Posts Tagged ‘Success’

Servant Leadership Panel at Hope College

April 13th, 2010
Hope College Anchor

The Hope College Anchor

Last night, I was honored to participate in a panel on Servant Leadership at Hope College’s Center for Faithful Leadership.  The panel was part of the college’s mentoring program. Below are the questions we covered and my responses (including more content than covered in the session) :

1. What does Servant Leadership mean to you?

For me, Servant Leadership is the only real form of leadership.  After all, if you’re not serving others, you are not leading.  If your primary ambition is self-motivated for personal success, fame and fortune and not for a greater cause, then all you’re really doing is pursuing vain ambitions.

In contrast to the self-serving individual, servant leaders seek to help others become something greater.  They put all stakeholders before themselves in some degree.  Some people think servant leadership means only serving your employees, the poor or any singular constituency, but it’s really about understanding the needs of the broader organization.  So, in business for example, this means yes, serving your employees, but it also means serving your customers, supervisors and investors. » Read more: Servant Leadership Panel at Hope College

Foregiveness For Balance

March 8th, 2010
Together We Work

We Forgive Because, Together, We Work

It was my last night in Italy on what was was a particularly draining, transatlantic business trip.  The average day included 12+ hours of working sessions, followed by 2 or 3 hour email marathons.  The trip was immensely successful, but I was drained – physically and emotionally.  I plopped down in a leather chair in front of the fireplace.  It was nice to finally appreciate the comfort our Italian villa bed & breakfast intended.

Soon after I sat down, two fellow business travelers struck up a conversation with me.  The British pair were account representatives for another manufacturing firm and were wrapping up “aggressive negotiations” with one of their partners.  As the dialog progressed, I was struck by how well these two balanced each other.

The more senior gentleman was more reserved and filled the role of the conservative, voice of reason and patience in negotiations.  The younger gentleman was much more tenacious and referred to as occasionally ”unrelenting”.  Throughout the conversation, there were comments from the superior such as, “that’s why I didn’t bring you along on that negotiation – you would have destroyed them!”  Yet the younger gentleman did not mind, responding “of course!  I understood and agree with you – I would not have been a good fit in that trip.”

» Read more: Foregiveness For Balance

Achieving Your Dreams and Lessons for Life

June 2nd, 2008

Can you ask for more in a presentation? 1 hour and 16 minutes of life lessons, wisdom on achieving your dreams and much, much more. Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007. Included within is a great deal of humor, optimism and lessons for everyone. There is also a real servant-leadership undertone. By the time he finishes, you feel as though you’ve gained a mentor. As a bonus, Randy is a professor in virtual reality – so most of us “techies” will find a lot of the references particularly familiar: