Leadership Thought: How to Add Value to Others by Simple Acts of Love

Dear Friends,

What keeps me up at night or wakes me up early in the morning to write these Leadership Thoughts?  It’s an intentional desire to add value to people. I hope and pray that each message I share makes a difference in each person who reads them.

Many years ago, I remember reading a quote by author and speaker Zig Ziglar who taught that “If you help enough people get what they want, they will help you get what you want.

The stories are too numerous to share of how this principle has been born out in my life

Albert Schweitzer writes “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and possess the will to help others.”

Valuing others doesn’t come naturally, for we are born with a selfish and sinful nature that would much rather be helped than help, served than serve, and loved than love. Valuing and putting others first won’t come naturally but can only be done with intentionally. We must always be on the lookout for ways to add value to others.

We must constantly be looking for opportunities to make a difference in people’s lives, for service to others seldom happens by accident.

The idea of adding value to others started early for me when I realized by simply holding the door  for someone, as simple as it was, would not only  add value to others,  but also add value  to someone and bring pleasure to me.

.I will never forget an illustration by my favorite teacher John Maxwell. He demonstrated the example on stage by using his hands to show that when you pushed someone down, you had to go down with them, but when you lifted them up, you not only lifted them up but you lifted yourself up as well. This simple illustration has stuck with me throughout my life, and it has been  a constant reminder of the fact that when you lift others up you lift yourself up as well.

I recently read of a pastor who described a man in his city who stood on a street corner holding up a sign reading FREE HUGS. The pastor commented that at first, he thought it was strange, but his heart was quickly changed when he saw the stream of people lining up to receive a free hug.

Just this past week, I closed our early morning prayer time with what I call a “holy hug.” We all get together in a circle and press in as tight inwardly as we can, and then I pray. Simple, yes, but oh so meaningful to feel the warm embrace of your brothers and sisters.

As a coach I was always on the lookout for ways to add value to my players through encouragement.  I would sometime stop our  practice to point out someone who went above and beyond what was expected.

 I will never forget the words of a coach who taught me to always encourage others when the sweat was still on their brow, and I have taken that message to heart.

Some of these illustrations seem like little things, but they are not, for there is never a little gesture of love or some form of encouragement  that ever goes unnoticed by our heavenly Father.

Who doesn’t like a hug, a hand around your shoulder, or a clap on the back. I will never forget the coach who reminded me “ that a pat on the back is only a few inches removed from a kick in the pants, but oh what a difference those a few inches make.”

If you and I will start our day praying to be “plus people” whose goal is to add value to others, and if we will always living intentionally, always on the lookout for ways to add value to others, there is no telling the difference we can make in our community, our nation and our world.

Words and works of selflessness will not only make a difference in the lives of others but in your life as well.

Every day let us give our time, share our knowledge, and offer our gifts and in so doing each of us we will become more like Jesus.

Jesus valued everyone, He loved everyone, He served everyone, and He never missed an opportunity to make people feel valued and you and I ought to be doing the same, seeking for ways to turn minus people into plus people.

Yours in faith and friendship,