Loving Those You Lead

I’m friends with several retired CEOs who are in their 70s and 80s – they are mentors – all of them come from very modest backgrounds. Their parents or grandparents may have been immigrants.

One might have predicted lifetimes spent in the social service or criminal justice systems due to being rambunctious children of the working poor initially uninterested in school.

However, they all ended up in parochial school where are the nuns had an unending interest in their success in life. The nuns loved them so much that they provided needed discipline and a rigorous scholastic experience. They also shared their faith with these young men.

Every single one of them went on to tremendous professional success and lifetime marriages and plenty of grandchildren and lives of generously giving to community and church.

All of them attribute all they are today to that educational experience.

What’s my point? We can learn a lot about leadership from these nuns.

There is no substitute for leadership motivated by love.

Leaders don’t lower the right standards – they help those they lead rise to and perform at those standards. Discipline is born of love. Insisting on integrity and helping other lead lives for purposes greater than ourselves is what leaders do. Sacrifice is the constant companion of leadership.

Never giving up against the odds and obstacles is embedded within the DNA of leaders.

Let’s try to be this kind of leader in the lives of others.

From the Teacher: Leadership Lessons with Dr. Saviak is a weekly column with the esteemed Joseph C. Saviak, Ph.D., J.D., M.A., M.S., Management Consulting & Leadership Training.