Service
True leaders prove their call to leadership by serving others.
One of my favorite sports stories from my 12 years living in Chicago is that of Mike Singletary, the Hall of Fame linebacker for the Chicago Bears, serving in his church nursery. A mom, dropping off her child on the way to worship, was stunned to see “Samurai” (his nickname) wrapping his arms around an infant and rocking the child to sleep. She knew that those same arms that on Sunday mornings in the fall would be crushing the quarterbacks and running backs of opposing NFL teams. Her regards for Mike Singletary moved from admiring him as a great athlete to admiring him as a great man.
Following Hurricane Katrina thousands of people descended on Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to serve whole communities who had lost everything as tornadoes ripped through their homes and lives. As was true after 9/11 or after hurricane Katrina, hundreds of reporters also descended on the devastated area to tell the story of how people who were sacrificing their comfort and their possessions to help others
in distress. As one reporter said it this week: “We are Americans, it’s just what we do.”
To truly influence people—to truly make the kind of difference that causes them to respect and follow your life, you have to be a servant. There is a phrase we use to describe the truly great players in basketball—we say: “They make all of their teammates better.” That’s what a leader does. A leader makes others better. A leader does this by choosing to serve. That’s just what leaders do.
In the future, Elite will be adding service project opportunities to our annual calendar. Why will we do this? Because we want to lead in our community. Over the years ahead, we want to be admired for our commitment to and excellence in the game of basketball. But what we want, even more than that, is to be known as servants. Why? Because that is who we are.
True leaders prove their call to leadership by serving others. That’s just who we are and that is exactly what we will choose to do
One of my favorite sports stories from my 12 years living in Chicago is that of Mike Singletary, the Hall of Fame linebacker for the Chicago Bears, serving in his church nursery. A mom, dropping off her child on the way to worship, was stunned to see “Samurai” (his nickname) wrapping his arms around an infant and rocking the child to sleep. She knew that those same arms that on Sunday mornings in the fall would be crushing the quarterbacks and running backs of opposing NFL teams. Her regards for Mike Singletary moved from admiring him as a great athlete to admiring him as a great man.
Following Hurricane Katrina thousands of people descended on Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to serve whole communities who had lost everything as tornadoes ripped through their homes and lives. As was true after 9/11 or after hurricane Katrina, hundreds of reporters also descended on the devastated area to tell the story of how people who were sacrificing their comfort and their possessions to help others
in distress. As one reporter said it this week: “We are Americans, it’s just what we do.”
To truly influence people—to truly make the kind of difference that causes them to respect and follow your life, you have to be a servant. There is a phrase we use to describe the truly great players in basketball—we say: “They make all of their teammates better.” That’s what a leader does. A leader makes others better. A leader does this by choosing to serve. That’s just what leaders do.
In the future, Elite will be adding service project opportunities to our annual calendar. Why will we do this? Because we want to lead in our community. Over the years ahead, we want to be admired for our commitment to and excellence in the game of basketball. But what we want, even more than that, is to be known as servants. Why? Because that is who we are.
True leaders prove their call to leadership by serving others. That’s just who we are and that is exactly what we will choose to do