In the last post, I discussed the power of words and the legacy that our words can leave behind. The example being, Thomas Jefferson, whose words have transformed our country and have often been the envy of other nations. In this piece, part of leading in the 21st century will not only be linked to skills, but also to a sense of timing as well as self awareness. And here, the example for me is Rosa Parks because she linked both timing and self awareness.

Parker Palmer in his book Let Your Life Speak speaks of Rosa Parks in the following terms:

Where does one get the courage to "sit down at the front of the bus" in a society that punishes anyone who decides to live divided no more? After all, conventional wisdom recommends the divided life as the safe and sane way to go: "Don't wear your heart on your sleeve." "Don't make a federal case out of it." "Don't show them the whites of your eyes." These are all the cliched ways we tell each other to keep personal truth apart from public life, lest we make ourselves vulnerable in that rough-and-tumble realm.

Where do people find the courage to live divided no more when they know they will be punished for it? The answer I have seen in the lives of people like Rosa Parks is simple: these people have transformed the notion of punishment itself. They have come to understand that no punishment anyone might inflict on them could possibly be worse than the punishment they inflict on themselves by conspiring in their own diminishment."

So, while Lincoln could bring together clashing ideologies and Jefferson could write words that will stand the test of time, Rosa Parks embodies in one defiant moment a sense of timing and self awareness. Parks didn't try to spark a movement, rather Parks grew tired of moving, when the right thing to do was stand still. The hymn writer puts it this way: "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand,". Parks stood on something solid and in her being knew that all other ground was shifting sand. And leaders in the global era will need to understand that at times, standing still amidst a changing, fast paced, 'the world is flat' environment is not only the right thing to do, but the one that leads others to do likewise. Sometimes, not accepting the status quo (which in a web based world is so often changing) is the thing that separates leaders from those who have become so used to living as sheep. So, what in your life and in my life needs to change and what needs to stay the same? In order to best answer that question, we may have to look again to Rosa Parks and simply say, 'no thank you, I think I will sit right here." And then, we stay put, until something or someone moves us. Sometimes sitting down is the best way to speak up.

-bo