Page 16 - How We Lead Matters
P. 16

Introduction


                            I wandered lonely as a cloud
                       That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
                          When all at once I saw a crowd,
                            A host, of golden daffodils;
                         Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
                      Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. . . .


                          For oft, when on my couch I lie
                           In vacant or in pensive mood,
                          They flash upon that inward eye
                           Which is the bliss of solitude;
                       And then my heart with pleasure fills,
                           And dances with the daffodils.



                              W ILLIAM W OR D S W ORT H
                                 (B RITISH POET)
                     FR O M “I WANDERED L ONELY AS A C LOUD ”
                                      6


        On a recent visit to Minnesota from his home in California, my 13-year-old
        grandson, Jamie, startled me. “Were you alive during segregation?” he asked.
             In that moment, I realized that although we had shared meaningful
        moments since his birth—from baptism to homework, family vacations, soc-
        cer and hockey, not to mention virtually every holiday—he didn’t know me.
             In speeches I have delivered all over the world as a global CEO, I have
        told stories of formative moments in my life and career. I have revealed
        humorous anecdotes in which the joke’s on me. I’ve shared treasured memo-



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