Hi,
The face of the first US President, George Washington appears on the US one-dollar bill. The image was based on a portrait by Gilbert Stuart, which he never finished. He had kept the original, and he sold copies of it for $100 each. Stuart remarked of the portrait: "When I painted him, he had just had a set of false teeth inserted, which accounts for the constrained expression so noticeable about the lower part of the face." The work is often referred to as The Athenaeum because it was owned by the Boston Athenaeum for over 150 years. They had bought it from Stuart's daughter after he died in 1828.
It is said that the fact that an unfinished portrait of a president appears on a note of currency symbolises a lesson for leaders everywhere. Just like the unfinished portrait, every country and every business is an unfinished piece of work. They are works in progress that are subject to the Darwinian economics that has rattled the world’s economy and the desire and skill of their people to work together. The minute a leader pauses to say a country or company is complete is the day that they put them into reverse. The portrait of the US’s first president symbolises the fact that nothing is ever complete, and the only thing that ever remains constant is change itself.
That is what makes the role of a President and a leader a 24 hour a day, seven days a week job. Because nothing is ever finished.
Take care,
Darren.
PS: 'HOW TO GIVE A BETTER SPEECH THAN OBAMA and change your world' - is available on iTunes and Amazon NOW!
Audio Version only.
Text version out January 31st.
Kellcomm, Princes Exchange,Princes Square,Leeds,LS1 4HY, United Kingdom
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