Welcome to the blog of Quality Leadership Consultants. Each time I post, I’ll be passing along the leadership lessons I have learned (and often personally experienced) as a leader. Throughout the years I have been afforded the opportunity to serve in the market place as well as in the challenging worlds of non-profits and churches. As a service to you, I’ll be on the look out for great quotes, useful links, and practical tools that you can use as a leader. No matter where you lead, I believe you will find each blog posting useful for you. Ready to lead? May we all lead with Quality in Mind.
Leading with you,
Denny Bates
The Servant Leader by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges
I came across this book a few months ago and want to pass on to you some of the quotes that made an impression on me. May we all learn how to become quality leaders who are servant leaders.
“Self-Serving Leaders vs. Servant Leaders”
One of the quickest ways you can tell the difference between a servant leader and a self-serving leader is how they handle feedback, because one of the biggest fears that self-serving have is to lose their position.” Pg. 17
“Self-serving leaders spend most of their time protecting their status. If you give them feedback, how do they usually respond? Negatively. They think your feedback means that you don’t want their leadership anymore.” Pg. 17
“Servant leaders, however, look at leadership as an act of service. They embrace and welcome feedback as a source of useful information on how they can provide better service.” Pg. 18
“Another way to tell a self-serving from a servant leader is how they approach succession planning. Self-serving leaders who are addicted to power, recognition and who are afraid of loss of position are not likely to spend any time or effort in training their replacements.” Pg. 18
“One aspect of a job well done as a servant leader is what we do to prepare others to carry on after our season of leadership is completed. Your personal succession planning efforts will speak volumes about your motives as a leader. It is likely that anyone leading from an ego involved in the promotion and protection of self is not going to spend much time training and developing their potential successor. Just as avoiding or discouraging honest feedback on a day-to-day basis is a mark of an ego-driven leader, so is failure to develop someone to take your place.” Pg. 20
“Leighton Ford in Transforming Leadership notes that ‘Long before modern managers, Jesus was busy preparing people for the future. He wasn’t aiming to pick a crown prince, but to create a successor generation. When the time came for Him to leave, He did not put in place a crash program of leadership development—the curriculum had been taught for three years in a living classroom.” Pg. 20-21
“How are you doing in preparing others to take your place when the time comes? Do you consider them a threat or an investment in the future? Are you willing to share what you know and provide opportunities to learn and grow to those who will come after you? If not, why not? These are critical matters of the heart of a servant leader. A few minutes of brutal honesty regarding your motives as a leader are worth years of self-deception.” Pg. 21
“Servant leaders, who consider their positions as being on loan and as an act of service, look beyond their own season of leadership and prepare the next generation of leaders.” Pg. 21
“Jesus modeled the true servant leader by investing most of His time training and equipping the disciples for leadership when His earthly ministry was over.” Pg. 21
“When we’re fearful, we are protective of ourselves at work and at home. Fearful leaders may hide behind their positions, withhold information, intimidate others, become ‘control freaks’ and discourage honest feedback.” Pg. 27
“Pride and fear always separate man from God, man from other people, and man from himself.” Pg 28
“If you’re constantly looking to make yourself feel good or worthwhile based on your performance or the opinions of others, you’re constantly going to be chasing an elusive, frustrating fantasy.” Pg. 29
“The loneliness and isolation that result from fear of intimacy leaves the leader separated from the realities of what is going on and from the good ideas that others may have to offer.” Pg. 29
“Every day we will be faced with temptations to react in prideful ways, so we will always be ‘in recovery.’” Pg. 32
Blanchard, Ken & Hodges, Phil. 2003. The servant leader: transforming your heart, head, hands, and habits. Nashville, TN: J. Countryman (a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
