I, as I’m sure many of you, am planning to call my Dad on Sunday. Thinking about him, it strikes me, that in celebrating Father’s Day what I’m really commemorating is my first, best experience of Leadership.
From my Dad I learned to honor commitments and priorities—because every day of his life, no matter what was going on at work, he came home for supper.
From my Dad I learned that girls are just as good as boys. Girls can do anything they set their minds to. I know this because my Dad let me carry his heavy toolbox, and swing a hammer, and fall off the swing set—just like my brothers.
From my Dad I learned that you are only as good as the work you do today. He was a contractor before he retired and he taught me that the house you build now has to be as solid as the house you built last week. You can’t coast on past successes, because if you do, people’s homes will collapse around them.
In honor of Father’s Day, here is more Leadership wisdom – learned at the knee of our dear old Dads:
The Power of Encouragement
My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person; he believed in me.
- Jim Valvano. Broadcaster and college basketball coach.
Cultivating people is more important than the optics of things
My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” “We’re not raising grass’,” Dad would reply, “we’re raising boys.”
- Harmon Killebrew. Baseball player.
Remember to notice and praise work that seems mundane. Your file clerk is as important as your SVP
I can live for two months on a good compliment.
- Mark Twain
Lead by example. Be kind. Work hard. Forgive mistakes
My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it.
- Clarence “Bud” Kelland. Writer
Be Generous. Share what you know with others
And lastly, one of the Father’s of our country shared this great piece of wisdom: An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
- Benjamin Franklin
About the Author: Carol Lempert
