I love the "Leadership Secrets of..." concept. There's a new one out right now at bookstores on the leadership secrets of General Ulysses S. Grant. They tend to be creative and fun. I recently gave the winter commencement address at Northern Arizona University and used the same concept—the Leadership Secrets of the Cheshire Cat. I won't burden you with the whole speech, but here's the part that sets the theme as we try to define leadership. Let me explain what I mean about leadership. Do you remember Alice? Alice in Wonderland?

She was not having a good day. And if you remember her story, you'll remember that it was largely a problem of leadership in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll's delightful tales of Alice and her adventures with strange animals, stranger people, and animated decks of cards have been popular children's stories for more than a century. They are, as we all know, far more than simple children's stories. They are remarkable satire, a carefully crafted jest on life in Victorian England that still applies to life today.

Alice's real problem in Wonderland was one of leadership, a situation we can all appreciate. Consider the sort of day she was having.

First, she followed a white rabbit who was more interested in time management than real leadership. Following someone like that is always a danger. They are usually so worried about the appearance of things that they forget what it was they were trying to accomplish. Alice followed the rabbit with his large pocket watch and ended up in a deep hole, which is usually the way that sort of thing works out.

Then she met a caterpillar who may or may not have been on controlled substances and who suggested that she could solve her problems by trying a bite of the magic mushroom. It was the latest trendy thing to do. Try it! Everyone else is. Sort of like following the latest management theory or fad just because you don't want to be left out of the fun. So, she did and the next thing she knew, she was too big for her shoes and frightened everyone around her.

Then she tried another trendy solution, and suddenly she was too small to accomplish much of anything. And when she turned to ask the caterpillar just what the devil was going on, he—like any good consultant—had already left town.

It was all very confusing, and things just got curiouser and curiouser.

After that, Alice met a variety of people with solutions for every-thing, from mad hatters to a queen who issued the sentence first before hearing the evidence.

"Off with her head!" We know leaders like that, too.

The high point of the day came when she met the Cheshire Cat. She found him perched in a tree at a crossroads—right about where we are standing today.

"Which road should I take?" she asked the cat.

"Where do you want to get to?" the cat asked helpfully.

"I don't know," admitted Alice.

"Then," advised the cat, "any road will take you there."

The Cheshire Cat's message is one you should remember. If you don't know where you're going, it doesn't make any difference how you get there. If you don't have a plan, it doesn't matter what you do. If you don't have an objective, who cares if you ever reach it? If you don't take responsibility for your actions, who will?

And perhaps the most important question of all: If you won't lead, then who will? 

William H. "Skip" Boyer, 32°   is the senior public relations officer of Best Western International, Inc. A Chevalier of the Order of DeMolay, he presently serves as Senior Deacon of Paradise Valley Lodge No. 61, Phoenix, Arizona,  and as editor of the Lodge's Trestle Board.  He is a member of the Philalethes Society and writes a regular column in the society's popular magazine. He is also a member of the Brotherhood of the Blue Forget-Me-Not and the Scottish Rite Bodies of Phoenix, Arizona. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, he holds the prestigious Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designation from the International Association of Business Communicators and has earned more than 70 regional and national awards for his writing and editorial work.