Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the topic of leadership and my experiences in leadership roles over the years. Leadership takes many forms, and nearly everyone is a leader, whether it be at work, at church, at home, or in the community. Often, leaders have no special designation or title; sometimes, a person exhibits leadership by simply having the courage to do what is right in a difficult situation, as opposed to what is popular, easy, or self-serving.

I recently watched a short webinar series on leadership entitled In Good Company, which focused on two individuals with very different styles of leadership. The first was a North Carolina dentist who used a traditional leadership approach to grow his practice from a single employee to a multi-office enterprise with over 350 employees across the state. The second individual was a servant leader named Jim Stallings, whose approach to leadership focused on the development and growth of employees versus the company as a whole. Both shared insightful tips, and while they approached the subject from different angles, they agreed on an important takeaway: leadership means making decisions with character and integrity.

Although I’ve been around for quite some time now, and I’ve participated in leadership training and taken on various leadership positions, I am glad that I took the time to watch In Good Company. It inspired me to reflect on how I might improve my own approach to leadership, and maybe even taught this old dog some new tricks! It pays to listen to the best and the brightest!