Rotarian Richard Stewart

Posted by John Hamilton on Jun 30, 2016

A "Wall Street Journal" article this week studied how people lead. It found that a large percent of the people who think of themselves as leaders never talk to those under them about performance. One even suggested he would prefer having a very personal medical procedure to having to talk to someone about performance concerns.

Rotarian Richard Stewart talked to the Rotary Club about what true leadership is and how to achieve it. Leadership is the key to results. The "Journal" article described people who were bosses but not leaders. How can you expect good performance if you let poor performance continue? Not only does the low performer waste resources but the others around perceive that you have no standards.

Leadership means developing people. Mr. Stewart described it as pouring into people. Show by example. Explain. Set standards. Mentor. How do you become a leader?

Every professional athlete has personal trainors and advisors in addition to team specialists to help them improve their performance. Why do executives and those wanting to be leaders not have similar advisors? We call them mentors and almost every real leader has or has had a significant mentor at some time during his or her career.

Learning about your leadership starts at home and among friends. Ask those closest to you to evaluate you and listen to what they say. A leader cares about those being led, helps them when they need it and are trusted by their subordinates. Does this describe you?

Make yourself a Start/Stop List. Find a quiet time and list all of the things you need to start doing and another list of things you need to stop doing. Most importantly, follow through. Why do we live as though we have all the time in the world to do things? It is already too late for some things so it is time to move.

Mr. Stewart wrapped up his comments by pointing out that, at your age, if you are still here God has a purpose for you. It is time to move.

For more information about the Rotary Club of Waxahachie where we believe in Service Above Self and doing things as a club we cannot do alone, visit the club web site at www.waxahachierotary.org . You can find American flag subscription forms there. Pictures from the recent Cow Creek Country Classic bike ride will be there soon. The bike ride was very successful and the funds raised will all go to agencies we support.