Of no control of my own, I was a 1976 Grady baby and didn’t have the privilege to hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak. The great things that I learned about Dr. King came from stories passed down, audio and visual aids.
What I notice about Dr. King that made him such a profound leader is that he literally did more walking than he did talking. He was a verb and not a noun. He spoke to crowd from the pulpit and delivered his vision but early the next morning, you could find him leading that crowd down a road or change. Change that made this country a stronger one.
Dr. King was a visionary as well as a leader. You can have the vision but you have to walk the walk. Today’s definition of a leader is totally different than the past. I hear a lot of good visions but there is no follow up. No deliverables. So many chiefs, but no real leaders. No action.
The Civil Rights Movement was lead by Atlanta’s own Dr. Martin Luther King. He was a doer and not just a visionary. He had one mouth but his words were carried out with two hands and two feet.
L.E.A.D. vows to do more walking than talking. We invite you go for a walk with us and talk about the future of Atlanta.
The end of this journey is a cycle of educated and civic-minded workforce coming out of Atlanta into the world with a heart of service.
I ask you to walk alongside me in making education relevant by introducing career opportunities. Exposure to a world beyond the one that they currently live in is priceless. We like to talk about careers and not just jobs. What is your occupation?
I ask you to walk alongside me to show the Leaders that we serve how to be a productive citizen. We tell them that citizenship is more than waking up every day and living in the community. Your community advances by you making it better. At times, this is a difficult because when they open their eyes, they are back in the same harsh reality. We need to expose them to the best communities, people and families that this city has to offer. Are you the doors for our Leaders?
I ask you to walk alongside of me as we show our Leaders that service can begin at any age and you don’t have to be rich to make a difference. You can’t promote leadership without service. Our Leaders serve the city of Atlanta at least once a month. We could always use some extra hands.
I wish that we could travel this journey with love alone but it is going to take financial resources because eventually our shoes are going to wear out. We are going to get hungry. We have to rest in a safe place. What are you able and willing to invest in your city?
