Serving others

For the book study I have been leading we have been reading and discussing with others the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elisabeth Gilbert. This book is about one woman’s journey through three countries in pursuit of pleasure, devotion, and balance. As I have been reading, I have been thinking a lot about my journey as a leader. Right now I feel as though I am in a pursuit to fine tune and sculpt my leadership skills. There have been moments this summer already in which I have felt challenged and unsure in my leadership.

One of these moments came while working on a Saturday night at the coffee shop. Currently we are having problems with teenagers loitering and disrespecting both the staff and the property. On this particular Saturday it was my responsibility as the manager on duty to handle the situation of too many non paying loiterers taking space away from customers. In my recent reading of Jesus on Leadership one of the points the author makes is that we should pick up the towel to serve others instead of ourselves. This was in the back of my mind as I approached the kids that had gathered outside. Now, there are two conflicting thoughts going on here: 1) This is a business and we need people to support the business in order to be around 2) This is also a community and we need to open our arms to those who need a place to sit for a bit. So, on this rainy Saturday night I had to decide as a leader rather or not I should kick these kids off the patio.

When it came down to it, I had to make the decision that was best for the business and I had to ask the kids to leave. All of this made me realize that there will be times as a leader that I have to do something that is hard and may upset others but it is something that will benefit the community.