I am constantly observing how our children work to train our grandchildren with proper etiquette. Every time one of the grandchildren ask for something; the parents question them. What do you say? After a little coaching, comes a word that sounds something like please. After receiving what they ask for, the question comes again. What do you say? Again, something closely associated with thank you is the response.

At such a young age, do children understand the concept of gratitude, or is it a matter of developing a habit? Parents hope by developing such habits at an early age, an understanding of the concepts will follow.

The idea provides a valuable lesson for leadership. There will be times when it is hard to understand why we are involved in developing certain habits. However, the continual activity in developing certain habits formulates our leadership and the understanding will follow.

Socrates said, “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.”