My former career in the pressure cooker of Health Care was a minefield. Positive individual care was a priority while staying within budget. Staff rights were balanced with responsibility and integrity while Board members’ demands often contrasted policy. The job required the strategic thinking of Winston Churchill, the negotiating skills of Henry Kissinger and the leadership ability of Peter Drucker.
My leadership training was similar to other CEO’s. We were taught to hire, hold accountable, counsel and terminate. We planned strategically, set achievable goals, organized and re-engineered. Our visions ensured clients were valued customers upholding the guiding principles on the sleeves of our sweatshirts. We designed seamless services, thought inside and outside the box while pretending the box didn’t exist. I read Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, Lewin’s Democratic, Autocratic and Laissez-faire styles. I’ve used Blake & Moulton on the managerial grid and Tannenbaum & Schmidt on Authority and Freedom. I’ve been surveyed by Hersey & Blanchard and have worked with Theory X, Y and Z. The corporate world taught me a lot. However, secular leadership is designed to fill a toolbox with skills to motivate and manipulate others to achieve predetermined goals.
The secular world didn’t teach me to follow a life transformed by the mind of Christ. I wasn’t taught to see my leadership role as God’s chosen servant with a love for my staff, Board and competitors. Servant leadership as a disciple of Christ is not taught in secular business schools.
As a Christian Servant Leader, I strive to integrate my spiritual values on the job. God created me, “in His own image”. (Genesis 1:27 NIV) He pre-wired skills, abilities and gifts before my birth. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”. (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV) God-directed Servant Leadership is a transformed life of serving, giving and living the life Christ demonstrated for us.
We need to transform our leadership to Christ’s image.
Laurie D. Kennedy
Author
Leadership Is … Devotions for Servant Leaders
Leadership Is … Serving with Integrity