Leadership: Be a Go-Giver

Mick Daly (Elder)
November 2008

On Sunday November 2nd, Pastor Doug taught a sermon entitled "He so loved the world, that he gave..." God can only be described at the best 'giver' in history - his provision is legendary. Godly giving is the secret to personal influence.

You've heard me before credit John Maxwell as saying 'Leadership is nothing more than Influence'. So it was interesting for me to read a wonderful little book called "The Go-Giver". In this book John David Mann and Bob Burg discuss five 'laws' including law 3 which they call The Law of Influence: “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”

At first glance, this might seem to be counterproductive; how would you become influential by placing other people’s interests before your own?  Yet servant leaders in the business world know this is absolutely the most practical way to lead.  They understand the Golden Rule of Business: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.”  And there is no faster, more powerful, or more effective way to elicit those feelings in others than by putting their interests first and looking for ways to add significant value to their lives. 

Like Jesus, servant leaders base their actions on edifying and building others; on looking out for their interests and serving their needs.  Like the “Level Five Leader” in Jim Collins’ "Good to Great", servant leaders tend to make others the issue and think in terms of what is in the best interest of the organization; those who are “on their bus.”  Instead of being credit-hoarders, they tend to give the credit away.  Instead of aspiring to be kings, they seek to be kingmakers.

This is comparable to what happens when you watch a movie.  Logically, you know it’s only a story—you know that Bruce Willis isn’t really breaking up a terrorist ring single-handedly after first insulting the head terrorist who has a gun pointed at his head—but in order to enjoy it, you suspend your disbelief.  Likewise, in servant leadership, we willingly suspend our self-interest.  We don’t forego or deny it; we simply set it aside. 

People may misunderstand this idea, seeing this as “giving to get”, just deciding that doing so is a lot better than simply taking from the get-go.  But this still isn’t a particularly righteous or effective way to be.  Instead, as a servant leader, you "give to give". 

In "The Go-Giver", Sam, the super-successful financier, tells the protagonist, Joe, that the turning point in his career was when he realized that what people typically call “win-win” is too often a disguised way of keeping score and making sure nobody gets more than his share.  “Forget about fifty-fifty, son,” he tells the young man, “fifty-fifty’s a losing proposition.  The only winning proposition is one hundred percent.  Make your win about the other person.  Forget win-win—focus on the other person’s win.”

Joe later relates this back to his own relationship with his wife, Susan, and how they constantly struggle to make sure they each get their 50 percent out of it.  And he realizes that it’s the same with his colleagues in business.  As Sam puts it, “When you base your relationships—in business or anywhere else in your life—on who owes who what, that’s not being a friend.  That’s being a creditor.”

The point here is that we don’t put others’ interests first as a stepping stone toward serving our own interests; we do it for the self-contained reward and satisfaction of knowing we were able to serve.  You give because it’s who you are and, therefore, what you do. 

And as it turns out, there is a happy irony here: as you do, you will also receive in abundance.  Why?  Because, when you “give to give,” people feel good about you; they feel as though they know you, like you and trust you—and to the degree this occurs, they will buy into your mission, invest in your cause, and follow where you lead.

Even though it’s not a ‘Christian’ book, I recommend "The Go-Giver". To read Chapter One, visit www.TheGoGiver.com. 

"Do what you love in the service of others who love what you do"

More next month ...                                        ~ Leadership ~