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VOLUME 6
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Welcome to Volume 6 of THE MARK OF A LEADER E-zine. Last month we were very happy to be part of Microsoft's annual Global Briefing conference, held this year in Atlanta. Hosting over 12,000 sales and marketing staff from around the world, it is a huge event, even for the world's largest software maker. We're pleased to say that our sessions were amongst the highest rated in the entire Microsoft conference agenda. We unveiled two new modules - The Beatles and "Change". Both are music themed, and both give unique views of how change happens in the world of music and the world of business. The Microsoft show was an excellent example of how the basic content of The Mark of a Leader can be completely customized to each client. Microsoft used a different conference theme, and we used combinations of a live band, talk show format and The Mark of a Leader modules to give them variety and also excellent value. If you have an upcoming conference, we'd love to talk to you about how The Mark of a Leader can make it amazing. This month in our E-zine we celebrate courage with an individual - Curtis Sliwa - and a team - Habitat for Humanity. Both are doing courageous work that is having a huge impact on millions of people's lives. As always, please forward this E-zine liberally. And please send us any story ideas you would like to see featured in a future 'zine. And please visit our website at www.themarkofaleader.com
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FEATURE
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QUOTABLE QUOTES "They can conquer who believe they can. He has not learned the first lesson in life who does not every day surmount a fear." Ralph Waldo Emmerson "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." Ambrose Redmoon |
THE GUARDIAN ANGELS
"The fearless are merely fearless. People who act in spite of their fear are truly brave." Curtis Sliwa is brave. No doubt about it. The 1970s. The Bronx. Long before the city was cleaned up. The community was victim to the muggers and thugs who walked the streets and rode the trains. You didn't want to be in the Bronx unless you had to be. Until a leader stepped forward and took courageous action. Curtis Sliwa was night manager at a Bronx McDonald's. His action was to put together a band of young colleagues and set out to take back the crime-ridden Fordham Road neighborhood. He and his team patrolled the 'hood, painting over graffiti, cleaning vacant lots, boarding up vacant buildings, and planting trees and flowers. Then he crossed the courage line. He and a dozen multi-ethnic volunteers took to patrolling the infamous Number 4 train, the "Mugger's Express", one of the worst subway lines in New York. 
Armed with nothing more than martial arts training and common sense, they used citizen's arrests to detain crooks and gang members for the police. Citizen's Arrests? On the trains of the Bronx in the 1970s? Hello? Perhaps it was the fact that they were just members of the community that prevented them from being killed. Perhaps it was their improbable lack of fear. Whatever it was, they had impact. |
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DID YOU KNOW? The Bronx got its name from explorer Henry Bronk. No words in the English language rhyme with orange, silver or purple. The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India. |
Crime dropped. People began talking. More people volunteered to help clean things up. 
In 1979, having grown to hundreds of volunteers, the group officially became known as the Guardian Angels. Their red berets, which had become their trademark, became a widely known symbol of courage, trust, and leadership. Rooted in teaching self-respect and respect for others, the Angels became role models for their neighborhoods. The program grew, and began an expansion that today sees them throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Brazil and Japan. They encourage young people to take responsibility for themselves and their actions, and to build meaningful and rewarding lives. They also convincingly show that crime, at least where Guardian Angels are present, does not pay. They have also inspired neighborhoods to take responsibility for themselves. Few people realize that today's Neighborhood Watch programs are a direct result of the work of the Guardian Angels. 
Today, Curtis and Mary Sliwa and their teams manage operations in 32 cities and 5 countries, and their mission has evolved to encompass safety of all kinds. Their Cyber Angels program patrols the Internet, protecting children. And their government sanctioned school programs are training teachers to take back their classrooms through safety education. Despite the deaths of several Angels over the years and Sliwa himself being shot, the Guardian Angels today is a bigger, better, more impactful organization than ever before. And what is the Mark of Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels? We think the Guardian Angels have shown that there is likely a hero inside all of us. It just takes a powerful need and a healthy dose of courage to bring that hero out. |
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QUOTABLE QUOTES "Anyone who thinks the sky is the limit has limited imagination." Unknown "If the minimum wasn't acceptable it wouldn't be called the minimum." George Muncaster |
HABITAT FOR HUMANITYThe Mark of a Leader celebrates individual, team and brand leaders. One of our favorite teams is Habitat for Humanity, who broke ground this year on their 200,000th home. Habitat's story is a great one. Having made millions as an entrepreneur, but seen his life fall apart in the process, 29 year old Millard Fuller and his wife Linda decided to change their lives in the early 1970s. And they had a big idea - a vision. They would build modest houses on a no-profit, no-interest basis, making homes affordable to families with low incomes. Homeowner families were expected to invest their own labor into the building of their home and the houses of other families. This reduced the cost of the house, increased the pride of ownership, and fostered the development of positive relationships. Money for building was placed into a revolving fund, enabling the building of even more homes. After testing the concept both in America and Africa, Habitat for Humanity International was formed in 1976. With a mission of providing adequate and affordable shelter for everyone who needs it, more than one million people have received assistance in getting a home through Habitat for Humanity to date. At a recent conference, one of our clients' sales teams helped build a Habitat house rather than doing a traditional "Beach Olympics" team building activity. We thought that was a great idea to pass on to you, while celebrating the tremendous leadership work of Habitat for Humanity. |
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Please visit us at www.themarkofaleader.com. Copyright 2005 Mark of a Leader |
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