A Leadership Gumbo

During my trip to Boston this week, much of my time was spent discussing leadership. These discussion included reviews of many of the most popular books on leadership in circulation today. They include "The 8th Habit" by Stephen Covey, "The Art of Possibility" by Zander & Zander, "The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership" by Sample. I learned so much from our discussion as well as the presentations given by my cadre mates. I also spent time listening to a brief lecture by Ben Zander, author of "The Art of Possibility" and conductor of the Boston Symphony. He was outstanding. I learned so much from his simply being.

One thing I know for sure after this weekend. Leadership is Spirituality and Spirituality is Leadership. I also convinced myself that there is no one way to lead. There may be styles or theories that are better than others but there is no one way. I also learned that most of the authors share the same idea of leadership. They simply use different language and methods to present their understanding. Much like most religions. They all pretty much are rooted in the same principles. The language, customs, culture are what differ.

I recognize now that I am leader. I understand what makes a leader. And now I am off to BE a leader.

Kai Dupe

Your Life Has Been Insignificant

Last night I spent a few hours of my life viewing the movie "Lean on Me". The story of a trouble high school in New Jersey circa 1986. It stars Morgan Freeman and it is one of my favorite movies ever. I actually own a copy of the film. As part of my leadership studies at Pepperdine we were instructed to view the film and look for examples of different leadership styles that we have studied. Well my mind was set afire in the first few opening minutes of the film.

In one of the opening scenes Dr. Napier is efforting to convince Joe Clark to accept the position of Principal at the trouble school, but Mr. Clark is hesitant. They have a heated exchange and Dr. Napier says to Joe Clark -- "Your life has been insignificant". The world is not one iota better than before you got here. Your life has not made one bit of difference" Or something to that effect. That really got me to thinking. What have I contributed to the world? Have I indeeed made a difference. Sure, I have done some good things, and certainly I have a few accomplishments and achievements of which I am quite proud. But have I made an impact in the world? That is a different question.

It is one that I am still pondering. One thing is for sure. As I re-spond and make decisions in the future about what I am doing, this question will be at the forefront of all of my decision making.

Kai Dupé