Throughout the history of the United States, few personalities have been as large and captivating as Theodore Roosevelt. Born to a wealthy and prominent family, Roosevelt lived a wild and eventful life that included both incredible power and influence as well as loneliness and isolation. He wore numerous hats: State Assemblyman, cowboy, hunter, author, historian, governor, Secretary of the Navy, Vice-President, President, candidate for President from the Progressive party.
I remember hearing John Maxwell discuss the importance of quotations in communicating and motivating others, and he discussed his technique for memorizing and using quotes. He talked about how he would take a quote, write it on a 3x5 card, and carry it around looking at it throughout the day. He would keep it with him and constantly recite the quote until it became second nature, then he would move on another quote. I must admit, my discipline using this particular tool has not been quite up to those standards, but I learned the importance of using quotes effectively and have incorporated that into my style.
Below are some memorable lines from the Colonel himself. Over the past year, I've been working through a three-part biography of Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. Though the page numbers are pretty steep, the hours logged are worth the price of admission. We can learn much about leadership from TR and his various and vast experiences.
'People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. A leader leads, and the boss drives.'
'Treat each man on his merit as a man.'
'It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.'
'Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.'
'The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.'
Commit these quotes to memory and use them when discussing relevant topics. It will add spice to your communication and can help drive home important points. In the future, I'll add more posts with interesting, insightful, and useful quotes so that, hopefully, they will be of use to you in your work.
Until next time, thanks for reading!
--Tyler