It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
In this New Year I'm going to continue to explore some leadership quotes that might challenge us, inspire us or remind us of different aspects of the leadership journey. This is part of my personal journey to keep growing, learning and being stretched! Join me each Tuesday at 2:00pm (PST). It will take you just a few minutes to read through the 2 sections of this post, but don't miss the final section where I share some of the things I'm reading, listening to and enjoying this week.
I also invite you to share your favorite quote with a short description of "why it's your favorite". Simply send it to me HERE and I'll post it in an upcoming Tuesday at 2:00pm.
You can find past posts on my website HERE.
Enjoy!
LEADERSHIP QUOTE:
“Servant leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them." Ken Blanchard
What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.
A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:
This is the last of Ken Blanchards quotes that I'll share this month, but I encourage you to read some of his work. It's filled with valuable help for everyone in any kind of leadership!
Servant Leadership can be defined as: "A leadership philosophy built on the belief that the most effective leaders strive to serve others, rather than accrue power or take control."
That's one of the technical definitions, but Blanchard said it much simpler: "...rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win."
Others First. That's Servant Leadership.
And then, did you see his last comment? "...they don't work for you, you work for them." Talk about a paradigm shift! My job as a leader is to serve those that I'm leading. That's it.
Blanchard teaches so much about Servant Leadership. What does this mean to you? How do you live this out in your leadership?
DEEPER STILL:
One of my first jobs was cleaning our church. My father was the pastor, and he hired me to clean the church each week, and I remember the things he taught me to do... but he didn't teach me by "telling me", he did it by "showing me".
I did the basic vacuuming, dusting and cleaning. I would finish quickly, probably too quickly, and then I would see my dad do all the things I didn't even see: straightening chairs, pickup up papers outside, moving furniture around.... I realized that even though he was the Pastor, he was willing to do anything and everything. He did things that most people never even knew he did around the church, making it ready for people on Sunday Morning.
I learned a great lesson then that I still carry with me today. I'm never too important to do any task!
Blanchard shares this: You might be a servant leader if you...
Listen more than you talk
Think more about other peoples success than your own
Ask others for feedback on a regular basis
Empower others to make decisions without you
Love to catch people doing things right
Love to celebrate success
Empathize when things get tough
Consider mistakes to be learning opportunities
Wouldn't ask your people to do something you wouldn't do yourself.
How are you doing with this list? Are you a Servant Leader according to Blanchard?
Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:
Ken Blanchard's website.
Robert K. Greenleaf's book on Servant Leadership is a classic!
I'm playing around with this Journaling App that a friend introduced me to... Day One. There are some really great tools about this that I'm exploring!
I've been listening to Neil Young Essentials on Apple again this week. Great Tunes!
I started watching this documentary, Welcome to Wrexham. The language is rough, but it's a great story of football in Wales!
This week I'm hosting the 18th Annual Leader Mundial Summit in Georgia. We've seen hundreds of men and women in leadership attend our Leadership Summits around the world. This week, 57 men will gather from 15 countries for this 4-day Summit focused on Resilient Leadership. See this VIDEO for a snapshot.