The Face of Leadership

The Face of Leadership

Our staff is reading a leadership book together called The Truth About Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.

Their premise is that over their years of research there are 10 truths about leadership that have not changed.  I've read a lot of books on leadership including many from Dr. John C. Maxwell. This is going to be a good book for us.

The first truth that they present is: Truth #1 - You Make A Difference

How do you make a difference in those that you are trying to lead? I believe that you  make a difference by spending time with them.

What does The Face of Leadership look like?

Last week my wife and I were privileged to be with 24 others from our church at the Jewel Box Theater in Oklahoma City.  This was a group of mainly senior citizens.

We were attending the Sunday afternoon matinee of the Broadway musical, Cats. It lasted a couple of hours and included a short intermission.

The Jewel Box is a small theater that might hold 150 people.  The audience seating makes almost a complete circle inside the small round building. So, the "stage" is really mostly the floor in the center part of the room and just a small stage at one part of the room.

There is no sound system needed which was very refreshing.  Being a musician and a Music Pastor at my church I deal with sound systems and technology every week.


In this small room the actors didn't need microphones and PA speakers.  Now, there was someone playing a keyboard and drums.  I'm not sure if it was recorded or someone played live.  But, that was the only sound coming out of small, hidden speakers.  Everything else was the natural human voice!

The actors and actresses did a great job singing, dancing, doing ballet and even tap!  Their costumes were pretty impressive and after you got used to it they started looking like cats!  They certainly acted like cats.

We enjoyed the songs and the choreography.  These were all local actors and actresses of all ages.  Some were in high school.  Others in college.  Others were older adults.

I was able to visit with several of the church group during the intermission and afterwards.  Some of them thanked me for bringing them there.  Actually, I just coordinated the reservations and collected the money.  I didn't do anything fancy.

One of them said something like "I hope we aren't too much trouble for you."  Trouble?  It is a joy to be with these people.

These people paid for their own tickets [except for the little that the church chipped in] and they carpooled together using their own gas.

The only thing I did was take a little of my time and invest it in them.  I just spent a few hours with them and I'm the hero!

My wife and I took many of the same people on a train ride down to Ft.Worth, Texas last May.  Again, we didn't do anything, but spend time with these wonderful people.

So, one of the faces of leadership is just spending time with people. 

It might not cost you a dime, but it will cost you part of your week and part of your life.

What will be the end result?  People will love you and they'll want to follow you.  What could be better than that?

 So, as you spend time with others you are putting on The Face of Leadership!

Chuck Whetstone Empower Network