This week in the entrepreneurship class we learned about
leadership. This is an important
principle to understand. I’ve learned
throughout my life the importance of great leadership.
This is not what I want to focus my post on this week though
it might be tied in. This morning I was
considering history. George Santayana is
often quoted or rephrased “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to
repeat it.” This came to my mind because
I was considering those who study history.
Part of my educational pursuit currently is studying history. What do we learn from history? We can see with supposedly 20/20 vision what
mistakes were made by mankind that caused something catastrophic – perhaps a
war, a downfall of a nation, a famine. Yet,
these catastrophes continue to happen. Why? We know why wars happen. We know why nations fall. We know why famines happen. Our study of history (or agriculture) has
given us “formulas” for why these events happen. Perhaps, with the study of history we need to
couple it with the study of solutions. How
could the war have been prevented? How
could the nation continue to have flourished?
How can we take care of our resources to prevent the famine?
This is where leadership comes into play. A leader leads through example, vision and
love according to President Kim B. Clark.
A leader should understand the causes, the effects, and the
solutions. Many leaders today are not
good examples of being good (or great) people.
They lack vision (and resolution).
And quite often love of others is not their motivator, but love of
self.
What can I do about this lack of leadership? I truly do not want to be president of the
United States. I’m not particularly fond
of the idea of one of my children aspiring to this role. I can teach, though, in my home these
principles of leadership. That is the
great role of motherhood. I can learn
and become educated and then use these tools to teach true leadership –
discipleship – in my home. Once my
children leave this place of refuge then they can become leaders in their
chosen field as well as in their homes.
This I have tried to do, not without faltering, but I feel I have helped
my children along their path of leadership.
