Spirit of Leadership

THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP mean anything. Winston Churchill said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” 32 When I was in college, I signed up for a class in busi ness administration. Then I discovered that the professor was driving a VW and wearing torn jeans and old shoes. He walked into the classroom and said, “Today our ses sion is about how to become a millionaire.” I sat there and said to myself, I’m in the wrong class. I dropped the course because he had an aptitude, but obviously he didn’t have the attitude that would enable him to achieve what he was about to try to teach me. Something was missing. The wealthiest people in the world are usually not intellectuals or academic experts. I’m not saying that they aren’t intelligent but that their financial success is not attributed to their educations. Computer entrepreneurs Bill Gates and Steven Jobs are examples of successful people who didn’t do well under a traditional educational experience. Although they dropped out of college, they somehow had a certain attitude that caused them to be convinced that they had valuable ideas to develop. They discovered purpose and passion, they believed in their ideas, and they inspired other people who believed in them, too. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of people bought their products—and still do. In chapter two, I gave examples of leaders who found a purpose and a passion and inspired others to follow W HEN YOU THINK IN A DIFFERENT WAY , YOU WILL BECOME DIFFERENT .

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