If you were on Wikipedia…
If you were on Wikipedia…
What would it say of you?
Recently I’ve been doing research for my leadership website at http://www.leadership-with-you.com/leadership-stories.html . I’ve been researching on the biographies of great leaders in history; in business; in warfare; in politics and more. It’s kind of like a short case study on each leader, giving the reader a little detail about who the leader is, his history as well as some famous quotes he/she made.
If you actually do a search on any of them, you will find that Wikipedia gives you a detailed account of any famous leader’s life, from birth to death, as well as the milestones in the leader’s life. One can also learn a lot about these leaders’ driving beliefs and values through doing a quick scan through their quotes.
It’s really enlightening and encouraging to just read through each of their lives to know how they chose to live it. Really, they’re all ordinary people like you and me, but they made several choices in their lives that caused them to lead significant lives.
A few nights ago, as I was researching on Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, and I just felt this thought came across my mind:
If I could be found on Wikipedia, what would it say about me?
As I scan the first few lines of Abraham Lincoln’s profile, I imagine I was reading my own life there. Born April 1984 – Till… Yihan was a …. ( well that’s for myself to know and for you to find out!). I imagine a profile picture on Wikipedia and a long story about my life.
The point here is: What do we want to be remembered for? Long past our deaths, will our works be immortalized on the pages of Wikipedia?
Will this be written of you:
David was a business leader who gave a large amount of his effort and personal fortune to the poor people through David & Co. Foundation.
Sally was an elegant dancer who enthralled audiences from all over the world; she has changed the meaning of the word ‘dance’ forever!
Would our lives be significant to the world enough that we would be remembered in the pages of Wiki?
Or would be have spent our lives doing something for ourselves; we may have accumulated a good fortune in our lives, but never have done anything significant for the world around us; and be forgotten by time?
I know this is a kind of a lame exercise, but why don’t you try it? Go copy and paste a page from Wikipedia and start writing your own legacy; 100 years down the road, how will you be remembered?
