The first C of Lee Iacocca's C list for leadership.

QUOTE from Russell H. Ewing: "A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group."

In 2007 Lee Iacocca wrote a book emtitled, WHERE HAVE ALL THE LEADER'S GONE? In an email last month my son Brad made me aware of this book. The email was an excerpt from the opening of the book. In this excerpt Iacocca writes about his "C" list for leadership. He has nine traits for leadership, all of which start with the letter "C". What a greart article it is. Today I'm writing what I LEARNED about the first C - which is CURIOSITY. I'm going to write about one C a day, so it will take me nine days to finish. I think you'll  find them fascinating and you'll learn a lot, just like I did.

CURIOSITY; A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciouly, because the world is a big, complicated place. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care.

One of our former presidents bragged about never reading the newspaper. "I just scan the headlines," he said. Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left to me to decide, whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter,"


Some FOOD FOR THOUGHT from Albert Einstein: "The important thing is not to stop questioning." I absolutely agree with Albert.

HUMOR for today from Groucho Marx: Groucho said, "Just give me a comfortable couch, a dog, a good book, and a woman. Then if you can get the dog to go somewhere and read the book, I might have a little fun!"