A guest blog entry by  Major General Randal D. Fullhart from his blog, Leader Now

Director, Global Reach Programs, United States Air Force

My wife and I are just back from the second annual Frances Hesselbein Global Leadership Summit, held at the University of Pittsburgh. Once again, four magical days with an amazing group of Leader-Students from all over the world. This year’s class included students from Dubai, Morocco, India, Philippines, Ireland, Canada, Kosovo, Mexico, Pakistan, Netherlands, and Argentina.

Selected from hundreds of applications these Leader-Students, in addition to going to college, are leaders in student governments, running their own non-profit organizations, volunteering, raising funds for causes…you know…just the typical kinds of things that college students generally do.

Just like last year, it was a magical four days.  One can’t come away without feeling great promise for the future, and energized about what committed, talented, open, caring, compassionate people can accomplish.  The other Mentors and I came away knowing we gain as much if not more than we gave.  Of course, leading from the front, was Frances Hesselbein who, as she always does, ends up adopting everyone into her family and inspiring all with her simple, but profound wisdom.  We were also thrilled when renowned author and executive coach, Marshall Goldsmith gave us his time to serve as the graduation speaker.

The students (and mentors) are already connecting up in the Facebook universe so that we can keep the connections going, just as we are trying to do with the inaugural class…in fact, a few members from the first class came back to join in the festivities and to sit in on a few of the seminars. It was great to see them again!

Like last year, our various teams fanned out across the city to engage with various organizations to bring to bear the skills developed in the early days of the Summit. My (fabulous!) team spent the day with UCP/CLASS (United Cerebral Palsy of Pittsburgh). That visit will be the subject on a future blog entry…but suffice it to say…it was a win-win with our team learning so much from these amazing, caring people, and they getting some great ideas and concepts from our Leader-Students.

We all left re-committed to the importance of life-long learning…raising up leaders…with Frances’ admonition ringing softly in our ears, “To Serve Is To Live.”

An Excerpt from Marshall Goldsmith's blog:

"It's the avenue, I'm taking you to, 42nd Street!" The singers sing, the dancer's dance and the actors act. On Broadway there is always something wonderful on stage. In many ways, Broadway is the definition of "performance."

I am inspired by great theater. Every night, great performers pour their hearts into each production. Some have headaches, some have family problems, but it doesn't really matter. When it's show time, they give it all they have. Although it might be the thousandth time an actor has performed the part, it might be the first time the customer sitting in the fourth row has seen the production. To the true performer, every night is opening night.

Like great actors, inspirational leaders sometimes need to be consummate performers. When they need to motivate and inspire people, they do it. It doesn't matter if they have a headache. They do whatever it takes to help their organization succeed. When they need to be "on," like the Broadway stars, it's show time.

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