SACRAO 2016

Sheryl Gray, University Registrar

Carson-Newman University

• Most content of this presentation is direct quotes and copied text from

• INCARNATE LEADERSHIP, 5 Leadership Lessons from the Life of Jesus

by Bill Robinson, Zondervan, 2009.

LEADING FROM AMONG

DEFINE LEADERSHIP

• “Leadership – a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task…. Organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal.”

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership

• Learn to be strong, but not rude

• Learn to be kind, but not weak

• Learn to be bold, but not a bully

• Learn to be humble, but not timid

• Develop Humor, without folly

• Learn to be proud, but not arrogant

• Deal in Realities, Deal in Truth

• Honesty

• Ability to Delegate

• Ability to Communicate

• Sense of Humor

• Commitment

• Confidence

• Positive Attitude

• Creativity

• Ability to Inspire

• Intuition

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LEADER

Forbes Success.com

FIVE LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES IN LEADING FROM AMONG

1. Minding the Gap

2. Leading Openly

3. Bending the Light

4. Living in Grace and Truth

5. Sacrificing

MINDING THE GAP

• A leadership Makeover - The Tom Coughlin Story

• The natural ascension of good leaders – How does rising to the pedestal happen?

• How do leaders get stuck on their pedestals?

(seduced by UP)

• How can leaders “come down” to be among the people they lead without relinquishing the roles and responsibilities of their positions?

Deemphasize the symbols of your position

Genuinely care about the people you lead and your joint mission

Take advantage of opportunities to engage those you lead

“The most powerful position of leadership is beside those we are called to lead. Among them.” pg. 36

LEADING OPENLY• Why should we lead transparently?

Information empowers; Ignorance disempowers

• Information holds immense power and should be disclosed wisely

Do not be reckless in disclosure

Time your disclosures

Do not disclose information that is confidential and legally protected

• Transparency and Trust: Nature abhors a vacuum, so does human nature

Why do leaders cloak disclosure?

What happens in an information vacuum?

PEOPLE MAKE STUFF UP

TRANSPARENCY, VALUES, AND RULES

In a productive organization, decisions based on values rely on wisdom and honesty.

• “Rules depend on knowledge and obedience”

• Why do we need rules?

• “The best leaders want thinkers in their organizations.

• “Less talent is needed to obey a rule than to make a well-reasoned decision.”

• “Openness brings mission and core values to the surface, organizations thrive in a culture of openness.”

TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY• A commitment to openness is a commitment to truth

• Two examples of transparency and integrity

ING and data breach

Tylenol poisoning

• What happens when our organizations get hit with really bad news?

Do we believe we are entitled to a “spin license”

• How do we tell the truth? How soon? How completely?

• “Too many times the truth either comes out in installments, which erodes trust ,or it is spun in such a way to save face which usually means incomplete truth.”

BENDING THE LIGHT: BECOME A MIRROR• Good leaders reflect glory, humans naturally want to absorb glory

• Good leaders operate in the mode that “It’s not just about me”

• When we deflect praise and credit toward our team members they feel great, when we steal praise, everyone suffers, including the “praise thief”.

• Leaders are often the focal point for credit, even though it takes many people working together to make an organization successful.

• How does swallowing the “humility pill” figure into our leadership abilities?

• Arrogance breeds laziness, humility energizes.

• Being humble doesn’t mean we are to be timid. We have to push, hustle, compete and work with passion and zeal with those who we share our joint mission.

• Good To Great author Jim Collins identifies a Level 5 leader as one “who is ambitious first and foremost for the cause, for the company, for the work, not for himself or herself, and has an absolutely terrifying will to make good on that ambition.” (Stuart Crainer interview published in January 3, 2006 issue of Management Issues.)

LIVING IN GRACE AND TRUTH• How do we operate in an environment of both grace and truth?

• “Grace and truth need each other. Grace ceases to be grace if it lacks truth. Truth loses is power if it lacks grace.”

• “Truth without grace is harsh, usually self-centered. Grace without truth is deceptively permissive, often lazy.”

• Grace corrects kindly, not in a mean spirited way. Grace celebrates what people do right, while acknowledging honestly where they need to improve. Grace restore confidence.

• What grace does not do: Grace never should lower our demands or expectations.

• You get what you give, if you trust, then you are trusted, when you doubt, you are doubted, when you give the benefit of the doubt, you receive the benefit of the doubt.

• Commitment to the truth means listening with discernment, Nurturing truth does not mean accepting everything you hear without probing and verifying.

SACRIFICING• Being a leader doesn’t necessarily mean losing your life, but it does mean that we have

to make sacrifices.

• We sacrifice for the mission, for the people executing the mission and for the people served by the mission.

• Giving credit empowers others. Sacrificing credit empowers the leader.

• Hoarding credit weakens the foundation of leadership; it is demoralizing to those who work at our sides.

• Any sacrifice made in service for the mission, no matter who in the organization makes it, provides leadership for the whole group.

• “Transforming leadership elevates the importance of the task and inspires followers to put the group interests before their home. Gary Yukl, Leadership in Organizations, [Prentice Hall 1997], page 351.

• How sacrifice creates a culture of leadership – The Aaron Feuerstein example

• Strong leaders must be willing to sacrifice, time, credit , comfort and privilege.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!Final Footnote and citation:

99% of the material for this presentation

was taken from or adapted from

Dr. Bill Robinson’s book

INCARNATE LEADERSHIP, Five Leadership Lessons From the Life of Jesus

Copyright 2009 ZondervonI am simply the communicator of Dr. Robinson’s writings and expertise

Sheryl Gray