Want to Lead Well? Better Learn to Serve.

Proverbs 26:17 (AMP) Do you see a man wise in his own eyes and conceit? There is more hope for a [self-confident] fool than for him.

In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Robert Bruner (dean of Univ. of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and co-author of the Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm) said that a lesson emerging from current market conditions comments that “Ethics are always No.1…Leadership is second…” He does not address how a person’s ethics are developed. That is the more powerful issue.

Conceit in one’s own ability to “be” has resulted in an abundance of oxymoronic followers of relative truth. Leaders, like all of us, must first answer these questions:

• Where did you come from?
• Why are you here?
• Where are you going?
• Are you aligned with a larger purpose outside of self?”

Max Dupree (former chairman of Herman Miller, Inc.), in Leadership Jazz, observes, ”…Leadership is a position of servant-hood. Leadership is also a posture of debt; it is a forfeiture of rights.”

Serving customers, employees and suppliers demands in us a very different attitude from being “wise in [our] own eyes.” Running a business takes a mix of confidence and humility – humility to accept that “we” don’t have all the answers, and some of answers may even have a spiritual component acknowledging a need for God’s perspective.

Conceit has captivated humans from the very beginning and may be expressed by an assumption that God has nothing to say about business and its relationships – could that be a conceit that makes one a “practical atheist?”

I believe there is one wiser than we and His Word is our guidebook – even for business.

Two questions: Whom do you serve? What are you reading?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Sweet Success Starts with Wisdom

Proverbs 24:13-14 (NLT) My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste. In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, you will have a bright future, and your hopes will not be cut short.

Honey is a powerful food. Not only is it sweet, but also it has healthy attributes and has been used through the ages to treat various ailments. Its sweetness is not open for debate. Once tasted, no arguments can be set forth to convince you otherwise.

Exactly like The Truth, right? Well, not exactly: many have grown up around beehives, honeycombs, various containers of honey – even been schooled “in honey” – but have not actually tasted the honey.

Tragic, really: this metaphor is a picture, however, of many who have been schooled in religion but never tasted the sweetness of an authentic relationship with Christ.

“Tasting” Wisdom is a life-altering experience – it sweetens the soul; brightens the future, and secures your hope. This attributes allows leaders to first focus on others in a way that moves a team, an organization, a family forward. That kind of personal success is attractive – especially in the today’s workplace.

Does your life pass the “taste test?”


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Leaders Exhibit Love in the Workplace

Proverbs 21:21 (NLT) Whoever pursues godliness and unfailing love will find life, godliness, and honor.


Plato taught that moral thoughts are universal and that “the Good” can be attained through reason not through submission to the Revelation.

Pursue godliness (which is an act of submission) or Reasoning? Which is for us? I don’t know about you, but my instincts are for the second choice: it appeals to the ego. Not the best choice.

Pursuing godliness (righteous living) and love (the focus on others) in the workplace results in the kind of life that is attractive. We all want to be attractive, don’t we?

The “work of the Lord” is always about love; therefore, we must speak the truth seasoned with grace. Speaking brutal truth is about us: our reasoning ability to see what is “right and true.” Honor results when we focus on the impact that truth will have on the hearer for the benefit of the Kingdom.

This verse comes with a promise: the aspirations of life, godliness and honor come from our pursuit of “the Good” outside of us, revealed to us by His creation, His word and our moral consciousness. Godliness and love drives personal repentance and fuels our pursuit.

What fuels your pursuit?


Copyright ©2009 by P.Griffith Lindell

The Generosity of Leaders

Proverbs 19:17 (MSG) Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.

In his article The Cultivation of Transcendent Leadership, Jamie S. Walters posits that generosity is the first of the six principles of “transcendent leadership.”

As he points out, “Generosity of spirit…fosters collaboration, creativity, idea-sharing, knowledge-sharing, camaraderie, trust, satisfaction, and constructive communication.”

Mercy to the needy is not only expressed as financial help (which is important in its own right), but also is expressed, in the work environment, in the sharing of information, delegating both authority and responsibility and/or providing necessary feedback.

Mercy is a quality from the heart.

Do you have the heart to lead?


Copyright 2009 © by P. Griffith Lindell

Leadership School

Leaders must be schooled, but it’s not Harvard, Northwestern, Wharton or Stanford where this education must be sought. That’s because money not only does not buy happiness, but it also does not buy wisdom; and in the end, it is wisdom that counts.

The tuition for servant-leaders is paid with the coin of “service” from the bank of “humility” for the school of “others.” The rewards of this education are impact well beyond the personality of the person. People are moved to follow those who demonstrate by behavior that they care for others and have a vision and plan for moving ahead and accomplishing a goal.

In our culture, there are unintended consequences to using the term “servant-leader:” the word “servant” today is often confused with a sense of over-weaning self-effacement - a sad change of the meaning of the word. To serve a person of standing and quality used to be a priority of the first order because that singular association painted the one serving with the same brush as the master. The servant had standing – the master’s standing. The symbiotic relationship brought power and influence.

Serving the living God and intentionally dying to self yields the kind of love that put the needs of others we lead, first. Education in the heart is the first step to real leadership and wealth that matters.

Where are you getting your schooling?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Priority Must Be Singular, Not Plural for Leaders

Proverbs 14:23 (NIV) All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Peter Drucker is often quoted in Pollard’s book, Serving Two Masters? Reflections on God and Profit. Pollard tells the story that Drucker had a way of keeping ServiceMaster’s executives on task by asking them continually the most important questions in business: Have you determined your priority? And, What are you doing to achieve the result?

Improved productivity is a major challenge facing companies, especially in this downturn. Focusing on the dignity of the worker is a major step in meeting the demands of process to achieve results. However, the focus must be not only on words, but also on the leader’s behavior. What you do speaks louder than what you say.

Management’s hard work includes developing systems to measure productivity, to continually share where workers are on the journey (beginning with where they have started and where they are going) and develop ways that all levels of management can really listen to those closest to the work.

Notice: there may be many activities, but there is only a single priority. The history of that word in our language [see Pollard’s book] reveals that is was not until the twentieth century that it acquired a plural form. It should never be a question of many priorities: just one.

Same with our personal lives: individuals must have a personal priority. Something that drives their decisions. A bedrock ethic against which all demands for time and focus can be based.

Do you know your personal priority?

Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Leaders Love Truth

Proverbs 13:5 (MSG) A good person hates false talk; a bad person wallows in gibberish.

Sometimes it’s the little things that cause the biggest problems in business – like that “little white lie” that seems to often grow faster than even bamboo!

There are two offenses with false talk: harming truth is the first – and surely vital in an ethical business environment; the second, equally as important (and maybe more so) is the effect of false talk is in the harming of others.

Leaders (all people – leaders and servants) must not harm. They must help.

The little “false talk” grows larger, quickly, and the first sprout of that little white lie is soon a swamp of foolish foliage surrounding the liar. Wallowing becomes a powerful verb about the deceiver.

A person given to “false talk” lacks the framework to exercise leadership – especially the attributes of empathy, selfless initiative and foresight. The underbrush of half-truths, lies, exaggerations and deceit are not easily cleared from the forest of this mind. Just as it takes discipline to weed a garden, it also takes discipline to clear the “underbrush” of the mind – you can’t just trim the top of the weeds – you must get the roots out.

Self-deception makes root pulling practically impossible. We are easily mesmerized by the cutting of the tops of the underbrush: the pulling out of the roots is a gift of God. He forgives and cleans – He refreshes the soil of the soul. We simply must recognize and repent.

Leadership that changes people and organization begins with self-awareness.

Are you working on self-awareness?

Is the forest of your soul populated with tall, trimmed truth-trees?

And, do you have some underbrush that needs tending? I know, I do.


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Wholeness of Leadership – the Ethics of Leading

Proverbs 11:3a (NKJV) The integrity of the upright will guide them…

The root meaning of integrity is wholeness – we get our word integer from it – a whole number. The Hebrew meaning of the word used here for “integrity” has in its root the word completeness and includes the concepts of ethical straightness and perfection.

Greenleaf (The Servant as Leader) points out that authenticity is at the core of the leader – especially the servant leader – “….begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” Not a manufactured feeling. A natural one. Authentic.

We want our leaders to speak without dissimulation. We expect clarity – wholeness – in pointing a direction. That kind of authenticity flows from an “upright” heart – one whose ethics are based on a dynamic relationship with his/her Creator: it is the “heart” of a leader to which people respond. That’s why Greenleaf posits that the servant-leader must be “naturally” inclined to serve.

Our job as leaders is to plumb the depths of authenticity in our followers. We must ask the kind of questions about a result that connects thought and the action. Our ethic demands that what we say matches what we do. We are responsible to model and behave with compassion. To listen with understanding. To empathize without necessarily accepting inappropriate behaviors or performance below standards.

Just as we cannot create a new primary color, so we cannot change a universal truth (see C. S. Lewis, Abolition of Man) that there are certain things that are really true and really false – an ethic – and it is from this that we derive our source of values that includes respect for the individual. Without that respect, a leader cannot really guide. They lack integrity and will not have committed followers.

What’s your ethical base? Do you lead out of power-of-position or poverty-of-self? Do you know it all or are you learning?

Are you whole?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Leaders Bridle the Tongue

Proverbs 10:19 (NIV) When words are many, sin is not absent; but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Practical insight. Give humans a chance to chatter, without care and forethought, invariably we will exaggerate, hyperbolize, and stretch the truth or just plain, lie.

Why? In our self-absorption, we want to “look good.”

Leaders, who are committed to focusing on others, find it much easier to practice the discipline of listening (you can’t listen and talk at the same time!). In sales training, we often say, “You were created with two ears and one tongue: use them in that proportion.”

The Biblical principle, stated here and other places, is that we will be held accountable for our “idle words.” Listening carefully is more powerful than saying a lot.

Are you listening?

Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Wise Leaders Are Grounded in Wisdom

Proverbs 5:1-2 (NIV) My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.

Successful businesses serve well the needs of their customers in an environment where employees thrive and are rewarded in words and deeds: all accomplished in such a way that the investor’s financial needs are met and the community that surrounds the business profits from the enterprise.

The book of Proverbs, and other Scriptures, are filled with words of wisdom that support each of these activities of a business. Meet the needs of other first. Treat employees with honor and fairly. Pay your debts. Your actions impact the world.

Who you look to for wisdom when leading your small business (or large organization) determines – well, everything. Business ethics adheres to the underlying principle that there is bedrock truth upon which you must build your thought life and behavior. Solomon of old never assumed that truth was relative and that morality was a function of personal choice: his worldview drove his musings and proverbs.

This verse reminds us of fundamentals: first, that your view of others will not be self-serving (maintain discretion); two, what you say actually builds the continuity of useful knowledge – attributes of the servant-leader paradigm.

Leadership that honors others and builds a legacy begins at the source. Do you pay more attention to what God teaches (duties we owe others that support our “inalienable rights”) or the situational, shifting ethics of man?

Are you grounded in Wisdom?


Copyright © 2009 P. Griffith Lindell

Effective Leaders Light the Way

Proverbs 4: 18-19 (NIV) The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

In a 2003 survey done by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute (www.bcwinstitute.com) they found, among other attributes, that the leaders in organizations ranked at the top of the list were described with terms like caring, humble, approachable, and Godly. Attractive leaders. Shining brightly. Easier to follow.

Greenleaf, in his work The Servant as Leader, posited that “…foresight…begins with a state of mind about now…” Doing right (righteousness) is both about being good and behaving with a mixture of grace and truth: it is also about being connected in this moment with our Creator.

Interesting to also note that the BCW list and Greenleaf attributes resemble what Jim Collins discovered in his seminal research and his book, Good to Great. The leaders of the great companies were not the falsely bright and charismatic personalities: rather, they were humble and modest and most often shared decision-making with their staff.

Both studies point us to people that light the path making it easier for followers to invest in the vision of the organization. Temporal lighting is good: how much better is an eternal light we believers are called to be.

The source? Holiness. Personal holiness is the most profound mixture of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. As we mature in our choices, we grow brighter and that brightness touches the lives of those around us – a synergistic relationship. We light up the world.

This is a God thing. He empowers us to walk. We obey. He lights our path.

Got the light? Are you lighting your world?

For Further Study

Be Good. Do Right.

Proverbs 3: 21a (MSG) Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life; don't for a minute lose sight of them.

The foundation of Christian ethic includes the several attributes of being good and doing what’s right.

What is right? It is anything that we do for others that encourages them, builds them up and moves them away from bondage to freedom. That ethic is derived from the Ten Commandants that begins with God then moves to some common sense principles dealing with others. Servant-leadership principles have their source in these ten simple, but profound, commandments (not guidelines or suggestions).

Clear thinking about “being good and doing right” has it source in a willingness to honor God in everything and as the source of everything, and then respects Him in such a way that we seek to emulate how He walked on earth as a human with integrity. Integration of the sacred with the secular drives clear thinking, especially for leaders who would want to impact their world with a powerful conceptualization of the future that yields the building of true community at work, at home or in a nation. Piecemeal thinking produces partial answers and may prompt polluted processes of leading and managing.

Common sense (sound judgment) drives the principles involved in treating others as we wish to be treated. Remember, leadership isn’t a solo adventure; after all, a leader must have followers. Neither is it rocket science: it is a combination of skills, learned attitudes and observable behaviors that can be learned. Although leaders encourage innovation (born, not from common but from uncommon sense), it takes sound judgment to encourage, build-up, empower, listen to and support those who want to make a positive difference in the world.

Are you driven by sound judgment and discernment?

Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell