Some thoughts on leadership shared by Deputy Head Prefect John Cole at the Prefect's assembly this morning:
"Sometimes, even usually, you notice leaders for how they handle situations and differentiate themselves not by volume or by power, but by influence and respect. That is the mark of a true leader… And we only have so much time on this world to build that respect.
Indeed, on average, we have 22 million, 786 thousand, 220 seconds in this world.
And like a butterfly in a chrysalis you are just waiting to be unfurled.
But there is so much preventing us from achieving our dreams.
Failure is just one of the things that tears away at our mental seams.
Because failure is a word draped with so much apprehension to exceed.
For if you are a failure, you are nothing, you are an abysmal loss, and nothing is guaranteed.
But failure, failure should really be renamed.
Sure, it is failure, the end of a road, the closing remarks of a chapter.
But never dismay if you try and don’t have that x-factor.
There is no need for you to be ashamed.
Our world is built on those who don’t allow themselves to be blamed.
For with just a turn of a page we continue on.
The story arc continues, and the future is but a black-swan.
With so much more to achieve with precious seconds on this planet.
What are you waiting on?
For its those that go when the going gets tough.
Like the Wright Brothers, Michael Jordan and Harold Barrowclough.
Not those that just nick out and bluff.
Those are the ones who will succeed in the rough.
It’s those that sweat the small stuff.
They clean up their facial scruff.
That oddly enough, they don’t overstuff their lives with “well, that was good enough”.
Those are the ones who will succeed in the rough.
So be like the greats and achieve what you desire.
Whether in your academics, co-curriculars or an unforeseen quagmire.
Put yourself in the line of fire.
For only there can you reach higher.
Dr. Seuss wrote of a waiting list, where people go to die.
They spend their entire years waiting, no intention or desire.
But you, you can show up on time, with the right attitude and attire.
You don’t have to join that waiting list, break out and be a fire.
Don’t spend your life on that waiting list.
I should say, don’t let yourself subsist."
