A portion of an editorial by Willilam Kristol

The British economist and businessman Josiah Charles Stamp is said to have remarked, “It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” Stamp, along with his wife and son, was killed in London in 1941 during the Blitz. Those deaths, and tens of millions others, were the result of decent people seeking for too long to dodge their responsibilities and to evade the consequences.

The World is Looking for Heroes and Good Leaders

The world is starving for heroes and good leaders.


A good leader is not born, a good leader is trained. Listen to what Jim Rohn says about the goals of a good leader.

1. Learn to be strong but not rude. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader. Sadly, some people mistake rudeness for strength... It's not even a good substitute.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake kindness for weakness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell somebody the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, discover the first sign of trouble.
4. You've got to learn to be humble, but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility... Humility is almost a God-like word. A sense of awe. A sense of wonder. An awareness of the human soul and spirit. An understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars. So humility is a virtue; but timidity is a disease.
5. Be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to win the day. It takes pride to build your business. It takes pride to accomplish much. But the key to becoming a good leader is being proud without being arrogant. In fact I believe the worst kind of arrogance is arrogance from ignorance. It's when you don't know that you don't know... That kind of arrogance is intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6. Develop humor without folly. That's important for a leader. In leadership, we learn that it's okay to be witty, but not silly. It's okay to be fun, but not foolish.
7. Lastly, deal in reality...deal in truth...and save yourself the agony. Just accept life as it is. Because life is unique. For example, I've found the methods that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. And yet the fundamentals of leadership always work well for just about everyone: in life, business, in the community, and at home.

If you are blaming others for your woes, you are looking in the wrong direction. Other people cannot make you happy - you are in charge of that department. If you are looking to change things, you may have to change yourself. And there could be no better time than today.