was reading two books in preparation for an opportunity to extend the lifelong learning experiences, and here are a few quotes (with emphasis added) that appeared in the first book which i found personally meaningful:
“You’re recently promoted. You’re now a vice-president or a provost or a department supervisor. Now the work begins. You haven’t arrived, and you’ve only begun to travel. In the same way, having children means only that the work of becoming a parent has begun. The biological event is very different from the love and commitment, the skinned knees and dirty diapers …… the sacrifices for tuition and music lessons, the laughter and the tears — these kinds of things add up to earning the title ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’. One becomes a leader, I believe, through doing the work of a leader. It’s often difficult and painful and sometimes even unrewarding, and it’s work …… I hope that you, too, will discover that so much of leadership is music from the heart.”
(De Pree, 2008, p.9-10)
“The promises we make as leaders must resonate with our beliefs and values. Otherwise they ring false, and people know it. In our lives as leaders, we frequently find ourselves in situations where skill and technique fail us. At times, professional qualifications simply aren’t enough. We need to resort to deeper resources, resources beyond technique and the jargon of seminars, resources rooted in our beliefs and values. It behooves us, then, to find our voices.”
(De Pree, 2008, p.28)
“Vision is the basis for the best kind of leadership. A vision exists somewhere when teams succeed. Instinctively, we most of us follow a leader who has real vision and who can transform that vision into a meaningful and hopeful strategy. I’m not talking here about next quarter’s sales targets — that is no vision. But the tenders of visions are often lonely, usually unpopular, and frequently demand that others change. People with a vision injects ambiguity and risk and uncertainty into our lives. They embark on voyages to new worlds.”
(De Pree, 2008, p.31-32)
“Moving up the hierarchy does not confer competence. This is hard to keep in mind …… A promotion likely to pan out produces temporary incompetence, the kind of awkwardness that always comes before deeper understanding. The only appropriate response to a promotion is ‘Good grief, have I got a lot to learn now!‘”
(De Pree, 2008, p.34)
“In a way, leadership is as delicate as Mozart’s melodies. The music exists and it doesn’t. It is written on the page, but it means nothing until performed and heard. Much of its effect depends on the performer and the listener. The best leaders, like the best music, inspire us to new possibilities.“
(De Pree, 2008, p.38)
Reference:
De Pree, M. (2008). Leadership jazz: The essential elements of a great leader. New York: Crown Business.
a view of yesterday’s dawn