John, Chapter 12, Verse 25
Whoever loves his life--loses
it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.
We are all seeds and a
seed that is not buried will not bear fruit. Jesus is mentioning his own self-giving which He joins to that of His
disciples. They are called to identical servant roles.[1]
This is servant leadership.
The
servant leader is servant first…. Becoming a servant-leader begins with the
natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice
brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is
leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or
to acquire material possessions. For such people, it will be a later choice to
serve—after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first
are two extreme types. Between them are the shadings and blends that are part
of the infinite variety of human nature (Greenleaf, 2002, pp. 24-25)
Finding your Voice[2]
The 8th Habit: From
Effectiveness to Greatness is a book written by Stephen R.
Covey, published in 2004. It is an upgrade of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People, first published in 1989. As such, it clarifies and
reinforces Covey's earlier declaration that "Interdependence
is a higher value than independence." The eighth habit is "Find your
voice and inspire others to find theirs." Voice is Covey's code for
"unique personal significance." Those who inspire others to find
theirs are the leaders needed now and for the future, according to Covey. The
central idea of the book is the need for steady recovery and application of the
whole person paradigm, which holds that persons have four intelligence's -
physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual. Denial of any of them reduces
persons to things, inviting many problems. The industrial
age is assumed to have been a period dependent on such denial. Covey
believed the information age and a foreseen "Age of
Wisdom" requires "whole" people (in whole jobs). The book talks
of "5 Cancerous Behaviors" (page 135) that inhibit people's
greatness:
·
Criticism
·
Complaining
·
Comparing
·
Competing
·
Contending
People can discover
their voice because of the three gifts everyone is born with:
·
The freedom to choose
·
The natural laws or principles – those that
dictate the consequences of behavior. Positive consequences come from fairness,
kindness, respect, honesty, integrity, service and contribution
·
The four intelligence's – mental, physical,
emotional and spiritual. Covey talks about great achievers expressing their
voice through the use of their intelligence's.
Achievers for example
1.
develop their mental energy into vision
2.
develop their physical energy into discipline
3.
develop their emotional energy into passion
4.
develop their spiritual energy into conscience – their
inward moral
sense of what is right and wrong and their drive towards meaning and
contribution.
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