To lead is to serve. To lead is to be of use. To lead is to be an instrument of service. You know, life ultimately is really short, and the CEO gets buried next to the street sweeper. And at the end of our days, we’re going to be a pile of dust. And what if the things that you now think are most important, on the last hour of your last day, you realize they weren’t the most important. And what if you think that things now that you really don’t think are important, when you get to the end, you realize they were absolutely the most important. And I want you to think about this. Well, actually, I’m going to leave you with the words of my father who was reciting the words of Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet. And as I was growing up, my dad, one of the icons in my life always said, or often said… He said, “Robin when you were born, you cried, while the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die the world cries, while you rejoice.” Or as one father said to his son on his death bed, “Be ashamed to die until you have won a victory for humankind.” And ultimately that’s what leadership is. Lifting up the people around you, creating value for so many people, discovering who you truly are so that you’ll inspire other people. And more than anything else, leaving the world better than you found it.
