
Martin Luther King Jr: The Promise to Be You
As a kid growing up in Utah, Martin Luther King, Jr. became one of my childhood heroes when I first remember our teacher playing a recording of his “I Have a Dream” speech in class. What I recall from that speech, as a little boy, was Dr. King’s emphasis on the fact that we are all children of God, equally, and have a right, and a place, to be who we are on this earth, no matter how we look, no matter what others think. He once said, “You will change your mind; You will change your looks; You will change your smile, laugh, and ways, but no matter what you change, you will always be you.” The Promise to “Be You”, and especially, to be the BEST you, is not emphasized enough anywhere. That’s why I talk about it so much. Last week I sat with award-winning teachers, helping them struggle through the exercise of “Identifying their Signature Moves” with the proven process of IDENTIFY, CLARIFY, MAGNIFY, and define The Promise to themselves. It is a painful and somewhat foreign process for all of us to go through, this idea of embracing our strengths, as I have




