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VOLUME 5
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Welcome to The Mark of a Leader E-zine Volume 5 and our one year anniversary. It has been 12 months since we launched The Mark of a Leader to a small group of friends and prospects at Toronto's Second City theatre. What a year it has been! The Mark of a Leader has been used by audiences as large as 2500 and as small as 10. We have traveled from Las Vegas to Kelowna and Niagara Falls. We have been the foundation modules for 3 day events, and the breakfast keynote at others. We have almost doubled the number of stories in our library, and have original video material which we will be releasing in new ways this fall. We're please to say that some audience members have told us we have literally helped change their lives. One group was inspired by us to raise their bar, and they became the top performers in their discipline in the world as a result. Meeting planners have told us we've helped create their "best and easiest ever" conference. And we have been consistently rated right at the top of audience ratings. Thanks to all of our great clients, and to all of you who constantly refer us. And thanks to the wonderful people and companies like Mark Victor Hansen, Robert Allen, Cirque du Soleil, the BBC, and Getty Images who have been so helpful supporting us with their awesome stories and materials. The vision of The Mark of a Leader is to be the world's leading source of inspiring stories on leadership. Soon our stories will be available in subscription based online formats to allow you to learn, reflect, and get inspired at any time of day or night. Thanks again for an amazing first year. To the future - yours and ours!
Please visit our website at www.themarkofaleader.com. |
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FEATURE
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QUOTABLE QUOTES "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit." Helen Keller "In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip." Daniel L. Reardon |
Sir Bob Geldof - Punk Rocker, Activist, Human Being with a conscience
The story of Bob Geldof and the original Live Aid has been one of our most powerful stories since we launched. This one man, an Irish punk rocker, who was heading out the exit door of his music career, was watching TV one night in 1984 and happened to see a documentary on the famine in Ethiopia. While millions of people also watched the broadcast and did nothing, he took action. Between the songs "Do They Know It's Christmas?", "We Are The World", and "Tears Are Not Enough", and the unbelievable Live Aid concert, hundreds of millions of dollars were raised. And countless lives were saved. On July 2, 2005, twenty years later, he was back with Live 8. True to his form, it was a project simply awe inspiring in its ambition and scope. Teaming up with Bono, Nelson Mandela, and a host of celebrities, they were not after our money, they were after our voices. |
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DID YOU KNOW? Estimated total African debt - $293 billion Cost of US role in war on terrorism by end 2005 - $207.5 billion (minimum) US Military budget request for 2006 - $531.8 billion Global military spending in 2003 - $956 billion |
Think for a moment what it took to pull off Live 8. Major sporting and event broadcasts are planned years in advance. In just weeks, the Live 8 organizers linked 10 cities on a scale to rival the Olympics. The complexity of the broadcast, the security, the travel, the ticketing, the band gear, the food, and wrangling the entertainment world's biggest egos is, simply, staggering. That it was done in mere weeks is a testament to the power of a group of people who have a vision in which they believe, and are committed, passionate, and prepared to take courageous risks to pull it off. Whether the G8 leaders fulfill the targets set before them by Geldof, Bono et al is doubtful in the short term. But still, it is hard to see Live 8 as anything but a huge success. Africa's tragedy is now burned in the consciousness of billions of people. 
Geldof and his team have done their job as leaders. Now it is up to the other 6 billion or so of us to take action. What will we do about it? Well that remains to be seen. |
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QUOTABLE QUOTES "It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not." Unknown "The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails." John Maxwell |
MAKING A DIFFERENCEA cynic would say that Live 8 had little impact. We read that far too often in the mainstream press over the past few weeks. Our response is this great little story told by Wally "Famous" Amos.
A young man is walking down a beach as the sun is coming up. The beach is getting hot. He stops, bends over, picks up a starfish that has washed up in the tide and throws it into the ocean. He walks a few steps and does it again. And again. And again, as he makes his way slowly down the beach.An older man, out for a walk, passes him. Seeing the young man throw the starfish, he says "you know, you can't possibly make a difference. There are just far too many of those starfish to save them all." The young man looks at him, bends down and picks up a starfish, throws it into the ocean and replies "Well, that may be, but I just made all the difference in the world to that one." |
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Please visit us at www.themarkofaleader.com. Copyright 2005 Mark of a Leader |
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