Take the Road Less Traveled

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference."
- Robert Frost

I watched Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, a very controversial film on Hitler's 1934 Nuremberg Rally put on by equally controversial Toronto film connoisseur, Reg Hartt, at the Cineforum (a make-shift theatre in his home). The movie blew me away. It was a powerful, real-life portrayal of Hitler's propaganda machine and the horrifying consequences of mass media manipulation. An eerie chill went through my spine as I saw aerial footage of column after column of endless soldiers marching through the streets of Nuremberg. Little German boys and girls hailing the Fuhrer with innocent smiles and outstretched hands of youthful idealism. Little German youths beating the drums of death. Hitler parting a sea of loyal soldiers. And watching a nation mesmerized by the spell of this diminutive, unassuming, and rather plain looking monster.

What really hit me though was Reg Hartt's commentary after the movie ended. A lady had kept coming to the viewing of that movie, over and over again. She had attended the viewing over sixteen times. When he asked her what she found so fascinating about the film. She told him that she was the young smiling girl in the movie looking down from a rooftop at Hitler's parade. She was with her Mother, Father, sisters, and brother. They were waiving the Nazi flag and cheering Hitler on. They were Jews. She was the only survivor in her family.

What flag are you waiving? What herd mentality have we accepted without further thought, without scrutiny? I challenge you to take the road less traveled by. It is uncommon knowledge that gives rise to uncommon leadership.

Do something uncommon. Go to the library and pick out a book that you would never touch in a million years. Watch a film in a genre that you rarely see. Attend a lecture on a topic that would make most people go, "Huh?" What is one thing you can do or experience this month that is uncommon? Go do it.

Sharif Khan is a writer, speaker, coach, and author of "Psychology of the Hero Soul," an inspirational book on awakening the Hero within and developing people's leadership potential. You can reach him at sharif@herosoul.com. Website: http://www.herosoul.com Blog: http://www.sharifkhan.blogspot.com Phone: 416-417-1259

MORE RESOURCES:

Gay support group criticizes Mormon leadership - San Francisco Chronicle

Police official meets with Akko’s Arab leadership - Ynetnews

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Obama fails to show leadership when needed - Hilton Head Island Packet

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-0fd=Rurl=http://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/letters/story/635351.htmlcid=1256327592ei=so_xSLmCKIHI9AScxrG8Bwusg=AFQjCNGbmbrijgr7O80-lLmGyQk1hvXYqgObama fails to show bleadership/b when needed/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fHilton Head Island Packet,nbsp;SCnbsp;-/font nobr1 hour ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1In the game of politics, one-up-manship is everything. Sen. John McCain just upped Sen. Barack Obama but good. Obama#39;s first gaffe, of course, b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-1fd=Rurl=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-mirman/the-home-team-mentality_b_133914.htmlcid=1256327592ei=so_xSLmCKIHI9AScxrG8Bwusg=AFQjCNFGlPgbUpqTUHDXSL8gXvcSS61CnAThe Home Team Mentality/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrHuffington Post/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-2fd=Rurl=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/917/in3.htmcid=1256327592ei=so_xSLmCKIHI9AScxrG8Bwusg=AFQjCNF4TDtNQZwhm-syjYvBeofPdFdFBgHigh time to move beyond clichés/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAl-Ahram Weekly/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-3fd=Rurl=http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/oprah_winfrey_michelle_obama_j.htmlcid=1256327592ei=so_xSLmCKIHI9AScxrG8Bwusg=AFQjCNEG2vRnOehZES3nRwASIQkojnYFqQOprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama Joe and Jill Biden at Obama fund b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrChicago Sun-Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1256327592hl=ennobrall 1,810 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Johnson’s leadership already proven - Suffolk News-Herald

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MASON: AIDS Reform leadership needed - Washington Times

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4i-0fd=Rurl=http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/12/reform-leadership-needed/cid=1256682514ei=so_xSLmCKIHI9AScxrG8Bwusg=AFQjCNG0qLPFrQLlTicJuX1y67YiGOQ6hAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=3xD-97lgIM8Jimgurl=media.washingtontimes.com/media/img/photos/2008/08/08/20080807-212500-pic-18704128_r106x74.jpg%3Fc4028041f07984cc2b0208af53263b8f9a78b153 width=80 height=56 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Washington Times/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/12/reform-leadership-needed/cid=1256682514ei=so_xSLmCKIHI9AScxrG8Bwusg=AFQjCNG0qLPFrQLlTicJuX1y67YiGOQ6hAMASON: AIDS Reform bleadership/b needed/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWashington Times,nbsp;DCnbsp;-/font nobr3 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Given his interest in foreign policy, I expected him to appreciate the importance of US bleadership/b in the global fight against HIV, but I was surprised by b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Guam#39;s Andersen Air Force Base Team Members Attend Leadership Seminar - Pacific News Center

Leadership experiment has makings of a mess - Austin American-Statesman

Nebraska Youth Beef Leadership Symposium convenes in mid-November - KTIV

Obama offers leadership on financial woes - InTheNews.co.uk

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Without real leadership, we face disaster - guardian.co.uk

Leadership - Google News

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