During our final retreat, Dr. Kent Keith presented thoughts on servant leadership through the lens of The Paradoxical Commandments. I thought I would share these with my readers for two reasons. Number one, Dr. Keith is the epitome of educational success – he is a Rhodes Scholar, PdD, EdD, JD, Harvard and Oxford grad. I like to listen to what smart people have to say and his resume is outstanding. You don’t get much smarter than him.
The second reason is that leadership is hard. Yup, I said it. Leadership is hard. The thoughts that nag leaders as they press toward the mark of their vision can sometimes derail them, and Dr. Keith’s commandments can help you deal with the head trash and stay on course.
Here they are, ten of Dr. Kent Keith’s Paradoxical Commandments on Leadership:
- People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
- If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
- If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succees anyway.
- The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
- Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
- The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smalles men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
- People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
- What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
- People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
- Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.
Jamar Cobb-Dennard is a business development strategy and implementation expert, and the President of Rainmakers Marketing Group. Click to learn more about Creating a Word of Mouth Marketing Machine.