Sunday, May 20, 2018

Your character impacts many others and changes their lives – Reason 41


Leaders have a range of influence far beyond any normal person and it may even transform other people’s lives as many real life stories support this.

Within the range of the concept of influence, character is a very distinct element, because you cannot teach someone how their character should be.  Well, you may teach them, but what they will really absorb is you as an example, not your lecture.  How do you teach someone to be generous or perseverant?

There is a story of a grandmother who furnished her small beach house with very ugly and flimsy plastic furniture.  Used to her eccentricities, her grandchildren tried to tell her they weren’t good and necessary, but she refused to listen to them or to give an explanation.

It took some time for them to learn the truth and many years to understand the lesson: a neighbour single mother with two kids was desperate in need of money to buy food, so the older woman bought her tables and chairs to provide the woman with some money.  That grandmother left a powerful legacy to her grandchildren in the form of an example.

Leaders don’t give lectures to help others in their own character development, as they teach with their actions and intentions, instead of words.




(Excerpt from the book 82 Reasons to be a Leader)

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