BEING AN ABRAHAM

LINCOLN By Shakthi Fernando

BEING AN ABRAHAM LINCOLN 2014

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CC3 speech delivered by Shakthi Fernando at Toastmasters

International Speechcraft Program, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri

Lanka

© 2014 by Shakthi Fernando

The writer of this takes no credits for the cited quotations.

BEING AN ABRAHAM LINCOLN 2014

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“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's

side, for God is always right.”

Great words come from great people. Great words come from great leaders.

But how to be a leader.

It’s about being an Abraham Lincoln. It’s about being a Nelson Mandela. A Martin Luther

King.

It’s about being a leader.

First of all, you have to be a rock star at everything you do. Be a rock star at work.

Most people can’t understand this concept.

Probably, you all are working in somewhere or willing to work.

Then, there’s something, you have to remember.

You have to remember, that’s how you put bread on your table.

Your whole family depends on them and all your necessities are fulfilled by them.

Then you have the fullest responsibility to do your best to the organization.

Being great at work is just not something that you’re giving to the organization.

It’s something. It’s a gift that you’re giving to yourself.

When you’re being spectacularly great and passionately committed to your work, it

means you promote yourself and earn some personal respect.

Yeah, of course, good things happen to people, who do good things.

When you bring your highest talents and deepest devotion to the work, you do, what

you are really doing is setting yourself up for a richer, happier and more interesting life.

How do you feel after an ultra-productive day? How do you feel, when you have given

maximum out of you to your teammates. How do you feel when you have travelled an

extra mile for your customer?

It feels pretty good, ah, isn’t it?

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Same as that, you don’t need to hold the biggest title in the organization to do your job

well.

You don’t need to be a manager. You don’t need to be a CEO, or an executive.

Just know your role and rock it.

Once Martin Luther King said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep

streets even as Michel Angelo painted, or as Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare

wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will

pause to say, ‘here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’ ”

As a leader, you have to learn to say “NO”.

A controversial point.

From our childhood, we have been asked to say “YES” to things and we have been asked

not to say “NO” to things.

But here, it’s different.

Sometimes you have to say “NO”.

It says, when you say “YES” to an unimportant thing, you say “NO” to an important

thing.

Say “NO” to your friends, who want you to gossip with them. Say “NO” to your

colleagues, who spread their negative sensations with you. Say “NO” to your neighbors,

who laugh at your dreams and make you doubt about yourself.

Know your priorities and goals.

If you feel like there’s something that may adversely affect to your life, which may

adversely affect to your dreams and to your goals, you have to say “NO” fearlessly. No

matter how hard it is, no matter how others will think about you or how others will judge

you. You should have the courage; you should have the strength to say “NO”.

We are not here to please everyone in the world.

A day will come. One day you will have to decide, whether you’re going to live your life

according to the approval of others or you’re going to live your life as you always wanted

to do.

Choice is yours.

BEING AN ABRAHAM LINCOLN 2014

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Leadership is a strange thing.

Remember, Leadership is not a popularity contest.

Leadership is not about being liked. It’s about doing what is right.

There are more leaders, who are afraid of critics. They act as others wish. They want to

be popular and cherished among others.

But real leaders, they make tough calls. They speak their truth. They make right decisions

and worrying little about public opinion.

Once Nelson Mandela said, “We have to do the right thing. If people don’t like it, we

have to convince them what is right, because we are their leaders.”

Yes of course, you have to be kind as a leader. You have to be a good human being.

But it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to be strong and courageous, when it’s required

by circumstances.

Remember, a great leader is a part saint and a part warrior.

Normally, the best thing is the hardest thing to do. So do the right thing rather than

doing the popular thing.

There will be more critics for sure.

Remember, “Great people build their monuments from the stones that critics throw at

them.”

Live your life as a leader.

Do not follow the crowd. If you always follow the crowd, you will find the same

destination as others do.

If you don’t, you will visit magnificent places, no one has ever been.

I know, it’s tough. People will not like you. They’ll kick you. They’ll isolate you. They will

do anything to put you down. They will even sell their souls to the devil, if they can.

Remember, “Foxes are always with the flock. But the lion, lion is dare enough to step

forward alone”.

So be it.

“You only live once. But if u do it right, once is enough”.