The Word I Don’t Hear Much
“We have a crisis in leadership. Confidence in leaders continues to decline. At the same time, our current financial situation says we are in desperate need of leaders.”
“Would you trust your leaders to babysit your children?” John Baldoni.
Leadership begins with trust. Acting in the best interest of others builds trust. Self-interest, at the expense of others, destroys trust.
Leaders who think more about what they get than what they give can’t be trusted.
During my conversation with Baldoni, he said, “We need more sacrifice in leadership. Sacrifice is doing what’s right for others, first.” John Baldoni.
The power of sacrifice:
- Sacrifice builds trust, commitment, and loyalty.
- Great achievement always calls for sacrifice.
- Sacrifice reveals the heart. Calling others to sacrifice without self-sacrifice degrades others.
- Self-sacrifice enables leaders to call others to sacrifice.
- Sacrifice is the path to connecting with something bigger than you.
- Leaders willing to sacrifice take the long view.
- Ethics and integrity have meaning in tension between self-service and others-service.
Calling leaders to sacrifice is calling them to love others more than they love themselves.
Many topics in leadership are challenging and awkward; sacrifice tops the list. I don’t hear much about sacrifice. It’s time to bring it back.
Check out John Baldoni’s new book: The Leader’s Pocket Guide: 101 Indispensable Tools, Tips and Techniques for any Situation.
What does leadership-sacrifice look like from your perspective?
What is meant by “desperate need”?
Desperate need speaks to the current economic, political, and social challenges the world faces.
LOL…it took me awhile to figure out you were pointing out a misspelling… thanks!
Good post and questions Dan. Sacrifice is a tough thing to explain and call people to, unless you (as a leader) are doing it as well. We can only get out of people what we are willing to demonstrate.
From my perspective, a self-sacrificing leader always has the team members and the mission clearly in sight and in the forefront of their minds. Each member of the team has to have some sense of belonging and success to continue to be successful. The leader’s job is to get themselves and their egos out of the way to help their people flourish and shine.
It also means that those types of leaders go out of their way to be sure that people are recognized for their contributions, no matter how small. And, mature leaders also take the brunt of the hits and criticisms when things don’t go well, even if they have assigned the work to someone else.
Mature leaders you stand in the gap (for good and bad) to be sure that the team and the team members excel.
Martina
Thanks Martina. Powerful insights.
You point out that there is nothing noble about sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice. Sacrifice needs a noble “for.”
If we aren’t careful, sacrifice becomes a “woe is me” approach. Sacrificing for noble causes lifts our nobility. Think of military personal…
Absolutely. Givers Gain. Give before u asked.
Thanks John
… sacrifice demonstrates resolve and strength of conviction — two more terms I do not hear much in today’s society… (It’s why many never step up to leadership challenges)
Thanks Ken. Two more tough words.
“Calling leaders to sacrifice is calling them to love others more than they love themselves.” This idea goes against so much of what is taught: to look out for yourself because no one else is going to. It has been my experience that when I sacrifice the most (whether it’s my time, my money, etc.) those around me “rise to the occasion” and sacrifice on my behalf. Being the first to sacrifice tends to create a circle of mutual giving and trust. And when it doesn’t, I always know that I did what was best for someone else in that situation and that is of the utmost importance to me.
Thanks Priscilla. I hadn’t thought about leaders as first movers in this area but it makes perfect sense.
I believe leaders move first. Why not sacrifice, too?
I word on sacrifice, if I may. As leaders, we are energized by some activities and drained by other activities. One of the most consistent energy boosting activities I’ve found in my experience as a leader is when I am genuinely helping someone else out for their good.
I happen to like the powder residue that comes from being sacrificial. It helps me to be a better leader.
Thanks Scott. It’s freeing to help someone for no other reason than to be helpful.
I must admit that I hear a voice in my head that cries out…”what about me?” That makes the path of sacrifice a bit more challenging.
I love this post! Some leaders are just leaders, but they have not experienced the difficult times or had to make a true sacrifice as us as working people to make them true leaders. Therefore, they would be able to understand our stand point of view on things and can really sympathize with us and understand our hurts rather than pretend to understand what we go through as the working class.
Thank you Tammack. I hear you saying that a sacrificial leader more fully connects with others and think you are right on.
Trust is the ability to sacrifice the urge to take advantage of someone. Leadership is the ability to sacrifice your best interests for the betterment of others. If you do not expend 100% of your talents then you are sacrificing some of the gifts you could give to others.
Author: The General Contractor – How to be a Great Success or Failure
Thanks Joe. Powerful stuff. When we trust others we’re saying that we are confident they won’t hurt us.
Hi Dan,
So, from a totally different angle, your post is so meaningful today. For me, and many others, the Jewish High Holy Days are but days away. The words trust, love, sacrifice, path, journey, heart are all poignant as we feel that during these Holy Days our being, our souls are being opened up and exposed to God for judgement. But we are assured and take comfort by our “trust” in God as Psalm 54 reminds us. It is a Psalm about Trust.
“On a day of fear, I trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not fear…..”
Thank you Philip. One of the things I enjoy about the LF community is the freedom for contributors to bring their faith to the conversation.
Dear Dan,
I think leadership sacrifice can be measured on two scale- concern and impact. We need to understand the cost of sacrifice. When someone makes sacrifice, does he or she sacrifice to achieve more? That is the simple and great question we need to ask either from us or from leaders. Sacrifice to get power or position is questionable. We need to ponder what do we mean by sacrifice? Now, we need to think why someone make sacrifice? If the concern is for others, and directly or indirectly does not benefit to leaders, then it can be justifiable sacrifice, otherwise not.
Second, sacrifice needs to be weighed by its impact. Sacrifice can be bigger or smaller. And bigger sacrifice needs more courage making smaller sacrifice. Whom does it impact ? To really someone or groups that is needy or someone who is already benefited. It means, sacrifice needs to create impact for those who are underprivileged, needy, suppressed or oppressed. This is true leadership sacrifice.
Thank you Ajay. I love how you think and analyze. Great addition to the conversation.
One thing I take away is sacrifice is sacrifice when those we serve cannot return payment. … Powerful.
I am just wondering…what happens when you continually sacrifce for the team, hoping for that circle to form only to realize that the very team you are willing to sacrifice for is not interested? I understand that you shouldn’t expect reciprocation for your sacrifices but if you are trying to set a bar by doing so wouldn’t the expected outcome be some sacrificial acts on the other side? And how do you continue to put yourself out there day after day and not begin to harbor resentment?
Great question and relevant, too.
If sacrificing to achieve a noble goal isn’t working, then perhaps it’s time to stop???
Does the outcome justify the sacrifice? Therefore, if there is no outcome then the sacrifice is in vain.
Thought about this word “Sacrifice” on and off all day and still cannot find comfort in how it is being applied in your post today or John Baldoni’s premise. Almost everyone who has commented has been drawn to use other words to, I assume, gain comfort in supporting the notion that leaders have to “sacrifice” to be good leaders.
For me, sacrifice is an output, not an input. It’s a word we use AFTER something has happened, not BEFORE it happens.
From a Biblical sense sacrifice traditionally is associated with death and by sacrificing say an animal the sacrificer believes he/she is closer to their God.
Part of my issue with this euphemism is it obfuscates the individualism of leadership into some softball notion of collectivism. Leadership is all about achieving goals through the actions of others. I do not consider that to be Sacrifice, I consider that to be Inspiration.
I think one of the reasons you don’t hear the word “Sacrifice” much in the context of leadership is because all of us experts on “Leadership” have thrown so many euphemisms into the practice of so-called Leadership that no one “playing” these roles knows what to do other than be a manager and bad ones at that.
Why do you think there are so many so-called leaders, both in corporate and political life, that suffer from pathological narcissism, which I think is the antidote you are serving up with your post.
I could live with the term “Sacrifice” if it is used as a noun as opposed to a verb. LOL
Hi Jim,
I’m uncomfortable with the term myself because it’s unwieldy.
I’m limiting the term, in my own life, to a word that describes my behaviors when I reject selfishness and serve others with the motive of helping them without regard for their ability to return the favor.
I see a selflessness in it…although pure selflessness is only a theory in my life. I feel a deep selfishness in me. When I go against it, I feel like I’m sacrificing. Oh that sounds ugly…
When I saw that you had tossed the term around during the day, I thought how wonderful. I’ve been doing the same. Glad to share the journey with you.
Honored by your thoughts….
You hit the nail on the head by describing loving others more yourself as a key characteristic of building trust. Great job on the post. Thanks for stretching my thinking.
Absolutely true. True leadership is serving others, putting what they need before what you want.