Igniting dormant enthusiasm
Employees enter the work world
With enthusiasm and hope.
Great leadership
Fans that flame.
It creates conditions
That encourage it to burn more brightly.
It envisions a future
That compels hearts and minds.
It inspires smart risk taking
That pushes past
Perceived limits and barriers.
Poor leadership
Lets that flame dim and die.
It creates conditions
That starve it of oxygen.
It loses sight of a future
That compels anyone or anything.
It cultivates prescriptive bureaucracy
That erects
Perceived limits and barriers.
We must
Rage against poor leadership
In ourselves and others.
And take the risks
And do the hard work
That great leadership requires.
If we don’t
Resignation sets in.
And the thicker the resignation
The tougher it is to reignite the flames
That have gone out.
Because
Here’s the thing
We must
Always remember:
The fuel is still there.
It’s always there.
The enthusiasm.
Just laying dormant.
In all of us.
Waiting for a spark.