Tuesday at 2:00pm with Russ

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

Greetings to you!

Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.

Russ...

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Bosses push, Leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership." Dave Ramsey


What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month we're going to do a dive into SERVANT LEADERSHIP. You can see past blog posts on leadership and a variety of topics HERE.

Knowing when to PUSH and when to PULL is often a challenge for leaders. Ramsey reminds us that servant leadership IS "REAL" leadership, and the posture should be one of PULLING not PUSHING.

However, there are times in leadership when you need to do both.

There's a management style that's called PUSH & PULL. To simplify it, it's basically this:

To Drive for Outcomes, Leaders PUSH

To Inspire & Motivate Others, Leaders PULL

Harvard Business Review shares an article by Joseph Folkmann where he talks about the value of both, but the article doesn't really connect with servant leadership.

The real challenge in leadership is to know when and how to both push and pull. Walking that line is what separates a good leader from a great leader.

What do you respond to best: Being PUSHED or being PULLED?

DEEPER STILL:

I've been PUSHED:

  • I was thrown into a public speaking gig without much time to think and was told that it would be good for my confidence. It wasn't.

  • I was dared to do something by friends because they wanted to see if I would do it. The pressure from my friends drove me to act.

  • I was challenged to apply for a position not because I thought it would be a good opportunity, but because someone else thought it would be a good opportunity.

These are all PUSHES. I learned from them. I grew from them, and some of them were just miserable.

I've been PULLED:

  • Some friends invited me to join them in trying out for a play. I jumped at the invitation and enjoyed the experience.

  • I was invited by a leader I respected to share my experience at a conference with other leaders. I accepted and enjoyed the opportunity to speak and share lessons I had learned.

  • I was invited by a mentor to "come and watch" as he spoke at a large conference. I loved seeing him in that arena, but I also learned a lot.

These are all PULLS. I look at them and enjoyed each of these opportunities.

Even in writing these, there's a different tone between a PUSH and a PULL. The push felt harsher, felt like more of a challenge. The pull felt more gentle and more of an invitation.

Again, there are opportunities for both in leadership, but maybe the pull is more like servant leadership simply because of the posture of that invitation.

Here's the real posture of servant leadership:

"Let each of you look not only to his own interestes, but also to the interest of others." Philippians 2:4 (ESV)

How do you keep this perspective in your leadership: Look at the interests of others.

 

Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:

Source: www.leadermundial.org