Help those who Dare to Follow Me…

Lead with Love

We lead with love, not criticism. We need to be more interested in understanding others than in being understood.

— from Legacy of Love

These words, so easy to read.  So difficult to digest in order to realize.

I guess the key to this and to many, many issues that I come up against in my “daily dealings” is Humility.

St. Francis’ Prayer comes to mind:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
 Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
 to be consoled as to console;
 to be understood as to understand;
 to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
 it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

To lead. To Understand.  The first on its surface seems simple enough.  But when one realizes that one must lead RESPONSIBLY, with Conscience and putting Our Lord and His Commandments First, it suddenly seems overwhelming.
To me.

To lead others, to have others follow you…you may not necessarily even realize that this is happening.  You just think you have people hanging out with you.  That you’re just listening.  That you’re just sharing your opinion.  Or perhaps you are just doing your “job.”  But when you realize the influence you have, when you realize that your words, your actions are being not just heard, but Listened to…it can be quite intimidating.

And then you add to the mix, that when you are in a Leadership role, you have to work with many, many different types of personalities!  Good Ones, Difficult Contrarian Ones (like mine), Extremely Opinionated Ones (me, again), Easy-Going Ones, all different types.  You must work with these different individuals, you are to guide, you are to assist them in delivering their best, you are to ensure that everyone is involved, participating and doing their part.  You are to motivate, in a Positive way.  When you provide an evaluation, you are to critique in a way that will not deflate or destroy, but build, create and inspire. We are to Lead with Love.

As a Leader, you are to Understand where everyone is coming from.  This will help to accomplish all of the above.  Empathy.  More than that, Understanding, Compassion and Mercy.

Dear Lord!!!! Those Last 3 Virtues…how they weigh on me!

Help me Lord to practice and make them my own, for up to now, I know I have Failed!  Miserably!

San Francisco, Intercede por Mi…ayudame a Vivir y Amar como Tu ♥

Eh-Men!