Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
at 10:10am
My Servant Leadership journey has been a powerful one, this past week especially. On Friday I had the opportunity to spend the day with about 85 of the staff at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, Wis. This small private Catholic college blew me away as we started the day-long convocation. Fifteen of their staff members led the group in a Servant Leadership reflection, which had my eyes welling up as I stepped up on stage. The reflection lasted only 15 minutes but the quotes and sharing were powerful. I thought I would share some of the quotes that I heard.
Lau Tzu:
”A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.”
John Quincy Adams:
”If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are the leader.”
Fr. Keith Clark:
”Next to the words ‘thank you,’ we believe the words ‘what do you think?’ are the most empowering words a leader can speak.”
Joseph P. Chinnici, O.F.M.:
”I believe that when we can see all of this in the same field—then we will catch the ‘bug’… of being a Franciscan intellectual, and we will discover a voice, and we will learn to treasure – in a profound way – each other’s voice; because, no matter what the language, I sit and learn and teach and that way we become brothers and sisters together.”
Although my presence there was to share the VOICE we all have as unique individuals through the lens of Servant Leadership, I left feeling, in the presence of those Servant Leaders, that I gained more than I had to give.
Joe Kiedinger
ACTION PLAN: Use “what do you think” in your conversations at least five times this week.
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
at 9:36am
Have you heard of Arianna Huffington? She is a master of using social media. She started an American news content aggregating website in 2005 and sold it to AOL in February of 2011 for $315 million! Not bad! OK, so I led you into thinking I interviewed Arianna with my title for this Wisdom. She actually spoke at a conference I attended. She is a fascinating woman, very funny and very insightful. I would like to share with you some powerful wisdom that she shared with me.
Arianna spoke mostly about engagement. People today want to be understood and heard. It’s so easy to be heard … start a blog! Some of you have your own blog like I do and I applaud you. Arianna discovered in 2005 that there is so much great content, why not direct it to one site called the Huffington Post? Here are three of my favorite quotes (I forgot who she quoted) that I took away from her hour-long presentation:
1. There are so many things that I’ve faced in my life and most never happened.
2. I’ve had such a wonderful life … I wish I would have realized it sooner.
3. How I deal with an issue IS the issue!
The third is the one that I’ve dedicated my life to helping others address, as my life’s journey is focused on teaching. When it comes to teaching and learning, not everyone understands language and style of communication the same way. Some people love it when you’re direct. Some prefer a softer approach to coaching. If you don’t know how a person likes to be communicated with, how do you expect to make an impact?
People think they need to be “fair” to the people they lead so they treat them all the same. That works only if everyone IS the same and we are not. How you resolve issues with one person is often completely the opposite for another if you wish to have a real impact. Understand that Servant Leadership is meeting the legitimate needs of another person. Learn what makes everyone different and unique and be aware of HOW you treat people.
Joe Kiedinger
ACTION PLAN: Until Friday you can get a FREE About Me Card and find out what makes you unique. Go to www.aboutmecard.com, create a business account and use the coupon code: SHRM11 to create your About Me Card! The code will no longer be valid after the close of business on Friday!
About Me Card
