The greatest test of effective leadership, is what happens when the leader is gone.

Giving. This topic stirs a variety of emotions. For some, it creates great joy – even happiness – knowing the benefits it can provide for others. For others, it causes frustration; having limited financial resources, some people feel they can barely meet their own needs, let alone give to help others.

Many people in the business and professional world work extremely long hours, sometimes seven days a week, ignoring their need for personal refreshment. They ignore this paradox of being able to accomplish more if we work less, setting aside time for much-needed rest.

There is so much discussion these days about who we are, and why we do what we do. Some factors we cannot control, determined even before we are born.

The reality is, sooner or later, because of one thing or another, we all are going to die. The human mortality rate is 100 percent. Even if you are a young adult just starting in business or your professional career, this is a reality you will face one day.

From a frontline medical perspective, I along with my wife and daughter, saw the pandemic at its very worst. Many people did not take care of themselves. Others chose to ignore well-considered care measures. This behavior was disappointing, making our job to treat the sick even more difficult.

Engaging in work, parenting, personal hobbies or some other activity, there are two extremes for how we do what we do. We can adopt the “good enough is…good enough” mindset, trying to get by with a relative minimum of effort. Or we can choose a very different approach, that of perfectionism, a fixation on attempting to do things exactly right.

Temporary rewards with permanent consequences. Fraud always focuses on short-term objectives, ignoring the long-term ruin such dishonesty can cause – to one’s job, a career, a reputation, a life.

Gathered together were admirals, generals, captains, colonels, corporate CEOs, medical doctors, professors. Influential men of various ranks and professions. None of their successes and failures were apparent, however, for without their uniforms they all looked the same. The gathering was a trip down memory lane, our U. S. Naval Academy class of 1961’s 55-year reunion, in 2016. As I looked around the room and recaptured memories of all those young warriors, filled with incredible hopes and dreams and aspirations, all I could think of was, “Where have they gone?”

The adage from years ago informed us the only things certain in life are death and taxes. Those two remain constant, at least in most countries, but there is at least one other certainty we all must confront: Change. Just as surely as the sun will rise in the east every morning, each new day will bring with it changes of some kind, whether we like it or not.