I have to smile at this photo as I'm sure it was me as a little girl. It was certainly the mantra I heard from the grownups around me. Get up. Dress Up. Show Up. Never Give Up.
I came from a family of adults that had a strong work ethic. While blue collar workers with no more than a high school education, I learned a lot from all four of them. I was the first to receive a college degree and the only one to complete a doctorate. #EDD #Olivet
You see my family consisted of not only my mom and dad, but also my great-aunt Ethel and my great-uncle Mike. While most people have two parents, I had four to answer to. It was a very weird arrangement, but I lived as an only child with siblings. Think about that?! I called it a CO-OP, as I was a cooperative project between my parents and my greats, but actually we were what society would call a dysfunctional family.
I lived next door with Aunt Ethel and Uncle Mike to my parents and six siblings. I was the oldest of seven children and spent my early years as the babysitter and then protector as they got older. I've been taking charge of children as long as I can remember as we were all 12 months - 18 months apart. It was my responsibility to keep them safe, to guide them in decision making, and to make sure they stayed out of trouble. No easy task with four brothers and then two sisters. The girls were easy as they took personal responsibility for their actions. Boys....welll...they were boys! #chickenthiefs #whatsacurfew
I was taught responsibility at a young age and from this it helped develop me into a natural born leader. Considered a soft leadership skill, personal responsibility is a skill that most people don't put on their resumes, but it is crucial in the workplace. In other words, it means taking responsibility for one's actions, words, and performance at work. Responsible employees understand that they are in full control of themselves.
Winston Churchill stated, "The price of greatness is responsibility."
Responsibility.com is a website dedicated to being a responsible leader and the impact it makes on businesses, organizations, clients, stakeholders, and yourself as it pertains to leadership development. Have you ever considered a soft leadership skill to be responsibility or did you just assume it's something we all have an innate propensity to?
As in every soft leadership skill, responsibility is a learned skill because it is a taught skill. What do you believe in? A natural born or nurtured leader? Are skills predestined or learned? Either way you believe, we know we are either meant to lead or to follow which takes a skill that equips us for being responsible adults.
What She Said,
Beverly
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