Ralph Waldo and Me: Philosophy on Leadership

From The Wizard of Oz:

Dorothy:  "Oh - you're a very bad man!"
Wizard: "Oh, no, my dear.  I- I'm a very good man.  I'm just a very bad Wizard."

Everything is relative.  Everyone is usually a success at being what he is and fails miserably at being what he is not.  From students at the wrong college with the wrong major to people who have ascended to roles of leadership for which they are ill-equipped.

That nugget of wisdom is from today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

                I am a good visionary.  I can see the finished product and the throngs of people who would appreciate it. "If you build it, they will come." I know, clearly, what needs to happen. I can lay it out, step by step.  My vision, as Ralph Waldo encouraged, is in the Heavens so that if/when I fall short, the result/I will still land among the stars. (Les Brown paraphrased it in his book about goal setting, dreaming big, etc.)

               With my exuberance, excitement, I can motivate others to catch the vision. "Nay-sayers" bother me. "We can't because we never have," is the voice of doom.

                I'm a very bad at patience. I see slowness in progress to the goal as dull, unmotivated lethargy.

              Realistic vision: the dreams, yes. Add the legs under those dreams and it's altogether better.

             A co-worker in the endeavor must provide the rudiments, the necessities to give dreams their flight, without squelching the passion.

I know these truths about myself and search for the realistic path, the partnership to progress.