Written by Joshua Willliamson, Spring 2022 Leadership Discovery Participant

Last Wednesday, March 23, our Leadership Discovery class welcomed Natasha Lee, CEO of Floyd Lee Locums, to our morning session to share what it means to be a leader. Her joyous energy, relatable references and fantastic use of metaphors kept the class on the edge of our seats, hanging to every word.

Sometimes as a leader, you have to fail to become good at learning about people, what to do and not to do, and how to connect with people. Nelson Mandela uses the quote, “a leader is like a shepherd. “He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” A good leader is not telling you what to do, but they are a shepherd.

Being a leader is about connecting with a person personally and caring about them. If you can care about them, you are genuinely connected with them and trust them to do the job. It shows that you care about how they are managing their work-life balance and their family. If you show these qualities, you will win as a leader.

Natasha Lee shared the infamous clip from the 2006 film Facing the Giants, The Death Crawl, where Coach Grant Taylor demands, team captain, Brock Kelley to show his absolute best in crawling on his hands and feet while carrying a fellow teammate on his back to the opposite end zone. After 10 minutes of having his team player on his back, Brock got tired; while his muscles were aching, the player wanted to give up. Taylor was on his knees right beside him, coaching and encouraging Brock to keep pushing. Coach Taylor told to him never quit, give it all your strength.

A revelation was revealed to me after watching the video. Always give your very best and never give up despite how difficult life gets. Never give up if you face health situations, career situations, or life situations! Many leaders fail, and they give up. Life and people have a way of making you respond when you have enough. It is essential never to quit as a leader. Never giving up is more rewarding than money, houses, and cars. As a leader, you should always encourage others and demand them to show their absolute best.

How do you know when you are winning?

Six principals servant leaders should embark on:

• Empathy
• Awareness
• Building Community
• Perseverance
• Concretization
• Growth

Servant leadership is the opportunity to serve others, share power and control to drive engagement, measure success through growth and development, and to know it is not about them. Traditional Leaders is to obtain correct, uses power and control to drive performance, measure success.