LEADING: Service Before Self

By: John M. Lotz

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

LEADING: Service Before Self

“To aspire to leadership is an honorable ambition” (1 Timothy 3:1).
“The greatest among you shall be your servant” (Mathew 23:11).
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

In your lifetime, almost everyone serves in natural, informal leadership “roles”: parent; mentor; coach; teacher; husband; wife; friend; counselor and more. In your lifetime, you will observe and judge leaders. In your lifetime, your career paths may lead you into formal roles of leadership.

At its core, leadership is built on an understanding of human nature, human needs and human relationships. Three leadership themes are the bedrock of leading as well as the bedrock of better relationships with each other: 1. Service Before Self; 2. Tough Love; 3. Personal Integrity.

Leaders fail. Sometimes they are not suited. Sometimes they really do not want the job. Sometimes, they are disingenuous in their motives, intent on asserting control. Beware.

Hopefully, this book will help you be a better friend, a better leader and a better judge of leaders.

General Lotz enlisted in the Naval Air Reserve in 1959. He was commissioned in the Air Force in 1963, and resigned in 1969 to attend the Harvard Business School. He then joined the CA Air National Guard in 1974. During the next twenty-three years he commanded three combat support units before being selected for promotion to Brigadier General. In 1993, military budgets were reduced to 2.5% of GDP triggering a crisis in the military. General Lotz was asked to join a team teaching cost efficiency concepts and leadership to the military. His role was to present seminars on Leadership. The program went viral throughout the DoD. He retired from the military in 1997. He was recalled in 2004 to go to Iraq and to restructure Iraqi Airlines, and to begin to create a corporate aviation infrastructure in Iraq. He declined the mission since his daughter was enroute to Baghdad as a C-130 Navigator.