Thanks for coming back to visit me today. I care about what you think so please leave your comments and opinions. _____________________________________________________________________

It has been fun to see the first black person be elected President of the United States. On many levels, Obama’s skin color has no relevance on whether or not he will make a good President, however, there is one level that I think it matters profoundly. The election of a black President will heal deep wounds in the US, and I am sure that has already started.

Black people who still live with the raw and exposed wounds of injustice can now look to the President of the United States and see skin color is not a limitation. Obama is there because he has inspired his nation. He is inspirational because he is intelligent, he is a gifted communicator, he has earned the trust and the vote to lead. He was not voted in because he is black. He was voted in because people have the faith that he is the right person for the job.

The ripple effect of this within the nation will be profound and everlasting for any member of a minority who holds the limiting belief that they cannot not succeed because of the color of their skin. That limiting attitude cannot survive now, thank goodness! I am excited to observe the human potential of American citizens flourish in the absence of “I can’t because I am black”. I wait for the day when the attitude is ” I can because I am me and I will make it happen”.

There is another level of healing that will start to take place and that is the healing among white people. Yes, whites. White people are ashamed of the racists among us. White people feel humiliated that they blend in with us and can hide among us, tarnishing us with their poison of ignorance, fear and hatred.

Now that America has elected a black person to serve as President, I hope that forgiveness will begin to emerge and those who believe that all whites, or most whites, or even many ,  are racists who should be eternally condemned for the crimes of those who came before us, will see thawhitest this is just not true.

Does Obama have a magic wand or secret insight to repair the political, economic and social crisis in the US? No more so than any other politician on the planet. He and his team will work hard, do their best, make mistakes and move forward just as Presidents before him and Presidents to come. What makes him a ‘unique first’ is the impact his presence will have on those who had no faith in themselves or humanity because of their skin color.

I dont normally wade into the topic of race issues because I believe we should all be passed that by now, however I wanted to express my thoughts on the new leadership, forgiveness and healing era that we have just entered . Let this is the new focus for humanity.

Yesterday, I had a very interesting conversation with a small business owner. She had called me to see if I could help her build her business so we discussed some of the issues of what she thought was holding her back. In her opinion it was because she runs a service based business that relies on staff but yet, the turnover was high. When I asked why the turnover was high the response was that people don’t want to work, don’t want to take direction and just want to get paid good money.

This is not the first time I have heard small business owners complain that there is a shortage of good workers who deserve the money they get paid.  I have to challenge that belief. I believe that most people want to work, they want a reliable job that they can stick with and make a valuable contribuiton to, they are happy to work hard and even happier to be challenged to improve and learn new things. When I hear that a business can’t keep staff my curiosity develops around the business owners’ leadership style. Business owners can attract and retain the top talent when they create a positive environment and show strong leadership. People need to be paid a fair wage for their work but will not jump ship for more money if their current working conditions are fulfilling. People want to feel connected to their employer, connected to the work that they do and connected to their colleagues and clients. My question to you as a business leader is, how are you going to make that happen?

What is the difference between authority and personal power? This is a question that I ask business leaders all of the time and the discussions are interesting. Here is my input on that question. Authority is the right that your title gives you to pull rank and make people do things because you are the boss. Personal power is your ability to use your leadership skills to motivate and inspire people to dedicate their efforts to achieving mutual goals. If you are using authority to get people to get things done, then I am sorry to be the one to tell you that your method is outdated and you will not succeed as a manager of people. Use of authority should be an absolute last resort. If you use your personal power, then good for you, good for your  people and good for your business. Leaders like you are going to bring our economy through this recession and we will thrive once again. Thank you.