Lessons Learned

 This blog reflects on beliefs & behaviors related to growth in leadership, integrity, kindness, and the creative.

[steveburton]

It is what it is!

How often do we hear this phrase, expressed in a sense of powerlessness; forced to conclude that we can’t change the facts of our situation.  It states the obvious, true.  But it also cedes our power, admitting defeat to the status quo, to the more powerful, or to the more connected.  Too often we allow the facts of our situation to define us, as if we have been shaped into an unchanging statue of stone.  The reality is that our ‘willingness to adapt’ is our power.  It is NOT the facts of our situation that define us, it is HOW WE RESPOND to the situation that does.  Do we respond with strength and courage, or with weakness and servitude?  Our choice is what it is!

Photo by Bluehouse Skis on Unsplash

[steveburton]

Trust is the foundation upon which great leaders bring people together. It’s not something that comes easily; its not something you can delegate; nor is it something you can mandate.  Leaders must earn trust through their behaviors, integrity, and by impassioned commitment to their team.  Most of all, they earn it by standing for something.  If you stand for nothing, you can’t be trusted.

[steveburton]

Reposting my post from earlier days.  True then, true today. 

[steveburton]

TRUMP BANS REFUGEES

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

[steveburton]

[steveburton]

At the End of the Day

Martin Luther King once said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

Today we’re asked to support a President Trump... yet I see as much evil in this man as I’ve seen in any leader of my lifetime.  I can not accept him as my President because to do so would be accepting of the evil he will perpetrate.   It would be like accepting the Presidency of Adolph Hitler, knowing that he would kill millions of innocents.  I applaud those who protest his triumph, because at the end of the day, this Presidency will lead to the pain and sorrow of millions. God help us.

[steveburton]

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.

Mahatma Gandhi

[steveburton]

“Only the little people pay taxes.”   - Leona Helmsly

When leaders believe that different rules apply to them than to their followers, they delegitimize their moral authority.  It is a slippery slope to corruption and authoritarianism.

photo courtesy of http://www.snopes.com/2016/06/23/donald-trump-rape-lawsuit/

[steveburton]

- photo courtesy of Joshua Earle via unsplash.com

[steveburton]

The Virtues of Arrogance

"I am going to do this and I don't give a crap" - Dr. Mae Jemison, NASA

When bold people walk in faith and work hard to make their dreams come true, the faithless crowd perceives arrogance. Sometimes arrogance is just faith. But the crowd doesn't live its dreams, the crowd doesn't build a business that will impact the world and the crowd doesn't live an extraordinary life.

source: Dragos Bratasanu, The Virtues of Arrogance, Huffington Post

[steveburton]

...when you want to do extraordinary with your life there is a lot of uncertainty. Very likely you are not sure what is the next right action. If you take bold leadership for your life, you need to be contrarian. Listen to your gut feeling and don't rationalize your intuition away. Because It's never the extraordinary people who do the extraordinary. It's the ordinary people like you and me who decide to step out, get up off their knees and take the journey. Because they complete the journey, ordinary people like you become extraordinary.

Dragos Bratasanu, “When the Sheep are Watching over your Mind, Huffington Post

[steveburton]

Stay relevant and current in all that you do.  It will enable you to weather the currents of the storms around you.  - Steve Burton

                              photo courtesy of Daniel Beilinson via unsplash.com

[kirstytv]

Give it a try whispered the heart… #quote #inspiration #inspire #love #heart #live #success #dreambig

[steveburton]

Parallels in Life

In 1941, FDR argued that a peaceful, prosperous, and secure world is founded upon four essential human freedoms. 

1. Freedom of Speech

2. Freedom of Worship

3. Freedom from Want

4. Freedom from Fear

Similarly, an innovative and prosperous company is founded upon four essential human freedoms.

1. Freedom to Speak

2. Freedom to Think

3. Freedom to Act

4. Freedom to Fail

The parallels between our ability to experience these freedoms in work and life are striking as they address the heart of creative expression and human existence.  We all have an innate need to build, create, and express ourselves and we thrive best when we can do this without fear, repression, and intolerance.  - Steve Burton

[steveburton]

Many consider their lives as somehow being beyond their immediate control. We glumly complain, “I suppose it’s destiny.” Yet we each have it in our power to influence our outcomes, both positively and negatively. Live life purposely to shape your character through actions and words; but most importantly think good thoughts that seek to make the world a better place.

                                       photo compliments of Joshua Earle via unsplash.com

[steveburton]

Believe in yourself and do not fear the unknown.  Fear and uncertainty will pull you under and drown your ambitions.  Don’t settle.

[steveburton]

Think outside of the box, create your own path in life.

                                  photo courtesy of Vladimir Kudinov via unsplash.com

[steveburton]

A Fraternity of Failure

“Simply raising questions about the orthodoxies of the moment leads to excommunication, from which there is no coming back. So the only “experts” left standing are those who made all the approved mistakes. It’s kind of a fraternity of failure: men and women united by a shared history of getting everything wrong, and refusing to admit it.”  

        - Paul Krugman, from NY Times, A Fraternity of Failure

While Krugman is doing his usual hammering of the Republican party, he could also be talking about Corporate Executive culture in general.