The guy who knew the guy - Jim Lyons

Last week I had a rare opportunity to hear from a very interesting leader. His name is Jim Lyons (wiki) and up until a few weeks ago, he would have been just another name to me but as it turns out he has had quite the impact on the world we live in (especially if you live in Ireland).

Jim Lyons

Jim worked in the Clinton administration and was responsible for a lot of the groundwork for the peace talks between Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. While his credentials are quite impressive what was neat to me was that outside of the military he was one of the few leaders I have ever met that lead and acted for the greater good. Sure he had his own pride at stake but his lasting legacy isn't the iPhone or the next best product, it's peace. Think about that for a minute, what's your lasting legacy? What are you working towards? I can't help but think what this means to me. My wife always asks me that when I'm frustrated with my job - "What do you want in life?" to this day the best answer I have is "The pursuit of success with an ever changing definition of success."

One last thing that struck me as interesting, Jim said his biggest take away from all of his years working with leaders was that all great leaders have one thing in common - Patience.