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VOLUME 12
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Welcome to The Mark of a Leader E-zine Volume 12. It was a very busy March and we're grateful to all of you who have hired us and also those of you who have reached out to us with stories and new ideas. Thank you! We were recently thrilled to be part of an outstanding event for MPI in New Jersey. You are all stars and thanks for letting us contribute. Increasingly we're using the power of storytelling to build communications programs, integrating stories from both outside and inside the corporation. It is a very effective way, not only to keep the impact of The Mark of a Leader going, but to create the framework for a strong corporate culture through storytelling. As always, if you'd like to now more about the communications and recognition programs we're building, please email or call. This month's story is of an incredibly strong woman who turned tragedy into triumph and, in doing so, impacted us all. I hope you enjoy the story of Candy Lightner. Have a great month!
Please visit our website at www.themarkofaleader.com |
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FEATURE
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QUOTABLE QUOTES "I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." Helen Keller |
CANDY LIGHTNER - DON'T GET EVEN, GET MADD
How many of you who are not politicians think that you could get the laws changed in your city or town? If you just decided to go out and try to do it, could you succeed? That's a big task. Politicians spend their careers trying to change laws about which they are personally passionate, and often never succeed. One woman changed laws that affect every single one of you reading this E-zine. And you probably don't know her name: Candy Lightner. This story began in tragedy in 1980 when Candy's 13 year old daughter Cari was killed by a drunk driver in the middle of the afternoon in California. It was an incident that would have brought many parent's lives to collapse. To add insult to tragedy, the driver had already been charged with several previous counts of impaired driving, had been convicted 3 times, and had been released on bail just two days earlier after committing a hit and run. For killing young Cari, he got two years in jail, and served just 16 months. An enraged Candy made a vow: "I promised myself on the day of Cari's death that I would fight to make this needless homicide count for something positive in the years ahead," she said. 
She gathered with a few friends at a steakhouse in Sacramento and formed Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (today "Driving"), better known as MADD. And then they set out to change the law. At the time, drinking and driving was not just normal, it was almost socially acceptable. Everyone drank. "I was drunk" was a legitimate excuse for just about anything. People just got in their cars after drinking and drove. At what price? An astounding 70 people a day were killed in the U.S. by drunk drivers at the time. But no one was doing anything about it. Candy found countless families who had suffered similar tragedies, and mothers who were also out to make a change. They had no legal or political experience, which may actually have worked to their advantage, because they simply did not understand the impossibility of what they were attempting. They were quick studies, and their passion was undeniable. They learned how to work the media, and very quickly brought their issue to the public's eye. |
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QUOTABLE QUOTES "Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds you down or polishes you up is for you and you alone to decide." Cavett Robert |
MADD started at the state level, and with a passionate plea, gained support with their senators and then-governor Jerry Brown. They got on TV, went before the Senate and Congress, and pleaded their case to receptive ears. Their point of view was inarguable. New, tougher penalties for drinking and driving began to be seen. Pressure mounted at the state and federal levels to raise drinking ages to 21. And in perhaps its most potent strike on the public's consciousness, MADD introduced the simple concept of the Designated Driver. As Candy said "If you want to drink, that's your business. But as soon as you drink and get behind the wheel of a car, it becomes my business." |
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QUOTABLE QUOTES "The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang." Mary Kay Ash |
A year after it started, there were 10 MADD chapters across the United States. The following year, more than 70. Their grassroots activism resulted in the passage of thousands of state and federal anti-drunk driving laws. The Barnes Bill, which sought to raise the national drinking age to 21, struck a public chord. Though it had been ignored a year earlier, now with the exposure of MADD behind it, the bill garnered unprecedented support and was passed. And soon after, MADD successfully got the legal limit for blood alcohol while driving set at .8. Today there are 600 MADD chapters. More important, it is estimated that since its inception in 1980, drunk driving fatalities in the U.S. have decreased 43%. Most of this is not just because the laws have changed and got tough. More important, MADD stands as one of the few grassroots organizations that has successfully changed the public's consciousness and conscience. 
Every one of us who drinks thinks and acts differently about drinking and driving than we did 25 years ago. Cari Lightner's death was a ridiculous and terrible tragedy. But Candy can indeed live with the knowledge that her daughter's life counted for something. MADD has probably saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and changed the lives of hundreds of millions of others. All of us at The Mark of a Leader, particularly us parents, tip our hats, touch our hearts, and say a deep felt thanks to Candy Lightner and her colleagues for their powerful leadership that turned a tragedy into triumph. 
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Please visit us at www.themarkofaleader.com. Copyright 2006 Mark of a Leader |
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