2014 is the year! Toastmasters International turns 90 on Oct 22. District 42 turns 60 on July 1. Both celebrations were earmarked by our special guest, Toastmasters International President Mohammed Murad. The theme was leadership.
The venue was the District 42 Fall Conference November 7, 8 and 9 in Calgary, CANADA – Pictures are courtesy of Richard Mowry
You can learn more about Mohammed Murad by reading the web edition September 2014 issue of the Toastmaster Magazine – page 22.
During this 3-day event, President Murad presented several inspiring keynotes on leadership and communications. Of leadership development, President Murad reflected on several leadership virtues based on his journey of leadership growth in Toastmasters, some comprising of simple and fundamental facets.
He began with the penultimate question everyone asks, “Is Leadership For Me ?”
He shared how his path in Toastmasters was launched by being asked a simple question; by a single person. “Have you ever attended a Toastmasters meeting?”. He encouraged us to be that single person and ask that simple question of others we meet. This is our mentorship growth in its infancy.
He talked of the many opportunities within the Toastmasters organization for everyone and how they form the springboard for advanced leadership development both inside and outside of Toastmasters.
He told us to become cognizant of opportunities when they appear as “forks in the road”, and how important split second decisions are for us in accepting challenges, taking us to new plateaus of leadership.
He spoke of how we reflect on our own past failures and ask ourselves, “Why is this happening?” Perhaps some aspects were beyond our control, but can we do something different next time to alleviate or minimize the downside ? Reflection helps us hone our leadership skills in future leadership opportunities.
He spoke of maintaining integrity, when acting on leadership decisions. He identified risk and failure being prominent, but also to not take failure as terminal, but a mere opportunity to leverage us forward.
President Murad challenged each of us to find and define our own originality of leadership; understanding our leadership and then conveying it. Typically the discussions ask if leaders or born or made. But President Murad further widened the opportunity by saying that each of us can and should develop our own genuine style of leadership.
His gracious and sharing keynote culminated with the answer “Yes, Leadership is for You !”
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