Frances Hesselbein’s Leadership Forum at the University of Pittsburgh quoted me for today’s Tip of the Day. Yes, I’m shamelessly showing off ;), but I can’t put into words how honored I feel to contribute to Frances’s community. To serve is to live.

The source

The quote comes from my Kosmos Quarterly article, Our Finest Hour, If We Choose:

The unedited quote

Frances’s Leadership Forum edited the quote from the original. Here’s the original context, though I recommend reading the whole piece.

Businesspeople who lead can transform markets from ‘serving growth’ to serving people and communities, like Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard. Educators who lead can go beyond ‘teaching to the test’ to teaching life skills and resilience, such as Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy. Community organizers who lead can build regenerative solutions and civic pride, like Stanley McChrystal proposes in his civilian service year. 

Everyone reading these words has the potential to lead others in their families, communities, organizations, and institutions. If we only hope to maintain behaviors that stop polluting Beijing skies and other results of global cooperation, we can expect these behaviors to disappear when the incentives do. If we learn to lead and lead, we can build on them, perhaps to move to a society built on stewardship, responsibility, and service. Such a result could give today’s suffering meaning.