ROOSEVELTJEANFRANCOIS

Leadership • Language • Justice • Purpose

Haitian Creole Legal Language Specialist, storyteller, and community builder helping you communicate clearly, lead confidently, and create meaningful impact.

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  • I just discovered bestselling author John Mc Arthur’s work in Atlanta.

    I have been  in Atlanta, Ga, for the last 24 hours, visiting families, and having some time off from the ongoing social media, and phone thing. Since then, I haven’t  followed my recent notifications from my different accounts: emails, phone calls, twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, Google +, and so on…

    imagesI disconnect to reconnect with closed ones  and I have been having fun listening to their stories about what was their Christmas growing up,  eating, sleeping, and doing nothing. Just relax.

    I was watching a basketball game, and listening to Rene’s playing guitar, when my eyes glanced on his table. A small book was laid under a pot of flowers. I picked it up and the title caught my attention: “Twelve Ordinary Men , How the master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He wants to Do with You,” from bestselling author, pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church John Mc Arthur.

    I grabbed this book at once, listening to Rene’s playing Fernando Sor, and my sipping of Picot Noir. I read the back front, and the publishing jacket .

    Rene stopped playing. He told me I should start reading another John Mc Arthur’s book about philosophical worldviews, biblical truth, modernism and post-modernism.

    “This is smaller, you can read this tonight,”he said while I was watching the last minute of the Golden Warriors of Steph Curry winning against Lebron James’ Cavaliers.

    I wanted to read the Twelve Ordinary Men first. I heard about this book for some time, and I’m glad to put my hands on it. But, Rene’s call for John Mc Arthur’s “Why one Way, Defending an Exclusive Claim in an Inclusive World”as a simple and short reading is attractive after a long day of road trip, wine drinking, laughing out loud of story telling.

    “Why one Way”  is 73 half pages. But the book is not small, it carries deep philosophical content on relevant issues that divide more than ones from the dark ages to now.

    I did not go through the 2 pages introduction last night. All I remember, is I took off my glasses and slept.

    I just finished the little book. And I am on my way to start reading the second one.

    Rene brought me a third John Mc Arthur: “The Truth war, Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception.”

    I am here for three days, and I owe you one blog post for each book.

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Power of a Mentor, Good Books, Perseverance, and Toughening Up

  • The Power of a Mentor, Good Books, Perseverance, and Toughening Up

    Source: The Power of a Mentor, Good Books, Perseverance, and Toughening Up

  • Leadership & Happiness!

  • Leadership education, learning and the intellect: some thoughts from Arnold Toynbee & Daisaku Ikedda

  • A leadership platform for you in a crowded, noisy world!

    “A leadership platform for you,” has been my tagline for this blog since its inception in 2011. I  wanted this blog to be a place where I connect with you on topics  that matter, above all about leadership and personal development. A place where you can follow me on what I read, what I listen, and with whom I associate.

    rjf-1This is what I do: read, listen, and associate. I also speak, ask questions, and write.

    I also represent Life Leadership, a premier global leadership company,   which just joined forces with Success Magazine to offer a leadership platform for you where you can have Total Access to writers, speakers, content creators on leadership, success; professional, and personal development.

    Blogger Michael Hyatt  recently published a book called “Platform” in which he invites us to create our own stage to “get noticed in a noisy world.”

    This is a must read content  which offers a step-by-step guide for you if you have something to say or to sell.

    I just went over this book. And I like it. Very practical.

    platform

    Hyatt quoted William  Shakespeare who, more than four centuries ago, considered  “All the world ‘s a stage”. Each and every one of us, If we have something to say, to sing, to write, to share, we are  on stage.

    The stage today is new and crowded. More and more people want to attract audience, and bring the light on themselves. That brings more competition for minds control.

    “If you want to achieve success in your field, you need a platform,” said Michael Hyatt, whose blog has close to a million visitors a month.

    You platform is your stage. It’s built of people, contacts, connections, and followers.

    Your platform is also the means you connect with your existing tribe via social media and live events.

    Success today is more about who you know. It’s not enough to be good, or to have a good product, you need a significant platform to face the competition, and to attract people’s attention in a world with more and more medias.

    Below are three main benefits to build and nurture a platform, according to Michael Hyatt:

    1.- A platform provides visibility . As a stage, it elevated you above the crowd. It makes it possible for people to see you.

    2.- A platform provides amplification. It projects your voice, and your reach further.

    3.- A platform provides connection. It provides engagement, intimacy which leads to more connections to your fans, customers, and supporters.

    As I wrote above, Life Leadership just added a leadership platform to its library of informational and educational contents in both physical and digital formats.

    I invite you to take advantage of this service and have Total Access to this unique platform to live the life you’ve always wanted.

     

     

  • Leadership, Success & Struggle: The trio of joy!

    “We may hate opposition and struggle, but it is critical for our mental health.  Without the struggle, we would feel no joy in victory,”said Bestselling author Chris Brady in a blog-post dated two years ago  announcing his next book to be released “Trout Fisherman in Hell.”

    Brady shared the following parable :

    “There is an old story about a fisherman who believes he has died and gone to Heaven as he catches one perfect 2 lb trout after another.  As he sets his fly and hooks into yet one more, he can’t fathom his good fortune.  The sky is blue, the weather ideal, the fish biting like he’s never before experienced, and everything is absolutely perfect.  It is not long, however, before the realization dawns on him that he is not in Heaven at all.  Instead, as the boredom and the pointlessness settle in on him, he realizes he’s actually in Hell.”

    Sometimes, it’s too beautiful, too easy to be true. Other times, it’s when it’s the darkest that the day is on its way.

    Brady, who is Life Leadership CEO, said this story erased all his whiny complaints about how difficult and elusive success seems to be.

    “We are actually happier and more fulfilled when overcoming opposition than when everything is easy and simply rolling our way,” Brady wrote explaining further “It is because of the way we were made.”

    “Without a battle to win and an enemy to vanquish, the value of the warrior goes to zero”, he added, quoting Thomas Paine’s famous words “What we attain too cheaply we esteem too lightly.”

    If we don’t earn it, we can’t enjoy it. This is profound, and it ought to provide a telling answer against all those dismal statistics that suggest that the “odds” of making it are too tall.

    If we consider only statistics most of us would never get out of bed in the morning, much less find a way to force ourselves  for  next achievement in our career.

    “It doesn’t matter how difficult success is or what the odds are of us “making it.”  What matters is our struggle against the opposition, the force of our will against the force of everything that would try and stop us.  Not only does it fulfill us to have something against which to push, but in the process it also makes us better.  It is the resistive weight that builds the muscles.  So ultimately, it doesn’t matter if success is hard or not, it simply matters that we pursue it anyway.”

    This post is based on a Chris Brady’s blogpost.

  • Leadership & reminiscences: the value of our time and the connection of our youth with your later years.

    What is time? Is our childhood present in our life now? What connect our youth with our later years? These are some questions bestselling author Marietta McCarty, professor of philosophy, invites us to reflect on in her book “How Philosophy can save your life, 10 ideas that matter most.”

    I started this week by posting on Facebook some of the games I used to play when I was a kid. Simple games and fun times such as flying a kite, shooting marbles, jumping rope etc,,,

    What I liked the most is the way I connect with a lot of long time and new friends who engage in these reminiscences which hold our lives together.

    One of my personal favorite pastimes was shooting marbles. In our neighborhood, the boys knew every ground available to draw the outline in the dirt.

    We drew a circle about 1-2 feet in diameter where each player put their bet, 5-10 marbles. Then we draw a line and a “lag” up to that line. The one who could get closest to that line shot first. Then the next player has a chance to shoot. Any marble you knocked out is yours to keep..
    It was fun.

    I enjoyed also flying kites I made myself which plastic, thin paper.

    Childhood memories bring more perspective and flexibility to our life. They help us to flow more easily with life’s movement. They are great topics for conversations with friends and siblings.

    Relax and enjoy  good conversations with your friends, family members about your childhood memories. take turn sharing stories. Your stories make you you.

    Roosevelt

  • Leadership lessons from the underdog: Roberta Vinci’s win against Serena Williams

    I don’t know why, I am, most of the time, for the underdog, the outclass, the one that the pundits put down. I savor more the victory from the least disadvantaged, the one that everyone expects to lose than the favorite, the beloved, the most probable to win.

    I learn more from those who have the courage to turn the wheel of life in their discipline and mount to the top than from those who have been there and repeat their success.

    vinci

    Italian tennis player Roberta Vinci beats the amazing Serena Williams and ends her quest for a grand slam this year. What a surprise, and what an opportunity to learn from an underdog who just plays her game, finds the courage to be consistent, and make history.

    Reflecting on the spot about Vinci’s win today, I learn three lessons that I like to share with you:

    1.- Just play your game.

    2.- Have fun

    3.- Give credit away

    In a short interview after the game, she was asked what did she had to fight in the other side of the net besides Serena Williams who was there, she responded: “In my mind I say ‘just play your game’, put the ball on the court, don’t think about Serena Williams, just play your game, send the ball on the other side.”

    This is the very first lesson I learn today  play my game , talk to myself, do the basics,  keep it simple.

    The interviewer asked her what was her mindset when she woke up this morning for the game knowing that the media said  she was a 300 to 1 as an underdog, Vinci replied “I said to myself this is one more game. I’m already blessed to be for the first time in the semi final of the US open, and I will be playing against the great Serena Williams, I have nothing to lose, and everything to win. I will enjoy it.”

    This is the second lesson I learn from Italian tennis player Roberta Vinci: count your blessings, appreciate what you have, and go from there.

    Answering her last question, she thanked her coach several times, and the camera went away from her and zoomed in on the coach who was clapping in the tribune.

    That’s my third lesson from Vinci. It takes a team to win even in a solo sport as tennis.

    Vinci will face fellow countrywoman Flavia Pennetta in Saturday’s final at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

    She entered the tournament ranked 43rd,  gained more and more confidence, and played a stellar match agaisnt Williams who also succumbed to the pressure by committing more and more unforced errors.

    In Latin the meaning of the name Vinci is: Conqueror. Serena was serene, calm, and peaceful when she spoke her mind at a news conference and gave full credit to Vinci to have played really well.

    I will conclude these leadership lessons learned from underdog tennis player Roberta Vinci with a quote from bestselling author Orrin Woodward: “Find a victory in every defeat and a defeat in every victory.”

    Your victory arms you with confidence and courage while your defeat brings you humility and perspective.

    God bless,

    Roosevelt

  • Leadership & Self-development: a cash only diet in our quest for financial fitness

    I enjoy reading blog posts from Business Insider columnist Katleen Elkins. She writes about personal finance and money. In her quest for financial fitness, she recently decided a cash-only diet to test its effectiveness.

    cash-71

    The Financial Fitness Program, introduced by bestselling authors, Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward, advocate the cash only-diet as a strategy to avoid impulse purchase and to get out of debt.

    Research shows that people spend significantly less when using cash instead of cards (credit or debit).

    The cash-only diet is as simple as it sounds: You ditch the plastic, determine how much money to withdraw for a certain amount of time, and buy things only with the cash you allocated for yourself.

    I am glad to share with you some excerpts of Katleen’s testimony based on her two weeks experience using cash only and she is telling us why she is never going back to her debit- and credit-card days:

    1. I know exactly how much money I’m spending.By withdrawing a certain amount of cash on a specific day, I knew exactly how many days it took to spend that amount of money. It’s eye-opening and alarming how quickly it disappears, and it forces you to change your spending habits.
    2. I think longer and harder about big purchases and cut back on spending after making one.By allocating a fixed amount of cash for a fixed time frame, I realized how one big purchase could wipe me out for the week.
    3. Having cash at all times is convenient.Sometimes cash is simply the easier form of payment, something I completely underestimated and never fully appreciated.

    If you want to learn more about the Financial Fitness Program, I invite you to dig more and sign up for free on this website www.financialfitnessinfo.com. Your reference number is 61238105 to have access to free content and you may invest on educational materials and tools such as track and save and much more.

    As Brady & Woodward indicate in the Financial Fitness Program textbook, “If you want your finances to change, you are going to change something about your finances.”

    Ditch you cards, use cash, and educate yourself about “the money thing”. Be the kind of learner who takes immediate action when you learn a new principle.

    God Bless,

    Roosevelt