Graceful leaders are unafraid to lose, able to perform graciously under tremendous pressure, and would move heaven and earth to do the right thing.  They know when to be quiet and when to speak, when to rest and when to intervene.  They strive to do their best while not seeking perfection.  They are honorable.

I grew up in a family of graceful leaders.  Three members who come immediately to mind are my Grandmother, my Dad, and my younger brother; all practitioners of graceful leadership and role models for me.  To be surrounded by grace, to grow up among these graceful leaders and learn “the way” – -

With an art for living their legacy, I believe the graceful leaders we are lucky to know during our lifetime also leave significant footprints.  Yet, those of us who are left behind are not expected to walk directly in their footsteps because we can follow “the way” while leaving our own unique prints in the sand.

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To all those practicing Graceful Leadership (past and present), I offer the following words of inspiration from Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee:

High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence.  Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air,
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee (No. 412 squadron, RCAF)
Killed 11 December 1941

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