Bulkheads, Signs, and Mr. Rogers

About 15 years or so ago, we went through a house remodel/renovation. We had a few walls removed, converted our covered porch into a dining room, and redid the kitchen. No regrets - we love the space even now, all these years later - but it was dicey there for a while. Anyone who has been through a major renovation knows what I'm talking about.

As a result of the kitchen renovation, we ended up with a bulkhead above our new island. The inimitable Mrs. K, who is in charge of anything (like decorating) involving good taste, decided we needed a sign to spruce up this empty space. The kitchen is the heart of the home, so we wanted to find something that captured the essence of our family. This proved no easy task. We looked at countless signs in boutique shops everywhere we went: Stone Harbor, Ocean City, Annapolis, downtown, even in other states when we visited relatives or friends. No dice. Everything was either too corny or too cliche.

"Live, Laugh, Love"

"Our family is like trail mix - a little salty, a little sweet, and lots of nuts!"

"Bless Our Home"

Apologies if you have one of the above signs hanging in your house - just not what we were looking for. I finally decided to have one custom made to give Steph as a Christmas present. Of course, that didn't solve the dilemma of what the sign should say. I eventually landed on three words that, if they didn't exactly capture our family's essence, at least captured our aspirations: 

The trailer for the Tom Hanks Mr. Rogers movie dropped a while ago to great fanfare. I'm sure I'll go see the movie when it comes out, though I doubt the Hanks version will be as good as the documentary, and the documentary wasn't as good as the book. Read the book. Always. 

The remarkable thing about Mr. Rogers is he had no onscreen persona - what you saw on screen was just who Fred Rogers was as a human being. He once said, "There are three ways to achieve ultimate success in life. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." Fred was my kind of guy. Or maybe I should say, the kind of guy I wish to be.

I could easily replace my "Love-Serve-Encourage" sign with one that reads, "Be Kind." After all, loving, serving, and encouraging others is just giving kindness feet. I mention all this because I'm forever saying leadership is really only about two things - character and competence. This is the character piece of that equation. To be a leader is to be responsible for loving, encouraging, and serving others. If you aren't doing that, then you aren't leading, no matter your title. It seems to me this old world needs a few more neighbors like Fred Rogers. Be kind. Be kind. And, for good measure: be kind.