One week from today I will be on a plane back to the great state of Minnesota. The past two weeks have flown by. We visited a couple sights today similar to yesterday so I am going to take this post to talk about some of the leadership qualities we have discussed as a class. The three today are: respect and integrity.
Integrity is all about being honest. 1 lie usually leads to at least 3 more lies. This means the more you lie, the harder it becomes to stop lying. Often times our lies are harmless and pointless, but bad lies can expand like a wildfire. To gain the trust of other people we need to show that we have the integrity that deserves that trust. An example we discussed is the Bethel Covenant for living. It states that while attending Bethel we cannot drink. Is it bad to have an alcoholic drink? When you’re off age, no. But by agreeing to the covenant we are given the opportunity to live in an environment that lets us not worry about the problems that alcohol could bring. Guidelines cause freedom. Integrity causes freedom.
Respect is crucial in leadership and in being a part of any group. A respectful person doesn’t look down upon others. They shoe respect for their duties. They show respect for their gifts and their teammates gifts. Respecting your gifts means not looking at others and wanting what they have. The gifts we have been given have been given to us for a reason. It is our job to use them rather that show jealousy for others. We need to respect or opponents. In sports if you feel you are better than your opponent, you may not give everything you have. By taking it easy you are being disrespectful to your opponent and they may build on that to defeat you. So this raisers the question: does respect need to be earned? Should it be given no matter what? Can you lose respect for someone? Think about it.
Band of Brothers 2013: A Study of Uncommon Leaders 