Leadership, out of the box, Rational

Start: Up

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“Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.”
–Baruch Spinoza

They started up.  In a new land. Starting up essentially with nothing.

She started up. Again, again, and again.

She is determined.

“The scientists at Emotiv have done the impossible: created a brain-wave-reading headset that lets you conjure entire worlds using nothing but your mind — a breakthrough that could be worth billions. Now comes the hard part.”

“It is a jigsaw puzzle still being put together.”

tan_le_determination

They had seemly started, down.

There were the chants: “Slit eye,” and graffiti of “Asian go home.”

Go home to where?

“Something inside me stiffened.  There was the gathering of resolve, and a small voice said, ‘I will bypass you’.”
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Current News, Famous personality, Idealist, In Memoriam, Leadership

Captain of His Soul

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From the Keirsey.com Website

In Memoriam, Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)

Champion Idealist Portrait of Nelson Mandela

The Captain of his Soul.

He had been in jail for 27 years, where some of that involved hard manual labor. Dust, sweat, and blood: the breaking of rocks into gravel or working in a limestone quarry. As he details in his autobiography, it was a Long Walk to Freedom.

“What does not kill me, makes me stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Passion requires Temperament

Success requires Circumstance

When interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, he was asked, “How could you forgive the people who imprisoned you for 27 years?” Mandela answered, essentially, that he didn’t have the time to waste on revenge or hating. He had a divided nation to forge into a united nation, for he had a passion, his country: The Union of South Africa. When he was released from prison, he had a job to do, and a job to finish, and if he didn’t do the right thing the country would have torn itself apart.

“I am fundamentally an optimist.” – Nelson Mandela

The prison system is designed to try to take away the dignity of the prisoner. It is designed to take out the enthusiasm for life. It is designed to break a man down. But there are some men, based on who they are: their Temperament and their unique journey in life, that instead become equipped to succeed in their goals, for it is enduring of trials and tribulations and becoming better for it, that forges the ability to cope and succeed with near impossible tasks. Case in point; unite a country divided by race.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt

The continent of Africa is littered with countries that have been, or are in, ethnic chaos or that are ethnic cleansing basket cases: Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia). Mandela had to find a cause that all South Africans could cheer for, to unite in. He garnered the hosting of the 1995 Rugby World Cup — and it was a simple rugby team, the Springboks, whose captain, François Pienaar, Mandela inspired with the Roosevelt quote. Said Pienaar ,”He talked to me and encouraged me in our efforts on the field, to win the World Cup.” The Springboks had now one black player, but still in the eyes of blacks South Africans was considered a symbol of the all white, apartheid South Africa. The Springboks had been the target of international controversy and protest since 1960, banned from international play because of the Union of South Africa’s whites only policies, until the breakup of apartheid. Mandela championed the team whenever and wherever he could, despite the team’s initial unpopularity. As the 9th seed in the tournament, the team defeated higher ranked teams to get to the finals. After the underdog Springboks had narrowly won, in extra-time, the epic Final 15 – 12, President Mandela, wearing a Springbok shirt, presented the World Cup trophy to captain Pienaar, a white Afrikaner. The gesture was widely seen as a major step towards the reconciliation of white and black South Africans.

Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul

Entertainment, Idealist, Leadership

Just the Way You Are

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“I like you — Just the way you are.”

fred rogers and little boy

Yes Fred, you have got it.  It’s called Temperament.

I may be your spouse, your parent, your offspring, your friend, or your colleague. If you will allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself, so that some day these ways of mine might not seem so wrong, and might finally appear to you as right — for me. To put up with me is the first step to understanding me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but that you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness. And in understanding me you might come to prize my differences from you, and, far from seeking to change me, preserve and even nurture those differences. — David Keirsey [Different Drummers, Please Understand Me II]

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
— Nelson Mandela

play

Fred Rogers would say it in some way, “I like you just the way your are” every day of the week on his children’s TV show.

“He was basically a very shy man. He wasn’t the sort of fellow who got up and made bold statements about what we should be doing for children’s television. He did it in his own way and did it very effectively.”
—Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood began airing in 1968 and ran for 895 episodes; the last set of new episodes was taped in December 2000 and began airing in August 2001. At its peak, in 1985, 8% of U.S households tuned into the show.

fred_rogers_quote

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Guardian, Leadership, out of the box, Personality

Extraordinary Ordinary Part II or Be Prepared.

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‘I just saw what was going on and did what I could to help.’

Survivor Vera Gissing said:

‘I owe him my life and those of my children and grandchildren. I was lucky to get out when I did and having the chance to thank Nicky was the most precious moment in my life.’

As far as he is concerned, his actions weren’t anything extraordinary.

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Guardian, Leadership

Extraordinary ordinary

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Ordinary for her.

Extraordinary for anybody else.

You see she was compelled to do it.  It was her Temperament.

irena quote ordinary2

Irena Sendler saved twice as many Jews from death as the celebrated Oskar Schindler, who inspired Steven Spielberg’s film: Schindler’s List.

Irena Sendler (Sendlerowa) was just 4′11″ tall, with dark eyes set in a round, smiling face, her friends described her as a warm, yet quietly determined individual, with an exceptional organizational skill.

Those who knew her say that it was always Irena’s nature to help. Though she lost her father at an early age, his dedication to others—reinforced by her mother’s example and words—made a deep impression on her. Though still young, she already had a history of responding to those in need, helping  others, and of defying rising anti-Semitism to reach out to and stand up for Jews.

 “My parents taught me,” Irena had said, “that if a man is drowning, it is irrelevant what is his religion or nationality. One must help him.”

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Artisan, Entertainment, Famous personality

Born Standing Up

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I was alone with him the bedroom; his mind was alert but his body was failing. He said, almost buoyantly, “I’m ready now.” I sat on the edge of the bed, and another silence fell over us. Then he said, “I wish I could cry. I wish I could cry.”

At first I took this as a comment on his condition, but I am forever thankful that I pushed on. “What do you want to cry about?” I said.

“For all the love I received and couldn’t return.”

I felt a chill of familiarity. There was another lengthy silence as we looked into each other’s eyes. At last he said, “You did everything I wanted to do.”

“I did it for you.” I said. Then we wept for the lost years. I was glad I didn’t say the more complicated truth. “I did it because of you.” [Editor’s emphasis]

You know Steve, actually, you are not exactly correct.  It’s even more complicated.  You did it because of your father — and you.  It’s called Character and Temperament.

born_standing_up

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Idealist, In Memoriam

A Nobel Element

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She was not impressed.

After all, this Nobel Element is NOT a real Noble Element.  Even though this medal is of that metal.

Gold is a Noble Element

nobel_literature_medal

“Oh Christ!… I couldn’t care less.”

It was the first reaction to when a reporter told her that she had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

“I’m 88 years old and they can’t give the Nobel to someone who’s dead, so I think they were probably thinking they’d probably better give it to me now before I’ve popped off.”

Small things amuse small minds.
–Doris Lessing

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