I distinctly remember diving for the ball. It was a Saturday night in November at the Holy Family University holiday tournament in Philadelphia. I was on the floor first and got my hands on the basketball first. My opponent arrived second and landed on top of me bouncing my chin off the hardwood floor like, well, like a basketball. The collision split my chin. The victory of grabbing the loose basketball was short lived as we went on to lose the game in miserable fashion. We arrived back to our college campus in Scranton in the middle of the night, and I still had to make a trip to the emergency room to have a couple stitches put in my chin. I was 20 years old and it was a very minor gash in my chin. There was very little emergency in this emergency room visit. However, my college coach refused to let me go alone. He added another 2-3 hours onto his miserable weekend (we had lost both games that weekend) by driving me to the emergency room for a minor injury. We sat in the waiting room, we talked about basketball, life, faith, I got 3 stitches and we went back to campus. It was the first time that I was clearly aware of the sacrifice a leader was making for me. I can remember telling him it was unnecessary to go to the hospital with me and that he should go home to his family. He refused and he was my coach so I had to listen to him. My college basketball career is full of stories of these types of acts by my coach. It's why he created such fierce loyalties in hundreds of young men in his 20+ years coaching college basketball.
Leaders that sacrifice inspire people. And leaders that sacrifice do it for two reasons.
1) They are passionately committed to the mission
2) They are passionately committed to the people.
In the case of my college coach he was passionate about both. His passion was demonstrated in his emotion, his work ethic, and his consistent message. But his passion was most clearly demonstrated by his sacrifice for his players. What a leader is willing to give up for the mission or the people is the surest way to bring people together for the sake of the mission. It is also the surest way to inspire people to give their best to the mission.
What can leaders sacrifice to bring their people together and inspire them to be their best?
1 Privileges. Leadership has its privileges. Sometimes those privileges are little and sometimes they are big. A leader ought not give up privileges for the sake of giving them up. A leader ought to give up the privileges that can most practically benefit their people. The United States military is often credited with the concept of 'leaders eat last'. It is the idea that sacrificing the little, daily privileges that come with leadership shows people you are 'all in' for them.
2 Credit. Leaders receive all sorts of credit for things that they are barely involved in. They also receive credit for things that only a leader can accomplish. I believe credit is the thing that leaders can give every bit of away. I would recommend two concepts in regards to giving away credit. First, never speak to a group without giving away credit to someone by name and task. Second, when things go right give away credit by using the words like 'you' and 'yours'. When things go bad use words like 'I' and 'me'. Give away the credit and take the blame if you want to be a leader that inspires their people.
3 Time. I've read scores of leadership books over the years and read hundreds of leadership journal articles. A consistent theme is that a leader's most valuable resource is time. When you sacrifice time for your people, particularly when they have a need, you will inspire people. It will increase their desire to work with you and for you. People know their leader is busy. They know their leader is on call at all hours. When a leader sacrifices some of their precious time for their people that are in need they will get a massive return on that investment in the form of loyalty and increased performance.
Many leaders like the idea of being a sacrificial leader, but that does not mean it is natural. I think that there are actually very few leaders that have a consistent habit of sacrificing for their people. Leaders are so busy getting things done that they forget to be intentional about sacrificing. However, leaders that are intentional about sacrificing privilege, credit, and time for people get far more done than they ever could alone.
Go give something away for the sake of your people today.
What can leaders sacrifice to bring their people together and inspire them to be their best?
1 Privileges. Leadership has its privileges. Sometimes those privileges are little and sometimes they are big. A leader ought not give up privileges for the sake of giving them up. A leader ought to give up the privileges that can most practically benefit their people. The United States military is often credited with the concept of 'leaders eat last'. It is the idea that sacrificing the little, daily privileges that come with leadership shows people you are 'all in' for them.
2 Credit. Leaders receive all sorts of credit for things that they are barely involved in. They also receive credit for things that only a leader can accomplish. I believe credit is the thing that leaders can give every bit of away. I would recommend two concepts in regards to giving away credit. First, never speak to a group without giving away credit to someone by name and task. Second, when things go right give away credit by using the words like 'you' and 'yours'. When things go bad use words like 'I' and 'me'. Give away the credit and take the blame if you want to be a leader that inspires their people.
3 Time. I've read scores of leadership books over the years and read hundreds of leadership journal articles. A consistent theme is that a leader's most valuable resource is time. When you sacrifice time for your people, particularly when they have a need, you will inspire people. It will increase their desire to work with you and for you. People know their leader is busy. They know their leader is on call at all hours. When a leader sacrifices some of their precious time for their people that are in need they will get a massive return on that investment in the form of loyalty and increased performance.
Many leaders like the idea of being a sacrificial leader, but that does not mean it is natural. I think that there are actually very few leaders that have a consistent habit of sacrificing for their people. Leaders are so busy getting things done that they forget to be intentional about sacrificing. However, leaders that are intentional about sacrificing privilege, credit, and time for people get far more done than they ever could alone.
Go give something away for the sake of your people today.
‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on being intentional about life in a way that produces great persistence. Read about it more here.
Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teen age children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.
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