#LeadershipTuesdays: Seizing Opportunity

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade." 

--Tom Peters

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com presents #LeadershipTuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Opportunity. We all want to get good opportunities and no bad ones. Good opportunities are ones that we are happy to receive. Ones where we believe that we can be successful. Bad opportunities invoke fear and dread in us and we believe that the outcome will not be worth our time or effort. We certainly don't believe that they will yield a successful outcome.

But what if we did not let fear or comfortability drive our decision? What if we put more value on how much we will learn, grow and contribute in the situation we are considering. It's easier to shrink away from challenges and situations that make us feel uncomfortable. However, l believe that leaders take on challenges, gain valuable experiences that they can share with others and grow their capacity to lead and function in a multitude of situations. Take the challenge and step out of the shade and your comfort zone. Open the window, pull up the shade and seize a new opportunity.






Follow #LeadershipTuesdays on Twitter, @LeadershipTues, to see daily posts with resources that help you develop and strengthen your leadership skills. Happy #LeadershipTuesday!

Talent vs. Opportunity...Idris Elba

"Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not."

--Idris Elba

The Miracle of A Genuine Opportunity...Rue Allyn

An opportunity is a miracle waiting to happen.

--Rue Allyn

“I know your deeds. See, I have placed
before you an open door that no one
can shut.” -Revelation 3:8

Image credit: 
http://www.loritwichell.com/the-year-of-open-doors/

#LeadershipTuesdays: Great Miracles Come In Great Moments of Opportunity

"Great Moments Are Born From Great Opportunity!"

--Coach Herb Brooks, 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team Coach

"Perhaps you have come to this place, to this moment, to these people, to this challenge, for just such a time as this.” (The Bible)*

Jefferson Building, Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.

In 1980, Coach Herb Brooks coached a hockey team of rival college players to victory in the Winter Olympics over the favored and what many believed unbeatable Russian hockey team. The movie, "Miracle", tells the story of how Coach Brooks trained and led his team to play and win for the "U.S.A." letters they wore on their chest and not their own college team that hated their teammate's college. As long as they identified with their college team above the letters on their jersey, they could never play as a cohesive team and win for their nation. 

This is a very divisive moment in U.S. history. It's not the worst, but I believe that history will record these moments as one of the worse times in the post-Civil Rights era. I am stunned by how much hate and even micro-aggression toward our fellow Americans go unchallenged everyday. How some people feel above the law. How some even feel comfortable using social media, a communication tool that has broken down the barriers of telecommunications, as a tool to spread vitriol, hate speech and white supremacy. How can we win against foreign hackers and terrorists when we consider each other the enemy? We can't unite as a team against hate and evil forces if we harbor hate and ambivalence that alienate our own country men and women who look and may have different beliefs than us. We have so many challenges in need of good leaders. What will inspire us to work together for great solutions? Do we have leaders who will faithfully accept the challenge and opportunity of this moment?

As we approach Christmas, may we each reflect on the miracle of love that caused a divine baby to be born outside of the royal family and priesthood to an unassuming young unmarried mother who accepted her challenge and opportunity to be the mother of the baby we Christians now call Savior. May her example lead us to consider who we are and our purpose in this moment in time. Maybe we have been born to bring change for such a time as this. Maybe we have been called to this moment, to this challenge. May you be refreshed and replenished during this Holiday Season for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Merry Christmas,

--Nona Ogunsula, Founder, womenatliberty.com

On Tuesdays, womenatliberty.com presents Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. To view part one of a two part profile of April Reign, an attorney, activist, social media strategist and the creator of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, click here.

For more information on LeadershipTuesdays, go to: womenatliberty.com.

*The excerpted quotes and inspiration for this writing are from: Great Moments Are Born From Great Opportunity

Today Is A New Opportunity...Anurag Prakash Ray

"Each day is a new opportunity to live your life to the fullest. Don't let your today be stolen by the unchangeable past or the indefinite future."

--Anurag Prakash Ray

Looking and Moving Forward

"Keep looking forward because that is where you'll find opportunity."

--Karina Garcia

A New Jericho Road To Opportunity...Andy Young

Martin King said... "I admire the Good Samaritan, but I don’t want to be one. I don’t want to spend my life picking up people by the side of the road after they have been beaten up and robbed. I want to change the Jericho road, so that everybody has an opportunity for a job, education, security, health."*

--A Reflection By Andrew "Andy" Young, Politician, Former Ambassador To The U.N., Human Rights Activist, Minister and Businessman

Be Open-Minded and Seize Opportunities...Rachael Ray

"You have to be open-minded when those early opportunities present themselves; take advantage of them whether they're going to make you a lot of money or not."

--Rachel Ray, Chef, Author, and Television Host

Don't Lose A Golden Opportunity To Speak Up...Ursula Burns

“If you’re sitting around the table but you say nothing, that’s a lost opportunity.”

--Ursula Burns, CEO, Xerox

Norm Betts/Bloomberg News

Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY presents Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. Today's resource is an article from The Glass Hammer on Xerox's CEO, Ursula Burns. The writer, Melissa J. Anderson, shared highlights from a recent speech given by Ms. Burns at the Catalyst Awards Luncheon in New York where she discussed her perspective on "Impatience and Leadership".

To read the story, click here. For more on Leadership Tuesdays, click here.

The Perfect Company...Mary Kay Ash

“I envisioned a company in which any woman could become as successful as she wanted to be. The doors were wide open to opportunity for women who were willing to pay the price and had the courage to dream.”

-– Mary Kay Ash