Assiduous

---

From a young age, I’ve seemed to have inadvertently found myself in a variety of leadership roles. These experiences have not only shaped my understanding of leadership but also taught me valuable lessons about humility, dialogue, and group dynamics. Among my earliest experiences was my role as a Patrol leader in the Boy Scouts. This position instilled in me the idea that leadership is not a title or an age-bound status, but a cooperative effort that is given, not taken or assumed.

It’s funny when we think about leadership, we often imagine a charismatic figure, guiding a group effortlessly. Yet, my experience in the scouts during the early 1990s was anything but this traditional image. It was a time when young boys, including myself, were thrust into a situation that required us to take the reins of our own development, and in doing so, we learned valuable lessons about leadership and resilience.

Our scout master and assistant scout masters employed an unorthodox approach, allowing us to teach ourselves and then demonstrate our newly-acquired skills to them for advancement. This method, while innovative or potentially ignorant, was nevertheless challenging due to the limited resources available to us at that time. We were left to our devices in an era before the internet, with only our handbooks for reference.

Our parents, unaware of this unique teaching method, held the belief that we were simply not progressing because we were more interested in playing around than learning. It took courage for us to stand up to our parents and the troop leaders to bring our plight to light. But we did, and it resulted in a meeting of the troop and the parents, where we aired our frustrations.

This confrontation led to the stepping down of the then troop leader and a few of us, including myself, transitioning out due to other commitments. The troop subsequently got new leadership and became quite successful, a testament to the power of honest feedback and the ability of a group of individuals to instigate change.

Reflecting back, this experience was my first real encounter with the impact of leadership, or lack thereof, on a group. It also showed me the strength of collective action, even from the most unexpected sources – a group of young scouts. It was a powerful lesson that leadership isn’t just about leading, but also about listening, adapting, and empowering others.

This incident from my scout days is a reminder that leadership comes in many forms, and sometimes, it emerges from the least expected places. It’s also a testament to the power of unity, resilience, and the ability to stand up for what’s right, no matter your age or position in the hierarchy.

Another impactful experience was my time as a Sunday school teacher around the age of 13 for the adult class. At that age I was teaching folks who could’ve been my parents. This role, with its unique challenges and rewards, taught me humility and the importance of dialogue. I learned that leadership necessitates mutual respect and understanding. No one person holds all the knowledge, and it’s the collective wisdom of the group that truly drives progress.

Another defining moments in my leadership journey happened in my church. A contentious issue divided our congregation — the hiring of a youth pastor. The church was at a crossroads, with its congregation mostly composed of older members and a handful of younger families concerned about the future of their children within the church. The proposed solution was the hiring of a youth pastor, with the hope that this would attract more young people to the congregation. However, this solution was not universally accepted.

On one side were the younger families, eager to ensure a vibrant future for their children within the church. They advocated for the immediate hiring of a youth pastor, hoping this would attract more families with young children. On the other side was the older, more financially conservative portion of the congregation, who suggested saving money over a period of time to pay for a youth pastor’s salary. This group was concerned about the financial burden that might fall on the church if a youth pastor was hired prematurely.

As a young member of the congregation, I found myself in the middle of this conflict. I recognized the need for a vibrant youth program, but I also saw the logic of the older members’ argument. I spoke up, voicing my opinions and concerns. This was a pivotal moment, teaching me that leadership sometimes requires putting personal wants aside for the greater good. It also reaffirmed that leadership necessitates dialogue, even when the outcome may be uncomfortable or divisive.

Fast forward to my professional life, where I anticipated making roots in a company with the hope of retiring from there and it was in that company where I would becoming a leader whose career would span the next two decades. The experiences here pushed me to introspect and question my understanding of leadership. As the expectations of me grew, I felt a divergence from what I believed my duty as a leader was. It made me question: Was my understanding of leadership misplaced?

Not to deviate too far from topic but there is another belief I hold that I’ve found helpful over time. In my post yesterday I talked a little bit of my time in a private Christian school. As you can imagine “Bible” was a standard class and in high school we were introduced to using Greek and Hebrew dictionaries so we could gain a better understanding of the biblical writers intentions. This was a new concept for me that words I’m reading today could hold a different meaning when they were originally written. As time would go on, I would go deeper down the rabbit hole about language and it’s evolution. So now when I want to understand a concept, I will often look into the history of the word evolution.

This led me to delve into the etymology of “leadership.” The word “leader” comes from the Old English word “lædan,” which means “to guide,” derived from the Proto-Germanic “*laidijan.” The “-ship” suffix, from the Old English “-scipe,” suggests the condition or act of guiding. So, the term “leadership” essentially signifies the act or condition of guiding.

Then, I decided to investigate the origins on manager. I was a manger after all, so maybe that’s where the disconnect lay. When I looked up manager as I did leadership here’s what I found. The word “manager” originated from the Latin word “manus” meaning “hand” and “ager” meaning “to do” or “to act.” In Latin, “manus” referred to a hand, and “ager” referred to someone who performed specific actions or tasks. Over time, these two words were combined to form “maneger” or “manegerius,” which implied someone who was in charge of handling or directing tasks using their hands.

The differentiation of the words origins were in stark contrast. One was relationship based while the other was task oriented. Now there will be people out there who will ask the question “can a leader be a manger or vice versa?”…That’s a conversation for another post. I’ve rambled too long. At the end of the day I hope you’ve gained some insight into leadership that perhaps you may not have had previously.

If you’re still reading this, thank you. Stay strong, keep learning and be assiduous.