Just recently, I finished a book about leadership called The Servant, written by James C. Hunter. It was written as a fictional tale that brought many leadership principles out within the story. It is a good and fast read. Dialogue can get a little cheesy, but the principles found within the pages are priceless and timeless. Here are some of the thoughts from the book that were most influential to me:"Authority: The skill of getting people to WILLINGLY do your will because of your personal influence. Authority cannot be bought or sold, given or taken away. Authority is about who you are as a person, your character, and the influence you've built with people."
"Power: The ability to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might. POWER ERODES RELATIONSHIPS. Power people are generally threatened by authority people."
"Leaders should identify and meet the NEEDS of their people, SERVE them. I did not say that they should identify and meet the WANTS of their people, be SLAVES to them. Slaves do what others WANT, servants do what other NEED. There is a world of difference between meeting wants and meeting needs. As a parent, for example, if I were to allow my children to do whatever they want, how many of you would want to spend time at my home? Not too many of you, I suspect, because the kids would be running the place, we'd have 'anarchy.'”
“Intentions minus actions equals squat. All the good intentions in the world don’t mean a thing if they don’t line up with our actions.”
“I don’t necessarily have to like my players and associates but as the leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization.” -Vince Lombardi
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking about yourself less.”
“Forgiveness is giving up resentment when wronged.”
“When we publicly punish someone, we obviously have embarrassed them in front of their peers and that is a huge withdrawal out of our account with them. But in addition to that, when you publicly humiliate people, you also make a withdrawal out of your relational accounts with everyone watching because public floggings are horrible to witness and people wonder, ‘When will my turn come?’
“Praxis says if I make a commitment to love and extend myself for those I serve, and align my actions and behaviors to that commitment, positive regard for those people will follow over time. We are more likely to act ourselves into a feeling than feel ourselves into action.”
“People must buy into the leader before they buy into a mission statement.”
“Intentions minus actions equals squat. All the good intentions in the world don’t mean a thing if they don’t line up with our actions.”
“I don’t necessarily have to like my players and associates but as the leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization.” -Vince Lombardi
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking about yourself less.”
“Forgiveness is giving up resentment when wronged.”
“When we publicly punish someone, we obviously have embarrassed them in front of their peers and that is a huge withdrawal out of our account with them. But in addition to that, when you publicly humiliate people, you also make a withdrawal out of your relational accounts with everyone watching because public floggings are horrible to witness and people wonder, ‘When will my turn come?’
“Praxis says if I make a commitment to love and extend myself for those I serve, and align my actions and behaviors to that commitment, positive regard for those people will follow over time. We are more likely to act ourselves into a feeling than feel ourselves into action.”
“People must buy into the leader before they buy into a mission statement.”
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