Rev.Martin Luther King’s Blueprint for Action
What’s Your True Meeting Blueprint?
I got inspired to write this article, today, on January 21, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The speech that caught my attention was “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” given six months before he was assassinated. King spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967.
You can read the entire speech, called, “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” in the Seattle Times. Here’s the link
As I read these words…I am touched by Dr. King’s clear instructions. So lofty and so down to earth. These are exactly the qualities we all need for a blueprint of our lives, of our communication, and of our meetings.
Many times I read over his words such as these:
“I want to ask you a question, and that is: What is your life’s blueprint?
Whenever a building is constructed, you usually have an architect who draws a blueprint, and that blueprint serves as the pattern, as the guide, and a building is not well erected without a good, solid blueprint.
Now each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives, and the question is whether you have a proper, a solid and a sound blueprint.”
Think about that. While Dr. King was talking to students about making a blueprint for their lives, the question holds true for each one of us. Do you have a solid blueprint to guide your well-constructed communication?
Dr. King was speaking to students at a junior high. I am speaking to you today as the presence of his vision comes to mind. It’s been 40 years since he was assassinated.
And his words are as potent today. Examine your own blueprint for ideas, thoughts and action. In every communication. In every meeting.
And I don’t just mean the big meetings–the ones that show up in boardrooms or on televised broadcasts. Meetings of all sizes–from one on one conversation to talking with your husband or wife. Make your next meeting count…all the way down to the details.
From the smallest comment–in the hallway, in an email, or on the phone. Care for the person you are speaking to. Take a moment and reflect. Is this comment helping or hindering? Is this comment for them or for me? Is this comment something they can take action on?
Dr. King told the junior high students there were two things to pay attention to in their blueprint for life. I cannot begin to say it as eloquently as he does, so here are his words,
“I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life’s blueprint. Number one in your life’s blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don’t allow anybody to make you fell that you’re nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.
Secondly, in your life’s blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. You’re going to be deciding as the days, as the years unfold what you will do in life — what your life’s work will be. Set out to do it well.”
The same holds true every time you run a meeting. Just imagine if instead of tolerating ‘another boring meeting’ you turned the whole meeting standard upside down. Out of boredom. And into creativity.
Imagine if your next meeting was so full of life and creativity that people in your organization couldn’t wait to get there.
Perhaps it sounds far fetched. But I know it’s possible. I know that you can make everyone’s time count. I am certain that amazing things can happen when you act from your blueprint of excellence.
Dr. King is using the language of a blueprint. I often call it a storyboard. A storyboard for meeting flow. A storyboard for identifying intrinsic motivation and value. A storyboard for making every second of every meeting count.
It’s the same idea. Get your values in order. Know why you are doing what you’re doing. And make it clear, concise and visible–for yourself and for people around you.
Today, on this day of honoring a true inspiration, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it’s time to make a promise to yourself.
Promise that you will take the time to know your own value.
Promise that you will use a blueprint for your own communications.
Promise that you will commit to excellence.
Whether you are in a formal meeting or an informal one. Whether you are meeting for business, personal or philanthropic reasons. Whether you are in a face-to-face meeting or at a distance.
Promise to make a difference. Deliver meetings of value–where you value your own ideas. And where you create a context to invite meaningful discussion. Commit to facilitating conversations of value.
I did not have the opportunity to hear Dr. King speak in person. But I get chills every time I read his words. And I wonder what he would say if he came to the meeting you are about to have.
He urged each of us to open into greatness. From wherever you are in the room. Whether you are a participant in a meeting. Or a facilitator. I want to leave you with his words, from this inspiring speech.
I know you will take them to heart.
“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can’t be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”
Category: PRESENTATION TIPS
