Jim Henson

"My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here."

— Jim Henson

American Puppeteer

1936 - 1990

Everyone should desire to leave the world better than they found it.  For me that is why we are here.  We are here to help others in their time of need.  How are you leaving the world better than you found it?  Did you plant a tree?  Give someone a ride?  Write a story that made someone cry?  Paint a picture that touched someone's heart?  We will all reach the end of the road some day.  What is your legacy?  How will you leave the world a better place?  What gifts have you given back?  Did you make someone smile today?  Did you give someone a hug?  Did you listen to someone who needed to get something off her chest?  Did you say thank you to your parents, your mentors and your friends?

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Harley King

"Service to others in their time of need is a privilege and an honor."

— Harley King

American Speaker and Poet

1949 -

As creative leaders, we inspire, encourage and give people hope with our paintings, sculptures, poetry, stories and music.  Our creative works touch the hearts and souls of millions of people with passion and power.  Reading novels have helped people through difficult times in their lives.  Listening to music has brought encouragement to unhappy souls.  It is a privilege to help others in their time of need.  

Have you been inspired by a poem or a novel you have read?  Have you found peace and comfort in a song?  Has a painting opened up new worlds for you to experience?  Just as we as creative leaders have been inspired by other artists and writers so our audiences are inspired by us.  Yes, we often feel we are creating for ourselves, but in the end our legacy is to be found in the people to whom we have given hope to through our creative expression.

Here is a short video of a speech I gave in May at an awards banquet to over 1000 health care professionals about the privilege of service to others in their time of need.

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Theodore Hesburgh

"The  very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision.  You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."

— Theodore Hesburgh

American Catholic Priest, University President

1917 - 

As a creative leader do you have a vision of what you want to achieve?  Some of you may be saying to yourself that you are not leaders.  You don't manage anyone.  You work by yourself in a studio or an office.  You wield a paint brush or a pen.  As artists and writers we are creative leaders.  Our ideas and thoughts open up new worlds for others.  Our creative ideas bring about change in the world.  So you need a vision.  You need to know where you are going and what it is that you are going to accomplish.

My vision for my life is very simple:  I choose to plant seeds of hope in the hearts of others.  I believe that in every aspect of our lives we have choices to make.  We choose our attitude even if we don't choose what happens to us.  I also believe that I cannot change someone else.  Whether they change or not is their choice.  All I can do is plant seeds of hope.  Some seeds find fertile soil and take root.  Other seeds land on hearts of stone and fail to grow.  Some may be inspired for a day, others for a month and some for a lifetime.  I simply am planting seeds.  

What is your vision for your life?  What is the legacy that you are going to leave behind?  How will you be remembered?  What lives will you touch?  What hearts will you heal?  What gifts will you give?

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Gordon B. Hinckley

"Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great purpose in heart."

— Gordon B. Hinckley

American Author, Religious Leader

1910 - 2008

Do you know what your purpose is?  Why you are alive on this planet in the 21st century?  We all have a reason for being.  Some people take a lifetime to figure out their purpose in life.  Others know and understand what their purpose is at a very young age.  Purpose is what gives our lives meaning.  Purpose requires that we do some soul searching to help us understand why we live the life we have chosen.

I believe that everything in life is a choice.  We choose how we want to live.  Sometimes by not making a choice we have chosen.  If you don't like something in your life, then choose something different.  We have no choice over what happens to us.  Our key choice is how we respond to what happens to us.  Do you have a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face?  Or are you grouchy and grumpy?  Do you respond to the hand that life has dealt you by moaning, groaning and griping?  Or do you pick yourself up and stay focused on your purpose — the great reason you are here?

On the days when you are discouraged, refocus on your purpose.  Remind yourself of where you want to go — of the legacy you want to leave behind.  

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Eleanor Roosevelt

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art."

— Eleanor Roosevelt

American Speaker, Author, Political Activist

1884 - 1962

In one sense, we all are artists.  We create the lives we lead.  While we may not have any control over what happens to us, we do have control how we respond to what happens to us.  And how we respond creates the person we become.  When you reach the end of the road one day and you look back at your life, what is the legacy you have left behind.  What kind of person have you become?  Will you be a grouchy, grumpy old drunk or a kind, caring matriarch?  Will you dance with laughter or worry and fret over the fact that your husband never puts down the toilet seat?  We all make choices in life and those choices create the lives we lead.  

Our lives are a work of art.  What color are your memories?  How many wrinkles line your dreams?  Do your hopes have arthritis?  What are you doing today that will create your legacy tomorrow?  What decisions are you making today that will form the core of your character tomorrow?  Life is about growth and change.  What lessons are you learning that will change your life?  Your life is a canvas.  Pick up your paint brush and start painting.  Live the life today that you will be proud of when you are 103.

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Leonard Baskin

"Art is man's distinctly human way of fighting death."

— Leonard Baskin

American Artist

1922 - 2000

Isaac
(1973)

Some of us have a desire to live forever and look for secrets to preserve our youth.  Others consider and even attempt suicide.  Some people run from death hoping to escape the long reach of its arms.  Others look death in the face and challenge it.  None of us will escape.

Creating works of art offer us a way to extend our lives beyond our deaths — to keep our legacy alive.  When others read our novels, listen to our songs, or view our paintings, we are given a second chance at life — a second chance to touch the lives of others with the truth as we know it.

Create as if you were dying today.  Paint from your heart.  Write from the depths of your soul. Sing with all the joy you can muster.  None of us know when our time is up — when the light of our life is extinguished so live each moment to the fullest.  Enjoy the gifts you have been given.  Love those who love you.

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Maurice Chevalier

"A man must have his dreams — memory dreams of the past and eager dreams of the future.  I never want to stop reaching for new goals."

— Maurice Auguste Chevalier

French Actor, Singer

1888 - 1972

What does your future hold for you?  Have you ever wished you knew the answer to that question?  How would change your life if you could predict the future?  Do you read your horoscope regularly?  Do you wish you had a crystal ball into which you could gaze?

I do believe that we often know what is going to happen to us before it actually happens.  Years ago I kept a dream journal where I recorded a dream of marrying my wife a month before I met her.  I am convinced that some of our nighttime dreams can predict the future.  Learn to listen to your subconscious.

But I am also convinced that we can predict our future by setting goals.  Goals give a focus and a direction to our lives.  Our lives are like a journey.  If we have a road map, we are more likely to reach our destination, to achieve our dreams.  Goals serve as the road map.  But like any trip, there can be detours, flat tires and accidents.  The road map is not the journey, only a guide.  And sometimes it is the side trips that are more interesting than the interstate.  And the people we meet along the way will touch our lives and teach us much.

So what is the road map for your life?  Where are you headed?  Are you on a side road or the main highway?  Are you hitchhiking through life or are you driving a Corvette?  Who is sitting in the seat next to you?  Who is in the backseat?  When you reach the end of the road one day (and we all will reach the end of the road), what is the legacy you will leave behind?  Will you have achieved your goals?  Will you have produced the art you dreamed of creating?  How will you remember your life?

Here is a video of Maurice Chevalier with Hermione Gingold singing, "I Remember It Well."  Enjoy.

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Ivan Albright

Self-Portrait
Ivan Albright
(1981)

"A painting is life and a painting is death . . . the picture is our own legacy left by tomorrow's dead for tomorrow's living."

— Ivan Albright

American Artist

1897 - 1983

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Ivan Albright
(1943)

What will your legacy be?  What is your reason for being?  Why are you here?  We will all reach the end of the road one day.  What will you be remembered for?  As creative leaders we have an opportunity to leave the legacy of our work — our paintings, our poems, our songs and our stories.  And for some of us, we may be remembered for years and even centuries, but most of us will be forgotten except by those who loved us.  And for me, the most important legacy is the lives we have touched, the people we have met and the people we have loved.  Don't get me wrong.  Our creative work is very important, but the people in our lives are even more important.  Unfortunately, some of us sacrifice one for the other.  We need to learn balance.  To give to each what is needed.  What will your legacy be?

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