Masonry Magazine January 2014 Page. 46
FULL CONTACT PROJECT MANAGEMENT
By "Coach" Gary Micheloni
Mandela-Style Leadership:
A Model for Contractors
"Tiiere is 110 passion to be found playing small -in settling for a life that is less than tlze one
you are capable ofliving."
My plan all along was to use the Jan�uary column as a look into 2014. After all, it is that time of year, and people tra�ditionally put the current year onto some kind of a back-burner or an old file cab�inet to think about the New Year. But crashing into my thought processes as I began writing this column was the death of Nelson Mandela.
Truth be told, I am not at all a fan of his early politics, but I can't help but be a huge adm irer of him, partic�ularly in his later life. It is an amazing thing that a conservative such as I would find value in some of the philosophies held by this icon of "humanitarian nobility."
And yet, the quotations and thoughts from Mandela fit nicely into laying out our plans fo r the coming year. More important, these thoughts and philosophies remained a part of Nelson Mandela once he was released from prison, after 27 years. He never once sought vengeance. In fact, at his presidential in augurat ion, among his invited guests were his jailers from Robbens Prison.
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of liis skin, or his background, or his religion. People 11111st learn to lwte, and iftliey rnn learn to Irate, tl,ey can be taughr lo love, for lol'e comes more 11at11mlly to the human /Jear1 than its opposite."
-Nelson Mandela
-Nelson Mandela
I've been a long-time
writer for Masonry Maga�
zine, but my messages of the
last fc,..., years have all been
about the idea ofhanging in
there, persevering through
lhis economy, etc.
People disagree on
exactly when the construc�
tion industry went into its
current death spira1 -prob�
ably somewhere near late�
2007. Regardless, I have
long been hopeful of a
turnaround in the fortunes
of everyone. That hasn't
happened yet. We could
complain that the last six or
seven years might not have
been good, but it hasn't Nelson Mandela wax figure at Madamme Toussaud's museum In been 27 years, has it? London, UK. Talking the other day ------------�
with a fr iend of mine named Richard, he told me that the company he founded had suffered a hostile takeover. He was out, and that now he is doing something entirely different at age 75. He's excited about it and the prospects it has. What I love about Richard is that he got up. By getting up, it reminds me that it is possible fo r me and others to get up. Richard's reaction and attitude would have made Mandela proud.
"Do 1101 judge me by my successes,
judge me by liow many rimes J fell
down a11dgo1 back upagni11."
-Nelson Mandela
Sure, it's still scary out there. Maybe you feel more like the bull's eye on a ta rget than a mason contractor. The great thing is that we're not in this alone. We have the MCAA, which embraces the goals of free-market cap�italism, along with the integrity, resolve and the stick-to-it attitude nec�essary to win as entrepreneurs provid�ing a much-needed service. A key to winning in 2014 is having the resolve to help yourself, plus networking with
44 MASONRY � January 2014 � www.masoncontractors.org The Voice of the Masonry Industry