors stood on the opposing bank.
The king knew that he would not live forever and so he wanted a prince who could lead his kingdom. He issued a decree: “I am looking for a brave warrior, a leader among men!” A roar rose over the raging rapids of the mighty crocodile-infested river. “I have a challenge!” Whoever shall swim across this river shall have all my riches and my daughter’s hand in marriage or anything else his heart desires.” The princess was a beautiful and brilliant young woman; the king possessed untold riches in gold and diamonds; but there was that river – that raging, crocodile-infested river…
The warriors looked at one another, exchanged wary glances, and suddenly – splash! A hole appeared in their ranks. They noticed one of their own, a young warrior, in the river, fighting desperately to make the crossing. As the crocs slithered into the water, headed toward the young man, a collective shout sounded over both banks: the young man swam! His arms pumped, his back flexed, his legs churned the water like propellers. The roar grew louder as the young man disappeared into the undertow and emerged again – pursued by the razor-toothed, prehistoric-looking reptiles. With one last burst he catapulted out of the river and onto the bank, grasping the hand of the king himself, who’d reached down to pull the young man out of the river.
The young warrior stood for just a moment until, overcome with emotion and fatigue, his hands dropped to his knees. The king at that moment raised the young man’s hand high into the air. In a booming voice, he announced, “Young man, you made it. You succeeded against all odds. You may have all my riches and my daughter’s hand in marriage.”
The young man looked at the king and the warriors back on the distant bank before speaking. “Your highness,” he said, “you are a wealthy and benevolent man” – his chest heaved as he paused to catch his breath – “and your daughter is beautiful, indeed…” He hunched over and, now facing the cheering warriors he had left on the far bank, shouted: “All I want is the fool that pushed me into the water!”
You’ve been pushed. Now swim like your life depends on it!
Now let’s look at mission and purpose #2. Improve the productivity of their organizations. I believe that one of the most important functions of any institution, no matter what level – k-16 and beyond, is to teach students to learn to learn. I know this is how University of Phoenix empowers their learners. No matter where your career is now or will take you, you must practice learning to learn and the sharing of that knowledge in the truest sense of a learning organization.
In his book, Power: Why Some People Have It – And Others Don’t Jeffrey Pfeffer calls it “Feedforward,” which emphasizes what people need to do to get ready for the subsequent positions and career challenges they will confront…focusing on what you need to change to accomplish future personal goals can be much more uplifting than going back and reviewing past setbacks or considering areas of weakness.
Finally, #3. Provide leadership and service to their communities. This one is of the upmost importance. You all have an obligation to become agents of social change. In other words, set out to make a life – not just a living. When you make a living, you pay your bills. When you make a life, you pay your debt. We all have a debt to be an agent of social change.
Now I want to recap a couple of things. Don’t forget you must prepare for what you don’t know to be prepared for. Also you must learn to learn. And you must set out to make a life, not just a living. Make sure you are walking the talk and always remember you have the ability to at any time do what I call Byron’s three “R’s” of life: Retool, Reposition, and Re-Launch. By Retooling, Repositioning, and Re-launching, you become the lifelong learner that is always prepared for the next opportunity.
Why is this bigger than you and me? We must always remember that we are successful as leaders not due to solitary efforts, but due to organizational and collaborative success. I would like to close with a poem that I believe sums up everything I have been trying to say today:
Wreckers or Builders
I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
As the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”
And I tho’t to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?
Thank you for allowing me to have this BIGGER THAN ME experience and be part of your graduation!
Byron's Babbles 
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