The other day I was talking to a new friend who happens to be the head coach of one of the best college basketball teams in the country.
We were FaceTiming.
He asked me who I had on the wall behind me in my office-studio.
I told him I had some of my heroes back there—starting with my wife, Alexandra, who is always right behind me when I film (and every other moment of my life) and then my kids and then, of course, some of the Heroic human beings who inspire me to be my best.
We’ve got Epictetus (my favorite teacher) and Marcus Aurelius (my favorite leader) to my right and left. Then we’ve got my coach Phil Stutz, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight D Eisenhower, and Winston Churchill.
You can’t see the row above but up there I’ve got Jesus, Aristotle, Abraham Maslow, Gandhi, and Mister Rogers.
Now…
My heroes aren’t the point of this +1.
Today I want to chat about HIS #1 favorite hero…
So…
After I told my new friend about MY heroes, I asked him who HIS favorite heroes are.
(Note: This is a REALLY (!) powerful way to learn a LOT about someone—which is one of the many reasons I always love wrapping up my keynotes with a little exercise asking people who their top two favorite heroes are then breaking them out into small groups to share!)
My new friend didn’t hesitate for a second.
He told me that Harriet Tubman is one of his heroes.
I asked him why.
He told me that she is one of his heroes because she WILLINGLY crossed the Mason-Dixon line THIRTEEN times after escaping slavery to free as many members of her family and community as she could.
(I just got goosebumps typing that.)
Now…
We’ll talk about Harriet Tubman more in our next +1 when I lean on some wisdom from General Stanley McChrystal and his book called Leaders: Myth and Reality as she was one of his Heroic exemplars.
For Today…
Why?
What qualities do they embody?
And…
Most importantly…
How can you embody the qualities they embodied just a little more Today?
That’s Today’s +1.
TODAY is the day to make our heroes proud.
LET’S GO!
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