ADAGES WEEKLY : 43 - Don't Be A Wet Nurse

January 10, 2025

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ADAGE

Don't Be a Wet Nurse

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RESPONSE

Everyone reports to someone: a superior, customers, directors, shareholders, the ?nancial community, or voters. Do your sincere best to serve the interests of whomever you report to. Subordinates should stay focused on the goals of their superiors. In turn, their superiors should always look after the interests of their subordinates. Each should know that they can rely on the other. If a leader sees to the maintenance of such relationships at all levels of his organization, the organization will be highly responsive to that leader's direction and will. Show respect to your direct subordinates. If you don't, their subordinates will pick up on your disrespect and mimic it, which will diminish the e?ectiveness of your direct subordinates. Always remember the simple dynamics of leadership; you need a leader and followers. The relationship between Jesus Christ and his followers illustrates this dynamic best. Over the past 50 years, there has been an increasing focus on the individual at the expense of the team, and we see the negative impact of this throughout American enterprise. Your job as a leader is to achieve objectives. You set the vision and execute the plan. If you're spending most of your time showing subordinates how to do their job or listening to them complain about having to do their job, then you have the wrong subordinates.

SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Judges 7:5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.”

QUESTIONS

1. How do the Scripture(s) apply to the business adage?
2. Do you interact differently with a Christian subordinate versus a secular? If so, how?
3. A Christian coach recommends adopting a servant leadership approach toward your subordinates. Do you agree? What does this mean to you?
4. Do you lap drink like a dog or kneel down? What's the difference, and how does it apply to your business?

Mike Smock Mike Winter CBMC Trusted Advisor Forums - Michigan