Following the Golden Rule on Common Ground: Obama Addresses Notre Dame Graduating Class of 2009

When an outburst erupted from a protestor in the crowd during Barack Obama's commencement address to the Notre Dame graduating class of 2009 today, the President suggested that we not shy away from uncomfortable moments.

Despite our differences, "We must find a way to live together as one human family."

Just a few months ago, in the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election, I broke down in tears at a family dinner, overwhelmed by the role I seem destined to play opposite my mother, father and brother -- defending Barack Obama and all things liberal.

I'll fight to the death for what I believe, but when it's 3 against 1 and those three are family members I see just about every week, it's a fight not worth having at the expense of resenting and dreading the company of the people in this world I should love and respect the most.

So I stopped fighting at these family get-togethers and starting listening instead.

Turns out simply listening doesn't threaten my position. On the contrary, the more I listen to my mother, father and brother, the more they listen to me.

"When we open our hearts to those that may not think precisely like we do," Obama said in his speech today, "or believe precisely what we believe, we discover at least the possibility of common ground."

My dad and I agree that animal welfare laws needs to be tougher.

My mom and I agree that we need to fight harder for women's rights in countries beyond our borders.

My brother and I agree that abortion should always be a woman's right to choose. And contrary to his position just a few short months ago, my brother and I agree that gay marriage should be legalalized.

My family and I all agree on the right to bear arms and though we disagree on the means of getting there, my family and I agree that the health care system needs improvement, especially when it comes to doctors accepting kickbacks from drug companies in exchange for prescribing drugs that most Americans simply do not need.

And though our reactions to it come from far different perspectives, most recently we all agree that Nancy Pelosi is an embarassment to the Democratic party.

"If there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together," Obama said at Notre Dame today.

"It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. To serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth."

Whether it's the broad universal "human family" Obama referenced in his speech today, or the immediate family you call your mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin or friend, leave the battlefield behind in search of a brighter, more promising trek across common ground.

Click this link to read the President's speech to the Notre Dame graduating class of 2009 in its entirety: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaforamerica/gGxSLx

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23045224@N04/3205676821/

I Feel Like an ASU Graduate: Barack Obama was Talking to Me

I'm not a member of the ASU graduating class of 2009, but tonight President Barack Obama made me feel like I was. Not that I've been resting on my laurels, as he warned about repeatedly throughout the commencement address. On the contrary, since I graduated from ASU in 1994 (Arkansas State, that is), I've been busting my you-know-what building that body of work Obama cautions that none of us can afford to ignore.

Granted, I'm not making my living doing what I love, but I'm loving striving for the dream that will make my living in the future. So many people I know give up on that that -- their dreams I mean; that passion that Obama mentioned numerous times tonight. So many people lose that dream and, in the process, they lose themselves. Beyond that though, they lose an opportunity to contribute to the world in the way the universe intended.

Our interests, our talents are not "asides" in our lives meant to be treated as hobbies or delusions of grandeur. On the contrary, what means the most to us when we're young -- when we're most often asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?" -- the answer that comes from the deepest, most honest place inside ourselves is the reason we are are here on this earth (at least this time around).

Once you're doing what you're meant to be doing, that's when money and "success" will come.

That's not my revelation but something I read in one of Deepak Chopra's books I believe. Though tonight Barack Obama delivered a similar message that in all my 36 years I have never considered before:

"Find someone to be successful for."

Whatever your dream, whatever your talent and however long it's been since you took these gifts seriously, find someone in the world for whom your body of work can inspire theirs.

Click this link to watch and read Obama's ASU commencement address to the graduating class of 2009.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/89934978@N00/2578340406

Twitter Leadership Lesson #1: You Follow Me, I'll Follow You

“Tweeting my fingertips to the bone. Somebody stop me!”

I posted that on my Facebook page yesterday. My good friend Kel tried coming to my rescue, commenting “Please don’t do that. I would have to be the one to clean it all up.” She’s a tweeter herself @drippingincolor so she sympathizes with my addiction, but my cousin, Philip, has a completely different take on all the Twitter hysteria.

“Seeing Twitter as a verb, then seeing it conjugated makes me sad.”

To that I replied, “You're fighting a losing battle, Philip. Twitter, tweet, tweeting and tweeted are all here to stay!”

It was only about a month ago that I started tweeting at all, primarily as a means of promoting this blog. Though the traffic generated from my Twitter page has yet to impress, my number of followers @naturalbornldr certainly has. And I’m further struck by how easy it is to do.

I need only follow someone else for them to follow me.

Granted, not everyone who I follow decides to follow me, but most of the time they do. And I do the same with people who follow me. As long as every tweet isn’t a sales pitch or offensive to me or anyone else, chances are I’m going return the follow.

Then it hit me – maybe Twitter has more parallels to real life than we realize just yet, including a lesson or two in leadership.

I write screenplays and recently joined a local screenwriters group here in Phoenix. We’re fortunate enough to have a screenwriter in our midst who has sold numerous scripts over the years. He was gracious enough to read a script of mine and give me notes, which I followed pretty much to the tee. Well just yesterday he asked me to give him my perspective on a script he’s been working on.

After respecting and following his advice, he’s now interested in following mine.

When it comes to leadership, doesn’t the same scenario exist across all disciplines? If you follow the lead of your peers and colleagues – respecting their ideas and participating in their projects with enthusiasm – chances are they’re going to return the favor.

Bottom line: Follow me on Twitter, and I’ll probably follow you.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/london/75869410/