Service
Fiorello LaGuardia was the mayor of New York City during the dark days of the Great Depression and throughout World War II. Perhaps the most popular of all New York mayors, he was adored by his citizens, many of whom called him the Little Flower, because he was only five feet tall (plus a little bit) and always wore a carnation in his lapel. He was a mayor of the people, always listening to them, because he felt one with them. He rode the New York City fire trucks, raided city speakeasies with the police department, took entire orphanages to baseball games, and during the New York newspapers strike, read the Sunday funnies to the kids on the radio.
"If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one." – Mother Teresa
LaGuardia was always looking for opportunities to listen. On a bitterly cold night in January of 1935, he entered a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. He dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. One of the plaintiffs was a haggard street person charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter was sick and had been deserted by her husband and that her two grandchildren were starving.
"There is no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the streets." – Fiorello LaGuardia
But the shopkeeper from whom the bread had been stolen refused to drop the charges. "It’s a real bad neighborhood, Your Honor," the man told the mayor. "She’s got to be punished, to teach other people around here a lesson."
LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said, "I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions. Ten dollars or ten days in jail." As he was pronouncing the sentence, he reached into his pocket and extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous hat, saying, "Here is the ten-dollar fine, which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom 50 cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant."
The following day, New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered woman who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren. Fifty cents of that amount was contributed by the grocery store owner himself. Some 70 petty criminals, including people with traffic violations, as well as New York City policemen, each of whom chipped in 50 cents, gave the mayor a standing ovation. The importance of listening!
"If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day." – Alex Noble
You may be thinking that this is old stuff and that you have heard it all before, but what we hear most in our work with organizations, their leaders and teams, all over the world (it isn’t even culturally based), is that leaders do not listen. We can say we have heard many times that we should listen more or tell the truth, but doing it is where we would be wise to place more of our attention. Conducting employee surveys does not, on its own, constitute listening. But hearing and fully receiving the thoughts, feelings, ideas, concerns, and emotions of others from them directly does.
January 12th, 2006 at 10:34 am
A wonderful message on the critical importance of listening, and truly hearing what others are saying from their hearts. We are often so busy listening to our own thoughts, or planning our response, we miss important things others are trying to tell us. Thanks for reminding me of this – it is practicing this that will make the difference for me today!
January 12th, 2006 at 11:04 am
what does namaste mean?
January 12th, 2006 at 11:30 am
The Meaning of Namaste:
I honor the place in you
where the entire universe resides.
I honor the place in you
of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place in you where,
If you are in that place in you
And I am in that place in me,
There is only one of us!
Namaste!
January 12th, 2006 at 11:38 am
What an uplifting story. Everyone knows the cliche, ‘God gave us two ears and one mouth; therefore we should use them in that proportion’. However, I find many leaders are fond of their own voice–so much so that they forget to listen to those around them. Those leaders who do listen are at the forefront of creating companies that focus their efforts beyond just shareholder value–these are the companies that are succeeding. Many of them find themselves on Fortune’s list of “Most Admired Companies” and “Top 100 Places to Work”. These are the companies that will flourish; the others will either wither away or will not realize their full growth potential.
Many thanks to Lance for being a Catalyst for positive change in the world. Namaste.
January 12th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Have been enjoying each days thoughts from Lance and today’s particularly. It is always important to listen to others and to be an effective leader in business one must listen to the customers. Thank you for sending me this message.
January 12th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Lance
What a terrific way to start my days. Thank you for sharing this wisdom and insight with us. I have forwarded to dozens of my friends, as we join to continue to move our One thought forward improving this beautiful world for all inhabitants.
Bless you and your team.
Dale
January 12th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Dear Lance – and Wonderful Team
It is such a joy to journey with you each day .. first, hearing your voice, and then listening to the message. So timely to revisit, at this my time of “new beginnings”. What a privilege to serve – as I just left a Hospice client with multiple challenges – how grateful I am to be so blessed.
Again, thank you for this special gift.
January 12th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
What a stunning, delightful story of the power of true leadership — not through the means of glory and power, but through the simple way of giving from the heart.
January 12th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
Dear Lance,
Your powerful story about listening was a special gift. Yesterday I taught a group of business owners and their employees about the importance of excellent company communication and how difficult it often is for owners to really listen to their employees. Many of them commented afterwards that they were inspired to work harder at this important skill. This story will play an important part in some of my future work. Thanks for each of your thoughts this week and for your vision to create a spirit of “One” in the world! Namaste!
January 12th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
We are one person, one family, one neighborhood, one city, one state, one country, one planet, one galaxy. What a beautiful way to live in harmony. What a great way to start a new year. Lance shifts our attention to oneness. He reveals the secret of great leadership. If we all served others, who will be served?
January 12th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
Thank you Lance for sharing this story. It is one of my favorites. I believe that one of the messages that it offers for many of today’s leaders (including me, and likely others out there) is to take time to be among those people you serve. One of the challenges many leaders face–particularly in the areas like US federal politics–is that they are rarely physically connected to their constituents. So while they are still ONE, they are also experiencing a disconnection. For those politicians to truly serve their constituents–and for us to serve those in our communities–they must first reunite themselves with them and then listen with the intention to truly–accurately and openly–hear what’s being communicated. Then they will be ready to provide the service that’s being sought. I’ll be practicing this for certain!
January 13th, 2006 at 6:41 am
Hello
As I listen to Lance and read the stories, the word that comes to my mind is ‘forgiveness’. To be the servant leader to master the ego and really live rather than talk about these great principles, is a hard path to follow. I know that I need more discipline – but I also know that I need to keep forgiving myself as I slip and slide on the path…and en-couraging myself to keep going.
Thank you again, Lance for your gentle nudges …
Namaste
Peter
January 13th, 2006 at 11:11 am
I love the linkage of listening and service. Being able to give people what they really need, requires the willingness to listen. So often we want to give them what we think they need. Being able to truly give someone what they need as the result of listening is an opportunity for grace. Thank you for allowing me to remember this today.
Namaste, Florence
January 14th, 2006 at 9:32 am
I first heard Lance speak at a conference in Florida around 1996/97. I’ve read many of his books with a sense of hope that I could be a change agent in the corporate world in which I work. Sadly, this world is worse today than it was ten years ago. Ego, or that sense or need to protect the interest of the one, continues to dominate the interest of the many and, as such, bitterness, hate and cynicism reign in the hallways of corporations. I’ve worked for a half a dozen corporations in 25 years. All of them, without exception are staffed by hierarchical infrastructures that have self serving leaders at the top, concealing from the investors, the true state of their firms, held together by duct tape and bailing wire but being virtually transparent to their staff and the rank and file, giving them full thrust of their hatefulness and eviscerating them, either directly, and often publically or through their henchmen and minions who are dutifully rewarded with exhorbatant compensation packages or greater leniency when applying “ethical” practices. The rape of so many souls on a day to day basis, has left the souls of so many a shell, seeking to get in and get out of the cube farms of their daily prisons as fast as possible. The idea of customer service has been reduced to 1-800 I DONT GIVE A DAMN and it has become every man and woman for themselves. In 25 years, I’ve never heard anyone talk about how wonderful it is to work for a company or how great it is to work for a given leader, at least for the firms for whom I’ve worked. I’ve never heard anyone who was excited to come into work for reasons other than to get there as early as possible to either a). get ahead of the e-mail barrage or b). get their story out first before getting their head handed to them. Lance’s words are inspirational and I’ve tried to “Reclaim Higher Ground” but, I feel I’ve lost ground and honestly, I am tired of the battle with the miscreants of executive management and their ilk and afraid that staying with the fight much longer will be like standing neck deep in cyanide.
January 15th, 2006 at 2:18 am
Thank you Lance for sharing a wonderful uplifting story of a kind man with a feeling, generous heart, a sense of justice, and a position of power as Mayor of New York in days gone by.
To poster Phil above, my heart goes out to you. Perhaps now is the time for you to leave this corporation behind and start your own business where service, love and compassion for all rule?
“The seeds of greatness may be within you, but they will never bloom if you spend all of your time tending someone else’s garden.”
~ Katherine G. MacRae
Success Coach
http://www.SuccessBiz.ca
January 15th, 2006 at 9:25 pm
Message to Phil: I hear your concern and disappointments with the corporate world. I sense a feeling of despair in your message as well as a touch of cynicism, but, as I often tell people, none of us knows enough to be cynical. Yes, of course, there are some bad apples, but corporate leaders are humans, just like you and me, too – they want a better world and they want to serve. The big question is “How can we help them?” Another question for each of us is this: “Are we part of the problem, or part of the silution?” It is easy to be critical and angry, but are we helping to solve the problem? We might also ask, “Where are the great companies and great leaders twith whom we would like to colabborate, that we can serve and support in the great work they are doing?” We complain, for example, about the violence on TV, but we keep watching it. We have choices: we can complain about corrupt or amoral leaders, or we can walk away from them, tune them out, turn of their programs, and tune into something more inspiring. The choice is ours.