The GracedLife Leadership Mindset

The Gracedlife mindset is a leadership philosophy established on the belief that life and all its blessings are by the grace of God – unmerited and freely given, and must be shared with others through service to make all lives better. 

We believe that this mindset is what inspires great leadership. It’s God who blesses with life, good health, riches, wisdom and all life’s many blessings. Ours is to share our lives and the blessings of life with others through service to mankind. This is what leadership is about – this is what the Gracedlife leadership mindset is about. The Gracedlife mindset makes a leader put others first before him/herself. The Gracedlife mindset is a servant-leader mindset. A person who leads by serving others to make their lives better or an organization/ministry/ society/nation better is a Gracedlife leader.

“It’s not for ourselves at all that we are born”. – Bismark Oppong Asumang

A Gracedlife leader places the needs and interests of others and their development and welfare first before any other thing. A Gracedlife leader is first a compassionate and empathetic leader, a person of high moral character, a steward and servant. It begins with a strong desire to serve and make other people’s lives better and society/organization/ministry/nation better. 

This is how Robert Keith Greenleaf, the writer of “The Servant as Leader” (an essay that he first published in 1970), puts what the Gracedlife mindset is about. In that essay, Greenleaf said: “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.

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?“

The Gracedlife leadership mindset is not only a philosophy but also a style of leadership which combines four (4) leadership styles, namely, servant leadership, democratic leadership, coach-style leadership and transformational/visionary leadership. This is to say, a Gracedlife leader is a visionary, a democratic leader, a servant and one who coaches or mentors others. 

Here are statements that best explain the Gracedlife leadership mindset as a servant leadership style, democratic leadership style, coach-style leadership and transformational leadership style: 

“Servant leadership doesn’t eliminate the idea of a boss, but it changes how the hierarchy works, explains Kent M. Keith, CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Servant-leaders always begin problem-solving by reaching out to others. They find out the needs of colleagues, customers and other parties through interviews, discussions, surveys and observation. Servant-leaders also build teams of senior individuals who contribute ideas. Servant-leaders make the final decisions, but only after considering what others want and what is best for them. 

Helping colleagues and employees grow is a natural consequence of the unselfish orientation of servant leadership. Worker fulfilment is just as important as customer satisfaction, Keith notes; therefore, servant-leaders give colleagues and employees a wide range of experiences and training. They help workers become engaged with the organization’s mission so they develop to their full potential. Servant-leaders mentor employees rather than controlling them. They allow others the authority to make decisions as soon as possible.

Servant leadership must have foresight, or it isn’t leadership at all. According to Greenleaf, the leader’s prediction is only a guess, but it must be “better than average.” However, listening and focusing on the needs of others gives a leader superior knowledge to find a direction. For example, the economist, Muhammad Yunus, wanted to reduce poverty in Bangladesh. Yunus got the idea for microloans by talking and listening to village people. As a result, he began a program of tiny loans, providing many thousands of people with the capital they needed to improve their lives.”

The Gracedlife mindset is a leadership philosophy established on the belief that life and all its blessings are by the grace of God – unmerited and freely given, and must be shared with others through service to make all lives better. 

We believe that this mindset is what inspires great leadership. It’s God who blesses with life, good health, riches, wisdom and all life’s many blessings. Ours is to share our lives and the blessings of life with others through service to mankind. This is what leadership is about – this is what the Gracedlife leadership mindset is about. The Gracedlife mindset makes a leader put others first before him/herself. The Gracedlife mindset is a servant-leader mindset. A person who leads by serving others to make their lives better or an organization/ministry/ society/nation better is a Gracedlife leader.

“It’s not for ourselves at all that we are born”. – Bismark Oppong Asumang

A Gracedlife leader places the needs and interests of others and their development and welfare first before any other thing. A Gracedlife leader is first a compassionate and empathetic leader, a person of high moral character, a steward and servant. It begins with a strong desire to serve and make other people’s lives better and society/organization/ministry/nation better. 

This is how Robert Keith Greenleaf, the writer of “The Servant as Leader” (an essay that he first published in 1970), puts what the Gracedlife mindset is about. In that essay, Greenleaf said: “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.

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?“

The Gracedlife leadership mindset is not only a philosophy but also a style of leadership which combines four (4) leadership styles, namely, servant leadership, democratic leadership, coach-style leadership and transformational/visionary leadership. This is to say, a Gracedlife leader is a visionary, a democratic leader, a servant and one who coaches or mentors others. 

Here are statements that best explain the Gracedlife leadership mindset as a servant leadership style, democratic leadership style, coach-style leadership and transformational leadership style: 

“Servant leadership doesn’t eliminate the idea of a boss, but it changes how the hierarchy works, explains Kent M. Keith, CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Servant-leaders always begin problem-solving by reaching out to others. They find out the needs of colleagues, customers and other parties through interviews, discussions, surveys and observation. Servant-leaders also build teams of senior individuals who contribute ideas. Servant-leaders make the final decisions, but only after considering what others want and what is best for them. 

Helping colleagues and employees grow is a natural consequence of the unselfish orientation of servant leadership. Worker fulfilment is just as important as customer satisfaction, Keith notes; therefore, servant-leaders give colleagues and employees a wide range of experiences and training. They help workers become engaged with the organization’s mission so they develop to their full potential. Servant-leaders mentor employees rather than controlling them. They allow others the authority to make decisions as soon as possible.

Servant leadership must have foresight, or it isn’t leadership at all. According to Greenleaf, the leader’s prediction is only a guess, but it must be “better than average.” However, listening and focusing on the needs of others gives a leader superior knowledge to find a direction. For example, the economist, Muhammad Yunus, wanted to reduce poverty in Bangladesh. Yunus got the idea for microloans by talking and listening to village people. As a result, he began a program of tiny loans, providing many thousands of people with the capital they needed to improve their lives.”

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