“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” -Pope John Paul II
Leadership is demanding. Complex in its simplicity. Stressful in its formidable challenges. It often conspires to reward and frustrate simultaneously. It can feel like you are pushing a two-ton boulder up a hill. More often than not, it is two steps forward and one back. It is just the nature of the work.
Especially deep down, gritty, authentic, servant leadership. Real leadership. The kind that makes you believe. Believe you can do more than you ever imagined. The kind that makes you feel like you are part of something significant, even life-changing. Leadership that makes you want to be ‘all in’.
True servant leaders live for those fleeting moments…moments when others rise up with passion and say…”we did it!” Giving from the core of their being to raise others up. No agendas. No secret motives. Just the betterment of others at the forefront of all decisions and actions.
Yet, truly authentic leadership at its highest level exacts a price…it takes a toll. It can be all-encompassing. Never off the clock. Twenty-four seven, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year.
And for this reason, it requires a balance. Especially if we are to serve others at the highest level. Otherwise, when we are out of balance, tilted…we lose our equilibrium. We lose our grounding. Our foundation shifts.
Unfortunately, this is more par for the course than we like to admit…
The stories are too numerous to count – leaders who have done phenomenal things for their organizations – yet, have left a scattered path of failed families, failed marriages, and troubled children in the wake of their organizational triumphs. A parallel of life and leadership that evokes determination, triumph, success, dysfunction, detachment, and disappointment.
Which gives even more credence for the necessity and need of leadership to come home for the holidays.
As we enter the holidays and make our plans and goals for the year to come…we need to put home at the top of our priority list. Home is where real leadership starts. It requires the deepest of emotional investment. It is where it will matter the most in the long run. And it will be the most difficult and most important leadership job we will ever tackle. And the most rewarding. Family.
We need to be resolute for the year to come to dedicate our leadership, first and foremost, to those who need it the most. Our family. Family is ground zero…the foundation of our leadership. And they deserve our best. Not what we have left-over from long days of serving others. Our very best. And from here, our leadership will flourish and grow to the betterment of the organizations and people that we serve outside of our family.
So this season…
Let’s allow our leadership to come home for the Holidays.
“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” -Mother Teresa
DCulberhouse 
Reblogged this on … Not the Principal's Office!!! and commented:
What a great post; I hope all school leaders are heading home.
Well said David! I’m very fortunate to have the supportive spouse that I have and two grown children that have supported me throughout my career. Even so, I always schedule a day off for my wife and family within my 70-75 hour work week. it is non-negotiable.
When I meet with new teachers I always talk to them about balance. Keeping the three priorities: Faith, family and then the job is required to maintain that balance. It is an absolute must!