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Freestarters™

Freestarters™, Leadership,

Taking a Walk? Or Charting a Course?

John Maxwell has said, ““If you think you’re leading, but no one is following, then you are only taking a walk.”

Now look, I’m not the leadership guru John Maxwell is. But I take issue with his comment. Mostly because it is wrong often enough to make me pause and object.

Good leaders define reality, as Max De Pree famously said. But sometimes the process of defining that reality is remarkably lonely. A leader can be on a very long solo walk before anyone realizes she’s onto something. What looked to begin as a lonely ramble through the woods ends …

Family, Freestarters™, Goble Properties, Leadership, Salvaged,

Freestarter™ Awards

Over a decade ago I invented the word “freestarter” because there was no word that quite fit the kind of person I was trying to describe. Part prophet, part entrepreneur, part artist, and part leader (often without followers) it became my own concoction of traits describing a unique individual. I wrote about them in my book Salvaged and posted a list of great Freestarters™ on my blog.

Then last year our family foundation decided to honor these Freestarters™ and give them long overdue recognition. The first four were announced in December, and we hope to honor another one every three …