Our President's motto: "Wisdom is found in those who take advice."
Posted by Hans Geesmann
on Jul 05, 2011
The incoming President of our Rotary Club Munich International Prof. Dr. Ekkart Zimmermann for the upcoming RY 2011/12 has held a speach in the occasion of our "Change of Guards" meeting on July 4 in the Waldwirtschaft.
Dear Guests and Rotarian friends,
welcome to the annual change of the guards in one of the most beautiful beer-gardens of Munich. Having heard so many excellent speakers, my remarks can be brief:
First, let us all thank President Gabriele Wahl-Multerer and her team of the past Rotarian year for the wonderful work they have done. Standing up, shaking your legs and clapping your hands for a while may be appropriate.
Second, quite a few fellow Rotarians have asked the incoming president about his motto. When hearing the motto in a moment, some of you will easily say: "Right to the point", the new president will need just that.
And the motto is: "Wisdom is found in those who take advice." As you know, Solomon is the sage giving us this advice. Undoubtedly, the new president, much less so his team, will make and in preparation of taking over: has already made, many mistakes. So your advice and your support are urgently needed.
Yet, before you do this: giving advice, be a little bit prepared what another of our lifetime-friends, namely Oscar Wilde, had to say on the expert, nowadays termed consultant: An expert is an ordinary man (or woman you might say) who when away from home is giving advice.
So much for the basics of making errors and hopefully learning from them.
Third, here is the new Rotarian team. Let each of them say one or two sentences about his or her aims during the coming year. As one says in German: "Das Holz ist gut, wenn es nur zum rechten Zimmermann kommt."
You will hear more about the evolving plans of the new team from tomorrow on.