Description

SONG TITLE:

Name: LEADER OF LEADERS
SKU: 2006
Price: 2.00 CAD
Availability: InStock

LEADER OF LEADERS

Leadership / Personal Growth / Education

PRIMARY EMOTION:

Reflection

ALSO FITS:

Mentorship / Responsibility / Teamwork / Self-Discovery / Family / Wisdom / Personal Development

WHAT THIS SONG IS ABOUT

What makes somebody a good leader?
Is it confidence? Intelligence? Experience? The ability to make decisions? Or is it something much bigger than that?
For years, I believed I understood leadership because I knew how to run a business, organize people, solve problems, and get things done.
And I was successful at it.
But success doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing everything the best way possible.
Sometimes you’re so busy following what you already know that you forget there’s an entire world of knowledge waiting for you.

LEADER OF LEADERS

is about recognizing that difference.
It’s about learning to listen, sharing responsibility, developing other people’s abilities, and understanding that leadership isn’t measured only by what you accomplish yourself.
It’s also measured by what you help others accomplish.
And sometimes the most important people you need to lead aren’t standing beside you at work.
They’re waiting for you at home.

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG

This song began with a book about leadership.
I can’t remember the exact title. I lent it to someone years ago, and it never made its way back.
What I remember is how much that book made me think.
It contained ideas and statements from different people throughout history, including presidents and other influential figures. Some of those statements were so interesting that I started writing them down.
I wasn’t planning a song from beginning to end. I was collecting thoughts that caught my attention.
After reading somewhere around 200 or 300 pages, I’d gathered roughly twenty phrases that I wanted to keep.
Eventually, I began putting those ideas together.
What surprised me was how naturally they connected. Statements from different people, different times, and different experiences began forming one message.
I developed the song around them and created a powerful chorus to bring everything together.
But the book had also made me look at my own life.
And that’s where the story became personal.

WHY I WROTE THIS SONG

I spent years running businesses, working long hours, and taking responsibility for practically everything.
Fourteen to seventeen hours a day wasn’t unusual.
I had work. I made money. I knew how to get things done.
But I wasn’t giving other people enough opportunity to take responsibility for the work themselves.
It wasn’t necessarily because I didn’t trust them.
I was simply used to doing things my way.
Reading that book made me recognize something I hadn’t paid enough attention to.
I could have accomplished many of the same things while allowing other people to develop their abilities, make decisions, and become leaders themselves.
And I might have had more time for my family and the other important parts of life.
That’s a lesson worth sharing.

WHY THIS MATTERS TO ME

I learned a great deal throughout my working life.
Construction, machinery, business, problem-solving, and years of practical experience taught me things I couldn’t have learned simply by sitting in a classroom.
But I was relying almost entirely on what I already knew.
I wasn’t spending enough time reading, listening, or discovering how much knowledge other people had to offer.
And I wasn’t paying enough attention to how complicated human beings really are.
How we think. How we make decisions. How we influence each other. How we learn.
I can’t go back and run those years again.
If I could, I’d change a great deal about how I organized my businesses.
But I can take what I’ve learned and pass it forward.
That’s what makes this song important to me.

WHY THIS SONG FITS MOITA

MOITA represents something I understand much better today than I did years ago.
Learning doesn’t end because you’ve become experienced.
In fact, experience should give you more reasons to keep learning.
For much of my life, I concentrated on doing the work. Today, I’m also concentrating on sharing what life has taught me while continuing to discover things I didn’t know.
That’s why MOITA combines music with storytelling, personal experiences, documentaries, and education.
I’m not pretending to have all the answers.
I’m sharing what I’ve discovered, what I’ve questioned, what I’ve misunderstood, and what I wish I’d understood sooner.
And I’m still learning.
If something I learned the hard way helps somebody else make a better decision, then I’ve accomplished something worthwhile.
LEADER OF LEADERS belongs in MOITA because it represents that very idea.
Knowledge becomes more valuable when we’re willing to share it.

READ THIS FIRST

There is something unusual about how this song was written.
Many of its ideas began as statements I collected while reading a leadership book. Some came from historical figures and recognized thinkers whose words had been included in that book.
I didn’t write every one of those original sayings.
What I did was recognize their importance, bring selected ideas together, organize them into a song, and create a chorus that connects them.
Throughout the story and documentary, we’ll look more closely at the ideas behind those words, including their historical origins wherever they can be established.
But before you begin, I’d like you to consider two questions.
If you disappeared from your workplace tomorrow, would the people around you know how to carry on without you?
And here’s another.
If your success has taken most of your time, what have you had to give up to achieve it?
You don’t have to answer those questions now.
Just keep them in mind while you listen.

FULL LYRICS.

LEADER OF LEADERS

What is your purpose in life? Who is your compass?
What qualities determines your destination?
I am here, so you understand the secrets of success.
A good leader always has a plan.
I will show you the way to a better place with each step is a result of a better thought
No person ever grow unless they are willing to listen and learn
A leader who truly leads will always keep his words
I think so there I am I am so there I think
So I will soak up the sun and be a seeker
Who shares his passion will live day by day
A mentor is the leader that needs leaders
Without tribute in life, I am no one
I will dance at the ball I will sing with you all, but remember at thorn is only a branch covered by velvet

we can all break free from the ball and chains
Just by following the rules of common sense
So think before you do, and you’re thinking will guide you to be a leader of leaders
Leadership stand out in front and says
Follow me
If I live today, my mission is to live tomorrow
If I lead you in a direction with purpose that your purpose is for you to be the leader that you were meant to be
and a true leader cares about you

A mentor not only affects the present, but the future
It takes a good man to be a great listener
When you ask for feedback, don’t shoot the messenger
Is the glue the vines, followers and leaders together?
Purpose, motivation, tasks, and accomplishments, and you can become a leader of leaders
Not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow
There must be a hunger within you for teaching
No talent comes without humility. Focus on the prize.
Passion will make the way where there is no way
The best ass you have in life is the people
Not one of us is smarter as all of us
Let them go let them grow. Let them learn.
Effective leaders own their decisions
Convictions are not negotiable and they are not for sale
to be as successful leader is to be successful at home

what does a profit a man if he gains the world and loses his own children?
They are both our future and present
they are our successors mentors and leaders, and a true leader must be able to juggle both and still be able to be a mentor at home If I lead you in a direction with purpose that your purpose is for you to be the leader that you were meant to be
and a true leader cares about you

SECTION ONE
LYRIC JOURNEY
PART 1

LEADER OF LEADERS
THE DIRECTION WE CHOOSE

“What is your purpose in life? Who is your compass? What qualities determines your destination?”
I started this song with three questions, and there’s a reason for that.
Before I tell anybody what makes a good leader, I think it’s worth asking what we’re trying to accomplish with our own lives.
Most of us have some idea of where we want to go. We want a good job, financial security, a family, a successful business, or whatever else we believe will make us happy.
But there’s a difference between knowing what you want and understanding why you want it.
And that’s where the compass comes in.
A compass helps you find direction, but it doesn’t tell you which destination is worth reaching. That’s something you have to decide for yourself.
I spent many years knowing exactly what I wanted to accomplish when it came to business. I knew how to find work, organize jobs, operate equipment, and solve problems. I was comfortable making decisions because I’d spent years developing those abilities.
But I wasn’t always questioning the direction my life was taking outside of work.
That’s something I recognize much better today.
You can be heading in the right direction professionally while moving away from things that matter in your personal life.
And sometimes you don’t recognize that until years have passed.
Now, when I ask what qualities determine your destination, I’m not simply talking about intelligence or ambition.
I’m talking about the kind of person you choose to become along the way.
Are you dependable?
Can you admit when you’re wrong?
Are you willing to learn?
Do you treat people fairly?
And when somebody else has a better idea, are you prepared to listen?
Those qualities influence the decisions we make, and those decisions influence where we eventually end up.
I think that’s a reasonable place to begin a conversation about leadership.
“I am here, so you understand the secrets of success. A good leader always has a plan.”
I have to smile a little at the words “secrets of success.”
People have been selling the secrets of success for generations. Everybody seems to have a formula, and quite often they’re willing to sell you a book explaining it.
But I don’t believe there’s one secret that works for everybody.
I’ve known hardworking people who struggled financially, and I’ve known people who found success through opportunities that others never received.
Circumstances matter.
Timing matters.
Knowledge matters.
And sometimes luck plays a part too.
But planning is something we can actually work on.
When you’re running a construction business, you can’t simply show up with a bunch of equipment and hope everything falls into place.
You need to know what you’re building, what equipment is required, how many people you’ll need, and how the work is going to be organized.
You also need to recognize what could go wrong.
I’ve spent much of my life working that way.
The interesting part is that I understood planning very well when it came to completing a job.
What I didn’t understand nearly as well was how to plan for developing the people around me.
I could organize the work, but I wasn’t always organizing the business in a way that allowed other people to take on greater responsibility.
There’s a difference between planning how to finish a project and planning how to build a team that can eventually handle projects without you.
That’s one of the lessons that came out of reading the leadership book that inspired this song.
“I will show you the way to a better place with each step is a result of a better thought”
This line connects planning with thinking.
Every step we take begins somewhere in our minds.
We consider a possibility, make a decision, and act on it.
Sometimes the decision works.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
And sometimes we discover afterward that somebody else had a better approach all along.
That last possibility is important.
When you’ve spent years doing something successfully, it becomes easy to believe your methods are the most practical ones.
You know they work because you’ve seen the results.
But something can work and still be improved.
I think about that when I look back at how I operated my businesses.
I wasn’t sitting around wondering what needed to be done. I was doing it.
And because I was getting results, I didn’t spend enough time questioning whether the whole operation could have been organized differently.
A better thought might have been to give somebody else responsibility for an entire part of the business.
Another might have been to ask an experienced employee how they would organize a particular job.
Or simply to recognize that I didn’t personally need to be involved in every decision.
None of those ideas required me to abandon what I knew.
They required me to make better use of what other people knew.
That’s what makes learning so valuable.
A new idea doesn’t have to destroy your old knowledge.
Sometimes it simply improves it.
“No person ever grow unless they are willing to listen and learn”
This is one of those statements that sounds obvious until you start examining your own behaviour.
Everybody knows listening is important.
But how many of us actually do it properly?
I’ve been guilty of hearing somebody speak while already deciding what I was going to say in response.
I think most people have done that at one time or another.
We hear the words, but we’re not necessarily considering the information.
And when we already have years of experience, that habit can become even stronger.
We assume we know where the conversation is going.
We assume we’ve heard the suggestion before.
We assume our way is better because it’s the way we’ve always done it.
But what if we’re wrong?
What if the person speaking has noticed something we’ve overlooked?
It doesn’t matter whether that person is twenty years old or seventy.
It doesn’t matter whether they’ve worked in the business for thirty years or thirty days.
They might have something useful to contribute.
Of course, not every suggestion is going to be a good one.
Listening doesn’t mean accepting everything somebody tells you.
It means giving the idea a fair opportunity before deciding whether it has value.
I wish I’d spent more time doing that during my working years.
Not because I believe I was incapable of making good decisions.
I made plenty of them.
But I might have made even better ones if I’d allowed more knowledge into the process.
“A leader who truly leads will always keep his words”
Now we move from knowledge to character.
And I think the two belong together.
You can be the smartest person in the room, but if nobody can depend on what you say, you’re going to have a problem leading people.
When somebody gives you their word, there’s an expectation attached to it.
If you promise to do something, that person begins making decisions based on your commitment.
They might organize their work around it.
They might spend money.
They might make plans involving other people.
And when you don’t follow through, the consequences can extend well beyond the original promise.
In business, I’ve always understood how important commitments are.
But keeping your word isn’t simply about meeting a deadline.
It’s also about being truthful when something changes.
Sometimes circumstances make it impossible to deliver exactly what you promised.
Equipment breaks down. Weather changes. People become ill. Unexpected problems happen.
You can’t control everything.
What you can control is whether you’re honest about what’s happening.
And I believe people are more likely to respect somebody who admits there’s a problem than somebody who keeps making promises they know they can’t fulfil.
Leadership doesn’t require pretending everything is perfect.
It requires taking responsibility when things aren’t.
“I think so there I am I am so there I think”
This line is a little different from the others.
It’s a play on the famous statement associated with the philosopher René Descartes, “I think, therefore I am.”
I enjoyed turning that idea around.
Because the more I considered it, the more interesting it became.
We’re here, and we have the ability to think.
But what are we actually doing with that ability?
Are we examining our decisions?
Are we questioning things we’ve always believed?
Are we trying to understand why people behave differently?
Or are we simply going through life repeating the same habits?
There’s a difference between having thoughts and making an effort to think something through.
And there’s another difference between thinking about a problem and being willing to change your mind.
I know how difficult that second part can be.
When you’ve spent years building something through your own decisions, those decisions become part of your confidence.
Somebody questioning your approach can almost feel like they’re questioning your ability.
But they might simply be offering another possibility.
That’s something worth remembering.
You don’t lose your experience by considering another person’s idea.
And you don’t become less intelligent by admitting you’ve learned something new.
In fact, I’d argue the opposite.
The more willing you are to examine what you think you know, the more opportunities you create to understand something better.
“So I will soak up the sun and be a seeker Who shares his passion will live day by day”
I like the change of feeling here.
We’ve been talking about plans, decisions, learning, and responsibility.
Now the song opens up a little.
Soaking up the sun gives me a feeling of being outside, enjoying life, and taking in what’s around you.
And being a seeker means you’re still curious.
You’re still looking for something.
Not necessarily money or recognition.
It might be knowledge.
It might be understanding.
It might be a better way of doing something.
Or it might simply be discovering an interest you never knew you had.
That’s something I’ve come to appreciate through music.
Writing songs has opened the door to subjects I might never have explored otherwise.
One song leads me toward history.
Another makes me think about human behaviour.
Another brings back a personal experience that I begin examining differently.
And sometimes I discover that the subject is much bigger than the song I originally intended to write.
That’s part of the enjoyment.
I’m not simply producing another piece of music.
I’m learning while I’m creating it.
The line about sharing passion matters because enthusiasm can be contagious.
When somebody genuinely enjoys what they’re doing, they can encourage other people to become interested.
Think about a teacher who loves the subject they’re teaching.
Or a tradesperson who takes the time to show a young worker how something operates.
Their enthusiasm can make the learning experience completely different.
And it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Sometimes people become interested in something simply because another person took the time to explain why they found it fascinating.
“A mentor is the leader that needs leaders”
Here’s where the title of the song really begins taking shape.
A mentor is somebody who helps another person develop.
That might involve teaching a practical skill, sharing experience, offering advice, or helping somebody recognize abilities they haven’t yet developed.
But there’s something important about the relationship.
The mentor shouldn’t want the student to remain dependent forever.
Imagine teaching somebody how to operate a piece of machinery.
At first, they need instruction.
They need to understand the controls, the safety procedures, and the limitations of the equipment.
They need supervision while developing their abilities.
But eventually, if they’re learning properly, they should become capable of operating that machine without somebody standing beside them every minute.
And with enough experience, they might become capable of teaching somebody else.
Now the knowledge has moved forward.
That’s the part I find interesting.
One person learns.
That person teaches another.
And eventually, the original knowledge may reach people the first teacher will never even meet.
The same principle can apply to leadership.
A person who develops another capable leader has created opportunities for knowledge and responsibility to continue beyond their own involvement.
And that new leader may eventually develop several more.
That’s why I don’t see leadership as something that should belong to only one person.
The more capable people you develop, the stronger the entire operation can become.
“Without tribute in life, I am no one”
This line can be understood in different ways.
Tribute often means recognition, appreciation, or something given in honour of somebody’s contribution.
But I don’t believe a person needs public recognition to have value.
Some of the most important things people do receive very little attention.
A parent teaches a child something useful.
A worker helps a colleague understand a difficult task.
A friend offers advice that prevents somebody from making a serious mistake.
Nobody writes a newspaper article about it.
Nobody hands out an award.
But that doesn’t mean the contribution was insignificant.
For me, this line raises the question of what we’re giving back.
What are we contributing to the people around us?
Are we sharing what we’ve learned?
Are we helping somebody develop?
Are we leaving something useful behind?
I think recognition is pleasant when it comes, but it shouldn’t be the only reason we help others.
Sometimes the real reward is seeing somebody succeed.
And sometimes we may never know what difference our contribution made.
That doesn’t make it worthless.
“I will dance at the ball I will sing with you all, but remember at thorn is only a branch covered by velvet”
This is where I wanted a little contrast.
There’s a celebration happening.
People are dancing, singing, and enjoying themselves.
Then the line introduces something that doesn’t quite belong in that comfortable picture.
A thorn covered by velvet.
Velvet is soft.
A thorn isn’t.
And I think that contrast works well when we’re talking about leadership and human behaviour.
People aren’t always what they appear to be.
Somebody can speak beautifully and still have poor intentions.
A person can make wonderful promises without having the ability to fulfil them.
And something that looks attractive at first may contain problems we haven’t recognized.
That doesn’t mean we should go through life distrusting everybody.
But we should pay attention.
Especially when somebody is asking us to follow them.
What are they promising?
What have they actually accomplished?
How do they treat people when things go wrong?
Do they accept responsibility?
Are they willing to listen?
Those questions tell us much more than appearances.
And I think there’s another lesson here.
Success itself can sometimes be covered in velvet.
It looks comfortable from the outside.
People see the business, the money, the accomplishments, and the recognition.
They don’t necessarily see the hours, the pressure, or what somebody may have sacrificed along the way.
That’s something I understand from my own experience.
I enjoyed accomplishing things.
I enjoyed building businesses and getting difficult jobs completed.
But there were also costs I didn’t pay enough attention to at the time.
So I see this line as a reminder to enjoy what life offers while remaining aware that not everything is as simple as it appears.
And now the song is ready to move into the chorus.
We’ve talked about direction, planning, learning, trust, thinking, mentorship, and the importance of looking beyond appearances.
The next question is whether we’re prepared to do something with that knowledge.
Because recognizing a better way of thinking is one thing.
Changing the way we live and make decisions is another.

SECTION ONE
LYRIC JOURNEY
PART 2

“we can all break free from the ball and chains Just by following the rules of common sense”
When I talk about the ball and chains, I’m not necessarily talking about somebody being physically restrained.
I’m talking about the things that hold us back in everyday life.
Sometimes it’s fear.
Sometimes it’s a lack of confidence.
Sometimes it’s the belief that we can’t accomplish something because nobody has ever given us the opportunity.
And sometimes, believe it or not, we’re the ones holding ourselves back.
We become comfortable doing things a certain way. We develop habits, establish routines, and eventually stop questioning them.
I know that feeling.
For years, I was running my businesses in a way that worked. I had plenty of work, I knew how to organize jobs, and I was making money.
So why would I change anything?
That was part of the problem.
Because something works doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way.
And when you’re accustomed to making all the important decisions yourself, you can become trapped by your own success.
You’ve built something that depends on you, and now you feel obligated to be involved in everything.
The business may be doing well, but you’re working fourteen to seventeen hours a day to keep everything moving.
That’s a strange kind of freedom, isn’t it?
You’re the boss, but you can barely get away from the place.
I can laugh about that now, but there’s a serious lesson behind it.
Sometimes the chains aren’t being held by somebody else.
Sometimes we’re holding them ourselves.
Now, the line about common sense sounds simple enough.
But common sense isn’t always as common as we’d like to believe.
And what seems obvious to one person may not be obvious to another.
We all have different experiences, different abilities, and different ways of understanding problems.
That’s why I don’t believe common sense means automatically trusting your first instinct.
Sometimes common sense means asking a question.
Sometimes it means getting a second opinion.
And sometimes it means recognizing that you need to learn something before making a decision.
The important thing is to avoid allowing pride or habit to prevent you from considering a better approach.
“So think before you do, and you’re thinking will guide you to be a leader of leaders”
Here’s where the chorus brings everything together.
Think before you act.
It sounds like something a parent would tell a child.
And there’s a good reason parents say it.
Our decisions have consequences.
Some are small enough that we barely notice them.
Others can affect our lives for years.
When you’re responsible for other people, those consequences can become even more important.
If I make a poor decision while working alone, I may be the only person who suffers.
But if I’m directing a crew, that same decision could affect several employees, their safety, their income, and the work everybody is trying to accomplish.
That’s why thinking matters.
But I want to make something clear.
Thinking before acting doesn’t mean spending your entire life hesitating.
There are times when decisions need to be made quickly.
Anybody who has worked around heavy equipment knows that.
If something dangerous is happening, you don’t have twenty minutes to sit down and discuss every possibility.
You need to respond.
That’s where experience and preparation become valuable.
The more you’ve learned, the better equipped you may be to recognize a problem and respond appropriately.
But even experience has limitations.
And that’s why learning should never stop.
Now, the words leader of leaders are important.
I didn’t want the song to be about somebody becoming the most powerful person in the room.
I wanted it to be about developing people who could eventually become capable leaders themselves.
Think about how much more a business could accomplish if several people understood how to make responsible decisions instead of relying on one individual for everything.
The owner could concentrate on larger responsibilities.
Supervisors could organize their own work.
Experienced employees could help train newer workers.
And the entire operation could become less dependent on one person’s constant involvement.
That’s not losing control.
That’s developing a stronger organization.
Of course, everybody still needs to understand their responsibilities.
There have to be standards.
There has to be accountability.
And when safety is involved, there can’t be any confusion about who is responsible for making particular decisions.
But those things don’t prevent people from developing independence.
They make responsible independence possible.
“Leadership stand out in front and says Follow me”
I like the simplicity of these words.
Follow me.
Two words that can carry a tremendous amount of responsibility.
But here’s something worth considering.
Just because somebody is standing in front doesn’t mean they’re going in the right direction.
History has shown us that plenty of people were capable of attracting followers without having good intentions.
Some inspired extraordinary achievements.
Others led people into terrible situations.
So being able to persuade people to follow you isn’t enough.
You need to consider where you’re taking them.
And why.
In business, people sometimes follow instructions because that’s their job.
They may not agree with every decision, but they understand the responsibilities attached to their employment.
That doesn’t automatically mean they respect the person giving those instructions.
Respect develops through behaviour.
People notice whether you’re knowledgeable.
They notice whether you’re fair.
They notice whether you take responsibility when something goes wrong.
And they certainly notice whether you expect everybody else to do things you wouldn’t be prepared to do yourself.
I’ve always believed there’s value in understanding the work you’re asking other people to perform.
If you’ve operated the equipment, worked on the job, and dealt with the problems yourself, you have a practical understanding of what you’re asking somebody else to accomplish.
But even that doesn’t mean you know everything.
An experienced employee may recognize something you’ve overlooked.
And a responsible leader should be willing to listen.
To me, follow me shouldn’t mean following somebody blindly.
It should mean that the person asking you to follow has accepted responsibility for the direction they’re taking.
“If I live today, my mission is to live tomorrow”
This line changes the way I think about the word mission.
We often associate missions with major accomplishments.
Building something.
Winning something.
Reaching a destination.
Completing an important project.
But what happens when the mission is simply to have another tomorrow?
Suddenly, priorities begin looking different.
If you’re working around machinery, safety becomes part of that mission.
You want to complete the job.
But you also want everybody to go home afterward.
No amount of money is worth somebody losing their life because a job wasn’t organized properly.
And beyond the workplace, the line makes me think about the way we spend our time.
We can become so occupied with what we want to accomplish tomorrow that we forget we’re living today.
There’s always another responsibility waiting.
Another problem to solve.
Another job to finish.
And before you know it, years have passed.
I spent a great deal of my life working that way.
I wasn’t thinking about retirement every morning.
I was thinking about what needed to be accomplished that day.
Then the next day arrived, and there was more work.
And more after that.
I don’t regret knowing how to work hard.
That ability helped me accomplish a great deal.
But I do recognize that I could have organized parts of my life differently.
Living tomorrow shouldn’t mean sacrificing everything that makes today worthwhile.
And I think a good leader needs to understand that for the people they’re responsible for as well.
Employees have families.
They have personal responsibilities.
They have lives outside the workplace.
The work matters, but so do the people doing it.
“If I lead you in a direction with purpose that your purpose is for you to be the leader that you were meant to be”
Now we’re getting to the heart of the chorus.
There’s a difference between showing somebody where to go and helping them discover where they’re capable of going.
When you’re teaching somebody a skill, you normally begin by showing them what to do.
You explain the process.
You demonstrate the equipment.
You point out the dangers.
You correct mistakes.
But eventually, the person needs an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned.
They need to make decisions.
They need to develop judgment.
And they need to discover what they’re capable of accomplishing without somebody constantly directing every movement.
If they never get that opportunity, how are they supposed to improve?
Imagine somebody working for you for ten years.
They’ve gained experience.
They understand the business.
They know the equipment, the customers, and the everyday problems that arise.
But after all that time, they’re still not permitted to make a meaningful decision without asking you.
What have you actually developed?
An experienced employee, certainly.
But perhaps not somebody who’s been given the opportunity to become a leader.
And that’s where I believe my own understanding could have been better during my business years.
I was concentrating on completing the work.
I wasn’t concentrating enough on developing other people to take responsibility for it.
Now, not everybody wants to become a manager or run a business.
And that’s perfectly fine.
Some people are happiest becoming exceptionally good at a particular skill.
Others enjoy organizing teams.
Some want to teach.
Some want to create something of their own.
Leadership should recognize those differences rather than forcing everybody toward the same destination.
Helping somebody become the leader they were meant to be doesn’t mean deciding their future for them.
It means helping them recognize their abilities and giving them opportunities to develop in a direction that makes sense for their own lives.
“and a true leader cares about you”
I wanted the chorus to finish with these words because they change the meaning of everything that came before.
We’ve talked about plans.
Decisions.
Responsibility.
Experience.
Teaching.
And developing other leaders.
But what happens if the person doing all those things doesn’t actually care about the people involved?
They may still accomplish something.
They may still build a successful business.
They may even become wealthy or influential.
But I believe something important is missing.
Caring doesn’t mean you have to become everybody’s best friend.
It doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations.
And it certainly doesn’t mean allowing people to ignore their responsibilities.
Sometimes caring requires telling somebody something they don’t particularly want to hear.
Sometimes it means correcting a dangerous mistake.
Sometimes it means refusing to let somebody take on a responsibility they’re not yet prepared to handle.
But the reason behind those decisions matters.
Are you trying to help the person improve?
Are you protecting their safety?
Are you treating them fairly?
Or are you simply interested in getting what you want?
There’s a difference.
I also think caring means recognizing that people are more than the work they perform.
An employee isn’t simply a machine that shows up in the morning and produces results.
They have concerns.
They have ambitions.
They have families.
They have good days and bad days, just like everybody else.
And sometimes a little understanding can make an enormous difference.
That doesn’t eliminate the need for professional standards.
It simply means those standards should be applied with an understanding that we’re dealing with human beings.
When I look at the chorus as a whole, I see something that took me years to appreciate.
A leader can accomplish a great deal through personal effort.
But a leader who develops other capable people may accomplish something that continues long after their own involvement ends.
And if those people go on to teach somebody else, the knowledge keeps moving.
That’s what makes the title meaningful to me.
We’re not simply talking about becoming a leader.
We’re talking about helping leadership grow beyond ourselves.
The chorus has now established that responsibility.
The next part of the song moves further into mentorship, listening, feedback, and the importance of using the knowledge of other people.
Because wanting to develop leaders is one thing.
Creating the conditions that allow them to develop is another.

SECTION ONE
LYRIC JOURNEY
PART 3

“A mentor not only affects the present, but the future”
I think this is one of the most important things to understand about teaching somebody.
You don’t always know how far your influence is going to travel.
You might spend an afternoon showing somebody how to do something properly, and twenty years later, that person could still be using what you taught them.
They might even be teaching it to somebody else.
That’s something I’ve seen throughout my working life.
In construction, there are skills you can learn from a book, and there are things that become much clearer when an experienced person stands beside you and shows you how they’re done.
Sometimes it’s the smallest detail that makes the biggest difference.
The way you approach a job.
The way you recognize a potential problem.
The way you prepare equipment before beginning work.
Or the way you handle a situation when things aren’t going according to plan.
Those lessons can stay with somebody for years.
But mentorship isn’t limited to practical skills.
You can also influence how somebody thinks.
How they respond to criticism.
How they treat other people.
How they make decisions.
And how they eventually teach somebody else.
That’s why I believe a mentor carries a responsibility beyond the immediate lesson.
You might only be thinking about helping somebody accomplish something today.
But what they learn could influence decisions they make for the rest of their lives.
Of course, not every lesson will be remembered.
And not every person will follow your advice.
That’s their decision.
The important thing is that you’ve given them something worthwhile to consider.
“It takes a good man to be a great listener”
There’s something about this line that I appreciate more now than I would have when I was younger.
Listening sounds easy.
You stand there, somebody talks, and you hear what they’re saying.
But that’s not necessarily listening.
Sometimes you’re already preparing your answer before the other person has finished.
Sometimes you assume you understand the problem because you’ve dealt with something similar before.
And sometimes you’re so convinced of your own experience that you don’t give the other person’s knowledge a fair chance.
I’ve done that.
When you’ve spent years solving problems yourself, it becomes natural to jump straight toward a solution.
Somebody starts explaining a situation, and you think you already know what needs to be done.
Maybe you do.
But maybe there’s something important you haven’t heard yet.
That’s where listening becomes a skill.
You need enough patience to allow somebody to finish.
You need enough confidence to hear an opinion that differs from your own.
And you need enough humility to recognize that being experienced doesn’t mean being right every time.
The word good in this line matters to me.
A great listener isn’t simply somebody who stays quiet.
It’s somebody who gives another person a genuine opportunity to be understood.
And that can make an enormous difference in how people communicate.
“When you ask for feedback, don’t shoot the messenger”
Now here’s a statement that should probably be hanging on the wall in a few workplaces.
If you ask somebody for their opinion, don’t get angry simply because they tell you something you don’t want to hear.
Otherwise, why the hell did you ask?
Of course, there’s a difference between constructive feedback and somebody being deliberately insulting.
You don’t have to accept disrespectful behaviour.
But when somebody raises a legitimate concern, the first thing you should consider is whether there’s truth in what they’re saying.
Imagine you’re running a job and an employee tells you the schedule isn’t realistic.
You might disagree.
You might believe the work can be completed on time.
But before dismissing the concern, wouldn’t it make sense to ask why they believe there’s a problem?
Maybe they’ve noticed something you haven’t.
Maybe a piece of equipment isn’t performing properly.
Maybe the materials aren’t arriving when they’re needed.
Or maybe the employee has misunderstood the plan.
Either way, listening gives you information.
Getting angry may simply discourage that person from speaking up again.
And that’s where the problem becomes bigger.
If people learn that disagreeing with you causes trouble, they may eventually stop telling you what they think.
Then you’re making decisions without hearing information that could have helped you.
That’s not a very good position for a leader to be in.
I think feedback should work both ways.
The person receiving it needs to listen fairly.
And the person giving it should try to be honest, respectful, and useful.
Nobody benefits much from criticism that’s only intended to make somebody feel foolish.
But a thoughtful observation can sometimes prevent a very expensive mistake.
“Is the glue the vines, followers and leaders together?”
This is one of the more unusual ways of expressing an idea in the song.
When I think about glue, I think about something that holds separate pieces together.
When I think about vines, I picture something growing, spreading, and connecting with whatever is around it.
And I think both images work when we’re talking about people.
A business isn’t simply a collection of employees standing in the same building.
A construction crew isn’t automatically a team because everybody arrives at the same jobsite.
People need to understand how their responsibilities connect.
One person’s work may depend on somebody else completing another task.
A decision made by a supervisor may affect several workers.
And information that never reaches the right person can create problems throughout an entire operation.
So what holds everything together?
Communication is part of it.
Trust is part of it.
Shared objectives are important.
And everybody needs some understanding of what they’re responsible for accomplishing.
But there’s something else.
People need to recognize that their contribution matters.
If somebody believes their knowledge is never considered and their only purpose is to follow orders, they may do exactly what’s required and nothing more.
But when people understand the larger objective and have opportunities to contribute their abilities, they may become much more involved in the result.
That’s where the connection between followers and leaders becomes interesting.
The relationship doesn’t have to be one person thinking while everybody else simply obeys.
It can involve people contributing different kinds of knowledge toward the same objective.
“Purpose, motivation, tasks, and accomplishments, and you can become a leader of leaders”
I see a natural progression in these words.
Purpose gives you something to work toward.
Motivation helps you begin.
Tasks turn an idea into something practical.
And accomplishments give you an opportunity to examine the results.
But the process doesn’t end there.
You also need to learn from what happened.
Did the plan work?
Were the responsibilities clear?
Did everybody have what they needed?
Could the work have been organized better?
And did anybody develop new abilities along the way?
That last question is especially important to this song.
You can complete a hundred successful projects without necessarily developing another leader.
The work gets done, the customers are satisfied, and the business continues operating.
But if every project still depends on you personally directing everything, something may be missing.
Now imagine that after several projects, somebody who originally needed constant instruction has become capable of organizing an entire job.
They understand the equipment.
They understand the people.
They can recognize problems and make responsible decisions.
And they know when something requires additional guidance.
That’s an accomplishment beyond completing the project itself.
You’ve helped somebody develop.
And if that person eventually teaches others, you’ve started building something that can continue growing.
“Not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow”
I remember how much I liked this idea when I came across it.
The saying is associated with former American president Woodrow Wilson, and it expresses something that should be obvious but isn’t always practised.
Why limit yourself to what you personally know?
Nobody has all the answers.
I don’t care how experienced somebody is.
There’s always another person who understands something differently or possesses knowledge you haven’t developed.
Think about the different trades involved in a construction project.
An electrician has knowledge that a heavy equipment operator may not possess.
A mechanic understands machinery in ways that somebody operating it every day might not.
An engineer approaches certain problems differently from the person carrying out the physical work.
And somebody who’s spent thirty years operating equipment may recognize practical conditions that aren’t immediately obvious on paper.
All of that knowledge has value.
The challenge is bringing it together.
When I look back at my own businesses, I realize I had access to people with different abilities and experiences.
But I wasn’t always making the best use of that knowledge.
I was accustomed to solving problems myself.
And because I could usually find a solution, I didn’t always stop to ask whether somebody else had a better one.
There’s an important difference between being capable and believing you need to be capable of everything.
You can remain responsible for a decision while asking knowledgeable people to help you understand the options.
In fact, that may be one of the most responsible things you can do.
I think this line also applies beyond business.
We can learn from books.
From history.
From people who have lived through experiences we haven’t.
From people younger than us.
And from people whose opinions challenge our own.
Borrowing knowledge doesn’t mean taking credit for somebody else’s work.
It means recognizing the value of what they know and allowing it to improve your understanding.
That’s something I wish I’d appreciated much earlier.
“There must be a hunger within you for teaching”
I like the word hunger here because it suggests something stronger than simply being willing to explain a task.
It suggests that you genuinely want somebody else to learn.
And I think there’s a difference.
Some people teach because it’s part of their job.
Others teach because they enjoy watching somebody develop an ability.
I’ve always appreciated the satisfaction that comes from understanding how something works.
When you’ve spent time struggling with a problem and finally figure it out, there’s a certain feeling that comes with that accomplishment.
Now imagine helping somebody else reach that same understanding.
You might save them hours of frustration.
You might prevent a mistake.
Or you might introduce them to something they eventually become exceptionally good at.
But teaching also requires patience.
Not everybody learns at the same speed.
Some people understand an explanation immediately.
Others need to see something demonstrated.
And some need to practise several times before everything begins making sense.
A good teacher recognizes those differences.
There’s no value in making somebody feel stupid because they don’t understand something the first time.
If the objective is to help them learn, then the way you communicate matters.
And I believe the person doing the teaching should remain willing to learn as well.
Sometimes a student asks a question you’ve never considered.
Sometimes they approach a problem differently.
And occasionally, they may discover something that improves the way you’ve been doing the work yourself.
That’s one of the interesting things about sharing knowledge.
It doesn’t always travel in only one direction.
“No talent comes without humility. Focus on the prize.”
Talent and humility make an interesting combination.
Some people have extraordinary natural abilities.
Others develop their skills through years of practice.
Most successful people probably rely on some combination of ability, effort, opportunity, and experience.
But talent doesn’t make somebody incapable of being wrong.
And being exceptionally good at one thing doesn’t mean you automatically understand everything else.
I’ve met people who were outstanding at their work but difficult to deal with because they believed nobody could teach them anything.
And I’ve met people who were highly skilled but remained approachable, curious, and willing to help others.
I know which type I’d rather work beside.
Humility doesn’t mean pretending you’re not good at something.
If you’ve spent thirty years developing a skill, there’s nothing wrong with being confident in your abilities.
You earned that experience.
But confidence should leave room for learning.
As for focusing on the prize, I think it’s worth asking what that prize actually is.
If you’re teaching somebody, is the prize simply getting today’s work finished?
Or is it helping that person develop a skill they’ll use for years?
If you’re running a business, is the prize only the money you earn?
Or does it also include creating something stable, developing capable people, and having enough time to enjoy your life?
The answer will be different for everybody.
But it’s worth knowing what you’re working toward.
Otherwise, you might spend years chasing something without recognizing what you’ve left behind.
“Passion will make the way where there is no way”
I like passion.
I’ve relied on it throughout my life.
When I’m interested in something, I can become completely absorbed in it.
I’ve experienced that through construction, machinery, writing, and music.
And passion can certainly encourage somebody to keep trying when a problem becomes difficult.
But I don’t believe passion alone solves everything.
You still need knowledge.
You need judgment.
You need resources.
And sometimes you need help.
A person can be passionate about operating a machine, but that doesn’t mean they should climb into it without proper training.
Some things require preparation before enthusiasm becomes useful.
What passion can do is give somebody a reason to continue learning.
When you’re genuinely interested in something, you’re often more willing to spend time understanding it.
You ask questions.
You experiment.
You practise.
And you become interested in details that somebody else might overlook.
That’s where passion and education begin working together.
One gives you the desire.
The other helps you develop the ability.
And when those two things are combined with sound judgment, people can sometimes accomplish things they originally believed were beyond their reach.
I think that’s a good place to leave this part of the journey.
We’ve moved from mentorship into listening, feedback, cooperation, shared knowledge, teaching, humility, and passion.
Now the song is approaching another important idea.
The value of people themselves.
Not simply what they can produce, but what they can become when they’re given the opportunity to learn, take responsibility, and develop their abilities.

SECTION ONE

LYRIC JOURNEY

PART 4

“The best ass you have in life is the people”
I want to spend a little time with this line because it gets right to something I wish I’d understood better during my business years.
You can own all the equipment in the world. You can have the finest machinery, the best tools, and enough work to keep everybody busy for years.
But somebody still has to know what they’re doing.
A machine doesn’t organize a project by itself. It doesn’t recognize every problem, communicate with customers, or teach a young employee how to become better at their job.
People do those things.
And people bring something to a business that machinery never will.
Their experience.
Their judgment.
Their imagination.
And their ability to learn.
I’ve spent much of my life around heavy equipment, and I know how valuable a good machine can be. But I’ve also seen the difference between somebody who simply knows how to operate equipment and somebody who truly understands the work.
An experienced operator can recognize ground conditions, anticipate difficulties, and sometimes prevent problems before they develop.
That knowledge is worth something.
And when you have several people with different abilities working together, the possibilities become much greater.
The mistake is believing that because you own the business, you must personally possess all the important knowledge.
You don’t.
And you shouldn’t have to.
I believe the intended meaning of this line is that people are among the greatest assets we have.
But there’s another side to that.
People shouldn’t be valued only for what they can produce.
They have their own ambitions, families, interests, and responsibilities.
If you want people to contribute their best, you need to recognize that they’re human beings, not simply another piece of equipment on the job.
“Not one of us is smarter as all of us”
This statement follows naturally from the previous one.
And I think it’s one of the most useful ideas in the entire song.
Nobody knows everything.
I certainly don’t.
I’ve learned a great deal through practical experience, but that doesn’t mean I understand every subject or every possible solution.
When several knowledgeable people work together, they can bring different perspectives to the same problem.
One person might recognize a technical issue.
Another might understand the financial consequences.
Somebody else may have dealt with a similar situation years earlier.
And another person might suggest something none of the others considered.
That doesn’t mean every group automatically makes good decisions.
We’ve all seen what happens when people get together and make a complete mess of something.
More people don’t necessarily mean more intelligence.
What matters is whether they’re willing to share information, listen to one another, and examine the possibilities.
And somebody still needs to take responsibility for the final decision.
But the decision can become much stronger when it’s informed by the knowledge of several people.
I think that’s the real value of this statement.
It’s not suggesting that everybody must agree.
It’s reminding us that knowledge doesn’t belong to one individual.
And sometimes the person with the best answer isn’t the person holding the highest position.
“Let them go let them grow. Let them learn.”
Now we’re getting into something that I believe is at the heart of developing other leaders.
You have to give people room.
That sounds simple, but it isn’t always easy.
Especially when you’re accustomed to doing things yourself.
When somebody is learning a new responsibility, they’re not necessarily going to approach it exactly the way you would.
They may take longer.
They may ask questions you consider unnecessary.
They may make mistakes.
And occasionally, you might find yourself thinking that you could have finished the whole damn job by the time you’ve explained it.
I’ve experienced that feeling.
But here’s the problem.
If you always take over because you can do something faster, how is the other person supposed to develop?
You didn’t become experienced overnight.
You learned through repetition, mistakes, observation, and practice.
Other people need those opportunities too.
Now, I’m not suggesting you let somebody make dangerous mistakes simply because they’re learning.
Safety comes first.
And there are responsibilities that require proper training and supervision.
But once somebody has demonstrated the ability to handle a task, there comes a point where you need to allow them to use their judgment.
You can still provide guidance.
You can still establish expectations.
And you can still step in when necessary.
But you don’t have to control every movement.
I think that’s where I could have made one of the biggest improvements in my own businesses.
I knew how to get things done.
What I needed to become better at was allowing other people to develop the confidence and ability to get those things done without me.
And that requires a certain amount of patience.
Sometimes the time you spend teaching somebody today can save you an enormous amount of time later.
More importantly, it gives that person something they can carry forward.
“Effective leaders own their decisions”
This line is short, but it carries plenty of responsibility.
If you’re the person making a decision, you need to be prepared to accept the consequences.
You can’t take all the credit when something goes right and then start pointing fingers when it goes wrong.
That doesn’t mean every mistake is automatically the leader’s personal fault.
People have individual responsibilities.
Employees can make poor decisions.
Unexpected circumstances can interfere with a perfectly reasonable plan.
And sometimes something goes wrong despite everybody doing their best.
But leadership includes examining what happened and deciding what needs to change.
If the instructions were unclear, acknowledge it.
If the schedule was unrealistic, recognize it.
If somebody wasn’t properly trained, deal with that problem.
And if you personally made the wrong decision, admit it.
I don’t believe admitting a mistake makes somebody a weak leader.
In many situations, it takes more confidence to acknowledge being wrong than to spend hours inventing excuses.
And there’s something else.
People learn from the behaviour of those around them.
If the person in charge refuses to accept responsibility, why should everybody else behave differently?
But when a leader demonstrates accountability, it creates an example others can follow.
That’s how responsibility becomes part of the way a team operates.
“Convictions are not negotiable and they are not for sale”
I like the strength of this statement.
There should be principles in your life that you aren’t willing to abandon simply because somebody offers you money or an easier opportunity.
Honesty.
Integrity.
Fairness.
Respect for other people.
And the responsibility to avoid putting somebody in unnecessary danger.
Those are examples of convictions worth protecting.
But I want to make an important distinction.
Having convictions doesn’t mean refusing to change your mind about everything.
There’s a difference between principles and opinions.
You might believe a particular method is the best way to complete a job.
Then somebody demonstrates a safer, faster, or more effective approach.
Changing your method doesn’t mean you’ve abandoned your principles.
It means you’ve learned something.
In fact, refusing to consider better information simply because you don’t want to admit being wrong can become a problem of its own.
The convictions worth defending are the ones that guide how you treat people and how responsibly you conduct yourself.
Your methods should remain open to improvement.
I think that’s an important part of leadership.
You need enough confidence to stand behind what matters.
And enough humility to recognize when something can be done better.
“to be as successful leader is to be successful at home”
This is where the song begins moving into a much more personal area.
Up to this point, we’ve been talking about leadership in ways that apply naturally to business, mentorship, and teamwork.
But now the question becomes bigger.
What does success mean when you go home?
I spent years working long hours.
Fourteen to seventeen hours a day wasn’t unusual for me.
I had businesses to operate, jobs to organize, equipment to manage, and responsibilities that always seemed to need my attention.
And because I was accustomed to handling so much myself, there was rarely a shortage of things to do.
I was successful in many ways.
But I can look back now and recognize that I wasn’t always giving enough time to other parts of my life.
That’s not something I say because I regret working hard.
I don’t.
Work taught me a tremendous amount, and I accomplished things I’m proud of.
But I would change the way I organized those responsibilities.
I would develop other people to handle more of the work.
I would create a business that didn’t require so much of my personal time.
And I would make more room for family and life outside the job.
There’s another part of this that people don’t always recognize.
When you’re working that many hours, the pressure can follow you home.
You’re tired.
You’re thinking about tomorrow’s problems.
You’re mentally organizing the next job before you’ve even finished the current one.
And sometimes you don’t have much patience left.
I know I could be difficult at times.
I can admit that.
The problem is that the people at home aren’t responsible for every frustration you’ve experienced during the working day.
And they shouldn’t always receive whatever energy you have left after everything else has taken its share.
Now, I don’t believe there’s a perfect formula for balancing work and family.
Some people have financial responsibilities that require them to work extremely long hours.
Others are caring for family members while trying to earn a living.
And everybody’s circumstances are different.
So I’m not interested in telling somebody they’re a failure because they’re struggling to balance those responsibilities.
But I do believe it’s worth asking whether the way we’re organizing our lives is creating problems we might be able to change.
Sometimes the answer is working fewer hours.
Sometimes it’s sharing responsibilities.
Sometimes it’s learning to say no.
And sometimes it’s recognizing that the people closest to us need more than financial support.
They need our attention.
They need our patience.
And they need to know they matter.
This line is important because it prepares us for the final movement of the song.
We’ve spent a great deal of time exploring what it means to develop leaders in the workplace.
Now we’re being asked to consider what kind of influence we’re having at home.
And that brings us back toward the chorus, but with a different understanding of what its message can mean.
“we can all break free from the ball and chains Just by following the rules of common sense”
When we first heard these words, we were considering the habits and limitations that prevent people from developing their abilities.
Now those same words can apply to the way we organize our personal lives.
Sometimes we become trapped by responsibilities we’ve created for ourselves.
We convince ourselves that everything depends on us.
That nobody else can handle the work.
That we can’t afford to step away.
And after enough years, that way of thinking begins to feel normal.
But perhaps some of those responsibilities could be shared.
Perhaps somebody else could be trained.
Perhaps certain things don’t need to be done immediately.
And perhaps there are occasions when the smartest decision is to put the work aside and spend time with somebody who matters to you.
I don’t want to pretend those changes are always easy.
They’re not.
But recognizing that another way might be possible is where change begins.
“So think before you do, and you’re thinking will guide you to be a leader of leaders”
The first time this line appeared, I was thinking about responsible decisions and developing capable people.
Now I hear something else in it.
Think about the life you’re creating.
Not simply the work you’re completing.
If you’re responsible for a business, think about what happens when you aren’t there.
If you’re raising children, think about the example you’re setting.
If you’re mentoring somebody, think about whether you’re helping them become independent or keeping them dependent on you.
And if you’ve spent years following the same routine, consider whether that routine still serves the life you want.
You don’t have to change everything overnight.
Sometimes one decision begins a larger change.
Giving somebody more responsibility.
Making time for a conversation.
Listening instead of immediately offering an answer.
Or recognizing that your own experience isn’t the only knowledge available.
Those decisions may seem small individually.
But over time, they can change the way you lead and the way you live.
“Leadership stand out in front and says Follow me”
Now I want you to consider these words outside the workplace.
Children watch adults.
They observe how we behave, how we handle frustration, how we treat other people, and how we respond when something goes wrong.
We don’t always have to tell them to follow us.
Sometimes they’re already learning from what we’re doing.
That’s an important responsibility.
Because the example we set may influence them long before they’re old enough to understand the reasons behind our decisions.
And the same applies to anybody who looks to us for guidance.
A younger employee.
A friend.
A family member.
Somebody learning a new skill.
We may not even recognize that we’re influencing them.
But our behaviour can still become part of what they learn.
That’s why leadership shouldn’t be something we practise only when we’re officially in charge.
It should also be reflected in the way we conduct ourselves.
“If I live today, my mission is to live tomorrow”
I hear this line differently now too.
Earlier, it raised questions about safety, responsibility, and recognizing the value of another day.
At this point in the journey, it also makes me think about what we’re doing with the time we have.
Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
That’s something everybody knows, but it’s easy to forget when you’re busy.
We make plans for next week.
Next month.
Next year.
We tell ourselves we’ll spend more time with family when the work slows down.
We’ll take that trip when things become easier.
We’ll enjoy life when we’ve accomplished just one more thing.
But sometimes the work never slows down on its own.
Sometimes we have to make the decision.
And I think that’s worth considering before another ten or twenty years disappear.
“If I lead you in a direction with purpose that your purpose is for you to be the leader that you were meant to be and a true leader cares about you”
This time, I want to concentrate on the final words.
A true leader cares about you.
Because caring about somebody’s future involves more than telling them what to do.
It means recognizing their individuality.
Their abilities.
Their limitations.
Their ambitions.
And their right to develop a life that may be different from the one you imagined for them.
That becomes especially important when we’re talking about family.
You can teach your children what you’ve learned.
You can offer guidance.
You can share your mistakes and explain what you wish you’d done differently.
But eventually, they have to make their own decisions.
They have to discover their own abilities.
And sometimes they’ll choose a direction you wouldn’t have chosen yourself.
That doesn’t automatically mean they’re wrong.
Part of caring is allowing people to become themselves.
And part of leadership is knowing when guidance is needed and when it’s time to give somebody room.
The song is now approaching its final question.
And for me, it’s one of the most personal questions in the entire piece.
Because after everything we’ve discussed about knowledge, responsibility, mentorship, and success, we’re about to consider what those accomplishments are worth if we lose sight of the people closest to us.

SECTION ONE
LYRIC JOURNEY
PART 5
“what does a profit a man if he gains the world and loses his own children?”
This is where the song reaches the question that probably means the most to me personally.
And it’s not a comfortable question.
The idea comes from a biblical teaching about gaining the world while losing something of greater value. I adapted that thought to speak about children because I wanted to bring the entire subject of leadership back to the family.
We’ve spent this song talking about success, knowledge, responsibility, and helping other people become leaders.
But what happens if you become successful in business and lose your connection with the people closest to you?
What have you really gained?
I spent many years building businesses and working long hours.
I was good at what I did.
I knew how to find work, organize projects, operate machinery, and solve problems.
And I enjoyed accomplishing things.
That’s something I don’t want people to misunderstand.
I wasn’t spending fourteen to seventeen hours a day working because somebody was standing over me with a whip.
I was doing it because that’s how I operated.
There was always something that needed to be done, and I was accustomed to being the person who got it done.
But when you spend that much time concentrating on work, something else has to give.
There are only so many hours in a day.
And you can’t spend the same hour in two different places.
That’s where I believe I could have made better decisions.
I could have developed other people to take on more responsibility.
I could have organized my businesses differently.
I could have allowed myself more time away from work.
And I could have given more attention to the relationships that deserved it.
Now, I don’t want to turn this into a story about somebody who worked hard and suddenly decided that everything he’d accomplished was worthless.
That wouldn’t be true.
I’m proud of many things I’ve done.
I worked hard, learned valuable skills, and built businesses through my own efforts.
Those accomplishments mattered.
But I also recognize that success in one part of life doesn’t automatically make everything else successful.
And that’s the lesson behind this question.
You can become extremely good at your profession and still have things to learn about relationships.
You can understand machinery, construction, finances, and business operations while knowing far less about how people think and feel.
And you can provide for a family financially without always recognizing what they may need from you personally.
Those are different responsibilities.
One doesn’t automatically replace the other.
I think that’s something worth understanding before you reach a point where you’re looking back at years you can’t recover.
There’s another part of this question that I want to make clear.
Not every family relationship that becomes difficult is the result of somebody working too many hours.
Families are complicated.
Relationships can be affected by circumstances that have nothing to do with employment.
And it would be unfair to suggest that every parent who works long hours is neglecting their children.
Some people are doing everything they can just to provide a decent life for their families.
I respect that.
But when we do have opportunities to make different choices, we should at least consider them.
Because children don’t remain children forever.
They grow.
Their interests change.
Their lives move forward.
And the opportunities we have to share certain experiences with them don’t always come around again.
That’s what makes this question so powerful to me.
It’s not asking whether you became successful.
It’s asking whether you considered what success might be costing you.
“They are both our future and present”
I think we sometimes make the mistake of talking about children only as the future.
We say they’re the next generation.
The future workers.
The future parents.
The future leaders.
And that’s true.
But they’re also here right now.
Their lives are happening today.
They’re learning today.
They’re forming opinions, developing interests, asking questions, and trying to understand the world around them.
And the experiences they have today can influence the decisions they make years from now.
That’s why I wanted both words in this line.
Future and present.
Because we shouldn’t become so focused on what children might accomplish tomorrow that we overlook what they need today.
Sometimes they need guidance.
Sometimes they need encouragement.
Sometimes they need somebody to listen.
And sometimes they simply need time with the people who matter to them.
That doesn’t mean parents have to entertain their children every minute of the day.
Children need opportunities to become independent too.
But there should be a connection.
An understanding that their thoughts, questions, and experiences matter.
And there’s something else I’ve come to appreciate.
Adults can learn from children.
They don’t have our years of experience, but they often approach things without the assumptions we’ve spent decades developing.
They ask questions we might never think to ask.
They notice things we overlook.
And sometimes they challenge an explanation simply because it doesn’t make sense to them.
That can be frustrating when you’re trying to explain something.
But it can also be educational.
Because if you can’t explain why something is done a particular way, perhaps it’s worth examining whether you’ve ever properly questioned it yourself.
“they are our successors mentors and leaders, and a true leader must be able to juggle both and still be able to be a mentor at home”
This is where the different parts of the song finally come together.
We’ve been discussing leadership in business.
We’ve explored mentorship, responsibility, listening, teamwork, and the importance of developing other people’s abilities.
Now those same principles return to the home.
And I think that’s important because it’s easy to separate our professional lives from our personal responsibilities.
At work, we might understand the value of planning.
We organize schedules.
We establish objectives.
We train employees.
We make decisions based on what needs to be accomplished.
But when we get home, we may be tired, distracted, or still thinking about tomorrow’s work.
And the patience we showed during the working day may not always be there.
I know that can happen because I’ve experienced it.
When you’ve spent the entire day dealing with problems, you don’t necessarily arrive home feeling energetic and enthusiastic.
Sometimes you’re exhausted.
Sometimes you’re frustrated.
And sometimes you simply want everybody to leave you alone for a while.
That’s human.
But it’s also something we need to recognize.
Because the people at home aren’t responsible for every difficulty we’ve encountered during the day.
And they deserve more than whatever patience we happen to have left.
Now, when the song talks about juggling both responsibilities, I don’t believe there’s a perfect answer.
Running a business can be demanding.
Raising a family can be demanding.
And sometimes the responsibilities compete with one another.
There will be occasions when work requires additional attention.
There will also be occasions when family needs to come first.
The challenge is recognizing those situations and making reasonable decisions.
For me, one of the biggest lessons is that developing capable people at work can also create opportunities for a better personal life.
If you teach employees to handle responsibilities, you may not need to be involved in every decision.
If you develop supervisors who can organize jobs properly, you may have more opportunities to step away.
And if the business can operate without you personally controlling everything, you may have more time for the people and interests outside work.
That’s a connection I didn’t fully appreciate when I was younger.
Leadership in one part of life can influence what becomes possible in another.
But there’s another meaning in this line that I don’t want overlooked.
Children are described as our successors, mentors, and leaders.
Successors because they represent generations that will eventually take on responsibilities of their own.
Leaders because they may one day guide families, businesses, communities, or other people.
And mentors because the knowledge they develop may eventually become something they share with others.
But they can also teach us along the way.
That’s the part I like.
Learning doesn’t have to travel only from the oldest person to the youngest.
Sometimes the next generation brings ideas and perspectives that help the previous generation understand something differently.
And if we’re willing to listen, we may discover that mentorship can work in both directions.
I think that’s a healthy way to look at family.
Parents have responsibilities to guide and protect their children.
But that doesn’t mean they should stop learning from them.
And it certainly doesn’t mean children should be expected to become exact copies of their parents.
Every generation faces different circumstances.
Different opportunities.
Different challenges.
What worked for us may not always be the best approach for them.
We can share our experience without insisting that their lives follow the same path.
And sometimes the most valuable thing we can give them is the confidence to develop their own judgment.
“If I lead you in a direction with purpose that your purpose is for you to be the leader that you were meant to be”
We’ve heard these words before.
But I think they carry more meaning now.
At the beginning of the song, we were considering what makes a good leader and how somebody can help others develop their abilities.
Now we’ve travelled through the responsibilities of business, mentorship, and family.
And the purpose of leadership has become much broader.
It isn’t simply about helping somebody become successful at work.
It’s about helping them become capable of making responsible decisions in their own lives.
That might mean becoming a business owner.
It might mean developing a trade.
It might mean raising a family.
It might mean teaching, creating, helping others, or following a direction that has nothing to do with the life their mentor originally imagined for them.
And that’s fine.
A person doesn’t have to follow your footsteps to demonstrate that they’ve learned something valuable from you.
Sometimes the best evidence that you’ve helped somebody develop is watching them make decisions independently.
They may agree with some of your ideas.
They may disagree with others.
And they may discover better approaches that you never considered.
That’s part of learning.
I think one of the mistakes people can make is believing that leadership means producing followers who think exactly as they do.
But if everybody simply repeats the same ideas without questioning them, how much progress are we really making?
Knowledge should continue developing.
People should be encouraged to think.
And the next generation should have opportunities to improve upon what the previous generation accomplished.
That’s how I understand this line.
The objective isn’t to create another version of the leader.
It’s to help somebody become the person they’re capable of becoming.
“and a true leader cares about you”
And here we are.
The final words of the song.
After everything we’ve discussed, I wanted to finish with something simple.
A true leader cares about you.
Not just what you can produce.
Not just how much money you can make.
Not just whether you follow instructions.
You.
The person.
I think that’s an important distinction.
Because leadership can become so focused on results that we forget who’s actually responsible for achieving them.
People have lives beyond their responsibilities.
They have families.
They have ambitions.
They have problems.
They have strengths and weaknesses.
And they have the ability to learn and develop when somebody gives them a fair opportunity.
Caring doesn’t mean agreeing with everything a person does.
It doesn’t mean avoiding difficult decisions.
And it doesn’t mean allowing somebody to ignore their responsibilities.
Sometimes caring means having a conversation that neither person particularly enjoys.
Sometimes it means correcting a mistake.
Sometimes it means telling somebody they’re not ready for a responsibility and helping them understand what they need to learn.
But the intention should be to help, not simply to demonstrate authority.
I think the same principle applies at home.
You can provide guidance.
You can establish expectations.
You can share what you’ve learned.
But the people you care about also need to feel that you’re interested in who they are, not only what you expect them to become.
That’s something I understand differently today than I did during the busiest years of my working life.
I spent a great deal of time accomplishing things.
And I learned a tremendous amount through those experiences.
But I also discovered that there were important areas of life I hadn’t given enough attention.
Reading that leadership book opened my mind to some of those ideas.
Writing this song gave me an opportunity to bring them together.
And sharing the song through MOITA allows me to pass those lessons forward.
I’m not presenting myself as somebody who mastered every principle we’ve discussed.
Far from it.
Some of these ideas are things I wish I’d understood much earlier.
Others are things I’m still learning.
But that’s part of the reason I wanted to write about them.
You don’t have to wait until you’ve become an expert at everything before you can share something useful.
Sometimes recognizing what you would do differently is a lesson worth passing along.
And sometimes another person can benefit from that lesson before making the same mistake.
When I look back at the opening questions of LEADER OF LEADERS, I think they mean even more now.
What is your purpose?
Who is your compass?
What qualities determine your destination?
Those questions don’t necessarily have one permanent answer.
Our circumstances change.
Our priorities change.
And our understanding of life can change as we gain experience.
What matters is remaining willing to examine those questions rather than assuming we answered them correctly years ago.
I still believe in hard work.
I still believe in responsibility.
And I still believe there’s tremendous satisfaction in accomplishing something difficult.
But I also believe there’s value in helping somebody else discover that satisfaction for themselves.
There’s value in listening.
There’s value in sharing knowledge.
And there’s value in recognizing that success means different things to different people.
If there’s one lesson I hope comes through this song, it’s that leadership shouldn’t end with the person doing the leading.
It should create opportunities for others.
It should encourage people to think for themselves.
And it should help prepare them to carry knowledge and responsibility forward.
Because one day, the people we’re teaching may become the people guiding somebody else.
And if we’ve given them something worthwhile, that knowledge may continue travelling long after we’re gone.
That’s what LEADER OF LEADERS means to me.
Not becoming the person everybody depends on forever.
Helping people become capable enough that they don’t have to.

I’ve spent most of my working life figuring things out for myself.
When something needed doing, I found a way to do it. If there was a problem, I looked for a solution. If something wasn’t working, I tried another approach.
That way of thinking served me well for many years.
But there’s something I eventually came to understand.
Just because you’ve found a way to make something work doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve found the best way.
And sometimes you can spend years doing things successfully without realizing how much you’re missing.
That’s what happened to me when I started reading a book about leadership.
I can’t remember its exact title. I believe it had something to do with power or leadership. I lent it to somebody years ago, and unfortunately, it never came back.
I wish I still had that book.
Not because I need it to remember the song. I’ve already written that.
I’d like to read it again because I remember how much it made me think.
The book contained observations and statements from influential people throughout history. Presidents, leaders, thinkers, and people whose experiences had taught them something about responsibility, human behaviour, and success.
I found myself stopping at certain passages and thinking about what they meant.
And quite often, I wasn’t thinking about the people who originally said those words.
I was thinking about myself.
I KNEW HOW TO WORK
I’ve been self-employed since 1988.
Over the years, I’ve worked in construction, operated heavy equipment, managed jobs, solved problems, and dealt with the everyday responsibilities that come with running a business.
I knew how to make things happen.
Finding work wasn’t my problem.
Making money wasn’t my problem either.
And I certainly wasn’t afraid of putting in the hours.
Fourteen, fifteen, sometimes seventeen hours a day.
That was normal for me.
If there was something that needed to be completed, I wanted it finished.
If a problem came up, I dealt with it.
If something wasn’t going according to plan, I got involved.
And if I could do something myself, chances were I would.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with being hardworking or taking responsibility.
But looking back, I can recognize something that I wasn’t paying enough attention to.
I was trying to do too much myself.
I wasn’t allowing other people to take full responsibility for the work they were capable of doing.
And I don’t believe that was necessarily because I didn’t trust them.
It was simply the way I’d learned to operate.
I’d been doing things my way for so long that I wasn’t questioning whether there might be a better approach.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING EMPLOYEES AND DEVELOPING LEADERS
This was one of the ideas that really caught my attention.
There’s a difference between having people work for you and helping those people become capable of leading others.
You can hire somebody, give them instructions, and expect them to complete a job.
That’s how many businesses operate.
But what happens when you give that same person more responsibility?
What happens when you teach them how to make decisions instead of making every decision yourself?
What happens when you allow them to develop confidence, solve problems, and take ownership of their work?
You may discover that the person you’ve been directing is capable of much more than you realized.
And if you continue developing that person’s abilities, they may eventually become capable of leading an entire team.
Now you’ve accomplished something different.
You haven’t simply completed another job.
You’ve helped develop another leader.
And that person may eventually do the same for somebody else.
That’s the idea behind the title LEADER OF LEADERS.
A good leader doesn’t have to remain the only person capable of making important decisions.
A good leader helps other people develop those abilities too.
THE PROBLEM WITH DOING EVERYTHING YOURSELF
When you’re accustomed to handling everything personally, it can become difficult to recognize how much responsibility you’re carrying.
You know what needs to be done.
You know how you want it done.
And quite often, you believe you can get it finished faster by doing it yourself.
Sometimes that’s probably true.
But what happens when you repeat that approach every day for years?
You become the person everybody depends on.
Every problem comes back to you.
Every important decision requires your attention.
And instead of developing a business that can operate efficiently without your constant involvement, you create a situation where you’re needed for practically everything.
I didn’t fully recognize that while I was living it.
I was too busy working.
And because the work was getting done, I wasn’t stopping long enough to question the system I’d created around myself.
Reading that book helped me recognize something.
I didn’t necessarily need to work all those hours.
I needed to learn how to share responsibility more effectively.
That doesn’t mean handing everything over to somebody and hoping for the best.
It means teaching people, establishing expectations, allowing them to make decisions, and giving them the opportunity to grow into greater responsibilities.
It also means accepting that they may approach a problem differently than you would.
And sometimes their way might actually be better.
That’s something every experienced person should be willing to consider.
THE COST WASN’T ALWAYS MONEY
One of the things I want people to understand about my experience is that I wasn’t working those hours simply because I was chasing money.
Of course, money matters when you’re running a business.
You have responsibilities. Bills need paying. Equipment needs maintaining. Employees need wages. Customers expect results.
But for me, much of the motivation came from wanting to get things done.
There was always another job.
Another problem.
Another responsibility.
And over time, work became my first priority.
The problem is that when you spend fourteen to seventeen hours a day working, there isn’t much time left for everything else.
Family.
Friends.
Personal interests.
Even the opportunity to sit down and enjoy some of what you’ve accomplished.
And after years of living that way, it can affect the kind of person you become.
You get tired.
You become impatient.
You can become disconnected from things that should matter.
And sometimes, quite frankly, you become a bit of an asshole.
I can admit that.
When you’re constantly focused on the next job, the next responsibility, and the next problem, you don’t always recognize how that attitude affects the people around you.
I’m not saying I didn’t care about my family.
I’m saying I didn’t always give enough consideration to how I was dividing my time.
There’s a difference.
And it’s one I understand much better today.
THE EDUCATION I WAS MISSING
Something else became clear to me while reading that book.
I had spent years educating myself through practical experience.
Construction taught me things.
Machinery taught me things.
Business taught me things.
Making mistakes taught me plenty.
And solving problems gave me knowledge I could use again and again.
That was my education.
And it was valuable.
But I was relying almost entirely on what I’d already learned.
I wasn’t spending enough time reading books, studying different ideas, or discovering how other people approached problems.
I knew what I knew.
What I wasn’t exploring was what everybody else knew.
And there’s an enormous difference.
Human beings are complicated.
We think differently.
We learn differently.
We respond differently to pressure, responsibility, encouragement, criticism, and opportunity.
Some people need more direction.
Others need somebody to step aside and give them room.
Some have abilities they haven’t yet recognized.
Others have knowledge that could completely change how you approach a problem.
But you’ll never discover those things if you’re always the one doing the talking.
Sometimes you need to listen.
Sometimes you need to ask questions.
And sometimes you need to accept that somebody with less experience than you might still have something valuable to teach you.
That’s not weakness.
That’s education.
HOW THE BOOK BECAME A SONG
As I continued reading, I began writing down statements that caught my attention.
I wasn’t trying to create a song at first.
I was collecting ideas.
Some were about confidence.
Others were about responsibility, listening, teamwork, humility, mentorship, and the importance of keeping your word.
Some challenged the meaning of success.
Others dealt with the influence one person can have on another person’s future.
I believe I read somewhere around 200 or 300 pages and collected approximately twenty different phrases.
There was no particular order to them.
I wasn’t following the structure of the book.
I was choosing the statements that interested me.
And many of those statements had originally come from different people throughout history.
The author had brought those ideas together in a book.
I was now bringing selected ideas together in a song.
When I eventually started arranging them, something happened that genuinely surprised me.
They connected.
One thought seemed to lead naturally into another.
Confidence connected with responsibility.
Responsibility connected with listening.
Listening connected with learning.
Learning connected with teaching.
And teaching connected with developing other leaders.
It was almost as though these different people, from different times and circumstances, were contributing to the same conversation.
I didn’t have to force everything into place.
The ideas were already related.
I just needed to find a way to bring them together musically.
Then I created the chorus.
And that’s where the song found its identity.
The chorus wasn’t simply another collection of sayings.
It became the message that connected everything I’d been reading and thinking about.
We can change the direction of our lives by changing how we think, how we make decisions, and how we treat the people around us.
And if we’re willing to share what we know, we can help other people become leaders themselves.
That’s what I wanted the song to communicate.
WHAT I WOULD CHANGE IF I COULD DO IT AGAIN
If I had the opportunity to go back and run my businesses again, I would change my entire management approach.
I wouldn’t stop working hard.
I wouldn’t abandon responsibility.
And I certainly wouldn’t stop caring about getting the job done properly.
But I’d spend more time developing the people working with me.
I’d give capable people more authority.
I’d allow them to take responsibility for decisions.
I’d encourage them to develop their own methods of solving problems.
And I’d work toward building an operation that didn’t depend on me personally being involved in practically everything.
Would mistakes happen?
Of course.
I made mistakes myself.
Everybody does.
But people can’t develop good judgment if they’re never allowed to make decisions.
And they can’t become leaders if they’re never given the opportunity to lead.
I believe that approach would have made my businesses stronger.
It also could have given me more time for my family and the other parts of life that deserve attention.
That’s something I can’t go back and change.
Those years are behind me.
But the lesson isn’t.
THE CONNECTION TO MOITA
There’s an interesting connection between what I learned from that book and what I’m doing today.
Years ago, I was concentrating almost entirely on getting work completed.
Today, I’m spending much more time exploring ideas, asking questions, learning about different subjects, and sharing what I discover.
That’s one of the reasons MOITA exists.
I don’t want to create music that people simply listen to and forget.
I want to create songs that open doors to other subjects.
History.
Human behaviour.
Relationships.
Science.
Creativity.
Personal experiences.
And the lessons people can learn from one another.
The music is the beginning.
The website allows the conversation to continue.
In many ways, I’m now doing something I didn’t spend enough time doing during my business years.
I’m exploring knowledge beyond my own experiences.
And I’m passing that knowledge forward.
Not because I have all the answers.
I don’t.
But because I’ve come to appreciate how valuable other people’s knowledge can be.
A good idea doesn’t become less valuable because somebody else discovered it first.
And sharing that idea doesn’t make you less important.
It gives somebody else an opportunity to learn.
That’s a principle I want MOITA to represent.
LEADERSHIP ISN’T ABOUT BEING THE SMARTEST PERSON
There’s something worth considering.
If you’re the most knowledgeable person in your business, and nobody else is being encouraged to develop, what happens when you’re no longer there?
Who takes responsibility?
Who makes the decisions?
Who solves the problems?
Who carries everything forward?
A leader who develops other leaders is preparing people for a future that doesn’t depend entirely on one individual.
And that’s an important responsibility.
You should want people to become capable.
You should want them to learn.
You should want them to develop confidence.
And if somebody eventually becomes better at something than you are, why should that be a problem?
Isn’t that part of what teaching is supposed to accomplish?
I’ve always believed in finding better ways to do things.
What changed was my understanding of where those better ways might come from.
Sometimes they come from your own experience.
Sometimes they come from somebody else’s.
And sometimes the smartest thing you can do is stop long enough to listen.
THE LESSON I WANT TO PASS FORWARD
I don’t consider myself a perfect example of leadership.
If I did, I wouldn’t have much reason to write this story.
I made decisions that worked.
I made decisions I would change.
And I spent years following habits that I didn’t question enough.
Reading that leadership book helped me recognize something important about myself.
I had learned how to accomplish things.
But I hadn’t spent enough time learning how to help other people become capable of accomplishing those things without me.
That’s a distinction I wish I’d understood much earlier.
And it applies to more than business.
It applies to families.
To education.
To friendships.
To communities.
To anybody who has the opportunity to influence another person’s life.
If you’ve learned something valuable, consider sharing it.
If somebody has a better idea, consider listening.
If a person shows potential, give them an opportunity to develop it.
And if you’re spending your entire life working, consider whether the people closest to you are receiving enough of your time.
You don’t need to make every mistake personally to learn from it.
Sometimes you can learn from somebody who has already made it.
That’s one of the reasons I wanted to share this story.
I can’t go back and change how I operated my businesses.
But perhaps somebody reading this can recognize something in their own life before another twenty or thirty years pass.
And if that happens, then the lesson I learned has accomplished something beyond my own experience.
That’s what I want LEADER OF LEADERS to represent.
Not the person who gives the most orders.
Not the person who works the longest hours.
Not the person who believes they know everything.
But the person who understands that knowledge becomes more valuable when it helps somebody else grow.
Because one day, the people we’re teaching may be the people leading the next generation.
And if we’ve done our job properly, they’ll have something worthwhile to pass forward too.

SECTION THREE
LYRIC EXPLORATION
WHAT MAKES SOMEONE WORTH FOLLOWING?
There’s a difference between being in charge and being a leader.
A person can own a business, hold an important position, or have authority over hundreds of people without necessarily understanding how to bring out the best in them.
That’s something I wanted this song to challenge.
When I assembled these statements, I wasn’t trying to create a list of rules that everybody had to follow. I was bringing together ideas that had made me question my own understanding of leadership.
And one thing became increasingly clear.
Leadership isn’t simply about knowing what to do.
It’s about understanding people, recognizing your responsibilities, and being willing to learn even when you believe you’ve already become successful.
THE COMPASS AND THE DESTINATION
“What is your purpose in life? Who is your compass? What qualities determines your destination?”
I like how the song begins by asking questions.
It doesn’t immediately tell anybody what success should look like.
Instead, it challenges the listener to consider what they’re actually trying to accomplish.
A compass gives direction, but somebody still has to decide where they want to go.
And that’s where personal values become important.
If your only measurement of success is money, you may make decisions that increase your income while damaging other parts of your life.
If your only measurement is recognition, you may become more interested in appearing successful than actually accomplishing something worthwhile.
But if your direction includes responsibility, family, personal growth, and helping other people, your decisions may begin looking quite different.
The question isn’t simply whether you’re moving forward.
It’s whether you’re moving toward something that genuinely matters.
THE SECRET ISN’T KNOWING EVERYTHING
“I am here, so you understand the secrets of success. A good leader always has a plan.”
Planning is important, but planning doesn’t mean predicting everything perfectly.
A good plan provides direction.
It identifies what needs to be accomplished, what resources are available, and who is responsible for different parts of the work.
But even the best plan can encounter problems.
Equipment breaks down.
People make mistakes.
Circumstances change.
And sometimes a better idea appears halfway through the job.
That’s when leadership requires flexibility.
A person who refuses to change direction simply because they created the original plan may end up protecting their pride instead of protecting the result.
Confidence is valuable.
But confidence without the willingness to reconsider can become stubbornness.
LEARNING AND KEEPING YOUR WORD
“No person ever grow unless they are willing to listen and learn A leader who truly leads will always keep his words”
These two thoughts connect knowledge with character.
You can be intelligent and still refuse to listen.
You can be experienced and still make promises you don’t keep.
Neither creates much confidence in the people depending on you.
Listening means recognizing that useful information can come from somebody else.
Keeping your word means recognizing that your actions affect the trust other people place in you.
And trust isn’t something you can demand simply because you’re in charge.
It develops when people see that your behaviour matches what you say.
A leader who admits not knowing something may earn more respect than one who pretends to have every answer.
And a leader who keeps reasonable commitments gives people something dependable to work with.
THINKING ABOUT OUR OWN THINKING
“I think so there I am I am so there I think”
This line plays with a famous philosophical idea associated with René Descartes: I think, therefore I am.
What interests me here is the reversal.
We exist, we think, and through thinking we begin questioning what we’re doing with our lives.
But thinking isn’t always the same as understanding.
We can spend years repeating familiar ideas without examining whether they’re correct.
We can also mistake experience for complete knowledge.
Sometimes the most valuable question isn’t about what we know.
It’s about what we might be overlooking.
That’s particularly important when our decisions affect other people.
THE MENTOR WHO NEEDS LEADERS
“A mentor is the leader that needs leaders Without tribute in life, I am no one”
This is one of the ideas that gives the song its identity.
A mentor has something to share.
Knowledge.
Experience.
Judgment.
Encouragement.
But mentorship shouldn’t exist simply to make the mentor feel important.
Its purpose is to help somebody else develop.
A person who teaches others but never allows them to become independent may be creating dependence rather than leadership.
A good mentor should want the student to become capable of making decisions without constant supervision.
And eventually, that student may become a mentor too.
That’s how knowledge continues moving forward.
The reference to tribute also raises a question about contribution.
What have we given to the people around us?
Not every contribution needs applause.
Sometimes the most meaningful recognition is watching somebody succeed because you helped them develop the ability to do so.
THE THORN BENEATH THE VELVET
“I will dance at the ball I will sing with you all, but remember at thorn is only a branch covered by velvet”
This is one of the more unusual images in the song.
A celebration suggests enjoyment, companionship, and success.
Velvet suggests something soft, attractive, and comfortable.
But a thorn can still hurt.
One way to understand the contrast is as a warning about appearances.
A person can be charming without being trustworthy.
An opportunity can look attractive without being beneficial.
And somebody can speak beautifully about leadership without practising the principles they’re promoting.
That’s why judgment matters.
We shouldn’t measure people only by how confidently they speak or how impressive they appear.
We should also consider their actions, their decisions, and how they treat others.
BREAKING FREE FROM OLD HABITS
“we can all break free from the ball and chains Just by following the rules of common sense So think before you do, and you’re thinking will guide you to be a leader of leaders”
The chorus brings the song’s different ideas together.
The ball and chains can represent whatever prevents us from moving forward.
Fear.
Poor judgment.
Unproductive habits.
The unwillingness to change.
Or the belief that because we’ve always done something one way, we must continue doing it that way.
Common sense sounds simple, but we don’t always practise it.
Sometimes we become so accustomed to our routines that we stop questioning them.
And sometimes the answer isn’t complicated at all.
Ask for help.
Listen to somebody else’s suggestion.
Give a capable person more responsibility.
Recognize when something needs changing.
Thinking before acting doesn’t guarantee that every decision will be correct.
But it gives us an opportunity to consider the consequences before those consequences become problems.
FOLLOW ME
“Leadership stand out in front and says Follow me”
Those two words can carry enormous influence.
Follow me.
But where?
And why?
History contains examples of leaders who inspired people to accomplish extraordinary things.
It also contains examples of leaders whose decisions caused tremendous suffering.
That tells us something important.
The ability to persuade people to follow doesn’t automatically make somebody a good leader.
Leadership needs responsibility.
It needs judgment.
And it needs an understanding of what may happen to the people who place their confidence in you.
Standing in front is easy enough.
Knowing where you’re going is another matter.
THE PURPOSE OF LEADING SOMEONE
“If I lead you in a direction with purpose that your purpose is for you to be the leader that you were meant to be and a true leader cares about you”
This is where the song makes its central promise.
The purpose of guiding somebody isn’t to keep that person following you forever.
It’s to help them discover what they’re capable of becoming.
And caring matters.
There’s a difference between wanting somebody to succeed because their success benefits you and wanting them to succeed because you genuinely care about their future.
Good leadership can benefit both people.
The mentor gains satisfaction from seeing progress.
The person being mentored gains knowledge, confidence, and independence.
Eventually, that person may develop abilities the original mentor never possessed.
That shouldn’t be threatening.
It should be encouraging.
DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER
“A mentor not only affects the present, but the future It takes a good man to be a great listener When you ask for feedback, don’t shoot the messenger”
Feedback can be uncomfortable.
Nobody particularly enjoys hearing that something they’ve done could have been handled better.
But asking for feedback is pointless if you’re only prepared to accept compliments.
When people are afraid of how you’ll react, they may stop telling you what you need to know.
Problems remain hidden.
Good suggestions never get shared.
And mistakes may continue because nobody feels comfortable challenging the person in charge.
A responsible leader needs to make room for disagreement.
That doesn’t mean accepting every suggestion.
It means considering information fairly before making a decision.
And the effect can reach beyond the present.
People who experience respectful leadership may eventually practise those same behaviours when they become responsible for others.
THE GLUE THAT HOLDS PEOPLE TOGETHER
“Is the glue the vines, followers and leaders together? Purpose, motivation, tasks, and accomplishments, and you can become a leader of leaders”
A team needs more than people standing beside one another.
It needs coordination.
It needs communication.
It needs a shared understanding of what everyone is trying to accomplish.
And people need to understand how their individual responsibilities contribute to the larger result.
Think about a construction project.
You can have excellent equipment, experienced operators, and capable workers.
But without coordination, the job can quickly become inefficient.
One person may be waiting for another.
Materials may arrive at the wrong time.
Important information may never reach the people who need it.
Leadership helps connect those moving parts.
But effective coordination doesn’t mean every decision must come from one individual.
It means people understand their responsibilities well enough to contribute intelligently.
ALL THE BRAINS I CAN BORROW
“Not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow”
This idea is associated with former American president Woodrow Wilson.
And it expresses something valuable about intelligence.
You don’t have to know everything personally.
You can learn from people who have different skills, experiences, and areas of knowledge.
A good mechanic may understand something an engineer has overlooked.
An experienced equipment operator may recognize a practical problem before it appears on a drawing.
A young employee may suggest a better way of organizing a task.
The important thing is recognizing useful knowledge regardless of where it comes from.
Borrowing somebody else’s knowledge doesn’t make you less capable.
It can make your decisions better.
And when that knowledge is shared, everybody has an opportunity to improve.
HUMILITY, TEACHING, AND PASSION
“There must be a hunger within you for teaching No talent comes without humility. Focus on the prize. Passion will make the way where there is no way”
Talent can help somebody accomplish extraordinary things.
But talent doesn’t eliminate the need to learn.
And passion doesn’t guarantee success.
You still need discipline, judgment, preparation, and sometimes the willingness to admit that your original approach isn’t working.
Humility makes that possible.
It allows you to recognize your limitations without giving up on your ambitions.
And teaching requires a similar attitude.
You have to understand that the person you’re helping may eventually develop ideas and abilities different from your own.
That’s part of the reward.
You’re not creating another version of yourself.
You’re helping somebody become capable of finding their own way.
THE VALUE OF PEOPLE
“The best ass you have in life is the people Not one of us is smarter as all of us Let them go let them grow. Let them learn.”
This passage brings together several of the song’s most important ideas.
People aren’t simply resources to be directed.
They have knowledge.
They have imagination.
They have abilities that may never develop unless somebody gives them an opportunity.
The statement about collective intelligence is closely associated with Ken Blanchard and his colleagues, who helped popularize the principle that groups can benefit from combining their knowledge.
But teamwork isn’t automatically better simply because more people are involved.
People need to communicate.
They need to respect one another’s contributions.
And they need opportunities to use their abilities.
That’s where the final statement becomes important.
Let them grow.
Growth requires experience.
Experience requires opportunity.
And opportunity sometimes requires a leader to step aside long enough for somebody else to take responsibility.
OWN YOUR DECISIONS
“Effective leaders own their decisions Convictions are not negotiable and they are not for sale to be as successful leader is to be successful at home”
Responsibility means accepting that your decisions have consequences.
You can’t take credit for every success while blaming everybody else when something goes wrong.
And convictions matter because there will be times when doing the right thing isn’t necessarily the easiest or most popular choice.
But convictions should be based on principles, not simply personal pride.
A person can remain committed to honesty and responsibility while still changing an opinion when better information becomes available.
Then the song introduces another measurement of success.
Home.
It’s possible to be admired professionally while struggling with responsibilities in your personal life.
And that’s worth examining.
Because leadership doesn’t suddenly become unimportant when the working day ends.
WHAT DOES IT PROFIT A MAN?
“what does a profit a man if he gains the world and loses his own children?”
This question echoes a biblical teaching about gaining the world while losing something of greater value.
Here, the focus is on children.
And the question changes the way we measure success.
What have we really accomplished if our ambitions have taken so much of our time that the people closest to us have received too little attention?
That doesn’t mean financial success is wrong.
It doesn’t mean working hard is wrong.
And it certainly doesn’t mean people should feel guilty for working to provide for their families.
But there’s a difference between providing for people and being present in their lives.
Both matter.
And finding a balance isn’t always easy.
The question asks us to consider whether our priorities reflect what we genuinely value.
THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE
“They are both our future and present they are our successors mentors and leaders, and a true leader must be able to juggle both and still be able to be a mentor at home”
Children are often described as the leaders of tomorrow.
But their development is happening today.
The examples they witness, the responsibilities they’re given, and the way adults respond to their questions can influence how they approach the world.
And children can teach adults things too.
They ask questions we may have stopped asking.
They notice details we overlook.
Sometimes they challenge ideas we’ve accepted without much thought.
Mentorship doesn’t always have to move in one direction.
Adults have knowledge to share.
Young people have perspectives worth considering.
Both can learn.
And that’s an important part of what makes leadership a continuing responsibility rather than a title somebody holds.
THE FINAL MESSAGE
“If I lead you in a direction with purpose that your purpose is for you to be the leader that you were meant to be and a true leader cares about you”
The song finishes by returning to the person being led.
Not the title.
Not the authority.
Not the recognition.
The person.
That’s the heart of LEADER OF LEADERS.
Leadership should help people become more capable, more confident, and better prepared to make decisions.
It should encourage learning.
It should create opportunities.
And it should recognize that the next generation may accomplish things the previous generation never imagined.
You can spend your entire life telling people what to do.
Or you can spend part of that life helping them understand how to think, learn, and make decisions for themselves.
I believe the second approach leaves something more valuable behind.
Because the greatest achievement of a leader may not be the number of people who followed.
It may be the number of people who eventually learned how to lead.

SECTION FOUR
REFLECTION
THE SUCCESS WE DON’T ALWAYS RECOGNIZE
There’s something interesting about success.
We spend so much time trying to achieve it that we don’t always stop to question what it actually means.
For one person, success might be building a business. For another, it might be raising a family, overcoming a difficult situation, teaching somebody a valuable skill, or simply finding a little peace in life.
And none of those accomplishments needs to be measured against somebody else’s.
But I think there’s one question worth asking.
Are we measuring success by what we’ve accumulated, or by what we’ve contributed?
Because those aren’t necessarily the same thing.
You can accumulate wealth without sharing knowledge.
You can acquire authority without earning respect.
You can become highly experienced without helping anybody else develop.
And you can accomplish an enormous amount while overlooking some of the things that make those accomplishments worthwhile.
That doesn’t mean ambition is wrong.
It means ambition deserves direction.
SOMETIMES THE LESSON ARRIVES LATE
One thing life has taught me is that understanding doesn’t always arrive when we need it.
Sometimes we recognize something immediately.
Other times, we need years of experience before an idea finally makes sense.
And occasionally, we discover something that makes us look back and think, why the hell didn’t I recognize that sooner?
I imagine most people have experienced that feeling.
But I’ve also learned that there’s little value in spending the rest of your life punishing yourself for something you didn’t understand years ago.
You can acknowledge a mistake without allowing it to define everything you’ve accomplished.
You can recognize that another approach might have been better without pretending that everything you did was wrong.
And you can use what you’ve learned to make different decisions today.
That’s important.
Because education isn’t only about preparing for the future.
Sometimes it’s about understanding the past well enough to stop repeating it.
KNOWLEDGE DOESN’T BELONG TO ONE GENERATION
Think about how much of what we know today came from people who lived before us.
Somebody discovered something.
Somebody improved it.
Somebody challenged an accepted belief.
Somebody found a better way.
And eventually, that knowledge became part of what the next generation could build upon.
That’s how progress happens.
Not because one person knows everything.
Because people continue learning from one another.
And I think that principle deserves more attention in everyday life.
You don’t need to be a professor to teach somebody something valuable.
You don’t need to own a business to demonstrate responsibility.
You don’t need an impressive title to become a mentor.
Sometimes all it takes is recognizing that you have something worthwhile to share and somebody else might benefit from hearing it.
But there’s another side to that responsibility.
You also have to remain willing to learn.
Because the moment you decide nobody has anything left to teach you, you’ve placed a limit on your own understanding.
THE PEOPLE WHO COME AFTER US
One day, every business owner steps away.
Every manager leaves a position.
Every teacher finishes a career.
Every parent reaches a point where their children must make their own decisions.
Nobody remains in charge forever.
And that raises an interesting question.
What have we prepared other people to do when we’re no longer there?
Have we helped them develop confidence?
Have we encouraged independent thinking?
Have we taught them to question information rather than simply accept it?
Have we shown them how to take responsibility for their decisions?
Or have we made ourselves so necessary that everything becomes difficult when we’re absent?
I think the strongest kind of leadership prepares people for independence.
Not because the leader becomes unimportant.
Because the leader’s influence continues through the abilities other people have developed.
And those people may eventually help somebody else.
That’s a legacy worth considering.
DON’T FORGET TO LIVE
There’s another side to all of this that I don’t want overlooked.
Life isn’t simply a collection of responsibilities waiting to be completed.
We’re allowed to enjoy it.
We’re allowed to spend time with people we love.
We’re allowed to have interests that don’t produce money.
We’re allowed to sit down, laugh, listen to music, learn something completely unrelated to work, or spend an afternoon doing absolutely nothing productive.
That doesn’t make somebody lazy.
It makes them human.
And sometimes those ordinary moments become the ones we remember most.
Nobody can tell you exactly how to balance every responsibility in your life.
Circumstances are different for everybody.
But it’s worth considering whether the way you’re spending your time reflects the things you claim matter most.
Because time is one resource we can’t manufacture more of.
Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
WHAT KIND OF LEADER ARE YOU BECOMING?
You don’t need employees or an important position to influence somebody.
People influence one another every day.
Through their decisions.
Through their behaviour.
Through the way they respond to problems.
Through the way they treat people who disagree with them.
And through the example they set when nobody is expecting recognition.
So perhaps leadership begins much closer to home than we sometimes imagine.
Maybe it begins with keeping a promise.
Admitting you were wrong.
Listening when somebody needs to be heard.
Teaching someone without making them feel foolish.
Or giving another person the confidence to try something they didn’t believe they could accomplish.
Those may seem like small things.
But small things can have lasting consequences.
And we don’t always get to see how far those consequences travel.
SOMETHING WORTH PASSING FORWARD
If there’s one thought I’d like you to carry away from LEADER OF LEADERS, it’s this.
Don’t become so convinced of what you already know that you stop discovering what somebody else can teach you.
You may have decades of experience.
You may be exceptionally good at your profession.
You may have accomplished things other people can only imagine.
That’s wonderful.
But there’s still something you don’t know.
Something you haven’t experienced.
Something another person understands differently.
And somewhere, somebody may have an idea that changes the way you look at your own life.
Give yourself the opportunity to discover it.
Then consider passing something valuable forward yourself.
You never know who might need that knowledge.
Or what they might eventually accomplish because you shared it.
A PERSONAL THANK YOU
Thank you for spending some time with this song and its story.
I hope it encouraged you to question something, consider another perspective, or recognize an opportunity to help somebody grow.
And if you’ve discovered something valuable through your own experiences, don’t underestimate the importance of sharing it.
You don’t have to change the entire world.
Sometimes helping one person make a better decision is enough to make a difference.
That’s part of what I’m trying to accomplish through MOITA.
Every song gives me another opportunity to explore something I’ve experienced, questioned, imagined, or learned.
And every story gives somebody else an opportunity to take that conversation a little further.
I can’t tell you what you’ll discover along the way.
I’m still discovering things myself.
But I believe there’s something worthwhile in continuing to learn together.
And perhaps that’s where the next generation of leaders begins.

MOITA
WHERE EVERY SONG TELLS A STORY
EVERY STORY TEACHES SOMETHING

SECTION FIVE
MOITA DOCUMENTARY & LEARNING CENTRE

LEADER OF LEADERS

THE KNOWLEDGE WE SHARE AND THE PEOPLE WE PREPARE

1. INTRODUCTION — WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP REALLY MEAN?

Leadership is one of those subjects that almost everybody has experienced, even if they’ve never held an official leadership position.
We’ve all encountered people who influence our decisions. Parents, teachers, employers, supervisors, coaches, friends, and sometimes complete strangers whose words or actions leave a lasting impression.
But influence and leadership aren’t necessarily the same thing.
A person can have authority without earning respect. They can attract followers without making responsible decisions. And they can become extremely successful without helping anybody else develop.
That’s one of the central questions behind LEADER OF LEADERS.
What makes somebody worth following?
And perhaps more importantly, what happens to the people who follow them?
This Learning Centre explores leadership through history, psychology, business, education, mentorship, and family relationships.
It also examines an important distinction: the difference between becoming successful yourself and helping other people develop the abilities to succeed independently.
The objective isn’t to present one perfect formula for leadership. There isn’t one.
Different circumstances require different approaches. A construction supervisor managing a dangerous worksite has responsibilities that differ from those of a teacher guiding students or a parent helping a child develop independence.
But certain principles appear repeatedly.
Knowledge. Responsibility. Communication. Trust. Fairness. Judgment. And the willingness to continue learning.
Understanding those principles can help us recognize both effective leadership and the warning signs of poor leadership.
2. LEADERSHIP AND AUTHORITY ARE NOT THE SAME THING
Authority is the recognized power to make decisions, give instructions, or establish expectations within a particular role.
Leadership involves influencing people toward objectives and helping them understand how to contribute.
The two can work together, but they are not identical.
A business owner may have the authority to direct employees. A supervisor may have responsibility for organizing a crew. A teacher may establish classroom expectations.
But holding a position doesn’t automatically make somebody effective at communicating, motivating, teaching, or earning trust.
A person may follow instructions because they’re required to. That doesn’t necessarily mean they respect the person giving those instructions.
Respect is more likely to develop when people observe consistent behaviour.
Does the leader understand the responsibilities involved? Do they treat people fairly? Do they explain decisions when appropriate? Are they willing to acknowledge mistakes? Do they listen when somebody raises a legitimate concern?
And do they apply reasonable standards to themselves as well as others?
These questions help distinguish positional authority from responsible leadership.
WHY EXPERTISE MATTERS
Practical knowledge can make leadership more effective.
A construction supervisor who understands equipment, materials, safety procedures, and the realities of a jobsite may be better equipped to recognize problems and communicate expectations.
But technical expertise doesn’t automatically provide every skill needed to manage people.
A highly capable equipment operator may still need to develop communication, delegation, conflict resolution, and organizational skills before becoming an effective supervisor.
That distinction matters because organizations sometimes promote their most technically skilled employees without preparing them for the human responsibilities of leadership.
Being good at the work and being good at helping other people perform the work are related abilities, but they’re not interchangeable.
3. HOW LEADERSHIP THINKING DEVELOPED
People have debated leadership for thousands of years.
Ancient societies examined questions about authority, virtue, responsibility, military command, government, and the relationship between rulers and the people they governed.
Those discussions eventually developed into more systematic studies of leadership.
EARLY APPROACHES — THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Some early theories emphasized the personal characteristics of leaders.
The nineteenth-century Great Man theory, associated with thinkers such as Thomas Carlyle, focused on extraordinary historical individuals and their influence on events.
Later trait-based approaches examined whether characteristics such as confidence, intelligence, determination, and sociability were associated with leadership.
These approaches helped raise useful questions about individual differences.
But they also had limitations.
They could place too much emphasis on supposedly exceptional individuals while overlooking circumstances, followers, institutions, and skills that people can develop.
BEHAVIOURAL APPROACHES — WHAT LEADERS ACTUALLY DO
During the twentieth century, researchers increasingly examined leadership behaviour.
Rather than asking only what characteristics leaders possessed, they studied how leaders organized work, communicated, supported employees, and approached relationships.
Research associated with Ohio State University and the University of Michigan helped establish important distinctions between attention to tasks and attention to people.
A leader may be highly organized but poor at supporting employees.
Another may be supportive but struggle to establish clear responsibilities.
Effective leadership often requires attention to both.
SITUATIONAL AND CONTINGENCY APPROACHES
Other researchers challenged the idea that one leadership style would work equally well in every situation.
Fred Fiedler’s contingency model and later situational approaches emphasized the importance of context.
The needs of an inexperienced employee may differ from those of somebody who has spent twenty years performing a particular responsibility.
A workplace emergency may require immediate direction.
A planning meeting may benefit from discussion and shared problem-solving.
The important lesson is that leadership decisions should consider the people, the task, the risks, and the circumstances.
TRANSFORMATIONAL AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Transformational leadership, developed through work by James MacGregor Burns and Bernard Bass, examines how leaders can influence motivation, values, and commitment to shared goals.
Servant leadership, associated with Robert K. Greenleaf, emphasizes serving others and supporting their development.
These approaches differ, but both encourage consideration of leadership beyond simply giving instructions.
For LEADER OF LEADERS, the particularly relevant question is whether leadership helps other people become more capable.
A leader’s accomplishments matter.
But so does the development of the people around them.
4. WHY LISTENING IS A LEADERSHIP SKILL
Listening is often treated as something simple.
One person speaks. Another person hears the words.
But effective listening involves more than remaining quiet.
It requires attention, interpretation, and a willingness to consider information before responding.
HEARING AND UNDERSTANDING
Imagine an employee telling a supervisor that a construction schedule may be unrealistic.
The supervisor has several possible responses.
They could immediately dismiss the concern. They could become defensive. They could assume the employee simply doesn’t want to work.
Or they could ask what specific conditions are causing concern.
Perhaps materials are delayed. Perhaps the equipment available isn’t suitable. Perhaps the employee has noticed a safety issue. Or perhaps the employee has misunderstood part of the plan.
Listening doesn’t guarantee that the employee is correct.
It provides an opportunity to discover information that may influence the decision.
PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson helped develop the concept of psychological safety in organizational research.
Psychological safety describes a shared belief that people can take interpersonal risks, such as asking questions, acknowledging mistakes, or raising concerns, without unnecessary fear of humiliation or punishment.
This doesn’t mean workplaces should eliminate accountability.
Employees remain responsible for their work.
It means people should be able to communicate relevant information without being punished merely for speaking honestly.
That distinction can be especially important in safety-sensitive environments.
A worker who notices a dangerous condition should feel able to report it.
A nurse who recognizes a potential medical error should be able to raise the concern.
An employee who discovers a problem with a project should not have to choose between protecting their job and sharing information that could prevent harm.
THE COST OF DISCOURAGING FEEDBACK
When leaders respond aggressively to criticism, people may become reluctant to speak.
That can create an illusion of agreement.
The leader hears fewer objections and assumes everything is going well.
But the absence of criticism doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of problems.
Sometimes it means people have stopped reporting them.
A responsible leader should distinguish between disagreement, disrespect, and misconduct.
These are not the same thing.
A thoughtful disagreement may be extremely valuable.
5. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MOTIVATION
Why do people put effort into their work?
Money is one reason.
Financial security matters, and people need fair compensation for their labour.
But motivation is more complicated than income alone.
People may also be influenced by achievement, interest, recognition, responsibility, relationships, and opportunities to develop skills.
SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY
Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan developed self-determination theory, an influential framework for understanding human motivation.
The theory identifies three basic psychological needs:
Autonomy: Experiencing a meaningful sense of choice and ownership in one’s actions.
Competence: Feeling capable of developing skills and handling challenges.
Relatedness: Experiencing connection and belonging with other people.
These needs can help explain why two workplaces offering similar pay may produce very different experiences.
In one workplace, employees may have little opportunity to contribute ideas or develop new abilities.
In another, employees may receive appropriate responsibility, constructive feedback, and support for learning.
The second environment may better support motivation, although individual experiences and working conditions will still vary.
AUTONOMY ISN’T THE ABSENCE OF STANDARDS
Giving people independence doesn’t mean abandoning supervision.
An inexperienced heavy equipment operator shouldn’t be left to discover dangerous operating procedures through trial and error.
Proper instruction, safety standards, and supervision remain essential.
Autonomy becomes appropriate as people develop the competence and judgment required for a responsibility.
The objective is to increase independence responsibly.
WHY RECOGNITION MATTERS
People often appreciate knowing that their contributions have been noticed.
Recognition can reinforce useful behaviour and encourage continued effort.
But recognition should be sincere and fair.
Constant praise without meaningful standards may lose its value.
And a workplace that recognizes only highly visible accomplishments may overlook employees whose quieter contributions are essential.
Effective leaders should understand that different people are motivated by different things.
There isn’t one approach that works equally well for everybody.
6. MENTORSHIP — HELPING KNOWLEDGE MOVE FORWARD
A mentor is generally somebody who shares experience, guidance, encouragement, or knowledge to support another person’s development.
Mentorship can occur formally through organized programs or informally through everyday relationships.
A skilled tradesperson may mentor an apprentice.
A teacher may help a student explore a subject.
An experienced employee may guide a newer colleague.
And a business owner may help a supervisor develop the ability to manage projects independently.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Instruction focuses on helping somebody understand what to do.
Development goes further.
It helps the person build judgment, confidence, and the ability to handle new situations.
Consider an employee learning to organize a construction project.
Initially, they may need detailed instructions.
They need to understand scheduling, equipment requirements, staffing, materials, safety responsibilities, and communication with customers.
As they gain experience, they can begin making more decisions.
Eventually, they may become capable of organizing similar projects independently.
The mentor’s role changes as the employee develops.
Instead of providing constant direction, the mentor may offer advice, review decisions, or help with unfamiliar situations.
THE VALUE OF ALLOWING MISTAKES
Mistakes can provide important learning opportunities.
But not all mistakes should be treated equally.
A harmless scheduling error may provide a useful lesson.
A mistake involving dangerous machinery, structural safety, or serious financial consequences may require immediate intervention.
Good mentorship involves recognizing the difference.
People need opportunities to practise and make decisions, but those opportunities should be appropriate to their abilities and the risks involved.
WHEN THE STUDENT BECOMES THE TEACHER
One of the most valuable outcomes of mentorship occurs when the person being taught becomes capable of teaching somebody else.
Knowledge no longer depends on one individual.
It can spread through an organization, a family, a trade, or a community.
And the original mentor may eventually learn something from the person they helped develop.
That is an important part of lifelong education.
Knowledge doesn’t have to move in only one direction.
7. DELEGATION — THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DOING AND LEADING
Delegation means assigning appropriate responsibilities and authority to another person while maintaining suitable accountability and oversight.
It sounds straightforward.
But many capable people struggle with it.
Sometimes they believe nobody else will perform a task as well as they can.
Sometimes they worry about mistakes.
Sometimes they don’t want to spend time explaining something they could finish themselves.
And sometimes they’ve become so accustomed to handling everything personally that delegating feels uncomfortable.
THE HIDDEN COST OF DOING EVERYTHING YOURSELF
Imagine a business owner who handles every customer inquiry, organizes every job, makes every equipment decision, supervises every employee, and resolves every unexpected problem.
The business may be successful.
But it is also highly dependent on that individual.
If the owner becomes unavailable, many activities may slow down or stop.
The owner may also have difficulty taking time away from work.
This can create a situation where business success increases personal pressure instead of reducing it.
DELEGATION ISN’T ABANDONMENT
Effective delegation requires preparation.
The person receiving responsibility needs to understand the objective, their authority, the relevant standards, and when to ask for assistance.
They may also need training, resources, and opportunities to practise.
A supervisor shouldn’t simply assign a complicated responsibility to an unprepared employee and then blame them when the result is poor.
The responsibility must be matched to the person’s abilities.
A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
Suppose a construction company owner wants an experienced employee to begin managing smaller projects.
The owner might first involve that employee in planning.
Then allow them to coordinate selected tasks.
Next, the employee might manage a small project with regular supervision.
As competence develops, the owner can increase responsibility.
Eventually, the employee may be able to handle projects without the owner personally directing every detail.
The business gains another capable decision-maker.
The employee gains experience and confidence.
And the owner may gain time to concentrate on other responsibilities, including life outside work.
That is one of the central lessons behind LEADER OF LEADERS.
8. THE DANGER OF GROUPTHINK
There is an interesting problem that can occur when people become too concerned about maintaining agreement.
It’s called groupthink.
Psychologist Irving Janis developed this concept to help explain how highly cohesive groups can sometimes make poor decisions.
The problem isn’t that people are working together.
The problem arises when maintaining agreement becomes more important than examining evidence, questioning assumptions, or considering alternatives.
Imagine a meeting where everybody knows the manager favours one particular decision.
Several employees have concerns, but nobody wants to disagree.
The meeting ends with unanimous support.
Does that mean everybody genuinely believes the decision is correct?
Not necessarily.
Silence can be mistaken for agreement.
HOW CAN LEADERS REDUCE GROUPTHINK?
Encourage people to present alternative explanations. Ask what could go wrong. Invite knowledgeable people outside the immediate group to review important proposals.
And perhaps most importantly, avoid treating disagreement as disloyalty.
A leader who only wants agreement may eventually surround themselves with people who tell them what they want to hear.
That can become dangerous, especially when important decisions involve safety, money, or people’s lives.
THE IMPORTANCE OF INDEPENDENT JUDGMENT
Groupthink also reminds us that developing other leaders requires more than teaching people to follow instructions.
People need opportunities to examine evidence and make responsible decisions.
If everybody in a team simply repeats the manager’s opinion, the organization may be overlooking valuable knowledge.
An effective leader should welcome thoughtful questions, especially when the consequences of a decision could be serious.
9. WHY SUCCESSION PLANNING MATTERS
Succession planning means preparing people and systems to continue functioning when someone leaves a position or becomes unavailable.
It applies to businesses, governments, community organizations, educational institutions, and families, although the arrangements differ.
A business that depends entirely on one person’s knowledge may become vulnerable when that person retires, becomes ill, or leaves unexpectedly.
Succession planning helps reduce that vulnerability.
It can involve identifying essential responsibilities, documenting procedures, developing potential successors, and giving people opportunities to practise leadership before a transition becomes necessary.
A SIMPLE EXAMPLE
Imagine a business owner who personally understands every customer relationship, every equipment requirement, every supplier agreement, and every important decision.
The business may operate successfully for years.
But what happens if the owner suddenly becomes unavailable?
If nobody else understands how the operation works, the business may struggle.
Now imagine the same business has trained supervisors, documented important procedures, and developed employees who understand how to handle responsibilities independently.
The organization is better prepared to continue.
Succession planning isn’t about making the current leader irrelevant.
It’s about protecting what has been built and preparing other people to carry it forward.
THE CONNECTION TO MENTORSHIP
Succession planning works best when developing people is an ongoing responsibility rather than something addressed only when a leader is preparing to leave.
Employees need opportunities to gain experience.
Potential successors need to understand both the technical and human responsibilities of their positions.
And organizations need to recognize that replacing a person doesn’t necessarily mean finding somebody who behaves exactly like them.
A successor may bring different strengths, ideas, and approaches.
That can become an opportunity for improvement.
10. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MENTOR AND A SPONSOR
Mentorship and sponsorship are related, but they serve different purposes.
A mentor generally offers advice, knowledge, encouragement, and guidance.
A sponsor uses their influence to help another person access opportunities, gain visibility, or advance professionally.
A mentor might help an employee understand how to manage a difficult project.
A sponsor might recommend that employee for a leadership position because they believe the person is ready.
Both relationships can contribute to professional development.
But neither should replace fair evaluation, appropriate qualifications, or equal access to opportunity.
Effective development programs should help capable people demonstrate their abilities rather than simply reward those with the strongest personal connections.
WHY THE DISTINCTION MATTERS
Sometimes an employee has the knowledge and ability to take on greater responsibility but lacks opportunities to demonstrate it.
Mentorship can help prepare the person.
Sponsorship can help create access to an appropriate opportunity.
But the opportunity still needs to be supported by evidence of competence.
The objective should be to develop and recognize ability, not to promote somebody merely because they have a powerful supporter.
11. CAN LEADERSHIP BE TAUGHT?
This is one of the most interesting questions in leadership education.
Some people appear naturally comfortable taking responsibility, communicating with others, or making decisions under pressure.
But that doesn’t mean leadership is entirely an inborn ability.
Many leadership-related skills can be developed through education, experience, feedback, and practice.
Communication can improve.
Decision-making can improve.
Conflict management can improve.
People can learn how to delegate, organize teams, evaluate risks, and respond more effectively to problems.
However, attending a leadership course doesn’t automatically make somebody an effective leader.
Knowledge needs to be applied.
And application requires opportunities to practise.
THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE
Consider somebody learning to operate heavy equipment.
Reading an operating manual provides important information.
Understanding safety procedures is essential.
But practical competence also requires supervised experience, feedback, and repeated practice.
Leadership development can work in a similar way.
People benefit from understanding the principles.
Then they need opportunities to apply those principles responsibly.
The objective isn’t simply to produce people who can discuss leadership.
It’s to develop people who can demonstrate it.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
Leadership education shouldn’t end when somebody receives a promotion or becomes experienced.
Organizations change.
Technology changes.
Workplace expectations change.
And research into human behaviour continues to develop.
A person who became an effective supervisor twenty years ago may still benefit from learning new approaches today.
Experience is valuable.
But experience and continued education can work together.
12. WHEN LEADERSHIP BECOMES ABUSE OF POWER
Leadership education must also examine what happens when authority is misused.
People in positions of power may control employment opportunities, financial resources, access to information, or decisions that affect other people’s lives.
That creates opportunities for both responsible leadership and exploitation.
Abuse of power can include intimidation, discrimination, retaliation, coercion, dishonesty, or using authority primarily for personal advantage.
Not every unpopular decision is abusive.
Leaders sometimes have to enforce standards, address misconduct, or make difficult organizational changes.
The distinction depends on the circumstances, the methods used, and whether decisions are lawful, fair, and proportionate.
ACCOUNTABILITY PROTECTS EVERYONE
Organizations can reduce the risk of abuse through clear policies, transparent decision-making, independent reporting channels, fair investigations, and meaningful oversight.
Employees should have appropriate ways to raise concerns without facing retaliation.
And people in leadership positions should be accountable for their own conduct.
Authority should never place somebody above reasonable standards of behaviour.
The greater the influence a person possesses, the more important responsible judgment becomes.
WHY GOOD INTENTIONS AREN’T ENOUGH
A leader may genuinely believe they’re acting in everyone’s best interests.
But good intentions don’t automatically make every decision fair or responsible.
People can become convinced that their experience gives them the right to ignore criticism.
They may dismiss concerns because they believe they know better.
And they may begin treating disagreement as a personal challenge to their authority.
That’s why accountability matters even when a leader believes they’re doing the right thing.
Responsible leadership requires examining both intentions and consequences.
13. THE FAMILY AS A PLACE OF LEARNING
Leadership isn’t limited to organizations.
Families also provide opportunities for teaching, communication, cooperation, and developing responsibility.
But family relationships shouldn’t simply copy workplace hierarchies.
Children are not employees.
Parenting involves care, emotional connection, protection, guidance, and development appropriate to a child’s age and abilities.
Research into parenting and child development emphasizes the importance of supportive relationships, consistent expectations, and opportunities for growing independence.
Children gradually learn to make decisions by experiencing appropriate responsibility.
A young child might begin by choosing between suitable activities.
An older child may take responsibility for schoolwork, household contributions, or managing personal commitments.
As children mature, they need increasing opportunities to develop judgment.
TEACHING WITHOUT CONTROLLING EVERYTHING
A parent who makes every decision may unintentionally limit opportunities for independence.
A parent who provides no guidance may leave a child without the support needed to develop safely.
The challenge is finding an appropriate balance between guidance and autonomy.
And that balance changes as children grow.
Good communication also matters.
Children benefit when adults listen seriously to their concerns, explain expectations, and demonstrate the behaviours they want to encourage.
Leadership at home is not about winning every argument.
It’s about helping people develop the abilities and confidence they need for life.
CHILDREN ARE THE PRESENT AS WELL AS THE FUTURE
Children are frequently described as future leaders.
But their lives aren’t waiting to begin.
They’re already developing relationships, learning skills, forming opinions, and discovering how the world works.
Adults can influence those experiences through the time, attention, and guidance they provide.
And adults can learn from children too.
Young people may ask questions that challenge familiar assumptions.
They may bring different perspectives to problems.
And they may eventually develop knowledge and abilities that their parents never possessed.
A healthy learning relationship allows room for that development.
The purpose isn’t to create an exact copy of the parent.
It’s to help a young person become capable of making responsible decisions in their own life.
14. WORK, FAMILY, AND THE PROBLEM OF TIME
Work-family conflict is an established subject in organizational psychology.
Researchers study how demands from employment and family responsibilities can interfere with one another.
One influential framework, developed by Jeffrey Greenhaus and Nicholas Beutell in 1985, identified three broad forms of conflict.
TIME-BASED CONFLICT
Time spent fulfilling one responsibility reduces the time available for another.
For example, somebody working fourteen hours a day may have limited opportunities to spend time with family, pursue personal interests, or rest.
STRAIN-BASED CONFLICT
Stress or fatigue from one role affects performance or relationships in another.
A person may arrive home mentally exhausted after dealing with workplace problems.
Even when they want to be attentive and patient, fatigue may make that more difficult.
BEHAVIOUR-BASED CONFLICT
Behaviours useful in one setting may be inappropriate in another.
For example, somebody may need to be highly directive during a workplace emergency.
But carrying that same demanding communication style into an ordinary family conversation may create unnecessary conflict.
Long working hours can also reduce opportunities for rest, relationships, and personal interests.
However, not everybody has equal control over their working schedule.
Financial pressures, caregiving responsibilities, job insecurity, and economic circumstances can limit people’s choices.
That is why work-life balance shouldn’t be treated simply as a matter of individual discipline.
Employers, workplace policies, family circumstances, and broader economic conditions all play a role.
WHAT CAN HELP?
Clearer boundaries, realistic workloads, supportive management, shared responsibilities, and greater scheduling flexibility can help where circumstances allow.
And for people managing businesses, developing capable employees and establishing effective systems may reduce unnecessary dependence on the owner.
The objective isn’t to eliminate ambition.
It’s to recognize that work is one important part of life rather than the only part.
THE CONNECTION TO LEADER OF LEADERS
The song raises a difficult question about gaining success while losing meaningful connections with one’s children.
That question isn’t suggesting that every person who works long hours is neglecting their family.
Many people work extremely hard because they’re trying to provide for those they love.
But it does encourage us to examine the choices available to us.
Could some responsibilities be shared?
Could somebody else be trained to handle certain decisions?
Are there commitments that could be organized differently?
And are the people closest to us receiving the attention we want to give them?
There may not be a perfect answer.
But asking the questions can help us recognize opportunities for change.
15. THE LEADERSHIP IDEAS THAT TRAVEL THROUGH HISTORY
LEADER OF LEADERS brings together statements and ideas associated with different periods of history.
That makes it worthwhile to distinguish between three things.
A quotation that can be traced to a documented source.
A saying that has been widely repeated but whose original author is uncertain.
And an idea that resembles a historical statement without reproducing it exactly.
These distinctions matter because famous quotations are frequently misattributed.
A statement may appear in dozens of books or websites under different names.
That doesn’t automatically establish who originally said it.
WOODROW WILSON AND COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, expressed the importance of drawing on the knowledge of others.
The familiar statement about using one’s own brains and those one can borrow is associated with remarks he delivered to the National Press Club in 1914.
Its central idea is that leadership benefits from knowledge beyond the individual.
Recognizing the source doesn’t require agreeing with every action or belief of the historical figure.
Wilson’s presidency and legacy also include serious controversies, including racial segregation in federal government employment.
Historical education should allow readers to understand both influential ideas and the broader record of the people associated with them.
RENÉ DESCARTES AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THINKING
French philosopher René Descartes is associated with the famous proposition commonly translated into English as “I think, therefore I am.”
His philosophical argument concerns the certainty of one’s own existence as a thinking being.
The song plays with that familiar expression by reversing its wording.
That reversal is a creative use of the original idea, not a quotation from Descartes.
Within LEADER OF LEADERS, it encourages a different kind of reflection.
We possess the ability to think.
But are we using that ability to examine our assumptions, question our decisions, and continue learning?
KEN BLANCHARD AND COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Leadership author Ken Blanchard and his colleagues helped popularize the principle that collective knowledge can exceed what any one individual knows.
The saying associated with their teamwork programs emphasizes cooperation and shared intelligence.
However, it shouldn’t be interpreted to mean that every group automatically makes better decisions than an individual.
Groups can benefit from diverse knowledge, but they can also suffer from poor coordination, conformity, or misinformation.
The quality of teamwork matters.
THE BIBLICAL QUESTION OF GAINING THE WORLD
The question about gaining the world while losing something of greater value has roots in the Christian Gospels, including Mark 8:36 and Matthew 16:26.
The biblical passages concern the value of the soul or one’s life, depending on the translation.
The song adapts that familiar moral question to focus on children and family responsibility.
That is an important distinction.
The song’s wording should not be presented as a direct biblical quotation.
It is a creative adaptation of an older idea.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATE ATTRIBUTION
Other sayings within the song may have identifiable historical origins.
But without the original book or reliable primary sources, their authorship should not be assumed.
Readers interested in quotation history can explore presidential archives, published speeches, historical collections, and original books rather than relying entirely on quotation websites.
A famous name attached to a sentence is not proof that the person said it.
And sometimes discovering the true origin of a statement becomes an educational journey of its own.
16. A PRACTICAL LEADERSHIP EXERCISE
Leadership education becomes more valuable when people can apply what they’ve learned.
The following exercise is designed for reflection rather than formal assessment.
It can be used by business owners, supervisors, teachers, mentors, parents, or anyone interested in developing their influence responsibly.
LEADERSHIP SELF-REFLECTION
QUESTION 1 — DO I GIVE CAPABLE PEOPLE MEANINGFUL RESPONSIBILITY?
Consider whether others can make appropriate decisions without needing your approval every time.
Yes, consistently
Sometimes
I need to work on this
QUESTION 2 — CAN PEOPLE DISAGREE WITH ME WITHOUT FEARING MY REACTION?
Think about how you respond when someone questions your plan or points out a mistake.
Yes, consistently
Sometimes
I need to work on this
QUESTION 3 — AM I PREPARING SOMEBODY ELSE TO TAKE OVER IMPORTANT RESPONSIBILITIES?
Identify knowledge or decisions that currently depend entirely on you.
Yes, consistently
Sometimes
I need to work on this
QUESTION 4 — DO I ACTIVELY SEEK KNOWLEDGE FROM PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES?
Consider when you last changed your mind because somebody taught you something.
Yes, consistently
Sometimes
I need to work on this
QUESTION 5 — DOES MY USE OF TIME REFLECT MY PRIORITIES OUTSIDE WORK?
Think about whether important relationships and personal needs receive appropriate attention.
Yes, consistently
Sometimes
I need to work on this
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WITH YOUR ANSWERS?
The purpose isn’t to achieve a perfect score.
It’s to identify something worth examining.
If you answered “I need to work on this,” consider one practical step you could take.
Perhaps you could give somebody a new responsibility.
Ask for feedback without immediately defending your position.
Document an important procedure.
Seek advice from somebody with different experience.
Or make more time for a relationship that matters to you.
Small changes can become valuable when they’re repeated consistently.
And leadership development is an ongoing process, not a one-time test.
17. CONTINUE EXPLORING
Leadership is a subject that can be studied for a lifetime.
The following educational resources offer different ways to explore the ideas introduced throughout this Learning Centre.
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL — LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
https://www.hbs.edu/⁠
A starting point for exploring leadership education, organizational behaviour, management, and research into how people work together.
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION — PSYCHOLOGY AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
https://www.apa.org/⁠
Educational information about psychology, behaviour, learning, motivation, and relationships.
SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY — RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/⁠
A research-focused educational resource for readers interested in human motivation, autonomy, competence, relatedness, and personal development.
CENTER FOR CREATIVE LEADERSHIP — LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
https://www.ccl.org/⁠
Research and educational resources concerning leadership development, feedback, organizational effectiveness, and professional growth.
ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT — MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
https://aom.org/⁠
An academic organization supporting research into management, organizational behaviour, leadership, and related subjects.
FURTHER SUBJECTS WORTH EXPLORING
Readers may also wish to investigate servant leadership, ethical decision-making, organizational psychology, mentorship, succession planning, historical leadership, and the psychology of lifelong learning.
These subjects offer different perspectives on a question that has challenged human societies for centuries.
How can people use knowledge, influence, and responsibility to help others build a better future?
18. THE KNOWLEDGE WE LEAVE BEHIND
Leadership isn’t a single skill.
It involves judgment, communication, responsibility, learning, and the ability to work with other people.
No individual will practise every one of those qualities perfectly.
And no leadership theory can eliminate every mistake.
But studying leadership gives us something valuable.
The opportunity to recognize different approaches before circumstances force us to learn everything through personal experience.
That is one of the reasons education matters.
We can learn from successful organizations.
We can study failures.
We can examine historical decisions.
We can explore research into human behaviour.
And we can use that knowledge to question assumptions we might otherwise carry throughout our lives.
The goal isn’t to become somebody who always has the correct answer.
It’s to become somebody who understands the value of continuing to search for better ones.
A person may spend years building something remarkable.
But the knowledge developed along the way can become even more valuable when it is shared.
It may help another person avoid a costly mistake.
It may encourage someone to develop an ability they didn’t know they possessed.
It may inspire a teacher, a parent, a business owner, or a future leader to approach a responsibility differently.
And sometimes the effects of that knowledge continue long after the original teacher is gone.
That’s one of the most interesting things about education.
We don’t always know where the lesson will end up.
Or who will eventually benefit from it.
But we can make the decision to pass it forward.
And perhaps the greatest achievement of leadership isn’t creating a world where everybody depends on one extraordinary individual.
It’s helping create a world where more people have the knowledge, confidence, and responsibility to contribute.

LEADER OF LEADERS

LEADER OF LEADERS

Description

SONG TITLE:

LEADER OF LEADERS

CATEGORY:

Leadership / Personal Growth / Education

PRIMARY EMOTION:

Reflection

ALSO FITS:

Mentorship / Responsibility / Teamwork / Self-Discovery / Family / Wisdom / Personal Development

WHAT THIS SONG IS ABOUT

LEADER OF LEADERS

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG

WHY I WROTE THIS SONG

WHY THIS MATTERS TO ME

WHY THIS SONG FITS MOITA

READ THIS FIRST

FULL LYRICS.

LEADER OF LEADERS

SECTION ONE
LYRIC JOURNEY
PART 1

LEADER OF LEADERS
THE DIRECTION WE CHOOSE

SECTION ONE
LYRIC JOURNEY
PART 2

SECTION ONE
LYRIC JOURNEY
PART 3

SECTION ONE

LYRIC JOURNEY

PART 4

MOITA
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EVERY STORY TEACHES SOMETHING

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LEADER OF LEADERS

THE KNOWLEDGE WE SHARE AND THE PEOPLE WE PREPARE

1. INTRODUCTION — WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP REALLY MEAN?

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LEADER OF LEADERS

LEADER OF LEADERS

Description

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LEADER OF LEADERS

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