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Happy Presidents’ Day, Missouri REALTORS^®!

The inaugural Presidents' Day celebrated George Washington on his actual birthday, February 22. The date became an official federal holiday celebrated country-wide in 1885.

However, Congress moved Presidents’ Day to a Monday in the late 1960s in an effort to establish more three day weekends. Now, we uniformly honor all past and present United States presidents on the third Monday of each February. The date falls between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays.

While we may tend to think of Presidents’ Day as merely a day off from our routine responsibilities, we encourage our membership to take the day to pay homage to the office of the presidency and reflect on the importance of leadership at the federal level, amongst peers and in our communities.

To celebrate, we're sharing favorite leadership quotes from past presidents of Missouri REALTORS^®. Here are some pieces of wisdom to help inspire you this year.

• “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” -John Maxwell…submitted by John Mayfield

• “I think the purpose of life is to be useful, responsible, honorable, and compassionate. It is, above all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” - Leo Rosten…submitted by Richard Mendenhall

• “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do & let them surprise you with the results.” - George S Patton…submitted by Larry Apple

• "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." - Steven Covey…submitted by the late Sharon Keating

• "A president's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right."- Lyndon Baines Johnson…submitted by Miles F. Noennig

• “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou….submitted by T. David Rogers

• “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.” - Anonymous…submitted by Bruce Aydt

• "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble, it's what you know for sure that just isn't so." - Mark Twain...submitted by Jim Gamble

• “Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.” - Will Rogers…submitted by Kay Gerken

• “One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears, by listening to them.” - Dean Rusk…submitted by the late Jim Asbury

If you have a favorite leadership quote, share it in the comments below. And enjoy this national holiday!