Pulling Together to Shine Light Together

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” “the true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. - Simon Sinek (Author of Leaders Eat Last)​

This quote really resonated with me this week. We are unable to accomplish goals and purpose without the help of others.

I have learned so much this week from people in my personal and professional life. From working with colleagues to review risk management plans for a campus recreation facility; to sharing the important work we do to create healthy communities; to connecting with church family to help with an upcoming community wide event in our city; to meeting with a group of higher education professionals to develop a workshop to enhance unity within a division; to meeting with the son of a colleague and friend about pursuing a doctoral degree.

Pulling together and inspiring each other should be our goal.

Yes, this is idealistic, However, what would the world look like if we had more people igniting someone’s light versus dimming it. Perhaps the solution is pulling people up, pulling people in, and pulling people together no matter your position or their position to make change happen. We can have our own personal agenda but imagine if we collectively came together to shine even brighter to make the world we live in a better place.

To do this we have to take a leap of faith and be vulnerable believing we can trust those around us. What responsibilities do each of us have at the table to accomplish the goal at hand. People want to be trusted, they want responsibility and to simply be valued.

Simon Sinek’s book titled Leaders Eat Last dives into this romanticized idea being of vulnerable and trusting. Here is a quick video of him breaking this down.

When we inspire others by empowering and trusting we have the capacity to do so much more than our own agenda. With this in mind, I thank all those who I have had the opportunity to shine light alongside of. And to say thank you for shining your light with me on the days that my light is dim.

The ability to share our light with others gives us power beyond measure to pull together to shine light together.