It’s a Rare Condition
Introduction
For as long as I can remember as a child every Friday was “Family Matters” night. The Song would start with “It’s a rare condition this day and age”. The words sang by Jesse Fredericks were explaining that family love is rare. The song writer defined the word rare in the same context that the writer used. They both agreed that their topics of interest were rare. You could not find large families in love, and you could not find the type of rare leaders that were described in both readings.
In the review of both readings, I learned what the authors say it will take to be a rare leader. If their teachings are accurate then these titles reign true. Unfortunately, we as leaders do not carry all or most of those traits. We instead carry little to none. Those of us who thought (me) we had it together begin to rethink this as we turned each page. I guess that is all a part of learning. With my learning experiences in mind, I would like to highlight some of the leaders that have been an influence on me and their leadership styles.
Admired Leaders and their styles
Outside of my home and grade school the first person that I was led by was my boss at McDonalds. At that age either you were nice or mean, there was no thoughts of leadership style. As an adult thinking back, my boss smiled at me with no words of criticism. She instead waited to see my mother and tell her how fast food was not my thing; I was too cute and too slow. This type of leadership was effective in giving me a chance to change, but I had to be told that something was wrong to change it. I would say that she showed a few qualities of being a rare leader in the workplace. She was relational, like herself and easy going. Where I felt she lacked leadership qualities, was enduring hardship. I felt that the things that were happening inside if her facility where hers to handle inside the facility. If I were assessing her maturity as a leader, I would say she was a child according to the authors.
I considered my first pastor also a great leader. He was able to see vision through and grow our ministry. The fault that was seen in him was that he led with his emotions on his sleeves. He also aimed to please the people in his family over the congregation. Even after decades of ministering he was still what the authors call an infant leader. He blew up when things did not go his way. He pouted when he did not get what he thought he deserved. He proved to lack several if not all the habits that equated to a rare leader. I am afraid that we followed him not because he was a rare leader, but because we had been taught that the church itself was what had saved us from the beginning of time.
Conclusion
As I to work toward being a great leader, I hope to improve my skills. As I reviewed the maturity levels, I also assessed myself. I believe that I would rate in between a child and adult. I would say that my habits need work but at least one of the four traits I am one hundred percent sure that I am fully able to exhibit presently. Hopefully, as I submit myself to learning/listening more I can prove to be one of the rare leaders that we are in search of today.
Warner, Markus. Wilder, Jim. Rare Leadership. Chicago, 2021.
About the Author
Shonell Dillon
A daughter of the KING of kings and the LORD of lords. A lover of LIFE!6 responses to “It’s a Rare Condition”
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Shonell, I love how you practically applied what you learned to assess leaders in your life and your own leadership. Do you have any specific take aways from the books to apply to your own leadership as you continue to grow?
Hey Shonnell,
I enjoyed reading about your experiences with different kinds of leaders – your boss at McDonalds and your former pastor – and their RARE leadership qualities and lack thereof.
If I were to honestly look inward at my leadership style, I would say I struggle with the “enduring hardship” piece. What practical pieces of advice do you have for growing in that area besides simply going through it?
Shonell,
I enjoyed reading about the leaders in your life and how you would rate each of them and their leadership style. I know I fall short when self-evaluating as well. I think all of us do. Thank you for your insightful post.
Shonell,
Wonderful example of leadership from your supervisor at McDonald’s. How has that experience shaped your own leadership approach? I find that offering criticism is not easy for me, but I have grown to give that kind of positive, supportive feedback that others have displayed toward me.
Shonell, Thank you so much for your post. I really appreciate how you took the wisdom of the book and wove it into your personal experiences with leaders, as well as your own leadership style and maturity. I feel like a strength and effective quality of RARE leadership would also be vulnerability and the willingness to honestly discuss our own maturity and progress, and areas of needed growth. Thanks for giving us courage to do that. I so appreciate your writing. Are any of Warner and Wilder’s ideas relevant to your project that you’re working on?
I LOOVED Family Matters! I can hear the song now!
Thank you for your post and shared experiences!
You are a RARE LEADER!