Leadership
Lessons taught from a father
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
The impact left behind from great leaders can always be felt and seen for generations to come. What better leader to have than your own father. It’s not until we are grown and away that we begin to admire and are able to measure our fathers greatness and fully appreciate it. Below is a reflection on a few keystone principles taught by our father. Who not only provided for our family abundantly, along with our amazing mother raised four sons, but above all he believed in us. Quotes and parallels drawn from American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant. As we all falter at times, these lessons taught are always to be strived for and there to fall back on as foundation principles.
Grit & Endurance
“Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” (See Romans 5:3–5)
If you want something out of life, if you want to change yourself, if you want to acquire something, if there’s some goal you want to reach. You must change your behaviors and over come negative habits. It’s challenging, it’s hard. Anything in life worth having, requires work. But most people go through life never discovering their true potential, held back by their own limited mindset, negative cycles, and poor influences. The power to endure, this is a winners quality.
Only through the perseverance of hard times can the successful be made. Growth requires pain. It’s the heat and repetition pounding on the steel that eventually shapes the blade. Your mindset and outlook is what will lead you to the finish. Hard work pays off as our dad has always taught us. Never take short cuts, because in the end it will always catch up to you. If your going to do it, do it honestly.
Humility & Kindness
“To the effect that I saved the country during the recent war, Grant responded: If our country could be saved or ruined by the efforts of any one man we should not have a country. What saved the Union was the coming forward of young men of the nation. They came from their homes and fields, as they did in the time of giving everything to the country. To their devotion we owe the salvation of the union. The humblest solder that carried a musket deserves as much credit to results the war as those who were in command.”
From the kindness our father always showed our mother. Not once can I recall him raising his voice at her in anger. A stoic leader of the family. To remembering even the lowest of employees by name and writing him a letter when his mother passed. I remember fondly after graduation, the first question my father asked me; how will you give back? Having nothing at the time and unsure how I was going to even sustain for myself, let alone worry about others, it made me think. These are things I’m working to apply as I begin to establish myself and come to realize. The more you give, the more you have.
Discipline & Example
“He typically offered his opinion only after everyone else had expressed their opinions. He was not a pushover and had a strong moral compass. He believed in the lesson that less is more.”
If you look at someone who is super successful and think wow they are so amazing, they are a genius, they have it all put together. You have to dig underneath and realize that people are rewarded in public for what they have practiced for years in private. The discipline in small daily habits are what compound over time and make up who you become. I’ve been able to see this first hand. Discipline is your hedge against failed motivation and requires consistent effort. To master the world, master yourself.
Some lessons in life are taught early on unknowingly, until later realized. Ignorance blinded at the time. It’s not what we say that matters, although greatly important. It’s what we do, that is recognized.
Leadership is done through example. The best speeches and most profound lessons taught throughout history were only admired and believed because the people saying these things lived what they were preaching. Silently teaching through their own example. You may not know who’s watching or who you are inspiring.
At times we touch the hot stove even though we are told not to, as it will leave a burn. Often times we have to learn the hard way. As in life we learn through our own mistakes. But some of us make more mistakes than others. Some of us are more lost than others, so the cycle can become vicious if you fall victim to it. Some of us however are lucky enough to have great role models to lean on for inspiration, guidance, and leadership.
Respect & Integrity
“I could defend myself, but the mull could not. Grant’s response to a soldier who apologized to Grant for be disrespectful in his language to Grant when Grant confronted the soldier for beating a mull. In other words, Grant was more upset about the soldier beating the mull, than his disrespectful tone with him.”
Being a good person does not depend on your religion, status, race, color, political views, or culture. It depends on how you treat others. I remember early on having to write in various forms and multiple times, the definition of what respect meant. To serve as a punishment in my youth for some bad behavior. What a silly thing I thought at the time, let me just eat soap and get on with it. I couldn’t have been more wrong in hindsight. How simple yet impactful. When you better understand, you are far more likely to act in accordance to that belief. It’s funny what things stick with you over time. It’s important to remember that a life spent making the world a better place is never a life waisted away.
Our father taught us integrity above all else. For it is the foundation that all other aspects of your life sit upon. Be a man of your word. Compromising your integrity can destroy an empire that took decades to build, in a matter of seconds.
Thirst for Knowledge
“In politics I am growing indifferent — I would like it, if I could now return to my planting and books at home… Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties; write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives.”
One of the best ways to grow and develop is through learning. My love for reading and listening to books, is no-doubt direct causation of my environment. Sparking my initial thirst for more. As we learn and adapt our perspectives, the better able we are to understand ourselves and the world around us. There’s no sense to stagnation. If we are not becoming a better version of our self over time, than what is the point.
I may not have known at the time but my early exposure to the bible, god, and other literatures of the spirit has been a blessing. To learn early on that you must turn inward to reach your highest potential. The kingdom of god is in all people. They say that what we’re all seeking is the meaning of life. It seems as though what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, truly alive both physically and spiritually. No matter the religion, the message has remained the same throughout time. And as your able to hold these messages in thought, we can then parallel them into our own lives and actions. You can then express your own divinity by being fully alive, loving yourself, and loving others. Your life sits on four pillars; mental, physical, financial, and spiritual. If you ignore one of these areas your life will sit off axis.
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What do you gift someone who already has everything money can buy? Perhaps something that holds little intrinsic value, but rather symbolic of something more valuable than dollars can put a price on. As Ulysses is a role model of yours, you are a role model of mine. Thank you for all you do and the leadership you have provided. Happy Father’s Day, love you dad!
Original published copy 1868: ‘The Life of General Ulysses S. Grant. — Containing a Brief But Faithful Narrative of Those Military and Diplomatic Achievements Which Have Entitled Him to the Confidence and Gratitude of His Countrymen.’ Published one year prior to his first term presidency. One decade before you or I was born. Seventeen years before he passed away. His legacy and teachings hold true to this day.
Grant was the successful Union General of the Civil War, battling and defeating six Confederate armies and capturing three. A man of character. An admirable leader of American history.
In 1865, as commanding general, Ulysses S. Grant led the Union Armies to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War. As an American hero, Grant was later elected the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877), serving two term office. Working to implement Congressional Reconstruction and to remove the vestiges of slavery.
