The Most Admired Iron Lady
Prior to watching the movie Iron Lady (2011) I figured that it would be a typical one-sided look at the conservative mind of Margaret Thatcher. Instead I found it as an intriguing study of an ordinary woman from an ordinary background overcoming incredible odds while the supporting character was her conservatism. It helps that the great Meryl Streep plays her (and well deserved the Oscar). Thatcher in the movie is quite quotable and didn’t rise up to become the longest-serving (1979–1990) British Prime Minister of the 20th century, and the only woman ever to have held the post for nothing.
“We will stand on principle… or we will not stand at all.”
There seems to be some truth to the line, “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” But how many amazing women don’t get noticed? The unsung heroes are also the ones I want to know. Even today as a man it seems more difficult for a woman than a man to succeed in a career outside of the home and we should admire them uniquely. My wife and I are blessed and humbled to raise two wonderful daughters and we feel the responsibility to lead them carefully. I’d love to look up to their mother, grandmothers and other female relatives to learn their stories of perseverance. I want to also intentionally introduce the wide variety of female heroes.
There are great women to admire like Margaret Thatcher, Mother Teresa, Anne Frank, Helen Keller, Susan B. Anthony, Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc, Sandra Day O’Connor, Sally Ride, J.K. Rowling, Harper Lee, or even biblical characters like Mother Mary, Ruth, Sarah, and Hannah, perhaps. Like Margaret Thatcher, no matter what political philosophy one holds you can’t deny the spirit and tenacity of modern women like Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Oprah Winfrey. These women did some amazing things whether in the forefront or quietly behind the scenes and slowly their story became told with time. I want to tell their stories to my girls and teach them about these women’s strengths and yes even their weaknesses. I want my girls to understand that none of these women were perfect but they made a difference because of some specific things and possess unique qualities to admire.
The qualities I’ve always admired in women who have made a difference are strength, faith, humility, gratitude, grace, perseverance, drive, patience, loyalty, and creativity.
Now I’m just white, 30-something male living in the burbs. But I am also a dad who cares about his girls and wants to introduce them to some amazing women as they grow up.
Ladies, what say you?
Who do you admire and why? Who inspired you when you were growing up?
Who are the unsung female heroes we can look up to?
How To Make The Best Plans and Master The Moment
You know a good speaker when you see one.
But are you one?
Do you ever wonder exactly why a speech can be so good? It can bring shivers down your back. It can inspire you to change the world. Sometimes it can be as simple as provoking the feeling that you aren’t alone. Everyday I have the opportunity to speak in public or watch someone else do it. I am fascinated by those who do this so well so I try to study and emulate them.
More people fear public speaking over death for example. It is frequently ranked as the #1 fear for people as a matter of fact. With so much fear attached to public speaking, often people shy away from trying to better themselves at it. As Flannery O’Connor put it, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” As it a good speech. I have a long way to become a good orator.
Winston Churchill noted that in each speech,
“There must be character, personality, delivery and occasion,…”
As in all things in life, Sir Winston. Thank you.
I like keeping things simple in life so there are two attributes that can be applied to about anything in life, especially speech: Planning and Delivery.
Let us study two of my heroes of speech and rhetoric.
PLANNING: Churchill’s “Our Finest Hour” Speech
Churchill grew up with a lisp and had to overcome incredible odds to become the speaker we know him as today. He was known early on in his political career as a rambler but over the decades, he transformed into a master of public speaking. How did he do it? Churchill would often say that for every minute in a speech one should prepare an hour. His work ethic was untouchable and it helped eventually him do best what was needed in the moment. In Churchill’s preparation, he knew that his pause was his secret weapon. By intense planning, he knew when to best use the pause. Churchill has given thousands of speeches that you will neither hear nor read in life but if you could only read one, read his amazing “Our Finest Hour” speech. Whenever you feel down and frustrated by life’s circumstances, it will uplift your spirit. If you are in that Dunkirk point of life in retreat as the Allies were; learn from the Brits and regroup, reassess, and get back in the game. You can read the full speech here.
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”
DELIVERY: FDR’s Message to Congress after Pearl Harbor
Draft #1: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in ‘world history’….”
Following the sudden and deliberate attack on the United States, FDR knew this was a moment to capture emotion and reason so in his final draft he changed ‘world history’ to ‘infamy.’ Read the original version a few times and you realize that it doesn’t fully embrace the magnitude of what happened at Pearl Harbor. It is now one of the most famous opening speech lines ever. Can you imagine trying to describe the emotion of a nation on the fly like FDR? He mastered the moment and a nation became united and galvanized for war.
What does this mean to you?
Part of your planning must be to anticipate the moments that could come. You must plan for the moment in the same way that you planned how to get there. Over my years as a history student, I studied Churchill and FDR extensively. Today, I become discouraged occasionally and think, “I can’t do it like them. I am not even in a position of ultimate leadership that would require this sort of planning and skill.” But I then realize that I am wrong. My team, which includes my family, look to me daily to master these skills of planning and mastering the moment.
Remember that yes you can do it.
Keep it simple. Plan, and plan for the moment.
9/11 and the Pipe Dream Drive to Work
In a few short weeks we approach the anniversary of a tragedy that most of you reading this remember well.
I didn’t know anyone directly who perished on 9/11. I still feel for them and pray for their families. I pray that I am living better because of what we have learned from that day. I now am married and have two little girls and when the time is right, I will share what happened on that fateful day and what we all have learned from it. My parents had shared where they were when hearing that JFK was assassinated and their parent’s experience when hearing about Pearl Harbor being attacked. Each generation had its defining moments. In my early 20s, I wondered if my generation would have that kind of moment. Before 9/11 I remember vividly the following events; The Challenging exploding in 1986, Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Black Hawk Down in 1993 (occurred on my birthday), and yes even Bill Clinton’s speech acknowledging his indiscretions with Monica Lewinsky.
I had only been working in my new job out of college for a few months when the 9/11 attack happened. My routine each day was a 10 mile drive toward downtown St. Louis. My routine was filled with two cups of coffee, one at home, one for the ride to work and I would listen to talk radio. On 9/11 the routine was broken. My car had broken down the day before so I borrowed my parent’s car. Instead of the daily radio talk, I put in Travis’ new album The Invisible Band and listened. Perhaps nothing for anyone was routine following 9/11. I would have listened to the live reporting of the attack on my drive in but instead was in some other world. I learned immediately when I entered the door at work from a colleague that planes had hit the towers. We had a person from our New York office visiting us that day and she was emotionally distraught not knowing if her loved ones were okay (She learned later that they were).
The next morning, I took a look at lyrics from one of my favorite songs on that album that I listened to that fateful drive to work. It was the song, Pipe Dreams.
I read it all, every word
And I still don’t understand a thing
What had you heard?
What had you heard?
Very few things were ordinary about 9/11. What had you heard on that day?
The day after 9/11, I like many still went to work. No music today as I paid close attention to the talk radio. It was full of fear, confusion, sadness, full of messages about economic demise, and anger.
My office was a half a mile down the street from the UPS central depot in St. Louis. If I was just a little late getting to work, I would be stopped by the trucks leaving for their daily delivery route. On the normal day, I would have been extremely annoyed if getting caught by these trucks.
On 9/12, I was stopped by those UPS delivery trucks. I sat in my car cheering for 30 UPS trucks leaving their depot. I was not alone and saw several others doing the same. Were we cheering for giving terrorists the finger and that economically we would not slow down? Not really. It felt more like a symbolic way that people were willing to keep moving forward even after being knocked down.
Ask any boxer about this feeling. You get hit. You get knocked down. You get back up and fight.
My responsibility as a human being living during such a tumultuous period is to share the lessons we have learned. I wonder how we will remember 9/11, 50 years from now? Unfortunately events like these could probably happen again in some fashion. My daughters’ generation will have defining moments but may they learn from 9/11, JFK, and Pearl Harbor an important lesson I learned as well as my parents.
We must keep going forward.
The Best Era in History to Live
Recently I watched the movie Midnight in Paris (2011). I’m not a Woody Allen junkie but this one fascinated me. The main character Gil, played by Owen Wilson, is an aspiring writer who admires the “Lost Generation” artists from 1920′s Paris. In the movie, Gil finds himself transported to that era where he meets artist greats like Ernest Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, Gertrud Stein, Pablo Picasso, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Although a fiction story, it was amusing to get lost in the story of the Gil and it got me thinking.
What era would I have liked to live in?
There is much to consider in the question and answers can be surprisingly personal. I’ve asked this question many times to friends and you get a lot of different answers.
Women quite often bring up that era’s rights of women first. An old female friend of mine said that she wouldn’t want to live in any other era than now because women have never had so much opportunity. I never thought of that before she brought it up. My wife in particular always wishes she were in the Jane Austen Victorian Era with the beautiful dresses, chivalry, and beautiful dialogue (no pressure on me, huh). My mother is fascinated by the Tudors (yes the show as well) but never would have wanted to wear the suffocating dresses or have to deal with lack of modern medicine.
Most men I’ve quizzed seem to be fascinated by eras that represent the greatest adventure to them. If you were a baseball fan, perhaps it would be the 1920s and 1930s when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig ruled the diamond. If you admired the military, they say World War II, The Civil War, or the Napoleonic Wars. My father has always been intrigued by his grandfather who lived from the 1880′s to 1980′s. His Grandpa Moberg was born during the “horse and buggy” age and lived until seeing a man on the moon.
And now my answer…
The Age of Exploration is a favorite of mine. But then I remember details about explorers like Magellan who despite technically not making it around the world (killed by Filipino natives), ironically got a GPS system named after him. The truth is, his story wasn’t much different from other explorers who either died in the middle of their journey fighting natives or from some terrible disease. I’ve also been fascinated by the Roman Empire or Ancient Greece and their gallant expansion battles, beautiful architecture, and lessons of government. Perhaps I read/watched a little too much of Julius Caesar and The Iliad. If I were to pick a favorite, I would pick The American Revolution. I imagine myself fighting for freedom with my distant relative, Vermont Minuteman Lt. Nathaniel Bowman Brown. It has always seemed to be a time period of great drama; to live on the frontier, fight for freedom, and form of a new way of life.
The truth is, as Midnight in Paris’ Gil points out, someone is going to be asked this question fifty years from now and possibly think that “the 2010′s” is the best era. We are never quite satisfied in the era we live are we? We look back to find solace and inspiration from other eras. I’m sure that ole Uncle Nate Brown looked back to The Renaissance and thought, “Man, that era was so much better than this 1770′s mess.”
What about you?
What is the best era in history to live?
After D-Day…
After D-Day, it wasn’t over. It took the Allies over a month to finally break through inland.
General Dwight Eisenhower, then Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, wrote two letters to release the morning of June 7th. Thank God he didn’t have to finish this letter and but send a report of initial victory.
Prior to the invasion, he gave this encouragement knowing well that this was just the beginning.
“Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.”
You can read his full inspiring message here.
In life we have to keep pushing to the end. The enemy is strong and with God’s help we will achieve victory.
After you secure the beachhead, keep moving forward. You’re not alone.
The Meaning of Freedom: An Ethiopian, a Brit and a Yank Collide
Not long ago I attended a conference in Washington, D.C. I love that city. It is easy to be cynical about D.C. and see it as a town only full of politicians with lobbyist leeches there to influence them. I admit that I have been one of the cynics in the past. I want to change and here is why. What I like about DC is the same reason I enjoy parts of Nashville, New York, or Los Angeles. You will undoubtedly meet someone from another part of the world. Often I am called a pied piper so whenever I encounter someone from another culture, I am drawn to them to learn about their story.
I don’t recall who said these poignant lines but it goes like this:
Americans love to spend time and energy trying to understand who they are. They unfortunately spend so little time trying to understand who the world is.
My understanding became much clearer after I visited Washington DC and experienced the following:
Experience #1: At the conference, the thousands who attended share a similar political ideology. One thing that was evident was their passion for the “idea of America” and it surpassed a specific political ideology. Anyone with an open mind can respect that. I am a moderate conservative but their zeal resonated with me. My hope is that when the world looks at America, they see freedom as I witnessed at the conference.
Experience #2: I met a Scottish girl named Shona who is married to an American friend of mine, Nathan and has lived in the United States for the past couple years. I had lived and worked in Scotland in 2001 so we had plenty to discuss including politics, British and American culture, music, food, etc. I asked her what the current pulse of the British people was about America. She seemed to agree that it was very much like the quote above. I have been reading Tony Blair’s A Journey which provides an insightful political perspective on Anglo-American relations the past couple decades. Shona, Nathan, and I discussed in detail how we need to be more alert than ever before about protecting freedom. As Brits and Americans, it is a special responsibiltiy we bear. While we have not mastered it, we need to be a beacon of freedom and lead.
Experience #3: I met Sam Solomon from Ethiopia. Sam is a cab driver whom we spent an intriguing 45 minute ride from central Washington DC all the way to Dulles International Airport. He lives here legally, is married, and has four children. Sam wouldn’t stop smiling when talking about America. Sam said he still has family in Ethiopia but doesn’t see a reason to go back unless it is more free and things change. We discussed that not far from Ethiopia an uprising is happening in the Middle East driven primarily by citizens wanting a democratic process. America has given Sam the opportunity to start a business, raise a family safely, and live free. We all need to listen to the Sam Solomons living in America.
My lessons from these experiences:
Freedom and the democratic process is unmatched.
We should never stop seeking freedom or if necessary, fight for it.
Remember the Frostbite, Remember The Battle of the Bulge
Most of the nation has entered a freeze. Blizzards have overtaken us in parts of the midwest and northeast. Schools have closed. People are stuck and can’t move.
Yeah, I’m ready for spring just like you.
My father reminded me about my grandfather who fought (and was wounded) at The Battle of the Bulge. This was the largest battle of World War II and was the Hitler’s last chance to save the war. The allied victory sealed the German’s fate. There were 80,987 official American casualties (19,000 dead) and the majority of them happened in the first three days of battle. It was even worse for the Germans.
All of this happened in a deep European freeze. The weather was much like what we are encountering this week. On top of that most of the troops didn’t have any of their winter gear so they were left with normal uniforms without gloves and other essentials. Meanwhile, they were being attacked by hundreds of thousands.
You can read about the details of the battle here. You also get a good glimpse of the battle portrayed in movies like Battle of the Bulge (1965), Patton (1970), and the Bastogne episode of the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001).
When I hear people complain about the weather in the winter, I think about my grandfather Branch and the many others who endured this battle. It also makes me remember that our soldiers are currently fighting in weather like this in Afghanistan.
Remember who fought in the real cold for us. We are free because of them.
Remember the Frostbite
Shaking Hands with the Enemy
Imagine crashing in the ocean in a B-24. You drift thousands of miles with two others for weeks. Sharks try to eat you. You are strafed (shot at) by the enemy. On top of that you are captured by the Japanese. Nonstop torture ensues for two years. When the war ends in 1945 you are released and lose half your body weight due to being starved and beaten.
5 years later…
Read this scene after the person, Louie Zamperini, who endured what I described above revisits his POW camp in Japan.
“Before Louie left Sugamo (the prison), the colonel who was attending him asked Louie’s former guards to come forward. In the back of the room, the prisoners stood up and shuffled into the aisle. They moved hesitantly, looking up at Louie with small faces.
Louie was seized by childlike, giddy exuberance. Before he realized what he was doing, he was bounding down the aisle. In bewilderment, the men who had abused him watched him come to them, his hands extended, a radiant smile on his face.” – excerpted from Unbroken copyright 2010 by Laura Hillenbrand.
After I read this I couldn’t believe his reaction.
He shook hands with the enemy.
What Zamperini experienced was beyond what anyone should endure. And what did he do?
He extended his hand.
He forgave.
Grace appeared and Jesus is revealed in his story. Let us take notice. It is beautiful.
The Meaning of a Year
1492
1776
1861
1918
1941
1963
1968
2001
These all were important and memorable years in American History. We remember some of the above because of tragedy and some because of triumph. In some of those years, there was both.
2011 marks an important year. Some see it as a dreaded 10th anniversary of terror and tragedy.
For me I choose to remember 2001 differently. 2001 was the year I remember embracing adulthood and moving to work in Scotland. I took risks. I became a Young Life Leader. I was robbed. One of my best friends got married. One of my other great friends and I went on an amazing golfing roadtrip through the southeast. When I finally began a “real” job that year, It became evident that the world was changing faster than ever before for me. Looking back, it was an special year with many ups and downs.
It is important to remember the experiences, appreciate the fruit and learn from our years.
Today in 2011, I am hopeful. I will experience the date 11/11/11, make new friends, and spend more time with family. I am enthused about my job as this is the most exciting time in publishing since Gutenberg invented the printing press. I am even convinced that there will be hardships and mistakes.
In the end, we will triumph.
PS Have hope because according to Back to the Future Part II, in just 4 years we’re supposed to be flying around in our cars. Good Lord, help me. My daughters will be 16 in no time.
Leadership Learnings from Veterans
You had to have been hiding under a rock or not care to notice but this past week a big election occurred here in the United Staes. However you feel about the outcome there is no doubt that there were clear priorities set forth by politicians. You heard about the economy and tea, health care and death panels, as well as immigration and Mexican drug lords.
What you didn’t hear much about is that there are still troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan not to mention a presence in areas like Germany, South Korea, Okinawa, or Guantanamo Bay.
Why do we forget so quickly? Let us honor the military by studying what works so well for them so we can find ways to solve problems in our own unique situations.
I recently picked up a copy of the Harvard Business Review primarily because of the cover story about “Leadership Lessons from The Military”. Here are the key learnings:
According to a 2009 Gallup poll, 82% of respondents expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the military, whereas only 16% expressed confidence in big business. There have been some tremendous leaders in our history that came from a military background. Let us not forget Presidents George Washington, Harry Truman, or Dwight Eisenhower and the leadership lessons they gave us based on their military experiences. Of course there have been poor military leaders so we can learn from their mistakes as well. General Petraeus, we are learning from you.
In the article, there were some helpful elements that those church, community and business leaders can utilize to be effective with your teams.
1. Meet the troops: Create a personal link that will be crucial to lead people through challenging times.
2. Make Decisions: Make good and timely calls which will be the crux of responsibility in a leadership position.
3. Focus on Mission: Establish a common purpose, lift up those who will help you achieve it, and eschew personal gain.
4. Convey Strategic Intent: Make the objectives clear, but avoid micromanaging those who will execute on them.
November 11th is Veteran’s Day. What is different about this day? Well the idea is to celebrate and thank those who are still alive but have served. It was originally known as Armistice Day to mark the end of World War I. It is different than Memorial Day because we have the chance to honor these people in person. There are over 23 million veterans of the US Military so plenty to honor.
What will you do to honor veterans this week?
*I am giving out 2 signed copies of The American Patriot’s Almanac. I am looking for unique ways that you all are honoring veterans so it is a bit subjective. For full disclosure, I have worked on the promotions in the past for this book and with Bill Bennett and John Cribb who compiled it. I would also like to share your stories with them. The authors have graciously signed copies for veterans within Thomas Nelson.
To learn more about Veteran’s Day, here is an excerpt from The American Patriot’s Almanac (2010) by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb.
In the early morning hours Of November 11, 1918, representatives of France, Britain, and Germany met in a railroad car near Compiègne, France, to sign an armistice ending World War I, or the Great War, as it was known at that time. The cease-fire took effect at 11:00 a.m. that day—the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Up and down the trenches, after four long years of the most horrific fighting the world had yet known, the guns fell silent. “The roar stopped like a motor car hitting a wall,” one U.S. soldier wrote to his family. Soldiers on both sides slowly climbed out of the earthworks. Some danced; some cheered; some cried for joy; some stood numbed. The Great War had left some 9 million soldiers dead and another 21 million wounded. No one knows how many millions of civilians died. Much of Europe lay in ruins. But finally, with the armistice, it was “all quiet on the Western Front.”
For many years November 11 was known as Armistice Day to honor those who fought in World War I. In 1954 Congress changed the name to Veterans Day to recognize all American veterans.
Every November 11 at 11:00 a.m., the nation pays tribute to its war dead with the laying of a presidential wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.
But Veterans Day honors more than the dead. Memorial Day, observed in May, is for remembering soldiers who lost their lives in the service of their country. Veterans Day is set aside to honor and thank all who have served in the U.S. armed forces—particularly our 23 million living veterans.
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