This week's word is Leadership. I love this quote from General George Washington to his commanders: “A leader must look and act the part if he is going to have the success needed for a proper command.” George Washington was a great leader, so much so that he was a general and our only president to be elected unanimously. He understood that in order to be an effective leader, you need to look and act the part. In other words, a leader must communicate that he is worth following. A leader is expected to inspire to command his troops or a nation. This cannot be accomplished without the Language of Leadership. It's more than weilding power or even using the...
Popular culture tells us that when I was a little girl, we used to celebrate Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday along with Valentine's Day every February. However, due to the difficulty in having two such paid holidays, Washington and Lincoln's birthday celebrations were combined and called President's Day. These stories began circulating in the 1950's. Adding to the confusion of these rumors was the notion that President Nixon is credited with changing Washingtong's birthday to President's Day commemorating ALL presidents including himself. Nixon did issue an Executive Order declaring the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday, but the notion he called for it to be called President's Day celebrating all presidents was actually from a newspaper spoof. According to this snopes article, in 1968, the New York Times reported:...
