Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 596 - "If you have to tell people how hard you work, you’re probably not working hard." (Margaret Thatcher)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 12	Issue 596
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"IF YOU HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE HOW HARD YOU WORK, YOU’RE PROBABLY NOT WORKING HARD." (MARGARET THATCHER) John Wooden Video Clip (1 min. 34 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "Whose coaching styles are different than yours but still successful?" Margaret Thatcher was a British politician and stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. She was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. Thatcher grew up a middle-class grocer’s daughter in Grantham, England. She said: "I started out in life with two great advantages: No money and good parents." After college, she went to work for a plastics company. In 1950, the twenty-five-year-old chemist ran for a parliamentary seat. Margaret proceeded to lose three consecutive elections; she was undeterred. As she raised her young children, Thatcher earned a law degree. In 1959 she overcame voter reluctance to elect a woman and finally won her seat in Parliament. After working her way up, the ladder, in1975 Margaret Thatcher was elected the first female leader in the Conservative Party’s 141-year history. Thatcher became prime minister on May 4, 1979. As a politician, she was loved and despised but always known for hard work and integrity. She did not bluster about herself. She said: "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t." Margaret Thatcher’s ideas are still relevant today: "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. Never worry about anyone who attacks you personally; it means their arguments carry no weight and they know it. It pays to know the enemy — not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend. The spirit of envy can destroy; it can never build. You don’t win by just being against things, you only win by being for things and making your message perfectly clear." What are you for? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 596. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 596. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE Too Big A Price They say my boy is bad,' she said to me, A tired old woman, thin and very frail. 'They caught him robbing railroad cars, an' he Must spend from five to seven years in jail. His Pa an' I had hoped so much for him. He was so pretty as a little boy- ' Her eyes with tears grew very wet an' dim- 'Now nothing that we've got can give us joy!' 'What is it that you own?' I questioned then. 'The house we live in,' slowly she replied, 'Two other houses worked an' slaved for, when The boy was but a youngster at my side, Some bonds we took the time he went to war; I've spent my strength against the want of age- We've always had some end to struggle for. Now shame an' ruin smear the final page. 'His Pa has been a steady-goin' man, Worked day an' night an' overtime as well; He's lived an' dreamed an' sweated to his plan To own the house an' profit should we sell; He never drank nor played much cards at night, He's been a worker since our wedding day, He's lived his life to what he knows is right, An' why should son of his now go astray? 'I've rubbed my years away on scrubbing boards, Washed floors for women that owned less than we, An' while they played the ladies an' the lords, We smiled an' dreamed of happiness to be.' 'And all this time where was the boy?' said I. 'Out somewhere playin'!'- Like a rifle shot The thought went home- 'My God!' she gave a cry, 'We paid too big a price for what we got.' Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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