Merry Christmas 2013: Learning from the Leadership Wisdom of Jesus

Leadership Wisdom of Jesus

In Mark 9:35, Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all.”

Today, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus…the Christ…and my Lord…let’s stop and reflect on Charles Manz’s perspective about the Leadership Wisdom of Jesus:  Practical Lessons for Today.

Manz describes four major themes found in Jesus Christ’s leadership.  He starts the same way I started my Out of This World Leadership blog this year…with your most powerful leadership tool (click here to see my first blog post).  Manz claims, “the first step to becoming an effective leader is to look in the mirror.”

 

Clean Mirror Image

Master the art of leading yourself and you will lay the foundation for helping others do the same.  Manz points to Matthew 7:5, which says, “First take the log out of your eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”

Optimal leadership requires that we keep our insides (our self-leadership heart) as well as our outsides, clean.  Jesus is more concerned with honesty & integrity than he is with our “professional image” or “executive presence”.

To learn more about the other three themes from Jesus’ leadership, click here.

Moving Beyond Diversity in the Workplace

A few years back, I was scheduled to attend the White Men and Allies Learning Lab hosted by White Men as Full Diversity Partners in Arizona.  While I had read a few books on diversity, including Beyond Race & Gender (see blog post link), I knew I needed more.  So, I picked up a copy of The Loudest Duck by Laura Liswood—Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Liswood describes “Diversity 1.0” as “assembling Noah’s Ark”—bringing 2 of every kind into the workplace.  She points out that if you want to create more diversity, you can’t just play the numbers game. You have to shape the attitudes and tendencies of people in the organization.

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