Several years ago I was asked (read honored) to give a keynote address to a group of students who were committed to developing as leaders at various two year colleges throughout Wisconsin. For that speech I wanted to come up with a concise and simple way to describe the power of leadership, and the concept that came to me was the noun. A noun as we all learned early on in our educational career is a person, place, thing or idea (ideas were added after my first experience with nouns). To me the noun is a perfect metaphor for leadership because leadership is about people, places, things, and ideas that can challenge us, make us think, smile, and all around make us better people.
I cannot help but wonder now looking back how appropriate an example nouns to graduate school as well. There are so many people that I am greatly indebted to, places that inspire and motive me, things that I have been afforded to do, and ideas that keep me up at night with excitement. Too often I forget about these things because graduate school gets the best of me. I am too caught up in what is happening now, and what needs to happen later to really appreciate how great and inspiring graduate school really is. I hope this thought does not leave me so easily this time around. I could use the inspiration sometimes, and I need to remember that it is all around just like nouns are all around us, in our speech, in our writing, and in everything we read. Nouns too are in all around us in the people, places, things, and ideas that inspire us and remind us what is great about life (and even graduate school). I am glad to be reconnected with my nouns, I hope you I hope you find a few nouns around too.
Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.
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