The Mark of a Leader
VOLUME 14

Welcome to Volume 14 of The Mark of a Leader Ezine.

In May we were thrilled to be part of the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors' Annual Conference in Newfoundland. We told stories through the conference, and shared the stage with some tremendous speakers including Cassie Campbell, captain of the Canadian Women's gold medal winning hockey team; Paco Underhill, author of "Why We Buy"; and Tony Chapman, marketing revolutionary and CEO of Capital C.

Thanks to CCGD and all our clients who attended and once again gave us their much appreciated support!

This month we feature one of our favorite stories of courage - the amazing journey of Jackie Robinson. Whether you're a baseball fan or not, he is an endless inspiration.

Hope you enjoy the story!


Doug Keeley

Please visit our website at www.themarkofaleader.com
FEATURE

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life."

Jackie Robinson



"Not everyone can be famous, but everyone can be great."

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

JACKIE ROBINSON - THE FACE OF COURAGE

How tough is your job?
What kinds of distractions do you have when you're trying to work?
How are you treated by your co-workers, your customers, and your competitors?

Here's some perspective for you.

You're a young boy in America in the '30s. Born in the south to a poor family. Your dad just disappears one day.

Like so many other your kids, you love sports. And you're pretty good at them. Good enough that you could probably get a scholarship if you worked at it.
So you do. You work at what you love to play.
Guided by a loving single mother.

Your choice is ultimately baseball. You can hit like a cannon, you can run like a gazelle and catch anything. You can even pitch a little.

You're definitely good enough to turn pro.
There's just one problem.
For you, turning pro isn't the Major Leagues, it's a different league altogether.
The Negro leagues.

Because you see you're guilty of being black in America. And blacks didn't play professional baseball in the major leagues. It just wasn't done back then.

DID YOU KNOW?

101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan are the only two Disney cartoon features in which both parents are present and don't die during the movie.



"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand (presuming you are a proper typist).

Jackie Robinson believed the American dream that he was taught as a kid.
All men are born equal.
One nation under God.
Freedom, for which his forefathers had fought so hard.

He knew it wasn't true - that there were different rules for black kids and white kids. But he thought sports was decided by skill, not by color. If you were good enough, you got to play, right?

Well not really. Not back then.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first Negro player to get called up to the major leagues of baseball.

This was a white man's game, and even his teammates didn't understand why a "colored" could make it onto their team. Worse, he was going to have to share a shower and a bus with them.

Jackie Robinson took on the challenges thrown at him with incredible courage and class. He and his family received death threats constantly. They were particularly vile on game days, when callers would describe the horrors that would happen to his wife and kids when he was at the ballpark.

Oh, he was in the sights too - literally. Some callers said that they'd be sitting in the bleachers with a gun, just waiting for their chance to get him.

All the while, young Jackie was expected to keep his eye on the ball and help win the game.

Baseball is a game of inches. It has been argued that the most difficult action in sports is hitting a ball thrown from 60 feet 6 inches away off a raised mound, at speeds over 90 miles an hour.

It's hard enough to do when the pitcher puts it in the strike zone. When Robinson went to the plate, the opposing pitchers liked to throw the ball at his head at 90 miles an hour, while the fans booed and threw garbage at him.

His only chance was to play baseball so well that his critics and the fans would be silenced. However grudgingly, they would be forced to have respect.

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous."

Margaret Fontey, Author



"I make more mistakes than anyone else I know... and sooner or later, I patent most of them."

Thomas Edison

So that's what he did.
He played his heart out.

And despite the threats, the beanballs and the garbage, here is a sample of what he accomplished:

Rookie of the year in 1947.
MVP and batting champ in 1949, batting 342.
6 time All Star.
6 National League pennants in 10 seasons.
The first African American player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Congressional Gold Medal winner.

Jackie Robinson set a lot of baseball records. And he opened up the game for every non-white who has played the game since.

But the mark he left was this. Hatred is born from fear.
And fear only has power if we give it power.

Jackie Robinson looked fear and hatred in the eye, and he refused to blink.
 

Please visit us at www.themarkofaleader.com.

Copyright 2006 Mark of a Leader