Kurt was fussing over the last details on one of his paintings when the deafening tropical downpour stopped suddenly, as if to awaken him from a dream. Born and raised near the Guatemalan border in Belize, the 28-year-old artist created bright acrylic paintings of the tropical sea nearby. He sensed movement behind him. As he turned, a sharp pain stung his neck and back. He lost consciousness. When he awoke in the infirmary, he was paralyzed. An attacker's knife had just barely nicked his spine, but he would never again feel the right side of his body. His life as an artist was over, the physician told him, nor would he walk again.

But Kurt had other plans. He would thrash around with his hand over and over again until he could grab the window sill next to his bed. After a few weeks, he could raise his slender frame up high enough to see the ocean. Ten months of struggle put him back on his feet, although he would need crutches and patience to take even a few steps.

Kurt is one of 800,000 people worldwide to get a little more mobility from a decade-old nonprofit started by Blackhawk developer Ken Behring and his sons, David and Jeff, near San Francisco, California. Volunteers from their Wheelchair Foundation have shipped and assembled chairs in dozens of countries. Donors contribute US$150 for a wheelchair that would cost over $1,000 here in the little village of San Pedro, Belize, south of Mexico.

My wife, Bonita, and my ten-year-old daughter, Vanessa, joined 48 California donors on this trip. We pulled wheelchairs from boxes, pumped tires, attached footrests and lifted people out of broken wheelchairs into new ones. Some had never even experienced a wheelchair. In Old Belize, gangs ruled the neighborhoods and thousands still live on dirt floors in rotting wood shacks without adequate electricity or sanitation. We saw a crocodile crawl through garbage in an open drain while children played soccer in the street a few steps away.

When we met Kurt yesterday, it had been two years since he'd been injured. He was proud to be an artist again. In a ceremony in the village's tiny 'Central Park', on a bright, white, sandy beach, we presented him with a new chair--one of 280 recipients on this trip to Central America. Before the event, Kurt spread out a collection of aqua-colored 8x10 paintings done painstakingly with his twisted hand. He told the crowd: "I taught myself to paint with my left hand. I can't feel the brush, but my eyes tell my fingers what to do."

Kurt said that his art was an obsession, but it still was not enough to get him out of bed everyday. What moved him was the need to make a living and help people who are "less fortunate"-- a concept that's hard to imagine as you see him barely manage to stand in crutches. When he's not painting, he collects clothes for pennies that he sells for a few dollars. This week's profits helped buy medical care for a friend crippled in a drive-by shooting. Kurt is rushing to keep his pal's immobile limbs alive with physical therapy. He's also raising funds for surgery necessary to remove a bullet still lodged in his friend's back before it becomes infected and deadly.

That's what drives Kurt to go to great effort to get up each morning. "This very moment there is someone out there who needs you," he said. "God gave me a second chance. He gave me a reason for living. Life is about feeling passion and feeling needed. I could stay in bed, but where would my friends be?"

John F. Kennedy University is offering its Annual Leadership Scholarship for 25 mid-level managers. Take your leadership skills from good to great by applying to participate in the Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters course, to be held Jan 16, 23 and Feb. 6, 2010, in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area.

This is a rare opportunity to experience the once-a-year master class taught by bestselling author and Stanford scholar, Mark Thompson , and JFKU Adjunct Professor, Bonita Buell-Thompson.

The scholarship covers tuition and meals, and the course is completed in three Saturdays. The scholarship celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the Leader to Leader Institute, the Drucker Centennial and the launch of the Leader to Leader Institute Leadership Dialogues.

Applications should be sent to Joshua Lachs, Dean, Continuing Education at JFKU: jlachs@jfku.edu.

Hope to see you there!

Imagine that you were invited by Sir Richard Branson to be on the virgin flight of Virgin Airlines: the plane is loaded with dignitaries, government and business leaders and crowded with news media and reporters. Just as you're taking off down the runway, there's a huge explosion with black smoke and flames!

"Nobody likes to be on a plane when there's a big bang," Branson laughs now. "Especially when it's an inspection!"

Because this plane had only just arrived from Boeing and the inspection couldn't be completed, it wasn't insured. So Virgin Airlines was minus a million dollars from repairing the exploded engine--breaking their overdraft limit in the bank.

"We had no idea whether we could make a go of it at all and nobody was expecting us to succeed," Branson admits. "Yet I just felt that traveling on other people's airlines was not a pleasant experience and that there had to be a way of doing it better."

In the end, Sir Richard did indeed find a better way, but when the crisis first hit, he actually avoided solving the problem. Instead, he put all of his energy into trying to find blame. The problem with that strategy was that no matter how much he blamed the bank, or the explosion, or anything else, he still had to deal with the issue at hand. Finally, he realized that his biggest priority had to be finding a way to save the day.

The truth is, you can't have control over everything: stuff happens sometimes! You do, however, have control over the choices you make: you can take control of your destiny. The difference between good and great isn't perfection. Rather, it's finding the best solution: putting together a great team and making great things happen. So stay focused on your dream, the dream you deserve--no matter what.

Check out the video version of my interview with Sir Richard:

The Leader to Leader Institute honored General Eric Shinseki , current Secretary of Veteran Affairs, as the 2009 Leader of the Future.

In his acceptance speech, he tells us about a young soldier who showed remarkable integrity under fire. Stories like this remind us how fortunate we are.

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving.

What does the CEO think it takes for you to succeed in your job? We asked the boss and shared with leaders at ASTD the 7th insight from our survey. There were five winning traits we heard over and over. Rightly or wrongly, this is what the CEO thinks a trained diretor should do to succeed in the long terms:

1. Know your customer.

That means your internal managers and the customers they ultimately must support with your company's products or services.

2. Lead the Gap Analysis.

C-Suite is looking for you to identify where there are gaps in skills and what competencies are needed to serve customers more effectively.

3. Be proactive, not reactive in filling those gaps.

Create rapid prototypes of training that will increase service.

4. Create a sense of urgency.

Managers don't want it to take months to build a program: they don't want perfection. Rather, they want to co-create and test it with you to see what works.

5. Drive productivity.

Ultimately your manager's success will rely on the training group's ability to increase productivity in the organization.

Check out this video with Jim Claudill, the president of Black and Decker, discussing the importance of being pro active: