All of us have a background and history.  Many of the lessons I learned about leadership were really common sense child-rearing lessons passed on from one of the most remarkable people I know, my Mother.  With Mother’s Day approaching I thought I would share a few with you.

Respect Everyone: No one ever truly knows anyone, what they’ve experienced, what they’re going through now, or who they are internally.  Showing respect recognizes everyone partakes in struggle and triumph and deserves respect.

If You Can’t Share it With Your Grandmother, You Shouldn’t Say it, Write it or Do it: This is especially true now, be impeccable with all communication.  Words tossed in rudeness, anger, haste or without thought will always come back to bite you in the butt. In this day of high-speed internet and Social Media, it’ll bite immediately, and it could cost you your job or force you to repeat it in court!

Be a Cheerleader: No, not a pom-pom shaking acrobatic one (unless that’s what you love to do), I mean cheer on the success, efforts and opportunities of others, just like you would your own child. Being happy for others rather than resentful feeds your soul.

Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously: Sometimes life is absurd, period.  People react and are reacted to in ways unexpected.  Situations don’t always work out as planned and one needs to redirect.  Laugh!  Find the humour and the gems of wisdom within the unexpected.  You will be all the healthier for it and you’ll make more friends!

Clean Your Own Room First: Before you go criticizing others, take a good look at your own life.  The day you can say everything in your own life is perfect, you are exactly who you wish to be and you have no tasks left to perform, go criticize someone else. Until then, collaborate, help, take part and learn the art of allowing, influencing and encouraging others in their path! We live in the same house!

Clean Out Your Backpack: Pay attention to what you choose to hang onto.  Holding onto negative emotions, old resentments, anger and frustration is no different than choosing not to take that full milk container out of your backpack, after a while it begins to stink and rot and it ruins things!

Use Your Stuff: My mom lit her candles, used her good dishes and wasn’t afraid of polishing silver or using white table cloths.  The deal is, you have it so use it! You are born with and have developed many gifts, talents and strengths worth sharing.  You’ll find joy in using them!

Mom taught more lessons than that and I can guarantee you, I wasn’t always a quick study!  The beauty of having a mom who models great leadership is that she’s willing to be repetitive, probably to the point of frustration at times!  Lucky me that she still continues to persist in providing the lessons in life that, for some, only experience will drive home.  Thanks Mom, for being remarkable!

(Original Post was written May 3, 2009.  Update, my mother passed away on January 22, 2014 making these lessons ever so much more precious to me now!)

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