The missing words in Maya Angelou’s bio – SCN Encourager 5/29/2014

The depth of Maya Angelou’s talent and background is striking.

And when you read her media bio, you will not find words like fans, followers, and personal brand.

This is striking, too.

I’m guessing that a theoretical tabulation of all of her “likes,” though, would be off the charts.

Angelou was so much loved by so many.

Apparently, when you have real living and breathing admirers that number in the millions, you don’t have to court virtual fans and followers in cyberspace.

Believe it or not, Maya Angelou’s name comes up time and time again in many of the marketing and communications podcast shows I listen to every day.

It’s common for the host on nearly every business-related show on iTunes to ask his or her expert guest to share a favorite inspirational quote.

As you can imagine, there are tons of great quotes out there to choose from; springing out of the wisdom and experience of Dale Carnegie, Eleanor Roosevelt, Seth Godin, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, just to name a few.

And after two solid years of listening, I’m always pleasantly surprised to hear this particular Angelou quote expressed about 20% of the time, far exceeding the mentions of any others.

Her words definitely serve as a fitting mantra for school leaders and communicators.

For you can’t deny the universal truth that lifts it up with wings that will never tire.

After all, Maya Angelou made this observation in a magazine interview in 2012 when she was 84.

She wasn’t trying to awe or impress anyone.

She simply reflected upon a lesson that took most of her lifetime to discover.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

What maxim could be better for us?

If we could consistently just live out Maya Angelou’s words in our schools, most of our biggest issues would probably resolve themselves.

I know I’ll never be able to write something this meaningful when I’m 84.

That’s okay.

Dang, I’ll have enough trouble just trying to remember it!

Tom Page, SCN             It’s worth the visit over to Facebook.