“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt – Excerpt from the speech “Citizenship In A Republic” delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910
INSPIRATION | Follow your heart
“Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by DOGMA, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition – they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.
While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, Greenleaf said:
“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”
“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“
Sarcasm: The use of irony to mock or convey contempt… Anyone who has suffered from the sarcastic remarks of others will not be too surprised to learn that sarcasm, “a cutting remark,” comes from a Greek verb, sarkazein, that literally means “to tear flesh like a dog.” Very early, though, this Greek verb came to mean “to bite one’s lip in rage,” and “to gnash one’s teeth,” and finally “to sneer.”
The Greek noun sarkasmos, from which the English sarcasm comes, meant “a sneering or hurtful remark.” But even today sarcasm is often described as sharp, cutting, or wounding, recalling in a faint way the original meaning of the Greek verb.
Enabling others to act is one of the five principles of leadership called out by Jim Kouses and Barry Posner in their book, The Leadership Challenge. One aspect of enabling others to act is knowing how to delegate, but it is much more and is deeply intertwined with the other four principles: Creating an inspired vision, Modeling the way, Challenging the Process and encouraging the heart.
So what does Enabling others to act mean beyond simple delegation? First, let’s spend a few minutes on the art of delegation. How many times have you sat at the top of an organization and not wanted to turn loose of a task because it seems it would be easier and quicker to yourself; or the team is already working so hard and you don’t want to burden them; or you don’t trust that it will be done exactly how you want it done; or it’s something you really enjoy doing and so you do it yourself even though there are more pressing matters at hand; or you have no clue how to do the task and you don’t want to embarrass yourself by asking for help. I could go in, but you get the point.
No one is perfect… At times I try and shield my people from a messy task and not to overload them. Sometimes these tasks belong on my desk and so I’m on track for not delegating. On the other hand, what have I done if I do not delegate something that should rightfully be delegated? First, I have shortchanged the organization and possibly put the company in jeopardy by spending time on the task rather than keeping my eye on the bigger picture such as focusing on the organization’s strategy and direction. Second, and more importantly, I have robbed someone from the opportunity to learn by doing or shine by doing.
What are some of the other aspects of enabling others to act? For most this may be a blinding glimpse of the obvious… Ask yourself, do my people have the right equipment, materials, organization structure, training and development, atmosphere and culture within which to work, are they safe both physically and emotionally… can they relate to, and have they bought into, the company vision, and can they step out with new ideas and raise issues without fear. There are many more questions along these lines, and so much more that can be said.
Suffice it to say, enabling others to act is worth any good person’s time to reflect upon as it relates to how they lead their team.
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