June 27, 2008. Bethesda, Md. Standards.

In my youth, I belonged two different groups which.it turned out in my life, became important to my thinking on establishing high standards. These groups were voluntary and were open to anyone who wanted to join. In other words, no screening of the people prior to joining. Yet both groups showed high standards both in performance and dress. So I learned to observe in my youth, that the high standards of performance were not in the individuals in the group, but in the mind and dreams of the leaders of the group. In other words, if I belonged to another Girl Guide troop or another Songster Brigade, neither would be as good as the two I belonged to, because the leaders made the difference, not me. Now I know I contributed to the total success, but I observed early in my life the effect of leadership and performance.

My Girl Guide Troop in Vancouver was extraordinary, led by June Wiseman. We were affiliated with the Salvation Army Citadel in down town Vancouver, but most of the Guides were not associated with the same church. The group was large, almost 90 girls, at a time when most groups were 20 or so, this was unusual. I met my friend Beverley in Guides, and we have been friends ever since. The standards of the group were very high in every department. We must have had the most badges per girl than any other guide in the province. We had these badges all up and down our arms. We gave marching demonstrations, taught to us by a former military man, who I think we almost drove him batty. And we learned to swing clubs combined with the marching. In competitions between guide companies, we were always required to divide into two groups, because if we put our best girls all one one team, we won every contest. No probles, we still came in first and second in every Field Day contest. So there was something different about this group of girls, and I early on figured out that what was the difference was June Wiseman.

Now jump ahead to Toronto in 1953. My Father was transferred to Toronto, and on arrival I was sent to Music Camp at Jackson's Point, a Salvation Army Camp on Lake Simcoe. I sang a lot, so I signed up for the singing program. Now I knew no one at the camp, neither campers or staff, but Salvation Army folks are a friendly group and welcomed me. a fifteen year old, into the fold. The leaders of the singing classes at camp was Eric Sharp. At the end of camp, he called my Mother to invite us to join the Danforth Corps and the Danforth Songster Brigade. We all joined. Even as a kid, Eric's desire for excellence was apparent, and fortunately, his ability to get people to sing in the way he wanted them to sing was astonishing. I am not just dreaming about the excellence. We have records of the group, and they were good. His demands on dress, attendance, decorum and of course,hours of practice led to a wonderful singing group. So this group of volunteers, not screened for excellence in the ability of singing, ended up to be singing far and wide, singing every Sunday morning and evening in our home church, and giving concerts both home and abroad. Now again, I was not the reason for the group's excellence, Eric Sharp was, because of his dream and his standards. He would have us go over the same phrase twenty times, until we got it right, or at least until he wanted it to sound.

Over the years, these examples stuck with me, and the idea that high standards in the leader results in excellent performance from the group members. I still believe it.