As we think of the month of May, we think of Mother’s Day and the contribution of mothers to us personally and to society in general.  Let’s reflect on a few of those qualities here.

Let the Right-Brain Rule

The human brain is quite an awesome and complex organ.  But permit me to simplify it as we discuss LEADERSHIP thinking.  The brain is divided into two hemispheres – the left and right.  Left-brain dominated thinking tends to be data driven, fact-based, and analytical.  Right-brain dominated thinking is driven more by intuition, emotion, and empathy.

Who hasn’t heard of or experienced a Mother’s intuition?  These right-brained characteristics are often associated with the female styles.  Having said this, I don’t believe that it is limited to just women or mothers.  Every leader can try to develop these traits in order to improve their leadership ability.

Times are changing and problems are getting more and more difficult to solve.  Historically, our leadership landscape has been dominated by left-brained thinking – which has its place, no doubt.  The global challenges that are emerging require a new kind of thinking – something different than what has always been done.

In A Whole New Mind, Dan Pink writes that right-brained thinking will soon start to rule the world; it will “suddenly grab the wheel, step on the gas, and determine where we’re going and how we’ll get there.”  This means that the left-brain’s love of information and data will yield to the conceptual, big-picture thinking of the right.  Thus, the right brain will spark an evolution in how we think about things.

Find Beauty in Everyone

Who hasn’t seen a face that only a mother would love? Mothers have the ability to look beyond the surface and experiences the true sense of a person.

This servant-leader characteristic experiences empathy and believes in responding to the needs of others before her own and she does the work necessary to identify those needs – even if that requires stepping into their shoes.   One example can be found in Divine Moments for Leaders by Ronald Beers.  He writes about the practice of “downward mobility” (or being willing to perform the most menial tasks) as a way to grow as a leader.

CBS’s reality show Undercover Boss takes this theory to a literal level by bringing executives out of their corner offices and placing them in front-line jobs in their organizations.  Working alongside their employees while hiding their true identities, they see how their decisions affect the people who work for them and get a true picture of the inner-workings of their companies – the good, the bad, and the ugly.  The profound effect on these leaders is striking.  They come away with life-changing lessons in humility that transform the essence of their leadership.  On one episode, Larry O’Donnell, chief operating officer of the $13-billion-dollar company Waste Management, poses as a garbage collector and gains a better understanding of how hard his employees work, how devastating poor corporate communications can be on morale, and the outcome of poorly-crafted policies.   It clearly has a profound effect on his leadership style.

Lead with Love

A leader loves her followers – all of them.  We witness coaches that love their team; generals who love their troops, and leaders in public service who love their country.  Leadership love often means sacrifice – not just giving to others, but living for others.

“The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in doing so will not always be popular, may not always impress.  But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern rather than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price.” — Eugene B. Habecker in The Other Side of Leadership

Robert Greenleaf, founder of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, elaborates on this management concept in his essay, “Servant as Leader.”  He explains:

[Leadership] begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.  Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.  The best test is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit or at least, not be further deprived?

Greenleaf says that the truly great leader is, at heart, a servant first.  He sacrifices himself for the needs of those he serves.  Mother Teresa was such a servant.  She believed that for “a sacrifice to be real, it must cost, must hurt, [and we] must empty ourselves.” As she once explained, “The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace.”  And in her lifetime, she led a ministry that served millions.

We need to listen to leaders like Mother Teresa and Larry O’Donnell.  While you’re at it, eat your vegetables and don’t go out with dirty underwear – BECAUSE I SAID SO!