Self-sacrificing love. This is one of my favorites. It’s the creed that lends us such a comforting understanding that we are cared for. It’s the willingness to work for someone knowing that they have your best interest in mind. Will I really follow them anywhere? You bet.
Think of those stories and examples where someone took a band of disjointed, distraught, and disenfranchised people and within a span of time united them under one banner (Band of Brothers, for instance). That is leadership.
But it’s not dreamy, always-smiling to convince everyone that everything’s gonna be alright (as much as I like Bob Marley’s music, I don’t think that that sentence applies unilaterally). It’s being truthful. It’s not hiding the issues or trying to “protect” others from what’s actually happening. That’s a short term strategy. Self-sacrificing love one one that puts others first, and not your ego.
With this in mind, questions that I ask myself are:
- do I give up for my team?
- Do I sacrifice out of love and not (potential) gain?
- Can I serve, invest, pray for them?
Can I live this way, rather than doing it all for my own selfishness or own self-glorification?
Love is always at the core of true, long-lasting leadership. Love also changes people. It melts, molds people into tightly knit communities — where those stories of exceptionally great leaders come from.
Instead, we live when celebrity leaders lead with narcissism, rooted in selfishness and a lack of love.
Everyone takes their cue from senior leaders. We will mimic them, act like them — looking at your country/organization/team/group, will that create a healthy, wonderful or a deadly environment?
Do we feel personal concern from leadership? There’s a high correlation between toxic and amazing leadership. With amazing leadership, we can achieve. With toxic leadership, the clock is ticking.
Let’s not hesitate to show love to our teammates. Let’s rip down the veil that hides love and honestly care for each other. It pays dividends. But even the dividends aren’t the reason we should live that way: it’s love.
Originally published at www.jeffreybeaumont.com.
Jeff Beaumont 