What My Mother Taught Me about Leadership and Life

My mother was an amazing woman. She wasn't highly educated; she didn't have a successful professional career; she didn't have lots of money or fame. She had two purposes for her life: faith and family. She was 100% dedicated to both. For most of her life, she attended worship services on Sunday morning and on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. She went to Sunday school and ladies' Bible class. She took her kids to vacation Bible school, and if there were a gospel meeting or revival, she'd be there Sunday through Friday. She read her Bible until she couldn't read anymore. She loved singing the old hymns. As late as two days before her death, my sister reported she was singing loudly, “I'll fly away, oh, glory” at the skilled nursing facility's Sunday worship service. She always went places with her four children and came out to our events. She and I rode a bus to see Peter and the Wolf when I was in third grade. She came to every musical, contest play, and backstage event I was in. She attended football games, track meets, orchestra and piano concerts, speeches, and school events of all kinds. Birthdays and Christmases were magical. One year, Santa came while we were at the pharmacy with my dad. Mother helped Santa distribute and hide the gifts. That year, the girls got chocolates in “choo-choo” bags left in the refrigerator. It was a very memorable Christmas. Night after night, she tucked us in bed, prayed with us, and nursed us while sick. She loved and served her family. And she served others. Not long ago, my other sister told me that a resident at the lodge said, “I love your mother. She makes me feel wanted.” Even with late-stage dementia, she never forgot God, her family, and to serve others. It was who she was through and through. My mother displayed servant leadership with her God, her family, and all the others whose lives she touched. I'm not sure it's a characteristic you can teach your employees in a seminar. But it is something you can model. There is no better way to show your employees how to treat others than to treat them with kindness, respect, and love. When they see you treating others that way, they will get the message that it's what you expect from them. I learned from my mother how to dedicate one's life to a mission, a purpose, even a calling, if you wish. Faith and family were all she had and all she needed. No one on this Earth could be more loyal to a mission than she was. For example, my mother did not lie. She taught us not to lie. If one of our friends that we didn't want to talk to called on the phone, we'd whisper, “Tell him I'm in the bathtub.” Then we'd have to run and stand in the bathtub so my mother wouldn't be lying. It became a long-running joke in our family, but a well-learned lesson. My mother, miraculously, made each child feel special. We have so many memories that we share with each other. Everyone has memories that the others knew nothing about. It was something between mother and child. I think it's a good lesson for the workplace. As a leader, it's incumbent upon you to make each employee feel that they matter, and that they are wanted. My mother intuitively knew, or she learned, how to be a mother, a leader, and a faithful servant. I pray to God that He grants her peace, and that He restores her mind, body, and spirit for all eternity. Dawn Z. Hodges, Ph.D., is retired from the Technical College System of Georgia. She served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Southern Crescent Technical College. You may reach her at [email protected].