Ambassador Andrew Young and John Hope Bryant Backstage in Atlanta

Ambassador Andrew Young and John Hope Bryant Backstage in Atlanta

There are of course many reasons why otherwise smart leaders fail, but one of the most powerful is the one my mentor and personal hero, civil rights icon Ambassador Andrew Young often reminds me of; “men (and women) fail for three reasons. Arrogance, pride and greed.” 

Wiser and more accurate words have rarely been uttered as relates to leadership, and this quote unfortunately applies completely to Martin Shkreli, now the former CEO of Turing Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, who this week was charged with fraud tied to his tenure as a hedge fund manager.

You will find in life, that some people will ‘appear’ to be successful, for a time.  These same people will seem to prosper, and sometimes they look good for what appears to be a long period of time.  But these people, always fail in the fullness of time.

The CEO of Countrywide looked successful for a time.

The fund manager Bernie Madoff looked successful for a time.

Hitler looked successful, for a long time.  History did not turn out so well for any of these so-called leaders.

Here is my counsel, straight out of Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World ~ step over mess, never in it.  Don’t succeed in winning the battle, but then succeed at losing the war.

How you lead in life and business, is  your call.

Let’s go…

John Hope Bryant

 

 

 

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