By Deb Boelkes
What’s your vision of the American Dream? Have you achieved it yet or are you still working on it? As the world has changed, has your vision of the American Dream changed? Would your ancestors be proud of your ethics and your accomplishments?
There may be as many versions of “The American Dream” as there are people living in America. Brittanica.com defines The American Dream as:
The ideal that the United States is a land of opportunity that allows the possibility of upward mobility, freedom, and equality for people of all classes who work hard and have the will to succeed.
That’s certainly what I learned as a child, and as a natural born U.S. citizen, that’s what I’ve strived to achieve—for myself and for others—my entire life. How about you?
Perhaps my drive to pursue the American Dream is in my DNA. Some of my ancestors migrated to the American colonies from the British Isles well before the American Revolution. Determined to rid themselves of political tyranny and religious persecution, they eventually took up arms against the crown. The generations that followed them were freedom fighters, too. From the Revolution and the War of 1812 to the Civil War, WWI, and WWII, my forefathers fought for freedom and the belief that people of all classes had the right to succeed in their chosen endeavors.
In my latest book, Strong Suit: Leadership Success Secrets from Women on Top, I explored the familial roots of the executives highlighted because I am fascinated by the role our parents, and their parents before them, play in formulating our beliefs, our value systems, and how we perceive ourselves.
From my own family lore, I learned that freedom isn’t free. I learned it’s the obligation of every American to do what must be done to guarantee freedom for our posterity. We must never assume our precious freedom will always be there. As President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.”
I’ll never forget my maternal grandmother telling me how she migrated here after WWI, and how proud she was to have become a naturalized U.S. citizen. She also told me about the hardships of becoming a young widow during the Great Depression, and the struggles of keeping food on the table and paying the bills—all while raising a child without any assistance—during WWII.
My grandmother’s American grit made a huge impression on me. She never gave up. She never settled for the status quo. No matter what happened, she pursued her American Dream. Through her stories, she instilled in me an ethos that through determination, persistence, and a positive attitude, you can overcome any adversity.
Because of her—and my generations of freedom fighter ancestors—I’ve always felt a bounden duty to achieve the American Dream, too. I also believe it’s my obligation to ensure that their efforts were worth it by passing their ethos down to my own children and grandchildren.
If your ancestors also fought hard to guarantee the promise of the American Dream to you, do you think they ever imagined that we would so easily succumb to the tyranny of lockdowns and simply give up our inalienable Constitutional rights without fighting back?
What happened?
Have we simply become complacent, or have we been so absorbed with achieving our own American Dreams that we’ve ignored what was happening in our government, our military, our schools and universities, and in our communities?
Nevertheless, here we are, with precious little time to course-correct and save the American Dream for ourselves and our posterity. Just as George Washington faced in 1776, we now face a new revolution. It’s already raging, with or without us. We literally have only ourselves to depend on. We the People must come together without delay, as one nation indivisible, to ensure our posterity will have the same opportunity left us by our forefathers—to pursue the American Dream.
If you’ve read any of my recent blog posts here, you already know that the leadership philosophies of the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden made a life-long impact on me. It seemed he always looked for the goodness in people. Indeed, one of his fundamental beliefs was that everyone is inherently good. That’s what made him such an exemplary Heartfelt Leader.
Admittedly, the concept of everyone being inherently good may be difficult to buy into these days, given the pervasive corruption and evil we’re hearing more about with each passing day. It all brings to mind something one of my managers once said: “When an organization’s leaders are corrupt, there goes the organization.”
This is precisely what happened while we were so busy achieving our own American Dreams.
Regarding a fix, I believe Coach Wooden’s philosophy on attitude is key to the kind of mindsets we must adopt to effectively deal with the chaos we now face:
“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.”
“Don’t whine or complain or make excuses.”
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.”
It’s now time for us to unite and, with a can-do attitude, leverage our strong suits to slay the monster at hand.
This doesn’t mean you must stop pursuing your American Dream. It simply means that—just like George Washington, on his way to the Presidency—we must simply find ways to address the battles that must be fought and won while we pursue our American Dream. Along the way, you’ll likely discover you can achieve an even more meaningful American Dream—one you’ll be proud to tell your grandchildren about.
So, don’t shy away from the challenge, and don’t sell yourself short. Give it all you’ve got.
My personal American Dream is to inspire an army of leaders to pick up the mantle of Coach Wooden. That’s why I spend virtually every day writing blogs, books and newsletters, and speaking at conferences. I focus on leveraging my strong suits—with passion, persistence, and a positive attitude—to help us, as a nation, be at our collective best.
Perhaps we’ll soon discover, “When all organizations’ leaders are virtuous, so goes the country.”
Given we are where we are, what is your American Dream now, and what will you do to achieve it?