Mark S. Brown

Last week a friend of mine was visiting. He told me about taking his 4 year old son for a walk in the park. They were walking and his son, was intently watching an older lady that was walking toward them. When she got closer, his son started waving at her. When she passed by, his son said, “Hi!”

Afterwards, his son said, “I always say hi to older people.”

My friend asked, “Why?”

His son answered, “Because they always have a sad look, and when I say hi, their face fills up with a smile.”

Insightful for a 3 year old. Something we should all remember.

Harry Colcord had faith. I am sure you don’t recognize the name, but once you know his place in history you will agree that he had faith. Harry was the manager for Charles Blondin, also known as The Great Blondin. In 1859, Charles crossed the gorge of Niagara Falls on a tightrope. He carried Charles Blondin on his back.

How much faith would Harry Colcord need to possess in the success of Charles to cross the Niagara? You can imagine it was a immense.

How much faith do you put into people? A leader must place faith in his people. To be successful you must let each person on your team contribute to their full ability. That means letting go, and having faith that they will succeed.

People will not have faith in you as a leader, until you put your faith into them.

To successfully cross the Niagara, Charles Blondin had to have faith that Harry Colcord would not panic and plunge both of them to their death. Faith is not something you give or get easily, but it works in both directions.

What does Yves Saint Laurent, Jerry Garcia, and Herman Melville have in common? Besides great creativity, they were all born on August 1st. Some people are recognizable because of what they have accomplished, what they have stood for, or how they have impacted the world. Have you ever thought about the impact you are leaving?

John Maxwell said, “Someday people will summarize your life in a single sentence. Pick it now!” Everyone, regardless of how famous, will have their life captured in a few words. However, before you pass from this world, you can impact the words that will summerize you.

Here are some thoughts for help with your legacy:

1. How do you want people to summarize you? If you don’t know what you want to be said about you, then you can never expect people to see in you what you want them to see.

2. Live the legacy. Once you have defined your legacy, live it. Become now, what you aspire to be.

3. Let your legacy grow. You cannot reach your potential by yourself. Who will you teach, mentor, lead, to carry on your legacy? If your legacy is important, then let it live beyond yourself.

I doubt many of you can go into great detail on the life of Yves Saint Laurent. You may know who he was, and what he did, but few details. He was born in Algeria and started designing dresses in his early teens. Later, he attended a design school in Paris, where he was influenced by Christian Dior. After a brilliant career, he died in 2008 of brain cancer.

Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, “The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture’s rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable.”

What would be the one sentence you would want people to say about you?

 

Thirty-two years ago, the United States led a boycott against the Summer Olympics to protest the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Several countries joined the U.S. in the boycott, and the result is that 65 countries did not participate. Four years later, a Soviet led boycott was held against the Olympic games in Los Angeles.

The decision led by the United States affected many countries, teams, and individuals worldwide. In many cases, individual athletes from boycotting nations participated in the games under an Olympic flag instead of their countries flag. The U.S. decision had a rippling effect on subsequent decisions.

When we look backwards at decisions it is easier to see the impact, then when the decision was pending in front of us. Even though you can’t change many decisions, you can learn from them. You can also learn how to make better decisions.

Whether you think the U.S. boycott was the correct response, an appropriate response, or a weak response, you have to agree, the decision after 32 years feels different than it did at the time.