Personal Leadership Makes Trust Possible
The probability that he will go to jail for what he did is almost zero. His lack of personal leadership resulted in thousands of people feeling violated, cheated and betrayed. If his patrons trusted him before, his impersonal approach to leadership shredded that trust in a matter of milliseconds. We won’t give our support to leaders we don’t trust.
2008 is an election year in the U.S., with selection of our next President taking the main stage. We want someone we can trust to lead us for the next four years. We’re willing to give our enthusiastic support to those we trust so that we can achieve significant results together. When trust is lost, disillusionment and disappointment set in, and the result is no results at all.
Blanked After 12 Years
On May 31st, 2008, the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) newspaper published “School chief makes a name shredding Clayton diplomas”. John Thompson started as the new Clayton County Superintendent on April 28th, replacing Gloria Duncan. The AJC reports that on May 29th he ordered the shredding of 3,000 high school diplomas because his name was not printed on them. The very next day, graduates attending their graduation ceremony were surprised to discover their diploma was missing. They would have to wait for them to be reprinted, to arrive in the mail weeks later.
John Thompson shredded the diplomas because he could. The powers associated with his position enabled him to do that, despite the fact that he didn’t know at the time how much the replacement diplomas would cost the county taxpayers. He made an executive decision, and his motives have been called into question.
Upward Turns Outward
We can’t deny it is human nature to be selfish. Abraham Maslow’s pyramid illustrating the hierarchy of human needs acknowledges that we are driven at a primal level to satisfy our needs for food and shelter. We must selfishly take care of ourselves and what we need to survive before we can think about others’ needs. Unfortunately, some never choose to think of others even after they are far above survival level. Until we put aside our selfishness and develop an outward view that considers others’ personal needs before we consider our own, we can’t be trusted with a leadership role.
Selfish people can never develop trust with others. They take actions that serve themselves and then find ways to rationalize them. They offer explanations that often sound hollow to everyone but them.
– “We either give them two diplomas or get the right one mailed. We decided to have them wait for the right one.”
– “I took the initiative and I did it.”
– “It’s no harm. It’s just a sense of pride, and they will have it soon.”
These don’t sound like explanations, but excuses. If you are ever tempted to offer an excuse, it’s probably time to offer a sincere apology instead.
It’s Your Life to Lead
Personal leadership is all about how you lead yourself in your own life. It’s about the decisions you make and the actions you take, whether people are watching or not. It’s about learning to trust your own actions so that others can learn to trust you. It’s about developing the habit of doing the right thing all the time, even when it causes you inconvenience, expense or embarrassment. Here are three tips to help you develop your own personal leadership.
1. Serve Others before Yourself
While your self-interest and self-preservation are important, get in the habit of first considering how a situation or decision will impact others involved. Look for ways to give before you find ways to receive.
When Davidson College made it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA basketball tournament this past spring, the trustees of the College offered to give any student who wanted to travel to Detroit to see Davidson play Wisconsin a ticket to the game, bus transportation and 2 nights lodging. The trustees knew that this opportunity may not come again to the College for a long time, and they wanted their students to have powerful memories of the experience. They gave to the students without expectation of receiving anything in return, because that’s what they want their students to learn. Should you ever meet a Davidson grad (from any year) ask them what they think of their school experience. “Trustee” — what an appropriate title. Nearly 300 students took them up on their offer.
2. A Deal is a Deal
Follow-through on agreements you’ve made, even if they seem trivial or insignificant. If your voicemail greeting says you will call back anyone who leaves a message, either call everyone back or change your voicemail greeting. Inconsistency is the enemy of trust.
Often we are paid to deliver a service. Many of us make a deal to receive a paycheck in return for performing a job. Make sure you’re living up to your end of the bargain by delivering good service to your employer.
Some employees (like school superintendents) are expected to deliver service across multiple key groups: in this example, to students, to parents, and to taxpayers. Serving multiple groups before serving yourself requires a high degree of personal leadership. Thinking selfishly for even a moment can rapidly extinguish trust with one or more of your key groups. Keep your deals, and do well the jobs you are paid to do.
3. Better Kind than Right
Often we find ourselves in situations that offer us two paths. One path will give us an opportunity to say something like, “I’m right, you’re wrong, and I can prove it.” The other path gives us an opportunity to decide that proving ourselves right in this situation isn’t worth causing another person pain or embarrassment. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer suggests that often it is better to be kind than right.
Debates can be healthy, and sometimes it is necessary to clearly establish right from wrong. Other times, who is right really doesn’t matter. For example, a friend recently remarked about how overpaid CEOs are. While I was prepared to debate it from the other side, I chose not to because the outcome would be neither productive nor supportive of our relationship. While I didn’t agree with him, I chose to be kind when I could have been right.
Take Trust Personally
Trust is central to all our important relationships. Some try to dodge trust issues by insisting on written contracts. Personal leadership puts its trust in personal behavior, not a piece of paper.
It takes time to learn to trust others, whether we’re hiring them, electing them, or marrying them. Trust is earned over time, yet it is lost in a moment of irrational behavior. Always strive to do the right thing by considering others before yourself. Then others will consider you a leader worth following.
Copyright 2008 Paul Johnson
About the Author
Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker is a keynote speaker who works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover breakthrough concepts at http://www.paul-johnson.com. Visit http://TroubleBreaker.com for presentations on leadership.
John Thompson conversation with Michael Jordan in 2003 – Part 1/2
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Poster Movie 11×17 Kevin Spacey John Cusack Jack Thompson Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil reproduction Approx. Size: 11 x 17 Inches – 28cm x 44cm Style A mini poster print Pop Culture Graphics, Inc is Amazon’s largest source for movie and TV show memorabilia, posters and more: Offering tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed posters.. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from Pop Cult… |
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Poster 27×40 Kevin Spacey John Cusack Jack Thompson Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil reproduction poster print Pop Culture Graphics, Inc is Amazon’s largest source for movie and TV show memorabilia, poster and more: Offering tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed posters.. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from Pop Culture Graphics,Inc… |
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FlashForward Poster TV 11×17 Lee Thompson Young Joseph Fiennes John Cho Jack Davenport FlashForward reproduction Approx. Size: 11 x 17 Inches – 28cm x 44cm Style A mini poster print Pop Culture Graphics, Inc is Amazon’s largest source for movie and TV show memorabilia, posters and more: Offering tens of thousands of items to choose from. We also offer a full selection of framed posters.. Customer satisfaction is always guaranteed when you buy from Pop Culture Graphics,Inc… |
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Tall Tales & Legends: The Complete Series $10.73 Stories are told of American folk heroes such as Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, Annie Oakley, and John Henry…. |
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Some Kind of Wonderful (Special Collector’s Edition) $12.98 Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007… |
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American Pop $8.00 Animator-director-screenwriter Ralph Bakshi audaciously tries to chronicle the history of 20th-century American popular music, while also placing each period into historical and social context–all in 97 minutes! Its animated, episodic narrative follows four generations of Jewish-American musicians as each painfully seeks fame through changing musical eras. Starting at the turn of the century with… |
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Stone Fox [VHS] $9.98 … |
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Persuasion [VHS] $13.97 Movie adaptations of Jane Austen’s classic novels were all the rage (relatively speaking) in the mid-1990s. Clueless updated Austen’s Emma, which was more conventionally adapted in another version (Emma) starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Emma was produced yet again, this time for British television, as were a celebrated miniseries of Pride and Prejudice and this splendid film of Austen’s Persuasion. Persu… |
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John Thompson`s Modern Course for the Piano (First Grade Book) $6.92 The Modern Course series provides a clear and complete foundation in the study of the piano that enables the student to think and feel musically. It may be preceded by the Teaching Little Fingers to Play series. |
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John Thompson’s Easiest Piano Course $4.95 A comprehensive step-by-step course specifically designed to suit the needs of all children beginning the piano. Includes: characters and illustrations * writing exercises * sight reading drills * review work * accompaniments * and more. Contains works… |
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John Thompson`s Adult Piano Course $6.92 John Thompson`s Adult Piano Course was written with the older student in mind. They have the same musical road to travel as the younger student, but the study material for the grown-up will differ in content. These books are compiled especially for adu… |
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John Thompson`s Modern Course for the Piano $8.7 The Modern Course series provides a clear and complete foundation in the study of the piano that enables the student to think and feel musically. It may be preceded by the Teaching Little Fingers to Play series. |
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John Abercrombie/Don Thompson – Witchcraft $15.97 Description Not Available |
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John Thompson`s Easiest Piano Course – Complete (PACKAGE) $19.59 John Thompson`s Easiest Piano Course has been preferred by more than 12 million students since 1955. This comprehensive boxed set assembles Books 1-4 of this classic method. The books feature colorful, amusing characters and illustrations, and the four… |
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Teaching Little Fingers to Play $4.95 Description not available. |
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John Thompson’s Easiest Piano Course $5.93 A comprehensive step-by-step course specifically designed to suit the needs of all children beginning the piano. Includes: characters and illustrations * writing exercises * sight reading drills * review work * accompaniments * and more. |
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John W. Thompson (Hardcover) $94.05 John W. Thompson: Psychiatrist in Shadow of the Holocaust is the biography of a doctor whose revulsion at Nazi human experiments prompted him to seek a humane basis for physician-patient relations. As a military scientific intelligence officer in 1945,… |
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John Thompson`s Modern Course for the Piano, Third Grade Book (PACKAGE) $9.41 Offers a piano course and repertory book designed for young learners. |
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John Thompson`s Modern Course for the Piano $7.91 The Modern Course series provides a clear and complete foundation in the study of the piano that enables the student to think and feel musically. It may be preceded by the Teaching Little Fingers to Play series. Based on the fundamentals of interpretat… |
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John Thompson`s Easiest Piano Course $5.93 A comprehensive step-by-step course specifically designed to suit the needs of all children beginning the piano. Includes: characters and illustrations * writing exercises * sight reading drills * review work * accompaniments * and more. |
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John Thompson`s Modern Course for the Piano, Second Grade Book (PACKAGE) $8.7 Offers a piano course and repertory book designed for young learners. |
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John Thompson`s Modern Course With Popular Piano Solos (PACKAGE) $22.56 John Thompson`s Modern Course for the Piano is a musically appealing method that is popular and well-loved throughout the world. Since its first publication in 1937, this method has been used by millions of students-today they are concert pianists, pop… |
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John Thompson`s Easiest Piano Course $5.93 A comprehensive step-by-step course specifically designed to suit the needs of all children beginning the piano. Includes: characters and illustrations * writing exercises * sight reading drills * review work * accompaniments * and more. |