Success Characteristic Number Two: CONSISTENCY- CIVIL RIGHTS ICON: MS. ELLA BAKER

Success Characteristic Number Two: Consistency – Civil Rights Pioneer- Ms. Ella Baker (1903-1986)

After Clarity, the next most important success characteristic is Consistency. Some could also call this persistence. To that end one of the most powerful quotes I have ever heard regarding persistence or consistency is as follows:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will no; the world is full of educated derelicts; Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! Has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” -----Calvin Coolidge

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of consistency from the Modern Civil Rights era is Ms. Ella Baker. Ms Baker was involved with organizing, assisting, or sustaining nearly most of the Big Six Civil Rights Organizations during the Modern Civil Rights Movement. These organizations include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The remaining big six members were the National Associate for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund (NAACP-LDF), and the National Urban League (NUL). Throughout her life, Ms. Baker consistently organized civil rights groups and activists and mentored young civil rights activists. For over five decades, she organized for and mentored civil rights leaders and activists such as Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Rosa Parks, and Bob Moses. From North Carolina, to New York, to Chicago, to Atlanta, Ms. Baker never wavered in her support for and efforts to not only engage in grassroots organizing but to teach others how to become involved in and successfully do the same. After serving the NAACP for twenty-five years, she went to work for the SCLC helping to organize African American voters across the South, in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. She eventually became interim executive director of the SCLC for almost two-and-one-half years. Her next move was to bring together college students who had recently engaged in sit-ins at lunch counters across the country. The result was the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC alongside CORE, coordinated Freedom Rides in 1961. She continued her work with SNCC for 5 more years. Next, Ms. Baker turned her efforts toward the Southern Conference Education Fund and served there for five years. Even after her work with all these organizations she continued her service as an activist, supporting various causes and campaigns, to include the one to free activist Angela Davis. Despite all of the changes across the years, different organizations, different places, and different leaders, Ms. Baker remained consistent in her cause, her passion, and her belief of organizing and seeking social justice. She is a shining example of consistency for future generations. She never stopped in her work.

As a result of her being consistent she was one of the greatest leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. It is not a stretch to say that without Ms. Ella Baker, many of the successes of the Modern Civil Rights Movement would not have happened.

Ms. Baker’s life not only illustrates how to remain consistent, it demonstrates how consistency creates momentum and that momentum carries one through to be even more productive and impactful no matter their endeavor. Consistency produces results, and results are what counts. Renowned motivational speaker and author Les Brown often quotes Dr. Robert Anthony, who said, “You can only have two things in life, reasons or results. Reasons don’t count.” Consistency doesn’t rest on reasons, what you don’t have, what you weren’t given, who counted you out, who doesn’t believe in you, or how hard it may be to accomplish your goal. Consistency brings results. Period. Full stop. Consistency means not stopping, never giving up, never quitting. And if you do this, if you do not stop until you reach your goal, then you will succeed in whatever you set out to do.

So, not only should you obtain clarity on what you want to do, but once you do, be consistent in your pursuit of the goal, and you will reach it.

So be consistent, everyday!

In my next post I will discuss the next most important characteristic: Commitment.