I’ve read a lot of books on leadership over the years. Many are from popular literature, but many others are textbooks which I read in graduate school and I use when I’m teaching. The way I typically read is with a pen in hand. I have no problem marking up the pages of the books, and since I never borrow a book, I am free to write myself notes, underline important passages, and star a concept or a quote which particularly catches my attention. After I’ve finished the book, I go back through it, and at every passage with a star, I place a post-it flag with the topic of the passage written on it. This way, it is easy to find topics when I am writing or preparing to speak. It’s a great system for me and I’ve used it for many years.
Today, as I do from time to time, I picked up a book that I had read years ago and flipped through the flagged passages. One really jumped out at me, which I will share with you now. The book is a 2004 publication by Dr. Henry Cloud, 9 Things You Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life. If you’re not familiar with Dr. Cloud, I suggest you take a look at his many books, as they are excellent. The passage that jumped out to me is “Go hard on the issue and soft on the person.” Isn’t that a great quote? It speaks to me because over the years I’ve worked with countless thousands of volunteers and I’ve had to learn some hard lessons in how to lead them to be the best they can be, when I have nothing with which to hold them accountable.
Because of the work I do, I sometimes have to call someone on a behavior or an attitude which is contrary to our common mission. Sometimes I have to be the bearer of bad news, and sometimes I have to correct them and hopefully motivate them to make changes to how they live their life and how they behave as a team member. It’s a challenge, to say the least. If the people I lead were employees, I would have a paycheck to use as a disciplinary motivator, however, volunteers are a different group altogether. I have to use the motivators of their commitment to our cause and to the behaviors which exemplify our values. It can be a delicate tightrope between encouraging people to raise the bar in their life and stepping over the invisible line of “Don’t tell me how to live my life!”
That’s where this great quote comes in. It is a wonderful reminder that people come first, and although as leaders we must constantly be fine-tuning the actions, attitudes, and behaviors of the people we lead, we must make sure that we are aware of the huge difference between dealing with who someone is and what someone does. There must be the awareness that an issue, no matter how significant, pales in comparison to the inner value of the person. If we desire to be a servant-leader, people must come first. I plan to remember that, and I hope you will, too.
Lead well.