Leading with heart
I remember a story of a relatively young man. He was washing his bright red sports car at the public car wash. He attracted the attention of a nine-year-old boy. The young lad peppered him with questions such as, “Mister, you must work a lot of hours to own a car like that” to which the young man replied, “No, I don’t work a lot of hours.”
The boy said, “Then, you must have a really high paying job to own a car like that.” The young man replied, “No, son, I don’t have a high-paying job.”
The boy scratched his head, thought, and said, “Well then, you must own the company to be able to own a car like that” to which the young man replied, “No, son, I don’t own the company.”
To avoid further questioning he said, “Look, son, I don’t work a lot of hours, I don’t make a lot of money, I don’t have a big job, and, in fact, I don’t even have a job. The truth is my big brother bought me this car.”
The little boy looked down and kind of pawed at the ground with his foot. He stuttered and said, “Mister, I wish, I wish, I wish.” The young man, sure he knew what the young boy would say, was going to go ahead and finish the sentence for him. Something along the lines of “I know, you wish you had a big brother like that.” Before he got it out, the boy finished his sentence and said, “Gee, mister, I would sure like to be a big brother like that.” The young man was stunned but carried that with him the rest of his life.
I hope you carry this thought with you as well. If you don’t truly have in your heart the desire to be like a big brother, to do something extraordinary for somebody else, please get out of the business of trying to be a leader!
If you want to learn more about how to lead with a balanced approach, click here to learn more about Leon Drennan’s new book, Good King/Bad King–Which One Are You?
