At a Chi Alpha con\u00adfer\u00adence in St. Louis I just heard Dick Schroed\u00ader use an inter\u00adest\u00ading phrase to com\u00adpli\u00adment some\u00adone \u2014 \u201che puts \u2018us\u2019 before \u2018me\u2019.\u201d Here are some off-the-cuff and unpol\u00adished thoughts inspired by that phrase:<\/p>\n
\u201cUs before me.\u201d What a beau\u00adti\u00adful phrase to describe ser\u00advant lead\u00ader\u00adship.<\/p>\n
\u201cUs\u201d puts the lead\u00ader\u00adship into ser\u00advant\u00adhood: \u201cus before me\u201d leads to the over\u00adall good of the group where\u00adas \u201cyou before me\u201d can lead to the detri\u00adment of the group.<\/p>\n
To be clear, the Bible does com\u00admand us to \u201cin humil\u00adi\u00adty con\u00adsid\u00ader oth\u00aders bet\u00adter than our\u00adselves\u201d (Philip\u00adpi\u00adans 2:3). Does\u00adn\u2019t this lead direct\u00adly to \u201cyou before me\u201d?<\/p>\n
Yes. It does. But the prac\u00adti\u00adcal ques\u00adtion for me as a leader is how to be self-sac\u00adri\u00adfi\u00adcial in a way that hon\u00adors my oblig\u00ada\u00adtions to those I am serv\u00ading. And I have learned that there is a healthy way to pri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adtize oth\u00aders and a destruc\u00adtive way to pri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adtize oth\u00aders.<\/p>\n
To serve as ful\u00adly as pos\u00adsi\u00adble there is a cer\u00adtain amount of self-main\u00adte\u00adnance that must take place. Bound\u00adaries must be estab\u00adlished and main\u00adtained. Recre\u00adation and sab\u00adbat\u00adi\u00adcals must be incor\u00adpo\u00adrat\u00aded. Growth and learn\u00ading have to take place.<\/p>\n
All of these things are self-serv\u00ading. They require us to say no to oth\u00aders and yes to our\u00adselves. At times, we wind up say\u00ading \u201cme before you today because I want to be able to serve you tomor\u00adrow\u201d.<\/p>\n
But at the same time, all of these things flow from a mature under\u00adstand\u00ading of \u201cyou before me\u201d \u2014 putting our fol\u00adlow\u00aders\u2019 long-term good above their short-term desires. For an orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion, a leader who says \u201cus before me\u201d builds strength. A leader who naively\/hyperspiritually says \u201cyou before me\u201d leads the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion to implo\u00adsion (and like\u00adly to high lead\u00ader\u00adship turnover).<\/p>\n
Clear\u00adly, there is the poten\u00adtial for \u201cus before me\u201d to become a pre\u00adtext for putting \u201cme before you.\u201d The anti\u00addote is to keep expand\u00ading our def\u00adi\u00adn\u00adi\u00adtion of \u201cus\u201d. When\u00adev\u00ader we begin to sus\u00adpect that our \u201cus\u201d is too com\u00adfort\u00adable, we need to rede\u00adfine the group we are serv\u00ading in a larg\u00ader way, and con\u00adtin\u00adue to put \u201cus before me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so a big thanks to Dick Schroed\u00ader for giv\u00ading me my new favorite phrase: \u201cus before me\u201d. It will prob\u00ada\u00adbly be my favorite for at least a week. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n