George Bailey and Leadership

In the movie It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey contemplates suicide after his uncle misplaces a deposit which threatens the closure of his bank.  Just as George is about to jump off a bridge, his guardian angel Clarence jumps in the water prompting George to jump into the water to rescue him. After the rescue, Clarence takes George on a journey to show him what life would have been like had George never been born.  George got to see first-hand how person after person was worse off because each of them didn't have the opportunity to be touched by George in some way.  Even George's wife Mary met the politically incorrect fate of being an old maid working in the city library. After George's alternate reality journey, he emerged with a wonderful appreciation for all of the good he did in his life and how he impacted so many people with his kindness, generosity, and empathy.

I used this story to open up my sister Lori's eulogy. 

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Lori died on February 13, 2012 after a courageous battle with lung cancer.  In her eulogy I recounted how, 24 years earlier, Lori had a brain aneurysm and was given less than a ten percent chance of survival.  Lori not only survived the brain aneurysm but made a full recovery with the only side effect being a bit of short-term memory loss.  Lori was given 24 more years on earth to impact those around her.  She absolutely made the most of those 24 years.  She raised a beautiful daughter, started a business, encouraged and loved many family and friends, and was a loving partner to her fiancé.  Had she died 24 years ago she would have never touched the people she touched, myself included.

I tell you this for one simple reason.  We as leaders need to make the most of our relationships with others and do our bit to grow those who are coming up the ranks behind us.  Being a leader is more than driving for results; it's about nurturing and cultivating others to help them be better leaders.  Some leaders take the responsibility of growing others very seriously while others have a cultivating others blind spot as big as Texas.  If you as a leader have a blind spot when it comes to cultivating others, then you're not doing all you should be doing as a leader.

George Bailey had a wonderful experience with his angel Clarence where he got to see what life was like had he never been born.  Are you as a leader making the most of how you cultivate others? If you have to think about this for more than a few seconds, you already know the answer. 

Lonnie Pacelli
Keynote Speaker | Board Director | Autism Advocate | Author | Project Management Expert | Microsoft/Accenture Veteran 
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