Published for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in my newsletter. Sign up here!
Four days before the Montgomery Bus Boycott began on December 5, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to yield her seat on a public bus. She wasn’t the first to take such a stand. And she wasn’t, as many have come to believe, sitting in the front “white” section of the bus when it occurred. In fact, she was sitting in the front row of the black section. But when the white portion of the bus filled, an entire black row was asked to move and make room for a single, additional white rider. The distance she was asked to move was one row back, roughly two feet — arguably the most powerful distance never travelled. Two feet that moved a nation by sitting still. A stance that changed history.
The night before the boycott was to begin, MLK Jr. and his wife Coretta questioned if it was the right thing to do — whether it would make a difference. Little did they know that night just how big a difference it would make, how long the journey would take or the effect it would have on a community to rise up and create positive, non-violent and powerful change. In the end, it took 381 days. People walked instead of riding the bus, some taxi drivers offered rides to blacks for the same ten cents it would have cost for bus fare, and others in the community formed carpools and shuttle schedules to accommodate the needs. It was a brilliant example of leadership, of speaking truth to power and of standing up against laws that are wrong.
In the end, you could say, it took 381 days to not go 2 feet. A profound leadership formula if ever there was one. Leadership isn’t measured in distance, it’s measured in impact. Leadership isn’t measured in speed, it’s measured in dedication, perseverance, sweat, blood, tears, joys, and purpose. Leadership recognizes that change takes time. Thank you Martin Luther King Jr. for showing us the truth, the heart, the soul, the meaning of genuine leadership.
