Giving Back

This past week our Chamber of Commerce honored a group of nine students from local middle and high schools for their community service. The awards are given through a nomination process that included assessing the student’s contribution to making their community a better place to live. The recipients each shared the project or work they accomplished to qualify and how it impacted their lives. Ventures included teaching and mentoring children, rehabbing an historical property, and organizing a drive to collect clothing and shoes for needy children in Africa.

As I listened to the remarkably articulate stories shared by each young person who spoke I was reminded that giving back is a fundamental quality of leadership. While the impact of each project was significant, it was how the act of serving changed the hearts and minds of these budding leaders that caught my attention. Their testimonies revealed how insightful they now are about the issue their projects addressed – environmental, social, or historical. They spoke with passion and conviction about how good it felt to give back or to share with others.

In a world where leadership is often defined by the accumulation of power, wealth, or influence these young people have learned a different lesson, one that I hope they will carry with them into their careers and families. Serving others is not just a quality of leadership it is a personal calling for each of us as members of the human family.

The Christmas season is a reminder that the gift we celebrate, the birth of Jesus Christ, came to serve and to teach us how to do the same. Leaders of every age should reflect again on the powerful act of serving others and make it a priority for the New Year. Ask someone, including your employees, “How may I serve you?” When they recover from the shock, sincerely and graciously do what they ask.

Giving back is not some selfish exercise to sooth a guilty conscious. Neither is it about giving in order to get something in return. Serving should be a way of life, a commitment we make to ensure that the communities where will live and work can someday overcome the challenges of crime, hunger, homelessness, abuse, addictions, and loneliness. If leaders took their responsibility of serving seriously we could affect real change with many of these social ills without governmental intervention.

The outstanding students who shared their amazing acts of selflessness give me hope for the future. They have inspired me to reexamine my own commitment to service. I hope that by sharing their story you will be inspired as well.