Drum Major Instinct, part two
I've been thinking about drum majors all day. It's a follow up to my previous post.
From a spectator's point of view, it can be a bit hard to tell what a drum major does exactly. Especially the spectator I was in the previous post, someone younger than 5. The drum major is out in front, wears the big hat, leads people around and captures attention.
But if you're a leader, what makes people want to follow you? What makes you a leader in the first place? And just because someone has a position that requires leadership does not mean they are a leader.
Basically, a leader has to be dedicated to taking people where they want to go. A leader has to help lift people up and make them better. Help them achieve their goals.
It's the old saying servant leadership. Or, as Martin Luther King Jr. said in his sermon called the Drum Major Instinct:
"Everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve."
From a spectator's point of view, it can be a bit hard to tell what a drum major does exactly. Especially the spectator I was in the previous post, someone younger than 5. The drum major is out in front, wears the big hat, leads people around and captures attention.
But if you're a leader, what makes people want to follow you? What makes you a leader in the first place? And just because someone has a position that requires leadership does not mean they are a leader.
Basically, a leader has to be dedicated to taking people where they want to go. A leader has to help lift people up and make them better. Help them achieve their goals.
It's the old saying servant leadership. Or, as Martin Luther King Jr. said in his sermon called the Drum Major Instinct:
"Everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve."
posted by bl at 5:15 pm
4 Comments:
Do you know this Bob Dylan song? He always gets to the heart of the matter, and I think he's just stunning...
Gotta Serve Somebody
BOB DYLAN
--------------------------------------------
You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say
You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
Actually, I don't remember hearing that song. I'll have to talk to one of my friends that's really into music or really into Dylan and see if I can find somebody who has it.
I think I was telling you about C.S. Lewis' Case for Christ the other day.....it's a book by Art Lindsley
www.conservativebookclub.com
I also saw it on the shelf at Mardel
Ocho, I know a pretty good leader. I'm at work with her right now. This woman is amazing. You'd never think it to look at her or watch her academically. But her life is by far one that outweighs any of ours in responsibility. Her name is LeAnn. A dedicated, pursuant of leadership, upstanding, moral, intelligent, and pretty danged hard-working. They all go hand in hand, you see. Tonight her mother had a stroke. I had no idea, but she lets her parents live with her. Her father has alzheimer's and can barely shuffle. So, LeAnn gets up every day and makes it here by 8. Granted, the rest of us are here by 6:30, but she always skips lunch. She crams, has given up the news or reading for enjoyment for the last two years. And she works full time with me (full time weekends, that is) to pay for what their medicare cannot. She never complains, always is clean and well-mannered. She's poised, polite, and takes better care of the two of them than herself. That is leadership. I want to be like that!
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