Just like 2000 years ago, similar to the crowds who welcomed their Messiah on Palm Sunday, we grapple with the tension between what people hope leaders can and should be and the reality of who comes to lead us. Also: what question is being asked of you as a leader in your own corner of the world? — Rev Gail
You matter, you are enough, you have influence … you have a contribution to make. You have a gift others need. It will be your actions that define your impact, you are change. You matter. — Angela Maiers, New Teacher Center
Engraved on Sundial
The shadow of my finger cast
Divides the future from the past:
Before it stands the unborn hour
In darkness and beyond thy power;
Behind its unreturning line
The vanished hour, no longer thine;
One hour alone is in thy hands,
The now on which the shadow stands.
Of World Leaders
A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible … The quality of a leader cannot be judged by the answers he gives, but by the questions he asks. — Simon Sinek
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. — Henry Kissinger
The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people. — Woodrow Wilson
I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world – a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals. — attributed to Buddha
As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view. — Madeleine Albright
There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way. — Nelson Mandela
To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability. — Brene Brown
But this time, my classmates and I are going to hold them to account. This time we are going to pressure them to take action … I’m just a high school student, and I do not pretend to have all of the answers. However, even in my position, I can see that there is desperate need for change — change that starts by folks showing up to the polls and voting … — Cameron Kasky, CNN editorial
I think the journey for a politician goes from wanting to please all the people all the time, to a political leader that realises in the end his responsibility is to decide. And when he decides, he divides. — Tony Blair
We are still a nation of big dreams, yet our government is no longer able to tackle some of our toughest challenges. This lack of political willpower and capital to invest in innovation has created a unique opportunity … a major shift in American political culture in which corporate executives have the opportunity to leverage their impact to push for social change, and in which the American people will increasingly look to executives, rather than politicians, as change agents. — Alan Fleischmann, It’s Time For CEOs To Be the New Leaders of the World
The question, then, is whether the free world needs a leader. Perhaps the path forward requires collective decisions and compromises, inclusiveness and consensus, negotiation and civilized debate. It sounds boring, even weak, and the outcomes may often appear suboptimal, but freedom and strong leadership have always been a little at odds. Quiet, soft power as practiced by European nations, Canada and Japan might work better as an advertisement for democracy than U.S. assertiveness has since the end of the Cold War. — Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg View.
Blessing for Palm Sunday
— Jan Richardson
Blessed is the one
who comes to us
by the way of love
poured out with abandon.
Blessed is the one
who walks toward us
by the way of grace
that holds us fast.
Blessed is the one
who calls us to follow
in the way of blessing,
in the path of joy.