One Would Think I Would Have Known Better!

As I have started to pay more attention and listen to the words I have been saying to myself and others I have been appalled. Over and over again in a whining and complaining manner I've been saying such things as, "Why won't people listen to what I have to share?" and "Why don't people want all that I know?" I have had the attitude that I know a lot about how to improve the education of Hispanic learners--After all, it has been my goal over the last 8 years or so to become an expert on this issue, and I have worked towards that goal paying a heavy price not only financially but with my time, energy, and emotions as well.

It wasn't until Dr. Scott Ferrin who is my professor, the chair of my doctoral committee, and most of all, my friend gently reminded me to be humble that I really heard what I had been saying.

One would think I would have known better! Many of my favorite books throughout my lifetime have been:

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Norman Vincent Peale
• The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey
• How to Be A Woman of Influence by Pat Williams
• Influencer by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
• Plus many others!

The authors of these books would never recommend I complain and whine about people not listening to me. Although rereading those books might be helpful just reading the principles won't change a thing unless I apply them. Isn't that true of everything?!? It's the difference between being just knowledgeable and being wise.

No Place Is Too Small

As I have reflected on Martin Luther King's The Drum Major Instinct speech and One Solitary Life by James Francis, I was reminded of a favorite poem:

Father, where shall I work today?

And my love flowed warm and free,

Then he pointed out a tiny spot

And said, "Tend that for me."

I answered quickly, "Oh no, not that!

Why, no one would ever see,

No matter how well my work was done,

Not that little place for me."

And the word he spoke, it was not stern;

"Art thou working for them or for me?

Nazareth was a little place,

And so was Galilee."

The application of this poem's lesson will help our personal influence and service to be felt wherever we are, no matter how small that place may be-- and even if that place appears to be insignificant or unnoticed.

Reference:
Meade MacGuire, "Father, Where Shall I Work Today?" in Best-Loved Poems of the LDS People, comp. Jack M. Lyon and others (1996), 152.

Two Important Questions

Yesterday I attended a panel presentation at the University of Utah. It was one of its Martin Luther King celebration events.

One person on the panel, Dr. Takuya Minami, suggested that we ask ourselves two questions:

1. Do I feel like a member of the community?
2. Am I comfortable inviting others to the community?

A yes answer to the second question relies upon a yes answer to the first question. The struggles of others won't become my struggles until I can answer, "Yes," to both of these questions.

Pondering the first question caused me to reflect upon the work of Dr. Robert Putnam concerning social capital. To feel like a member of the community I must expand my circle of influence beyond my own small world--I must become actively involved. Although voting is important, actively involved requires more than casting a vote. It demands stepping out of a comfort zone and getting into the arena. It means speaking up and doing about what's right even when it is unpopular.

Spiritual Leadership Requires Righteous Motives

You probably know, as I do, that there is nothing quite like the sting that comes when one's motives are questioned or challenged.....especially when one has taken the risk to step out from the crowd to advocate for a cause greater than oneself The sting is even more painful and harder to endure when the criticism comes from those who are supposedly on the same side of the battle.



Yet, in spite of the painfulness of the sting, it provides an opportunity for us to ponder on our motives. Whenever our actions are motivated by a desire for a response from others whether that response be accolades, money, recognition, prestige, approval, etc., it would behoove us to do some changing.



It is not only the strength of a motive that is important but also the rightness or wrongness of it as L. Tom Perry suggests in his book, Righteous Influence. He goes onto say that power and influence are to be exercised only when a leader has in mind righteous purposes--pureness of heart. In other words, when and how a leader steps in has as much to do with the leader's readiness to do so as with the needs of the person (s) he/she desires to influence.



When one has a desire to influence another---to know when and how to step in (or back off!)--the first thing one should do is drop to his knees for guidance. From a personal conversation, L. Tom Perry quotes Jerry Harvey, a well-respected organizational scientist, "You don't really know anything about a leader until you know something about his prayer life."



Even if are motives are pure and even if we have prayed for guidance, there is still no guarantee that our motives won't be questioned or challenged. Others still have their free agency in how they choose to respond to our righteous motives. They may still falsely accuse us as Nephi was accused by his brothers, Laman and Lemuel, in the Book of Mormon of wanting to rule over them--in spite of all that he had done in their behalf.



If we are wrongly accused after we have determined that our motives are pure, we have the option of choosing to retreat or to go forward in spite of it. The cause depends on us choosing the latter... remembering the words of Albert Einstein,

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds"