In mathematics, an absolute value is the numerical value of a real number regardless of its sign that is regardless if it’s positive or negative. A leader must live by certain absolute values. These values cannot be adulterated based on circumstances. We also cannot afford to live by emotions or opinions – which are never absolute. In spite of circumstances, every decision, thought, and action should be judged by our these values before being acted upon.

As a leader, the values we must hold as absolute are:

Absolute Vision

If you are not providing vision, you are not leading.  Being the loudest person at the table doesn’t make you the leader.   Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson wrote one of the best articles on why vision is so important. I encourage you to read it here.

Absolute Integrity

I have seen co-workers transform into super heroes when they get assigned high visibility type work.  Yet when assigned something that will move the business forward, but not a lot of accolades, their work ethic changes. Integrity also applies to the consistency of your work.  A leader’s integrity cannot be conditional. Regardless of the work or circumstance, give your best effort.  Don’t treat people beneath your pay grade differently than those who are above your pay grade.

Absolute Servitude

People are your greatest asset.  And the greatest honor for any leader is to speak into the lives of people around them.  Serve your followers and your leaders. Make it a priority to make these people successful and you will cease to struggle to get ahead.

Absolute Humility

Humility and confidence are 2 sides of the same coin.  You cannot have both until you know and accept who you are. Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Everyone has weaknesses. The key is to not be ignorant of your weaknesses. If a weakness is something you really want to work on, then do so. Take a class or get a mentor to strengthen that area. If it is not, make sure you have surrounded yourself with people who are stronger in that area.

Absolute Determination

Quitting is never an option. You may have to change the team or the game plan but vision remains the same. Be resolute in achieving the vision.

In Corporate America servant leadership has become popular form of leadership. I believe it’s only true leadership form. I see people struggle with the term servant, especially those of us in the black community. Servant and slave are terms that don’t sit well with us. Although we will sit in church on Sundays and hear how we are to servants and slaves of Christ. Many of us will serve in church, but it stops there. One reason is because having a servant’s mentality is different than having a servant’s heart.

A servant mentality is one where you believe you have to serve, because you have no other choice. It’s not a desire of your heart. It’s a mentality of waiting to be told what to do because you cannot anticipate the needs of others. Those with servant mentalities may be nice, pleasant people. They frequently ask what they can do to assist. But therein lays the deception: a servant’s heart anticipates the need and longs to meet the needs of others. Someone with a servant’s heart doesn’t wait to be told what to do.

Jesus said in John 5:19-20 (NIV) “…the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things He Himself does;” As His followers in Corporate America we can anticipate problems and because the creativity of the Holy Spirit lives in us we can solve them. We also should be teachers as Christ taught his followers. Who are you mentoring?

Servant Leadership was first described in 1970 by Robert K. Greenleaf in his essay “Servant as Leader”, but made popular by such authors as Ken Blanchard and Stephen Covey. I love his definition:

The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first; perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

Equally as good is his test of servant leadership:

The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?

Being a servant leader is being committed to the effort of growing as an individual. There is no endpoint to servant leadership development. It begins with knowing who you are and what you bring to the table. The commitment we all must make is to continue to develop our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. It is the most rewarding position to take in society.