Friday, June 18, 2010

Leadership is not selfishness

Why do you think you are instructed to put your oxygen mask on first in an airplane emergency?

Well, the obvious answer is to save yourself. The more robust answer is to save yourself so you can help others.

Quite often leaders in our society are frowned upon because they are taking care of themselves. For example, those is leadership roles are considered “selfish” for; taking vacations with their families, allocating time for continuing education, playing golf, going on a retreat, etc.

The reality is leaders need to take care of themselves in order to effectively lead those they serve.
I don’t know about you, but I want my “leader” to be healthy and wealthy. Not just in a monetary sense, but as a whole person; physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Vince Lombardi once said: "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen endeavor."

Bottom line: Leaders need to first take care of themselves, in order to be effective quality leaders.

2 comments:

Weston Lyon said...

AWESOME analogy, Bob!

You definitely have to take care of yourself first; before you can take care of other people.

Another analogy along the same line that comes from Dr. Wayne Dyer is: When you squeeze an orange, what do you get? Orange juice, right? You don't get carrot juice. Not pineapple juice. Nor do you get cranberry juice.

You get what's INSIDE the orange...orange juice. Same goes for people. You can only give what you already have inside you.

Thanks for the great material!

Phyllis Tkacik said...

Bob, as always....great job! Your blogs are always so timely for me. I'm working on my Jul newsletter (Alzheimer's) - researching resources for care-givers. From personal experience...I can relate to the need to first take care of your own health (& attitude!). Thanks for a great blog!