You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership.
Grace HopperRead
I've received many honors and I'm grateful for them; but I've already received the highest award I'll ever receive, and that has been the privilege and honor of serving very proudly in the United States Navy.
Interpretation
The highest honor one can receive is the opportunity to serve others.
In this quote, Grace Hopper emphasizes that despite receiving various accolades throughout her career, her most significant achievement is the honor of serving in the United States Navy. This reflects the value she places on service and dedication to a greater cause, highlighting that personal fulfillment often comes from contributing to something larger than oneself.
In practice
This quote can inspire a speech at a Veterans Day ceremony.
You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership.
If you do something once, people will call it an accident. If you do it twice, they call it a coincidence. But do it a third time and you've just proven a natural law!
Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. _x000D_ _x000D_ Respect for one's superiors; care for one's crew.
It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
I've always been more interested in the future than in the past.
It's always easier to apologize for something you've already done than to get approval for it in advance.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God.
If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
I'm benefitting from the sacrifices and seeds sown by Shirley Chisholm, John Lewis, and so many others. Those of us who are beneficiaries owe it to have a season of service in which we try to give back.
And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.
I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good, becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country demand a peculiar service, its claim to perform that service are imperious.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion.
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