I met a Traveler from an antique land, Who said, Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is OZYMANDIAS, King of Kings.
Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!"
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that Colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
--Percy Bysshe Shelley
This may seem like a weird way to start a blog on leadership, but this poem serves as a cautionary tale about the ephemeral nature of our influence. This man who was the "King of Kings" and worthy of such a massive statue has been reduced to two trunkless legs, forgotten in the desert. With this haunting image in mind, I will try to use seven different examples of leadership to discover what it takes to become an ideal leader whose legacy long outlives any physical remembrance of his life. Additionally, I will include my thoughts on leadership as they relate to current events or personal experience. I hope that this undertaking will be as enlightening for you as I know it will be for me.
