Face to Face with the Leader in YOU! Part 2

(This is Part Two continued from Part One.)

Last month a good friend of ours took a flight on WestJet. He noticed this snoopy guy talking to all the flight attendants and even the pilots. He settled into his seat and was going to daydream away the boring announcements and safety procedures when the same man took the mic and said hello to the guests. Turned out he was the WestJet CEO Greg Saretsky! He made some jokes and let everyone know where he would be sitting if anyone wanted to talk to him personally during the flight. However, anyone that wanted his ear would have to wait because first Greg helped SERVE the drinks and then he pitched in to gather garbage… the CEO!

Our friend happened to be sitting just across from him so took the opportunity to ask, “What advice would you give to other leaders?” Greg replied without hesitation “Be the same person on the job as you are at home. Be authentic, don’t put on a ‘face’ of superiority. I take out the garbage here just like I would do at home.”

Authenticity and Accessibility are keys to powerful leaders; even a 5 year old can see through a fake.

A few years ago I asked a youth  leader about humility, specifically what he would say it was and how to get it. He laughed because his experience was that humility wasn’t something you sought out and ‘got’ like a new pair of earrings. At the time, I didn’t really understand that.

I asked this leader because it seemed that everyone who knew him really loved him. In my view his humility caused others to feel accepted in his presence. I wanted to understand how to affect people that way.

He ended up writing a whole article on the subject, part of which I will share.

“Accepting who we were created to be allows us to approach everything we do with excellence.  When we try to be excellent in order to create a facade of greatness we appear arrogant and prideful. However, when we believe we are placed in the life of a person or group for a purpose, we will do it with excellence as we recognize the great value and privilege of the opportunity. This will foster humility.  Jean Baptiste Lacordaire said, “Real excellence and humility are not incompatible one with the other; on the contrary they are twin sisters.”” By Mark Gordon, Relationship Expert

HUMILITY –  I am able to live out of my destiny, rather than perform out of fear.

My Grandma Staats gave me a lesson I will treasure and implement until the day I join her in heaven.

My parents divorced when I was 6 years old. Anyone else have a divorce in their family?

After the divorce my father’s side was no longer part of our lives. His father was very hard and forbade communication or help after the break up. I think I only saw my dad twice over the next 20 years and we certainly never saw the rest of his family.

But one year, my Grandma Staats got up the gumption to call a phone number she had and reconnect with us. I was an adult by then with 2 children of my own.

It was such a special surprise! A powerful reunion and she had so much love to give and I just soaked it up! I had been back in touch for about a year when she decided to take a trip north to see her elderly father. She was to take the bus from her town and then meet her sister many hours away and they were to drive to his home, a long excursion for sure.

When she arrived at the bus depot she was confronted with the fact that the bus she was meant to be on had left without her! She would have to wait for the next bus!

Did she throw a fit? Did she demand a refund and free ticket? No. She agreed to wait with no recompense.

During that time she decided to take pen to paper and wrote me a lovely letter, saying what had happened and explaining that she had wanted to write to me but hadn’t found the time until now. Since she had a few hours she would take the opportunity to tell me how much she loved my family and how much she valued our connection and was so glad we had reunited. It was a truly heart-felt letter.

She did finally catch the next bus and then met her sister and they set off for  their father’s home when they were hit by a teenage driver and taken to the hospital but unfortunately the doctors couldn’t keep the life in my Grandma. She was lost the next day.

I received the news of her passing to my devastation and loss of my grandmother for a second time. Just the month before I had lost my maternal grandmother to Alzheimer’s. Now both were gone.

The next week though, a remarkable thing happened, I received her letter in the mail! It was hand written on a delicate piece of home-made stationary. It was a note of love and acceptance; a note of consolation from beyond.

It healed my heart and inspired me to never let the things of love go unsaid. It drove home the message to make opportunities wherever they manifest.

Make opportunities where others see defeat.

We are all Leaders. We lead ourselves, we lead our children, we lead our employees, and we can be leaders in our community. Wherever you find yourself, I hope you lead well. Maybe some of these qualities you see in yourself, maybe others you will work on!

Hope this helps!