Fantastic Breakthroughs, Frustrating Failures
brand-as-business bit: “You can’t have fantastic breakthroughs without frustrating failures.”
This is the kind of encouragement we need to hear – and who better to give it than Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who’s personally experienced very public failures (including losing his first mayoral bid) as well as some “fantastic breakthroughs” (including reducing Newark’s crime rate to record lows and cutting the city’s budget deficit in half.) And so it was incredibly inspiring to hear him speak recently on “How to Change the World with Your Bare Hands.”
This is the second installment in what is turning out to be a series of posts on choice words from the Southwest Michigan First’s Catalyst 2013 conference. So much wisdom and inspiration was shared at the event – I was honored to share the stage with so many extraordinary people. I previously recounted my takeaways from Jon Acuff; I’ll probably share more from at least a couple of others. But for now, here’s how Cory challenged me:
- “The world you see outside yourself is a reflection of who you are inside.” This reminds me that not everyone shares my worldview and I need to be aware of how my personal lens might be biased.
- “Real leadership is about helping people realize how great they are.” This reminds me of how great the people around me really are, and how I should act as a servant leader to them.
- “You can accept things as they are or you can accept responsibility for changing them.” This reminds me I can choose to be a passive victim or an active participant in shaping the world around me. I choose the latter!