During the annual Zeta Day, which was held at Christian Brothers University this year, a keynote speaker named Bill Courtney spoke about leadership. Mr. Courtney is known for his public speaking across the globe, his Academy Award for his movie "Undefeated," and his work within Memphis inner-city schools. Mr. Courtney opened the audience’s eyes to the desperate need for leadership in this country. He proved this by pointing out that 87 percent of new businesses fail within the first few years. He also pointed out a key incident that occurred during the Boston riots. Remember the mother who went out into the middle of the crowd of rioting high school kids to pull her son out of the chaos? This is the particular incident that he drew our attention to. The point is that while we are applauding the mother, we should be more concerned with the other 399 mothers who did not go and pull their children out of the insane rioting crowd.

Mr. Courtney pointed out that we as the new and upcoming generation of workers must be ready to lead. He gave us three key insights into how to be a leader. One was that a turkey person is fake. What is a turkey person? A young man from an inner-city school explained it this way. That a turkey person is the kind of person that brings gifts, turkey, ham, etc. on Christmas and you never see them again. They leave you wondering if they actually care or if they just did the good deed to make themselves feel better. A turkey person is a fake person. A leader is not one who just serves themselves. A leader must be fully dedicated to their people. They must know the people they are serving. This requires getting out of their comfort zone, or as Mr. Courtney described it, their vacuum. Nothing substantial ever happens while you are in your comfort zone. You just go around in circles like being in a vacuum.

The next important point that Mr. Courtney pointed out was making your legacy more than $5. If you accumulate a lot of material goods in this life, it will not matter. Your children in 20 years or less will not care for it. It might even end up in an estate sale where a woman in a broken-down car buys that basket you left as part of your legacy for $5. In order to make our legacy substantial, you must work for others and serve others. The work we do for others is eternal while the work we do for ourselves dies with us.

The key ingredient to all of these things is to know how to serve. We must learn to devote our lives not only to the bettering of ourselves but to the bettering of other people. We must get out of our comfort zones and avoid those things that we are comfortable with in order to adapt and learn different points of view that will make us better leaders. The thing to remember is that being a leader is more than just being a boss, it is also being a follower and a provider. It is being a server and a lender. It is being a constant friend and aid. It is being that which we view as impossible and outstanding. Each of us is a leader, whether for our brothers, sisters, daughters, husbands, friends, or coworkers. We all must seek to serve them in the best way possible.

Mr. Bill Courtney taught us a very valuable lesson that day. He challenged us to step up to the plate and become a leader in a leaderless nation. Are you ready to stand up and serve? Are you ready to be a leader too?