This is the speech for the Power Point Presentation on leadership.

1. 8 Traits of A Wise Leader
• Listener
• Shows Respect
• Exhibits Courageous Action
• Persistent
• Values Relationships
• Has Work/Life Balance
• Tells Truth
• Compassionate Mentor

2. #1 & #2 Trait of A Wise Leader: Listening & Showing Respect
Listening is the foremost key to leadership and demonstrating a proven record of being able to follow higher
command. One great leader in American politics who personifies the ability to listen well and respect diversity is
Bill Clinton. I was lucky enough to see him give a speech in November 2015 at Pitt State University.
His speech was concise and humble. He said the best leadership skill he acquired was listening as a child in
Arkansas. He would sit at the dinner table with his family and listen to folks gathered round the table for
conversation. He learned to respect each guest and to value each person for the wisdom they had to share. He
later applied this respect, this gift to his presidency and he brought a lot of people from various backgrounds to
his table to share their thoughts in mutual respect.
He said people in a democracy got to be willing to listen to each other.
Clinton said that of all his achievements, by far his greatest achievement he considered to be funding the Human
Genome Project. He said through this project that he learned that all humanity is 99.5% the same. It is only . 5 %
that makes up our differences. In fact, Clinton said we are much more alike than many of us even realize.

3. #3&#4 Traits of A Wise Leader:
Courageous Action &
Persistance
A beaten down and nearly defeated George Washington in the War of the Colonies exemplifies the power of
persistence. British forces had taken the North, Boston and New York, and were closing in on the dwindling
colonial Army. It was the night of Christmas, December 25th, 1776 when the General took a bold courageous
chance towards victory or death crossing the Delaware River with a small band of loyal winter soldiers. They
surprise attacked the Hessians in New Jersey leading to 2 successes at Princeton and Trenton. As they crossed
the water that night it is said, they read from Thomas Payne’s Common Sense Pamphlet, “these are the times
that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of
their country, but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is
not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation, with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the
triumph.” It was ice cold that night. They hardly made it across. 2,000 soldiers marched on Trenton in 45
minutes just past dawn routed 900 Hessians who had not posted guards due to the inclement weather. It was an
unbelievable stroke of good luck for the colonial general.
By driving the British forces out of New Jersey in those 2 decisive courageous gambles, George Washington once
again secured the hope and the support of the American populace to his cause and reinforcements quickly
flowed back into the ranks of the colonial Army. This gave the colonial Army reason to keep fighting onward and
ultimately led to independence, freedom, and liberty for the colonies.

4. #5 & #6 Traits of A Wise Leader:
Values Relationships & Sets Work/Life Balance
An important aspect of leadership is to realize one’s personal limitations and to know that there are only
24 hours within a day and try as you may, you cannot necessarily “have it all.” You must set priorities. I
like this quote by Ben Carson as a major leader because he emphasizes family and keeping relationship
ties as healthy tenets of a well-rounded successful life of the individual.
“To a company you are an employee. The day you resign, your work cubicle is replaced. Your absence is
missed for a day then the company forgets you. The company goes on to make the money they need to.
They have no time to grieve because there are expectations they have to fulfill… This is why, my friends,
do not mix work with family. Do not take work home, cast your family aside and forget about giving time
to your children. Because in their hearts you are never replaced. Because when you go, everyday you will
be missed.
Keep your priorities. Be a good worker but be a better Father/Mother/Friend/Daughter/Son.”

5. #7 Trait of A Wise Leader: Telling the Truth
In my own family, I was recently saddened by the loss of my grandfather. He passed away this year. He was one of
the Greatest Generation, a WWII vet enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in 1942 8th Air Force as a crew chief airplane
mechanic of B24 bomber planes at Wendling Station in England.
My daughter wore his WWII uniform for Presidents’ Day at school this year and she chose to represent Dwight
Eisenhower. We spent some time together researching online for her February project. I read an interesting story
about Eisenhower.
A few years back, I lived in Germany and had visited Buchenwald concentration camp and had remembered seeing
photos of Eisenhower at the liberations of the camps. The war hero entered the camps on the day FDR died, April
12th, and he walked alongside Bradley and Patton. The sights at the camp that day were so bad that Bradley
heaved. As military commanders they really only had two options, to avoid discussing what they saw that day with
the public or to discuss it openly. Of the three men, it was Eisenhower who decided to blow the whistle.
Eisenhower contacted reporters and organized local tours to the camps of witnesses. He exerted his military
influence to help.
Later, Eisernhower would go on to become the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe and serve 2 terms as
President of the United States of America. In office, he led the nation through the Cold War, the Suez Canal Crisis,
the establishment of NASA, the establishment of the Interstate & Waterway/Dam Systems and many more social
programs. And it was Eisenhower who would later write in reflection on his time served in the miiitary, “I hate war
as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”

6. In the Summer of 2005, I was working as a GS-06 Executive Secretary for two Air Force Colonels at Langley Air Force Base Air Combat
Command in Virginia. I loved the environment of my job and the important people I was paid to support. I could look out my window
and see NASA facilities or see Raptor planes fly past. They were first responders to Washington DC. I interacted with Generals that went
to the Pentagon on a weekly basis. But also, my job was challenging and fast-paced following the e-mail correspondence and war
reports, setting up for meetings, and preparing travel arrangements or personal agendas/calendars for my two superiors. Unfortunately,
there were times I fell behind and there were times I was called on the carpet openly. At one point, I endured an admittedly deserved
talk-down by a commander in a meeting that was so bad it caused my temperature to rise so much I broke out in hives afterwards.
A few days after that occasion, my second superior, the second Colonel called me to his office. I sat down across from him. Of the two
Colonels he was the more mild-mannered one. I knew him to be very intelligent but one to not speak up much unless there was
something important to say. He generally kept to himself in his office. He wore glasses. He smiled occasionally. He was African
American. He was a Civil Engineer and the right side of his office was decorated with awards that he had earned through the years of
service, various distinctions of honor. In the center of the wall was a small framed 8 x 11 piece of what looked like paper with some small
writing on it. We talked for a short while about work and how things were going and he pointed to that piece of paper on the wall. He
said to me that to him it meant more to him than all the other awards on that wall. He said it was something he had gotten a long time
ago in his career and had carried with him as a reminder to himself of what’s really important.
He called it the Desiderata. I went over to the wall and I read it. It made me feel better that day about myself. I think that was his simple
intent.
Anyway, I keep a copy of the Desiderata now too. Maybe to pass it along to someone else someday.
People are a lot like candles in that our flame or spark goes out occasionally and needs to be reignited by someone else sometimes.
That’s what #6 Trait of a Wise Leader is all about, being able to recognize when someone needs a little push of motivation or some
compassionate mentoring to get restarted back on the right path so they don’t burn-out.
#8 Trait of A Wise Leader:
Compassionate Mentoring

7. Desiderata
A Poem For A Way of Life
By Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than
yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years gracefully surrendering the things of the youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusions of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.