Set your goals, Set your ideals, Set your stars... and just GO.

When I started my leadership journey, there were some words that were spoken at my collegiate graduation that made a profound impact on my life to date.   I can't really tell you what was said at the rest of the graduation or for that matter at any of my other post collegiate graduations, but I do remember Herman Cain stepping up to the podium and as a true orator simply stating: 

"Let it be borne in mind, that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goals...  The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach"

"It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideals...  It is a disaster to have no ideals to capture"

"It is not a disgrace to be unable to reach your stars...  It is a disgrace to have no stars to reach"

Overall, it probably took less than a minute to get those words out, which he stated were spoken at his commencement ceremony by Benjamin Elijah Mays a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., but those words have stayed with me ever since. 


Mr. Cain will never realize the impact that he had on me as a leader, but his reminder to set goals, capture ideals, and reach for the stars is advice that has driven me throughout my career.   It's simple advice I continue to remind myself of as I've changed jobs throughout the years, always modifying where I want to be and how I want to move myself forward.   

The journey for me to do this blog is just another step for me in reaching my goals, capturing my ideals, and reaching for my stars.   I've always sat back and debated starting a blog on leadership, but never really forced myself to take that step forward.   Despite having that goal out there, it was always something that intimidated me.  Thankfully, a recent encounter with Eric Paley encouraged me to jump in feet first and see where it could go.   Eric was a panelist at an event I attended, and being that he was a successful blogger and entrepreneur in his own right, I spoke to him a little after the event and he encouraged me to just get started.   Don't over think it, just go ahead and make it happen, and so with that gentle nudge,  I've decided to do just that.   Thanks, Eric. 

As the blog name indicates, "Necessitate Leadership", I feel we live in a world where leadership is now unavoidable.   Everyone has the ability to be a leader, it's just a matter of deciding at what level we want to engage that ability, be it just by example, via servant leadership, or some other means.    At the end of the day, it's not something we can decide to do or not do, it's something that has to be done in order for us to have success as the world continues to change so much so quickly.   

This blog will focus on resources that I use to continue to grow the leader within me, and hopefully in turn it also grows the leader within you.   While waiting for my next post, remember to keep your goals, ideals, and stars attainable but just far enough away that you need to stretch to achieve them...  If you can do this, you'll always be assured that you're working to be better today than you were yesterday.