I am excited that this leadership conference is my first opportunity to speak to you because it demonstrates so much of what I think is important for our organization. The motto of my high school was carpe diem - seize the day. It resonated with me in 1972 and it resonates with me even more today. It is not a game of solitaire. It is about interaction with others, influencing actions toward some objective - or not.
Leadership can motivate and de-motivate.
It can fill an organization with hope and direction or drain it, leaving an empty void of despair and confusion. It can be about empowerment and the infinite capacity of success to be shared, or it can create a zero-sum game of winners and losers that devolves ultimately into losers and losers. We must be able to answer that question first in our hearts and then in our heads - and then into action. To do this well, we need to understand this thing called leadership and the responsibility that we have taken on ourselves. I want to suggest to you three essential elements of leadership and four specific areas that command our attention and action.