Leadership matters. \u00a0It is both a rebarbative essential and a winsome desire.\u00a0 What makes an effective leader matters; yet, what matters may shift with the situation, the culture of the social environment, and the demographics and perceptions of the followers.<\/p>\n
What kind of leadership will work today and in the future?\u00a0 What kind of leadership will you embrace and embody?\u00a0 If leadership is a calculus, then it stands to reason that style and methods may need to shift over time, even over a single day, perhaps in the same meeting.<\/p>\n
A style increasingly\u00a0referenced, and yet frequently misunderstood, is servant leadership.\u00a0 Simply put, a servant leader is one who serves others first, who is selfless, not to a fault, but to an end that is not their own. \u00a0A\u00a0servant leader may have common visible attributes: kindness, humility, a strong sense of balanced responsibility, but not all are universal. \u00a0Some historical military leaders were \u00a0servant leaders, but kindness and humility not always outwardly present. \u00a0However, a strong sense of balanced responsibility is a common thread even in the military.<\/p>\n
A balanced sense of responsibility can be found throughout military history in both myth and true accounts.\u00a0 It is most commonly expressed as a leader feeling responsible for victory, or successful defense against invaders, while protecting the lives of civilians and soldiers, and minimizing damage to civilian and military infrastructure.\u00a0 It often includes thinking ahead to the next battle while considering the capacity and capabilities of the people and the collective company or battalion they constitute.<\/p>\n
How does a leader achieve the right balance? \u00a0First, by recognizing the need to surround themselves with a balanced group of advisors and lieutenants, to listen to what the people have to say, and to check their assumptions and biases.\u00a0 Second, by crafting their communications with balanced perspective and recognition for the various receiving constituents and their unique perspectives and roles.\u00a0 And third, by making decisions that clearly and outwardly maintain integrity of the balance for which they\u2019ve chosen to be responsible. \u00a0\u00a0In other words, by being dedicated to the truth, simultaneously honest and visionary, and committed to the people and their purpose.<\/p>\n
Taking the path of servant leader isn\u2019t essential to achieving a proper balance in every possible situation, but I would argue it is the one path that works consistently in every situation in a balanced way with integrity and sustainability. \u00a0Our founding fathers had faults and made mistakes.\u00a0 They had moments of bias, self-centeredness and breaks in integrity and humility.\u00a0 Yet, many of them embraced servant leadership.\u00a0 George Washington, John Adams, and yes even Thomas Jefferson were servant leaders.\u00a0 Abraham Lincoln\u2019s secret to success was embracing servant leadership.\u00a0 He is by far the best historical example, which is why most of the historical books in my library are about him. \u00a0Read a book about A. Lincoln if you want to learn more about servant leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leadership matters. \u00a0It is both a rebarbative essential and a winsome desire.\u00a0 What makes an effective leader matters; yet, what matters may shift with the situation, the culture of the social environment, and the demographics and perceptions of the followers. What kind of leadership will work today and in the future?\u00a0 What kind of leadership […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}