“Your greatest impact upon this world is when you choose to serve others…you create an imprint and influence of exponential proportions…pushing out in wave after wave.”
While it is never completely cut and dried, very often leaders fall into one of two camps…
Givers or Takers.
Servants Leaders or Self-Serving, Positional Leaders.
The interesting thing is that both styles of leadership can be incredibly effective in creating highly successful organizations. The difference lies in the journey, the path, the doing of the work that takes them to their success…
One mindset is additive, creating a positive surplus.
The other mindset is subtractive, creating a deficit.
When a leader is self-serving and subtractive, they slowly deplete and drain away their principal resource…those they serve. Self-serving, positional leaders are constantly deficit spending towards that resource and it is just a matter of time before their leadership ends up bankrupt. Unfortunately, usually after they have depleted the organization and those within.
When leaders continually refuse to…
- Honor the ideas, expertise, and talent of their people
- Give credit and celebrate the work and success of others
- Treat others with empathy and compassion, while employing a harsh and demeaning manner
- Treat others as valuable members of the team, rather than as a commodity or resource to be used
They fail as leaders to serve their organizations and those within…
They are leading on borrowed time. Borrowing resources from which they have built no reserves. In doing so, they are deficit spending. And eventually their deficit spending will leave their leadership bankrupt. Devoid of all value.
Servant leaders…in contrast, are constantly building up reserves. A reservoir of resources that they can borrow against if necessary. Their leadership is additive, rather than subtractive. They understand that their greatest asset is those they serve and constantly look to build up and preserve that resource.
Eventually you have to account for your leadership and determine…
How is your leadership affecting your organization? Your people? Are you building up a cache of resources and reserves? Or are you depleting, diminishing, and draining away your assets?
In other words…is deficit spending leaving your leadership bankrupt?
DCulberhouse 