Continuing the series of a leadership speech I gave in Oklahoma City.

Leadership Traits …

#1. Leaders are not afraid to stand up and say “I’ll do it”.

When I was younger, I was taught somehow somewhere – I don’t remember exactly where – that volunteering to help and raising my hand was a bad thing. You didn’t want to get called on by the teacher. And when the teacher or somebody else called on people to help with something you should slink and hide out of the way and hope the teacher didn’t see you.

Do any of you do that?

I know I did. But as I started getting older, I learned something that I am going to share with you right now. I learned that raising my hand and volunteering to help was the coolest thing around. It was not to be feared. It was something to look forward to. Why? Because when people see that you are willing to volunteer to help them or your class, they remember that. They remember that that person is not afraid of a challenge. They are not afraid to do something hard.

And as you get on in life you are going to learn that people LOVE people that volunteer. Because people that volunteer to help other are showing one of the traits of a great leader. They are not afraid to stand up and say, “I’ll do it”.