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CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE BEYOND WORDS
CHAPTER 9
Leadership Communications Lessons
Understand the power of words. Mother Teresa wrote a number of
mediations and reflections. These help readers gain a perspective
on life and the world. 137
Take a stand. Mother Teresa vowed to work among the “poorest of the
poor” and did so, overcoming many obstacles in her journey.
Enlist the support of others. Mother Teresa was forever inviting peo-
ple who came to visit to help her cause. Some stayed and worked
as she did; others provided support in other ways.
Use the media. At first Mother Teresa sought no publicity, but soon
she realized that if she were to achieve her aims, people through-
out the world would have to hear her message.
Live your message. Mother Teresa is the embodiment of living the
message. The sanctity of her life resulted from her commitment
to others and her selfless desire to help the least fortunate.

GEORGE C. MARSHALL—THE GREAT MOBILIZER
“I feel I could not sleep at night with you out of the country,” said Franklin
Roosevelt. And with those words General George C. Marshall’s lifelong ambi-
tion of commanding troops in battle was denied. Dwight Eisenhower, an offi-
cer he had developed and promoted, would get the supreme command in
Europe. Roosevelt had given the choice to General Marshall himself, but, ever
the soldier, Marshall had declined. The decision belonged to the commander
in chief. This selfless gesture assured the president that the best man for over-
18
all command would remain in Washington. As a result, Eisenhower would
become the more famous of the two; after all, as Roosevelt himself once said,
“Ike, you and I know who was the Chief of Staff during the last years of the
Civil War but practically no one else knows. . . . I hate to think fifty years from
now practically no one will know who George Marshall was.” 19
As Roosevelt conjectured, the contribution of General Marshall has faded
from memory. True, World War II was won by the blood, sweat, and sacrifice
of millions of citizen soldiers who were fighting for the freedom of others
against the evils of totalitarianism. Yet although Marshall did not fight in the
trenches, his story is equally heroic, for it was through his efforts and will that
America and its soldiers received the men, material, and leadership they
needed in order to wage war. While Marshall himself never took fire in this
war, he sacrificed his lifelong ambition to lead troops so that he could better