The roots of leadership

It all started with Girl Scouts

At the age of six, joining Girl Scouts was not, as I recall, a strategic choice of mine. My mother probably figured it was just the best way for me to have meaningful and productive play. When I sent my own children to preschool, I learned that this strategy was called 'learning social behavior' or 'becoming socialized'.

In Girl Scouts, I learned how to do a great variety of things, discovered learning different things was fun, become competitive as I sought to have the most badges or sell the most cookies, and perhaps most importantly of all, unconsciously grounded myself in the very principles I hold today. Don't be misled; I didn't know all this engagement was going to result in life lessons, but it did. I frankly did not remember much of my scouting experience until I was asked to join the board of the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida. When I heard the Girl Scout Law again after so many years, I was absolutely astonished to realize how much these simple words had influenced my path for so long:

I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.

Today, the Girl Scouting experience is defined as being leadership-focused and is grounded on three core concepts: discover, connect and take action. These principles are timeless to leaders of every age. When we understand ourselves and have a clear internal compass, we are ready to DISCOVER new paradigms. The more we experience, we learn that caring, serving, and inspiring others is how we CONNECT in our immediate local circle, but also in our community and world at large. As we learn about other cultures around us and in the world, we know that embracing those that are different from us is not only the right thing to do, but the only way to breed mutual understanding, respect, and good will. If we couple our tools of discovering and connecting, we will TAKE ACTION to better ourselves, others, and the world.

When I joined Rotary several years ago, their focus on service and living the ethical life resonated with me. I was impressed with their historic "Four-way Test" as it reiterated in different words those same principles of the Girl Scout Law (to learn more about Rotary, visit www.rotary.org). Rotary understands these leadership tenets of discovering, connecting and taking action. Consider the words of Rotary International Director-elect Lars-Olof Fredricksson:

Life is very turbulent today, and people all over the world are exhausted in their duties. Where are the dreams of a better world? Where are we? Who are we? What is our duty to ourselves, neighbors, and fellow citizens? Where are charity and our joint responsibility to humankind?

Now more than ever, we need a vision and knowledge of what is happening around us, a new view of cultural and religious phenomena, without dividing humankind into limited and subjective categories. That's the tenet for a better world and a job for us Rotarians: not engaging in politics, but serving without any boundaries.

I believe that Rotary's emphasis on "service above self" is a direct result of their ethical roots in the Four-Way Test, and I know that ethical behavior is also a significant pillar of successful leaders.

Many people are confused about ethics, not understanding exactly how to define ethics or how to be ethical. Most people that I ask say that ethics is being honest or having integrity, but this is a limiting view of ethics. I have come to my own understanding of ethics with a variety of experiences: as a business degree-seeking college student, as a policy writer for non-profits, as a Rotarian, and certainly as a business-owner. My conclusion is that ethics is that balance of actions that is fair and just to all. In other words, we can be honest and have integrity, but if we only act in our own self-interest we are not balanced in thought and deed. Remember the "Golden Rule" that we were taught as children?

Discover, connect, take action, and be ethical. You're on your way to a lasting legacy of leadership.