Leading and Listening

Developing stronger leadership skills is an important act for virtually everyone in business. But becoming a better leader doesn't always require attending a pricey seminar. Sometimes, simple acts can have an immediate impact.

Being a good listener is a needful but rare quality in leaders. Every day, spend good time with someone who has something to say about a challenge or opportunity your business or society is facing. It might be an employee, relation or a friend. Leaders often talk too much and don't truly listen to the people around them, who often have valuable insights. But good ones do! As a JUST leader, listen to other people with the same level of attention and open mind as you would listen to a consultant or outside expert. You don't always have to follow the advice, but this exercise can help you get out of the same-old patterns of thinking.

Less wonder, God made our ears two.

Two Sides of PRIDE

When you think of the word pride, does it strike you as positive or negative? There are certainly many positive types of pride. It’s good to “take pride in our work.” We like it when someone tells us, “I’m proud of you.” And nearly everyone wants to live in a neighborhood where people display “pride of ownership.” All of these expressions communicate a positive kind of pride: dignity, respect and honor, traits that we all can embrace.

But pride is not always positive. Pride can also mean conceit, arrogance, or superiority. This kind of pride is based on self-centeredness, and it’s destructive. Selfish pride is especially destructive to relationships. That’s because the opposite of loving others is not hating them but rather being self-centered.

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.

So how do we solve the problem of pride? I believe there are several steps we can take to counteract our tendency toward self-centeredness.

1. Recognize and Admit Your Pride. The first step is to realize that one is proud.

2. Express Your Gratitude. Henry Ward Beecher said, “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.”

3. Practice Servanthood. A person who is truly great is always willing to be little. Serving others requires us to focus on their needs rather than our own.

4. Laugh at Yourself. There’s an old saying, “Blessed are they that laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be entertained.” Once you begin to look for humor in your behavior and situation, you find it everywhere.

If your pride pushes you toward performing with excellence, doing your best, and finding joy in the accomplishments of others, it’s probably helping you become a better leader.