Divinely-Centered Leadership- 9/5/12

Today in my student leadership development class, Neal Cox, the Associate Dean of Student Life at BYU,  gave us a lecture on "Servant Leadership." He lives by the quote by Steven R. Covey, "You'll find that as you care less about what others think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves and their worlds, including their relationship with you." 

I really enjoyed his message on serving others because I did a lot of leadership in high school. I was class president for 3 years and student body president my senior year, and the stereotype at least at my school was that "leadership kids" were elitists and just did favors for their friends. When I was in charge of the class, I made a special effort to encourage the class to be more friendly, serve others more, and act with integrity. I knew that people watched us and noticed the little things, and those seemingly little things could easily turn people against the things that we were trying to promote. With that in mind, my leadership motto was: "people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." When you show people that you love them through service then they are way more likely to respond to you.

Anyhow for my leadership class, I had to answer some questions so hear goes nothing...

1. I really liked how he talked about focusing on others instead of ourselves. A lot of the time I find myself getting really caught up in what I am doing and how I feel that I don't find the time to look outside myself and notice what other people are doing and/or feeling. Missing opportunities to talk to people or help them out in small ways got me thinking. At BYU Foundations of Leadership, I heard Neal Cox speak and I decided that I really needed to get to know people and really show them that I care. Sooo, since school started, I have been trying harder to look for people either on my floor or in my classes to talk to and try to befriend. Sometimes I have more success than others, but I have never regretted it since. However, all of the times that I pass up an opportunity, I regret it and wished that I had. It can be hard to put yourself out there especially if you are afraid of what people will think, but I like to think about how good it feels when others show interest in me and that helps me to motivate me.

2. Based on what Neal Cox taught, I would define servant leadership by first defining what I think it means to be a servant. I think that a servant is somebody who isn't really defined by their words as much as their actions. Servants work even in times when they are tired, stressed, hungry, pressured, etc.
They are humble and do not think much about themselves because they are constantly worrying about others and thinking of ways to help them. That focus when applied to leadership really narrows down my list of people that I would consider "servant leaders." The servant leaders that I know don't really talk about themselves as much as they do about others that they are concerned about. You can tell that they have really big hearts and really care about the people that they are trying to help. In light of the leadership aspect of servant leadership, I think that servant leaders inspire others to serve as well because they are super happy, confident people even if they have their fair share of challenges.

3. I have really looked up to my dad as a person who is a servant leader. I rarely hear him complain when I know that he is stressed from work and all of the others things that he has on his plate. As the head of our family, my dad works endlessly to provide for us, and also finds time to express his love. Every morning for as long as I can remember, my dad wakes up in the morning to make me breakfast and/or lunch (even when I had to leave the house every morning for seminary at 6:40 am). Then he goes running with our dog (that he cares for mostly since all of the kids who wanted her usually forget). Then after taking my little sister to school, he goes to work as a family physician. He takes care of people and their problems all day, then comes home to help around the house, make dinner, and hang out with the fam. If that wasn't enough, he also takes care of people in the ward or extended family members that always call him for medical advice and such. People love my dad as a doctor and a friend because he genuinely shows interest in people and constantly goes out of his way to help them. He is the best example to me of servant leadership because he has served me all of my life and has inspired me to do the same.