Jim never had to say anything to me, but with those gentle gestures, he taught us how to do our jobs. He conveyed: This is how we do things on “NewsHour”; These are our standards. Jim is gone, but the standards and ethical ecosystem he helped create live on. Morally healthy communities habituate people to behave in certain ways and make it easier to be good.
Someone who pays too much attention. Poet Mary Oliver wrote: “This is the first, craziest and wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and that it is built entirely out of attention.” The leaders we admire are paying close attention to the people they work with. They are not self-centered but give their attention to others, making them feel seen and shine. In the way you look at me, I see myself. If you give people fair and loving attention, they will blossom.
Know that people are watching more closely than you think. We want to believe that our beautiful statements will have a big impact on others. But what is often most deeply communicated is the leader’s smallest gestures – common gestures of politeness, small compliments or, on the other hand, the cold shoulder of thoughtlessness.
“The law affects us but here and there, and now and then,” wrote British-Irish statesman Edmund Burke. Manners are that which annoys or appeases, corrupts or purifies, exalts or abases, savages or purifies us, by a continuous, regular, uniform, indifferent, activity. Just like the air we breathe in works. They bring all the shapes and colors to our lives. According to their qualities, they support morality, they supply them, or they completely destroy them.”
Creation. Economists tell us that humans are fundamentally self-interested, but there comes a time in many managers’ lives when the ability to guide and nurture the next generation is more rewarding than only serve themselves. However, they do this consultation with respect, not condescension. The most creative leaders don’t see themselves as doing things “for” people. They know that “with” is stronger than “giving”. Chaplain Samuel Wells once observed that modern societies often “try to build a world that functions perfectly without love.” However, he added, mature love between equals is about walking “with” and not doing “for.”
