Leader as Communicator August 24, 2014 While reflecting on my life experiences and how they have shaped or influenced my behaviors and attitudes, I must refer back to the life experiences of Howard Schultz, because ironically we share the same values that were a result of our similar life experiences. My father died when I was 11 months old soon to turn a year, therefore, I was raised by my mother, who chose never to remarry out of concern for re two younger daughters me and my sister, Peggy, who is six years older than I.
We have an older sister who had long be married and raising her own family. My mother is a single uneducated parent raising two girls alone doing the best that she could to “make ends meet. ” She did domestic work in an orphanage home for years and later landed a Job in the dietary department of a local Nursing Home in our hometown as a cook. Needless to say, the monies that my mother earned were minimum and as a result we were always struggling financially. There was hardly enough money for the bare necessities such as food and the other basic needs that are required for daily survival.
Always feeling put down because I had less than other children who I thought had it all, I became determined in my heart that if I was ever given an opportunity to make a difference in the world, that I would become a nurturer of humanity. I believe strongly in humanity and human relations and that every person should be treated with dignity and respect and I have diligently remained true to this core value that I have held in my heart for years. It is a guiding force in my life along with my relationship with Christ.
Like Howard Schultz, I adopted the of never leaving anyone behind” which has become a motivating factor in the way that I purpose to treat every person that crosses my past in my Journey on this earth. I am compelled to help people see their value through the eyes of God and to embrace this reality as their true identity. According to Terry Pearce in Leading Out Loud, there is a rare group of people that are willing and able to communicate with others using the raw eternal of their own conviction. Clearly, these leaders were courageous enough to communicate authentically from the basis of their real values, whether they were giving speeches, advocating a cause, writing memos, or conversing informally (p. 18). He further adds in his article, Communicate from the Inside Out, “Discovering what matters is the first and most critical piece of leadership development. ” According to Pearce by have an understanding of defining moments in one’s life facilitates an understanding of the values and experiences makes them care about their performance and the performance of the people they lead.