Two Gather for Leadership

Leadership is a two-way street. I can’t lead if there is no one to walk with me. I can’t be led if I have no one to look up to. The last ten years have taught me awesome lessons in leadership. How to lead from the top, lead by influence, lead from the trenches… The list can go on and on until the cattle come home.

This day a decade ago, I started walking beside an awesome person with a beautiful heart. I have been leading her as she has helped me appreciate how to be led by her. My lovely Harriette has in many ways shown me two critical gems a leader’s heart should have in abundance. Love and Service.

Love unreservedly… [TweetMe] To love is to live without holding onto any hostages. Love has anchored our ability to resolve conflict before the day comes to an end. Not only is it healthy, we are able to have more difficult conversations without being bitter towards each other. Trusting each other that all will be okay, regardless of our circumstances. This helps us to work hard at covering each other’s flanks from the rigors of life.

“Great leaders genuinely care for and love the people they lead more than they love leading itself. Leadership without love degenerates into self-serving manipulation.” ~Rick Warren

Serve without exception… [TweetMe] A leader serves not from their comfort zone. From the onset, we chose a route that fully acknowledged what our expectations were of each other. This helped us to serve one another, our children and community. Leadership is to be of service to one another, it has kept us together even during times of hardship.

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

As we have loved and served together, we have gained some friends, but sadly, lost some we thought were friends. When you take a stand, you will know whom your real friends are [TweetMe]. This is the cost of a value-driven leadership. It has kept our ship sailing through amazing vistas as well as treacherous water. We are stronger…

Love

Say, what is the spell, when her fledglings are cheeping,
     That lures the bird home to her nest?
Or wakes the tired mother, whose infant is weeping,
     To cuddle and croon it to rest?
What’s the magic that charms the glad babe in her arms,
     Till it cooes with the voice of the dove?
‘Tis a secret, and so let us whisper it low —
     And the name of the secret is Love!
          For I think it is Love,
          For I feel it is Love,
          For I’m sure it is nothing but Love!

Say, whence is the voice that, when anger is burning,
     Bids the whirl of the tempest to cease?
That stirs the vexed soul with an aching — a yearning
     For the brotherly hand-grip of peace?
Whence the music that fills all our being — that thrills
     Around us, beneath, and above?
‘Tis a secret; none knows how it comes, how it goes;
     But the name of the secret is Love!
          For I think it is Love,
          For I feel it is Love,
          For I’m sure it is nothing but Love!

Say, whose is the skill that paints valley and hill,
     Like a picture so fair to the sight?
That flecks the green meadow with sunshine and shadow,
     Till the little lambs leap with delight?
‘Tis a secret untold to hearts cruel and cold,
     Though ’tis sung by the angels above,
In notes that ring clear for the ears that can hear —
     And the name of the secret is Love!
          For I think it is Love,
          For I feel it is Love,
          For I’m sure it is nothing but Love!

(“The Hunting of the Snark and Other Poems and Verses,” by Lewis Carroll. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1903.)

What keeps you going? We welcome your thoughts as we mark this great day 🙂

 photo credit: ralph and jenny via photopin cc