Next Level Blog
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Gabrielle Giffords: The Courage and Wisdom to Step Back January 23 2012
This past weekend, I watched one of the more moving and inspirational videos I’ve seen in awhile. It’s this two minute announcement from Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords that she is resigning from Congress this week. It’s been just over a year since a gunman shot Giffords in the head and almost killed her at a constituent meet and greet outside an Arizona supermarket. Since then, her recovery has been beyond remarkable.
The video clearly shows how far she’s come.
As reported in the Washington Post, there was a lot of speculation and hope that Giffords would run for reelection or perhaps even run for the Senate. Her fundraising was strong and the polling suggested she could have easily kept her seat in Congress.
She sorted through all that and concluded that her ongoing recovery was her first and most important priority. She had the courage to say no and the wisdom to step back from short-term opportunities to devote her time and attention to the longer term. When you watch the video, it’s clear that she intends to return to public life at some point. I hope she does. For now, though, I have enormous admiration and respect for a leader with remarkable courage and the wisdom to act on her priorities.
Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
She is an inspiration and I wish her the very best as she continues to recover. It is truly striking how well she has recovered so far. I hope that she is able to return in the future as from everything I've read — she was very pragmatic and a consensus builder — qualities we desperately need in the current political landscape.
She is a class act. I feel so sad when I think of what happened to her and her constituents that day. You are so right, Scott, her decision shows leadership manifesting itself in courage and wisdom.
The country needs her to make a full recovery and come back to lead us by example.
Impressive results for Sheryl Sandberg and Facebook for sure. I love how you extrapolate the important takeaways from leaders in the news. Three simple questions, but yet so telling. One can answer those three questions in a second. Thanks, Scott!
Shirley