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The Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership : Rules for business leaders to follow

By Kevin O’Keefe
September 18, 2009

I‘ve gotten into more trouble over the years by being open and frank with people than as a result of anything else I’ve done or failed to do.

The only thing close that’s caused me a problem is not being as smart as other folks. I miss things other see. I miss a point that’s being made by someone.

In each case, people conclude I don’t like them, I have some ulterior motive, or I’m trying to hurt them. Fact is I’m just trying to call a spade a spade (at least as I see it that day) or to try and help them.

Each time, I run into a ‘situation’ I think may have been caused by my candor or stupidity, I take look at what I know to be the ‘Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership.’ At least that’s what Notre Dame Football Coach, Lou Holtz, called them in addressing a small group of Notre Dame alumni leaders who gathered in South Bend on a Saturday morning 15 or 20 years ago.

But like a lot of things with Lou (and he’d be the first to admit it), Lou doesn’t have a lot of original thoughts. Turns out the ‘Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership’ were created by Dr. Kent M. Keith as The Paradoxical Commandments. Keith wrote them as a poem for student leaders in 1968 while an undergraduate.

The commandments have since spread round the world from a Notre Dame Football Coach to the wall of Mother Theresa’s children’s home in Calcutta, India. I used them in my closing comments to juries challenging them to be a leader and do the right thing.

So when you’re feeling like it’s a dog-eat-dog world and you’re wearing dog-bone underpants or you’ve given someone the best you have by being candid and trying to help and they’re kicking you in the teeth in response, give the commandments a read. They’ve served me well.

The Paradoxical Commandments

  1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
  • Love them anyway
  • If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
    • Do good anyway
  • If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
    • Succeed anyway
  • The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
    • Do good anyway
  • Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
    • Be honest and frank anyway
  • The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
    • Think big anyway
  • People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
    • Fight for a few underdogs anyway
  • What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
    • Build anyway
  • People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
    • Help people anyway
  • Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
    • Give the world the best you have anyway

    And lest there be any doubt that lawyers contribute some good stuff to the world, Dr. Keith is a JD and has served as an Attorney.

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