LiveBlogging from the closing session:
Barry: Cynicism is the greatest barrier these days. I enjoy Dilbert as much as anyone, but it is the constant repetition of this message and it causes a lot of us to be cynical. Makes the rest of us seem like real idiots for believing anyone else. It is that feeling, I can't trust you--I think that skepticism in our leaders is a hurdle we have to get over.
The second thing is that we've lost in a large part of our society is grace and forgiveness. Do something we've never done before and we're not always going to get it right every time. If you only get one chance, and if you don't do it, the message is I'll never trust you again, we're going to be inhibited when we try things.
Jim: I am going to answer from an organizational position. Most current surveys say the #1 challenge is the lack of bench strength. They don't have enough leaders, not enough in the pipeline. That is good news to us in this room. We want to develop emerging leaders. That is near the top of the list.
From a personal standpoint--since we both had our origins in the 60s--it was December 1, 1961 that Rosa Parks got on a bus in Montgomery and well, you know the rest of the story . . . She got on the bus in the neutral part of the bus and bus driver asked her to move. Her response, no I won't. He said, if you do not move, I'll have to have you arrested. And she was arrested and that was the spark that ignited the civil rights movement. That is where MLK gave a speech and people recognized him as a potential leader. When asked why she did it--thinking she got on the bus to initiate this protest that would ignite a national movement--she says that she got on the bus to go home. But there is a time when you have to decide when you are going to stand up.
Find your own voice, find what you are committed to. There are so many causes that need attention. So much evidence that we have a lot of issues and so little action.
Rosa parks just did a few simple things. How many of you can sit? How many of you can say, no I won't, go ahead? Do you have the capability to do this? What is stopping you from acting on those things that are stopping us?
We have met the enemy and he/she is us. If things are going to change, it requires each of us to be fully aware of what is important. That is called courage. We all have the capacity for it and don't always tap into it.
As a footnote, Rosa Parks, on previous days, moved to the back of the bus. She wasn't always willing to do what she did. We need to be forgiving of ourselves and aware of what is really important to us. Then we'll be better able to make a decision when that time comes.
--posted by Deb Nasitka
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