Congressman John Lewis, a Servant Leader?

Stu Moring and his wife, Gay

My brother-in-law, Stu Moring, former Public Works Director for Roswell, GA, said this about Congressman John Lewis. 

“I only met him one time, when I was in Washington for legislator visits with ASCE. I was so honored to meet him, but he treated me like he was the one being honored.  He was a true Servant Leader!”

I asked Stu what he meant by Servant Leader and this is his answer: 

My use of the term servant leader comes from the book by the same name by Ken Blanchard ("The One Minute Manager") and Phil Hodge. 

The idea is to "lead like Jesus."  From Matthew 20:25-28, "Jesus called them together and said, ' You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." 

They compare self-serving leaders with servant leaders as follows: "Self-serving leaders spend most of their time protecting their status. If you give them feedback, how do they usually respond? Negatively. They think your feedback means that you don't want their "leadership" any more.  Servant leaders, however, look at leadership as an act of service. They embrace and welcome feedback as a source of useful information on how they can provide better service."  

Jesus, of course, was the perfect model, and I believe this is an effective approach for anyone in leadership, but particularly for politicians who are intended to be serving their constituents.  Not exactly what we have in Washington right now. In short, I believe a servant leader sees his job as providing the necessary tools and resources to his "subordinates" so they can excel at the service they ultimately provide. 

With that approach, I was able to surround myself with some truly exceptional people, and they were able to accomplish extraordinary results. Think about it--I didn't have the strength or stamina to dump garbage cans all day long, or the skill to repair broken water lines and meters, but guys I worked with excelled at those tasks.  And that's what servant leadership is all about.  

Servant Leader by Ken Blanchard

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0849996597/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Finding a Safe Vacation House is not Easy

I am down to the last two days of a vacation - a quiet one with only my sister and brother-in-law with me. Well, I did take Lexie with me. She loves to travel in a car. 

I have to face facts -- taking a trip today is much harder than when I was younger. I had more physical strength and less need for medications and other things that help me sleep, help we walk, help me ride long distances in a car. 

On this trip, I missed Barry. He would have had me laughing more, relaxed more, and we all would have had more fun. I realize that I cannot capture what we had, the four of us, and trips long or short are never going to be the same. Now Gay and Stu help me with luggage and then handle their own. Gay is protective of me. "Don't go up and down those stairs so much," she said. "I'll take these things." The steps were wet and with my bad knee, it was difficult to manage them. 

But we still enjoyed being together. They brought their dogs along so we had lots of dog-walking time. 

The rental house had no Internet service so Stu and I had to go into town a few times to get our email. We found that McDonald's was our best bet until we found a small coffee house with free WiFi. The daily rain altered some of our plans, but we did take a walk on the road to nowhere. Gay and Stu took several walks with their dogs. 

I slept really well in the rental house even though my room was too warm. I opened almost every window in the place because housekeeping didn't honor my request to have a clean place with no sprays or chemicals that would trigger my MCS. When in the house, I felt awful, but if I went outside or stayed in a room with all windows open I felt much better.

 

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We were awakened each morning by wild turkeys grazing on the lawn. They were perfectly silent, but Lexie knew they were there, and she woke me with her growling. The setting for our  vacation was in the midst of farm land. Horses were pastured on one side and cows on another. It was quite pretty around us. If only the housekeeper had done what I asked, I would have really liked this farm house with three bedrooms. But, the house is toxic to me. As days passed, I grew worse until we decided we must leave and find another safer house for me. I can't live all the time with a charcoal lined mask over my face

We hope to fill the next two days having a good time even though rain is likely to try to spoil our fun. I enjoy my sister and brother-in-law so much, it doesn't bother me if it rains. I feel such contentment today, relaxed, and happy.


We are taking book orders for Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins. This book is a great Christmas gift.
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