Retirement portfolios reflect emaciation compared to portly dimensions a year ago. Only their vows hold them together. What distinguishes a leader is the ability to look at what seems an unalterable situation, to envision a more promising scenario, and then to initiate action to create the world they imagine. The leader may be a housewife who watched the human destruction wrought by abandoned mine fields or the princess equally distressed by the same conditions. Whether leadership occurs in the larger world which these two women took on, or in our local community, workplace, family, or personal life, what makes the difference is having the courage to see a possibility and then to make a commitment to act upon it.
Leaders face the choice point offered in each moment with hope and promise.
Those who have the courage to ask it and then act will determine whether critical mass enabling global change will be achieved. The recent movie Pay it Forward told the touching story of an 11-year old boy who was challenged to identify something that distressed him and to set about changing it. In four months, he created a ripple over several hundred miles. He demonstrated key characteristics of intentional leadership by envisioning a better world and engaging others to help. As Albert Einstein admonished, we will never solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it.