Leaders – Be Guided By Our Service to Others

How we lead our personal lives has an appropriate bearing on who we are in our business lives. No matter what our religious beliefs, we are called by our faith to be kind, caring and respectful towards others.

How does this principle in our personal lives differ from our business lives?

It does not! Just as we should care about the well-being of our fellow women and men, so should we truly care about our team members and other colleagues in business.

The wonderful spiritual leader and author, Deepak Chopra, in his book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, offers that we honor others by being present with them, listening with care, and being kind. He says to always offer a gift upon greeting someone, e.g., the gift of our presence, a warm smile, a friendly handshake, or a kind hello.

Those who find success in their relationships gain great satisfaction by helping others succeed. This is leadership – encouraging, mentoring, teaching, coaching others. If we are humble and have inner-confidence, we gain satisfaction from the growth and success of others.

In our personal lives we are called to respect and care about our fellow women and men. In our business lives we are similarly called to be a good team member, whatever be our position, and that we respect, encourage and help our team members and other colleagues.

I am sure nearly everyone would agree with me about our calling in business, yet why then do Gallup polls of people in business reveal that half of those in the workforce think they do not have a good manager, that they under under-appreciated and that they are not fully engaged in their work?

The reasons are varied. Some managers are insecure, others are caught up in their title, power or compensation, and a great deal of managers are simply too busy. They are spending an inordinate amount of time in meetings and often are more present with their computers and smart phones than they are with their team members.

Recognize that the bulk of the work of the company is being done outside the executive wing, on the other floors, and not by the CEO and other senior people!

My call to action to those who are senior managers: get out of meetings, get off our executive wing or floor and walk around, have conversations, even brief conversations, with our people, asking them:

• How are you doing?
• How can we help you?
• What improvements could be made in our business?
• What do you think should be our priorities going forward?
• What advice do you have for me?

They will appreciate our asking for their ideas. They want to feel heard and that their ideas matter to us…and we will likely gain helpful and valuable ideas.

The best people in business are the givers, not the takers.