The Man with A Thousand Coins

Once lived a man whose steps were taken with accountability and was known for his mature character. He would walk down the streets of a small tiny town called 'Nain' and every person on the road would smile at him, say hi and give him a coin out of respect. Since he was a righteous business man, he would take that one coin and turn it into two, sometimes three and would give back to the people of the city who trusted him and would make them happy because of his generosity. Because he was a man of his words, he became a man to trust with their world and the city seemed to never run out of hope and faith for a better future. After all, he did what he promised and that was enough for the people of Nain to respect him and his choices. Every now and then, he would drop some coins to the ground accidentally to show that he too is not perfect neither is he a God in the eyes of the people, but he would pick them up again and walk down the city with humbleness and care for every person who comes along his path to show the perfection of his Creator. Therefor, the people would trust him once again and give him coins with a happy heart. Known by his nickname, “The Man with A Thousand Coins”, walked and talked while making a point and when he finally left the city, he made a little sign at the entrance for every citizen to read and meditate on, “ Once you receive a coin, be responsible for it since you have taken part of people's lives and meant to turn it into something better”

Leadership Lessons:

Through this story, there are some lessons in leadership and accountability that we can learn from:

1- Leadership is a privilege given by people and with it comes responsibility: When people consider someone as a leader, that means that person becomes responsible to the image they have of him/her. Therefore, the life of a leader is not private, but a public testimony.

2- Leadership is built upon trust: Like the story, people trust you with their life when they consider you a leader. Every time we fail in someway, we tend to drop a 'coin' but with a right attitude, we can bounce back from that experience and once again show that we can be trusted

3- Leadership leaves a hallmark for others to see and learn from: “The Man with A Thousand Coins” understood his time is limited on earth, therefore during his time, he made sure he always sent the right message with a way he walked, talked and at last by leaving a note for others who would come after him.

Understanding leadership is really about understanding ourselves and the seed of leadership is placed within every human being, we need to constantly ask ourselves “ Can I be trusted with what I have been given to?” Less or much, it doesn't matter; our right attitude toward what we have been trusted gives us a possibility of gaining more of people's trust and in respond, more influence in the world.

Written&Copyright by Parsa Peykar