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How Did You Vote?


A couple days ago we had an election here in town and I had several friends and family members – including my own kids – ask me if I had voted. I did vote but it wasn’t until later in the afternoon so I was quite tired of having to say “no, not yet” for most of the day.

As I was being asked this question, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a friend recently, recalling a discussion with his son many years before. He told me he had been encouraging his then-teen-age son to take more of a leadership role on his baseball team but his son responded with, “I don’t want to be a leader.” My friend then explained to his boy, “You don’t get to vote on being a leader. You only get to vote on what kind of leader you become.”

Those words are profound. We get a chance to vote on a lot of things but being a leader and influencing people isn’t one of them. Whether you hold a title of “leader” or not doesn’t matter, you still have influence on those around you. Many people don’t accept the opportunity to vote on important matters in life but you absolutely will vote on the quality of your impact on others. By taking no action or by lacking intentionality in your actions, your default vote is to be a sub-par leader and have poor influence on the people in your life. To positively impact the lives of those around you requires deliberate and determined effort. Either way, you vote, and either way, you make a choice.

By the way, my friend’s son – the one who didn’t want to have a leadership role on his baseball team – is now running an elite unit of SWAT officers and is one of the best leaders I know. It’s pretty clear how he voted on that.

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