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Issue 598 - "Encourage initiative not dependency." (Margaret Thatcher)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 12	Issue 598
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"ENCOURAGE INITIATIVE NOT DEPENDENCY." (MARGARET THATCHER) John Wooden Video Clip (1 min. 42 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "What was it like to coach Bill Walton?" The last 20 seconds is a great lesson from Coach on having strong beliefs but being open minded. Coach Wooden’s wisdom is timeless and important! 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 Mnister and the longest-serving British Prime Mnister of the 20th century. Margaret Thatcher, Abraham Lincoln and John Wooden believed as a leader (or parent) you should encourage initiative in others,not create dependency. In a 1987 interview published in Woman's Own magazine, Thatcher made this idea clear when she defined her political philosophy: "I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand "I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!" or "I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!", "I am homeless, the Government must house me!" and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families, and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbor. Life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations." Abraham Lincoln wrote: "You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of Man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a person’s initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves." John Wooden often used the Abraham Lincoln quote: "The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do for themselves." Do you encourage initiative or create dependency? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 598. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 598. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Truth About Envy I like to see the flowers grow, To see the pansies in a row; I think a well-kept garden's fine, And wish that such a one were mine; But one can't have a stock of flowers Unless he digs and digs for hours. My ground is always bleak and bare; The roses do not flourish there. And where I once sowed poppy seeds Is now a tangled mass of weeds.' I'm fond of flowers, but admit, For digging I don't care a bit. I envy men whose yards are gay, But never work as hard as they; I also envy men who own More wealth than I have ever known. I'm like a lot of men who yearn For joys that they refuse to earn. You cannot have the joys of work And take the comfort of a shirk. I find the man I envy most Is he who's longest at his post. I could have gold and roses, too, If I would work like those who do. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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