Tag: Leadership Qualities

4 Leadership Jewels (C.A.R.E.) from My Wife, Jennifer

Jennifer Leigh (2-2014)

As a student of leadership, I am constantly on the lookout for lessons that I can learn to be a better leader.  Today, I don’t have to look very far…it’s my wife’s birthday!  We just celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago…January 25th to be exact…

A few years back, we received a book called Married for Life:  Inspirations from those married 50 years or more.  The book is filled with a variety of wisdom from those whose marriages have gone the distance.  One piece of advice that I appreciate is to “love each other and share common goals.”  The book asks, “What better partnership is there than that of a loving husband and wife striving together to achieve common goals?  And who better to join forces with than the one you love, the person with whom you’ve chosen to share your deepest hopes, your fondest dreams, and your very life?”  I’ve definitely found that to be the case over the last 17 years…

So, what lessons have I learned from Jennifer on leadership recently?  To C.A.R.E. for the people you love and the promises you make.

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Do You Lead with Integrity?

photo credit: Wonder woman0731 School Poster Integrity is doing via photopin (license)

OK, that’s probably the wrong question.

Let’s take a closer look at the word integrity.  Since integrity comes from the word integer and means “whole”…a better question would be “Do you live with integrity?”

Integrity means “sound and complete.”  To the extent that a person’s ethics (defined standard of right and wrong, good and evil—what you say) and morality (lived standard of right and wrong, good and evil—what you do) are integrated, they have integrity.

There are a few other ways to define integrity:

  • Webster defines the word as the “quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.”
  • A kid-friendly definition says “doing the right thing when nobody is watching.”
  • The Bible points to a consistency between what is inside and what is outside, between belief and behavior, our words and our ways, our attitudes and our actions, our values and our practice.

The bottom line is that integrity is a powerful word that needs respect…it is a life skill composed of many other powerful life skills — patience, honesty, responsibility, dependability, accountability, and caring…to name a few.

If we let our personal commitment to integrity show in what we do during the day, every day…we’ll become a leader others will eagerly follow.  Let’s learn from two Old Testament leaders who demonstrated integrity:  Samuel and David.

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