Leadership
| Ethical Leadership
Good Sabbath
May 27, 2004 There is an ethic to leadership: you must benefit the people you are leading.
Phil Jackson was asked how he did it. Was it the great players who made it
easy for him to win? Many sportswriters felt that, but what do these guys
know? He and his wife were separating and Phil felt this would cost him his
family. In the middle of the Sierras, he pulled over to the side of the road
and broke into tears.
In an article in the NYTimes, he explained that his daughters had made a
tape for him, which told their dad of going out and living life again, going
out and finding love again. "You've got to find passion about moving
on.' He looked at it as supportive of a new opportunity and he took it.
"It's really hard to be a gracious winner. I always try to work against
the arrogance of having to win." He remembered his father's desk when
he was superintendent of churches in the state. "There was a caricature
of a guy with a balloon head with little feet. It read:'The bigger your head
gets the easier it becomes to fill your shoes.' The biggest problem was not
allowing his marriage failure to destroy his family. So many men go through
the same problem. Of course it takes a concerted effort not to allow this
to happen, and it did not.
Leadership is the skill of focused commitment so that you benefit more
than your own ambitions. Failure is a punctuation mark and not the end of
the story.
The other article had to do with Tiger Woods, as the legends of
golf assessed why he was such a winner. I found this quite good. The commonality
of thinking was interesting: Nicklaus thought it was the ability to focus
on what was at hand. "He prepares himself very well." Irwin said
that "Tiger has the God-given ability of strength and finesse, but his
mind-set set him apart..he's so determined he strikes fear into other golfers".
Watson said that Tiger wants to be the best and he's proving that he is the
best. "He's comfortable with his mistakes, of which he is aware, and
he gets over them, with his focus."
Trevino raved about his work ethic, which is primary for a leader. Player
said the same thing and how at so young an age he handles it all. Leadership
is through personal effort to be the best you've got inside you and to keep
adding to that supply of talent and ability. It isn't a finite amount; it can
be increased by your direct effort to always improve. It's not just wanting
to be a winner and to make yourself into a fierce competitor, but to lead
the way in your profession. Leading is illuminating the pathway so that those
who follow you, find their way clearer, for you have lighted the way.
sandy goodkin
