“Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.”
― William Arthur Ward
Servant; Leader or Both?
14Now that I, your LORD and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you
John 13:14-15
In Corporate America there is a common misconception that in order to be an effective leader one must do one of two things. Serve others or serve self. In my line of business I’ve heard it explained that one can either manage process or people, but both leads to failure.
In my opinion, it should and can be both. In order to effectively lead others you must be willing to empathize with them, but you must also be knowledgeable enough to gain their trust.
If you manage process and not people, you neglect the very essence of what makes the organization run. If you manage people and not process, you will fail to inspire others to follow you.
Jesus left us a perfect example of true leadership. He was willing to humble himself even until death on the cross that we might understand that service to others is at the very core of leadership.
He was both a servant and a leader. Through His actions He showed us how to love and through His sacrifice He showed us how to lead.
You ask, “Servant or Leader”? I say, “Both”.
“You can’t teach what you don’t know, and you can’t lead where you won’t go”
-Jesse Jackson-
The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost-