Love, Lift, Lead, Inspire,
and Invite—
Five Basic Leadership
Principle to Guide Your Life
My wife and I just finished a three-year mission for our Church. We both took hiatuses from our jobs to serve because we were asked to do it. We served as a mission president and spouse with over 500 young men and women, ages 18-26, some of the brightest, most talented, and most incredible young men and women on the planet earth.
We
planned, developed, and delivered a plethora of trainings, from basic spiritual
principles to self-awareness and self-mastery principles to leadership
principles for current and emerging leaders. Plus, I interviewed all
missionaries every six weeks and some more often than that to see how they were
doing with these principles. I have watched them grow and develop into incredible
emerging leaders.
So, what did I learn about leadership from serving
with these young people as I watched them develop their skill sets?
While we learned many, many leadership principles over the three years, let me begin with just five basic principles that really are enormous and life-changing in the long run and will form a firm and solid foundation in our lives if we abide by them: Love, Lift, Lead, Inspire, and Invite.
Love
I am not talking about romantic love. I am talking about
love for your fellow men and women, your colleagues, and your jobs. If you do not
love these things, you will become disinterested in doing the right things or
failing to help others grow and progress or even withdrawing from reaching out
to others because you focus too much on yourself and your own well-being. We
learned that focusing and serving others (remember the servant-leadership conversations
you have had along the way?) will propel you out of your self-absorption and
into seeing how you can help others, thus propelling you forward onto a happier,
more confident level.
Lift
You must lift others where they are. A former airline pilot
and executive and now a ecclesiastical leader once said, “You must lift where
you stand” (see https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2008/10/lift-where-you-stand?lang=eng).
That counsel is for every leader, no matter where you are on the rung of
leadership. As you lift others from where they are, you must be on higher
ground. I believe that each time you lift others from where they are, you lift
yourself even further. Once you lift yourself and others, you each see higher
ground, gain a greater view of where you are going, and ultimately see more
holistically your surroundings and your environment.
Lead
Leaders lead by example—a positive example. They do
not push. They do not yank people around. They are not passive-aggressive. They
do not cajole. They do not yell or scream. They do not hide things from others.
They are not mean and nasty. They are not better than anyone else. Rather, they
are honest and good. They are open. They involve everyone in decision making. They
see people in a positive way. They exude happiness and positivity. Most
importantly, they lead others to do the right things. Of course, to lead others,
you must learn self-mastery by leading yourself in the right direction. Interestingly,
when you lead by example, people will follow you because they trust you because
you showed them love and concern and even compassion, and you have lifted them along
the way and continue to lift them to do the right things. By leading by
example, you help people become better, more than what they thought they could ever
become.
Inspire
Inspiring people does not necessarily come by standing
on the pedestal all by yourself, arms outstretched, and shouting convincing
words to those in the audience. That may inspire them for a moment. The lasting
inspiration that helps people more comes by what you do and say and think and
how you positively and successfully involve them in the process. Doers of good
always gain followers and inspire them to good things. You see, goodness oozes
out of great leaders into everything that they do, and people want to feel this
goodness or this inspiration because it makes them want to be better. They want
to do things so they can feel the same goodness. Thus, their inspiration to do
better, to be become better, comes from being inspired by you through your example.
Invite
The last of the five basic leadership principles is
inviting others to do what needs to be done, even the most challenging tasks.
We can all remember bosses who yelled at us, maybe called us a few names that
singed our ears, bosses who instilled in us the fear of God if we did not do
something. Even when we did good things, they were not happy with us. We did not
like to be around them and sought for jobs to get away from them. The key,
then, is to invite people to do things in a kind, gracious way. If you have
loved them, lifted them from some doldrums or quandary to new heights, led them
in the right direction before, and inspired them by what you have done, they
will do whatever you invite them to do because they trust you and want to continue
to grow and develop. They have been inspired by you and your example!
While there are so many more principles of leadership—some I will write about later—these five simple ones will help you establish a strong foundation for being a good leader and propel you on to become even a greater leader. Promise!
Darrel L. Hammon, Ph.D.
August 2020
