Which Leader has inspired you?
Here is a discussion topic on self or personal motivation.
Which inspirational leader, past or present, have you modeled your life after?
Explain, using examples and references, how this leader has helped you improve your personal or professional life, and relate your comments to the Four Principles for Purposeful Action.
This post was written by Margaux Ellis-Hall, who will lead the discussion for the week starting on March 10.
Scott, I do have to say this is an awesome statement: “I didn’t fail, I found 2000 ways NOT to make a light bulb”. So simple but inspires so to any type of the archetypes.
Jimy, it is good to see a example from your family life. sometimes it is easy to read about people from miles away not connect with them exactly but in your case this is good inspiration.
To me, the most inspirational leader is Jesus. He was a purposeful and serving leader. Although I could never fall exactly in his footsteps, he is one that I strive to model my leadership style by. Some of the important leadership lessons that I feel can be learned from Jesus are: put others first, serve others, serve unselfishly, lead with integrity, act with purpose, treat others as you would want to be treated, don’t fall into negative actions and desires, search within yourself and meditate/pray to find your vision, and always do what is right and giving. These are just a few of the lessons that can be learned from Jesus but there are so many more. The life and actions of Jesus fall directly in line with the four principles of purposeful action.
There have been many individuals within my life that have been inspirational, both on a professional level and a personal level. A true leader will go out of there way to inspire others around them. Most people learn by example and will follow others to succeed.
A previous supervisor at my job was not only committed to the company, he was committed at supporting and helping others within the company including myself to move forward. Therefore creating a positive workforce, working toward a common goal within the company.
This is an older article, 2005 so it’s out of realm of the current economic crisis, but provides an insight on why we need inspiration within the workforce of a corporation.
http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workforce-management-hiring/364164-1.html
I’ve noticed that the influential leaders chosen so far have been people that were physically present in an individual’s life as well as from the past who have left a legacy that has inspired and catapulted many nations even to a higher level of progressionn and in turn success. I have to say, with the risk of bringing religion into education, that Jesus Christ has been the most influential in my life. But, to keep it along the same lines, I’ll mention someone that had been inspirational as well as motivational in a certain phase of my life, as it’s natural for that role to be taken over by different people over the course of ones life.
One of them was my uncle, A.C. Joseph who as an ex-military aeronautical engineer has through his own practices shown me the role of discipline as well as working towards being a better gentleman all through life. I have admired his accomplishments while trying to emulate his character, and when words of encouragement came out of the same person, I gathered more confidence in myself to actually be able to get where I wanted to go in life. Mentoring as part of leadership can happen anywhere in life, which is why as a servant-leader, each of us should try to be as selfless and giving in our attitude always as that is part of our purpose here in life in light of the fourth secret of the brook and the resulting principle. I maintain that each of us can one day be written about on a blog like this by someone else, even if we’re not ultra-rich, super-powerful, or world-famous…
Jimy, I like your comments and thats was a nice story and experience.
The Peace of Christ be with you!!!!
Your uncle sounds like a good role model Jimy.
Excellent point, Jimy. I think all too often we all take for granted the inspirational individuals we come into contact with on a daily basis, including our families. In line with your example from your own life I’d say that my grandparents have been a constant source of inspiration.
I have a twin brother and my grandparents, after having raised three of their own, found themselves raising my brother and I as well from the age of 3 on. They gave up what would’ve been a calm and relaxing retirement to put up with the two of us. All that my brother and I have become is a direct result of the love and sacrifice made by my grandparents. It really was a win-win situation because we kept them young and they instilled in us traditional values and a work ethic that is just not that common with others my age.
These are some of the quotes or thoughts of ganshi which are closly related to the four principles of purposeful action.
Quotes of Gandhi
I claim no perfection for myself. But I do claim to be a passionate seeker after Truth, which is but another name for God.
Poverty is the worst form of violence.
I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. I refuse to live in other people’s houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave.
Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.
Friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is notworth the name. Friendship to be real must ever sustain the weight of honest differences, however sharp they be.
If cooperation is a duty, I hold that noncooperation also under certain conditions is equally a duty.
An ounce of practice is worth more then tons of preaching.
When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.
Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
No religion which is narrow and which cannot satisfy the test of reason, will survive the coming reconstruction of society in which the values will have changed and character, not possession of wealth, title or birth will be the test of merit.
Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good.
A ‘no’ uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
My religion is based on truth and nonviolence. Truth is my God. Nonviolence is the means of realising Him.
Let no one charge me with ever having abused or encouraged weakness or surrendered on matters of principle. But I have said, as I say again, that every trifle must not be dignified into a principle.
Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.
In mass civil resistance leadership is essential; in individual civil resistance every resister is his own leader.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Even as wisdom often comes from the mouths of babies, so does it often come from the mouths of old people. The golden rule is to test everything in the light of reason and experience, no matter from where it comes.
Noncooperation is directed not against men but against measures. It is not directed against the Governors, but against the system they administer. The roots of noncooperation lie not in hatred but in justice, if not in love.
It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.
The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of selfconfidence, bravery and tenacity.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion overriding morality. Man, for instance,cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side.
Ahimsa means not to injure any creature by thought, word or deed, not even to the supposed advantage of this creature.
Ahimsa calls for the strength and courage to suffer without retaliation, to receive blows without returning any.
I believe in confessing one’s mistakes and correcting them. Such confession strengthens one and purifies the soul.
Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the minutest details in the activities of man, and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him.
Experience teaches that animal food is unsuited to those who would curb their passions. But it is wrong to overestimate the importance of food in the formation of character or in subjugating the flesh.
It may be long before the law of love will be recognised in international affairs. The machineries of government stand between and hide the hearts of one people from those of another.
I hold that the true education of the intellect can only come through a proper exercise and training of the body. But unless the development of the mind and body goes hand in hand with a corresponding awakening of the soul, the former alone would prove to be a poor lopsided affair.
There are times when you have to obey a call which is the highest of all, i.e. the voice of conscience even though such obedience may cost many a bitter tear, and even more, separation from friends, from family, from the state to which you may belong, from all that you have held as dear as life itself. For this obedience is the law of our being.
A vow is a purely religious act which cannot be taken in a fit of passion. It can be taken only with a mind purified and composed and with God as witness.
Whenever I see an erring man, I say to myself I have also erred; when I see a lustful man I say to myself, so was I once; and in this way I feel kinship with everyone in the world and feel that I cannot be happy without the humblest of us being happy.
It is an arrogant assumption to say that human beings are lords and masters of the lower creatures. On the contrary, being endowed with greater things in life, they are the trustees of the lower kingdom.
The truest test of civilization, culture, and dignity is character, not clothing.
The real property that a parent can transmit to all equally is his or her character and educational facilities.
Civil disobedience presupposes willing obedience of our selfimposed rules, and without it civil disobedience would be cruel joke.
Disobedience to be civil has to be open and nonviolent.
Noncooperation and civil disobedience are different but [are] branches of the same tree call Satyagraha (truthforce).
Nonviolence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.
How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master’s bidding. He may torture me, break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done.
The golden rule is to act fearlessly upon what one believes to be right.
I would far rather that Hinduism died than untouchability lived.
To say that a single human being, because of his birth, becomes an untouchable, unapproachable, or invisible, is to deny God.
Suffering has its welldefined limits. Suffering can be both wise and unwise, and when the limit is reached, to prolong it would be not unwise but the height of folly.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall think of it, always.
http://www.indiavisitinformation.com/indian-personality/Quotes-of-Gandhi.shtml