How Dr. King Shaped Me as a Leader
As we honor the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today, I am sitting with how his legacy shaped me as a leader. I started to not post this as if felt like I was making this day of celebration about me. But it is about me. And it's about you. It's about what we do with the inspiration we take from the work of selfless and courageous leaders like Dr. King. How do we use the inspiration as motivation to emulate his leadership and lend our strengths to make our world (or the part of our world over which we have influence) a better place?
I attended elementary school in Newark, NJ. And I was bullied. I was "too tall", "too black", "too skinny", "talked like a white girl" and was whatever the taunt du jour was. But I was also smart and respectful. In 6th grade, we had a Black History Month program and none of the boys was willing to portray Dr. King and deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech. So I was voluntold by my teacher, Mrs. Graham, that I would do it. I remember being petrified because it would mean standing on the stage in front of the entire school. I remember feeling deflated because I knew that this would be just one more thing I would be teased about. But I also remember not wanting to disappoint Mrs. Graham, and recognizing that the program was important. So if not me, then who?
I delivered the speech that day. And I learned that sometimes you have to do things that are hard, but that are in alignment with your values - things that make an impactful contribution to your community. I learned that when you do that, there will be people who want to devalue your contribution or maybe even bully you so that you go away and don't make that contribution. But I also learned that this work we do as leaders is more important than the frail egos of small-minded people who can't see beyond their immediate circumstance - who can't prioritize the need to cure the cancer of the community above the fact that they have a stuffy nose.
When your actions are guided by a vision and mission that benefits others, it becomes a little easier to create a roadmap to leadership in action. So the question is what will you do today to make a difference? And the bigger question is what will you do tomorrow?
