I just finished my first read of The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart of the Matter, Facts you need to know, by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Its a good read with plenty to apply in your leadership challenge. I’m getting ready for our Origin Student Leadership Retreat in February and was helped by the book to zero in on the issue of understanding your personal values as key to leadership growth.

I recommend the book. The paragraph below caught my attention as my New Year Resolution Theme is to keep saying yes to Jesus. 

Quoting University of Connecticut President Michael Hogan’s address to graduating seniors they build on Stephen Colbert’s humorous remarks on the need to always remember to say “yes” to the folks offering you a job.

Michael added: So, drawing on Colbert, James Joyce, or Norman Vincent Peale, depending on your reading list, my first word of advice is this: Say ‘yes.” And to summarize Colbert: “…say ‘yes’ as often as you can.” Of course, saying ‘yes’ can lead to mistakes. So don’t be afraid to make a mistake, because, as he continues, you can’t be young and wise at the same time.

Saying ‘yes’ begins things. “Saying ‘yes’ is how things grow.” Saying ‘yes,’ he goes on, leads to new experiences, and new experiences will ear to knowledge and wisdom. “‘Yes’ is for young people,” Colbert concludes. And I agree. An attitude of ‘yes’ is how you will be able to go forward in these uncertain times.

(Kouzes and Posner write) Michael’s advice (and Stephen Colbert’s too) is clearly appropriate for graduates seeking employment, but it’s also especially relevant for leaders seeking to make change happen. You have to say yes to begin things. You have to say yes to your beliefs, you have to say yes to big dreams, you have to say yes to difficult challenges, you have to say yes to collaboration, you have to say yes to trust, you have to say yes to learning, you have to say yes to setting the example, and you have to say he’s to your heart.

Are you ready to say yes to leadership? When you are ready to say yes, doors will open to entirely new adventures in your life. When you are ready to say yes, people will join you on the quest. When you say yes, you will discover your own truth about leadership.  p. 163-164