“Emotional ambivalence” this summer feels a bit like peering through shadows. In navigating the “fourth quarter” of my career, I seek perspective in prayer, the counsel of family and friends, and the discipline of writing.
Lou Cartier (Courtesy/Lou Cartier)Educators typically experience a jolt of energy as summer wanes and fall beckons. Just as the arrival of a new school year in mere weeks promises to cast my own next steps in starker relief, I hope readers may find some application to their own journey.
Laying aside teaching after 17 years is a turning point that begs a deeper challenge: to define and act out my obligation to family, faith, community, and “meaningful and enjoyable purpose” going forward.
My intuition is to update lessons from my experience and professional study of leadership. Challenges of “corporate” integrity, team engagement, and ethical reasoning — familiar to Aims students and readers of this column — engage my heart as well as head.
Last month, acknowledging “ambivalence at work and home,” I shared current academic research and a popular podcast that may help connect the dots. While neither investigator used the term, each brought images of “servant leadership” to mind:
Self-reflection and perspective. Leaders we admire question their own assumptions and actively seek a breadth of viewpoints (think Lincoln’s “team of rivals”).
Curiosity, vulnerability, constructive dissent. Relentlessly curious, they acknowledge their mistakes and encourage respectful disagreement, thereby improving trust.
Tolerance for conflict and respect for ambivalence. Comfortable with nuance, the best leaders appreciate “natural elements” of the creative process.
In stark contrast, poor leaders often fail to appreciate the natural talent and hidden strengths of their teams. They pay only lip service to others’ opinions. They tend to micromanage while hoarding information that otherwise might empower and lubricate everyone’s effort.
Inc. Magazine this year highlighted the innate ability to grasp another person’s hopes and fears, and then genuinely help them grow into new roles and career paths. The capacity to listen, learn, and let others lead is presented as … virtuous.
“The sooner I learned that to become successful you have to help others become successful, the sooner I became a better leader,” wrote a veteran leadership coach. Expressing gratitude for his hard-won insight, “I just wish I had spent more time investing on the people side of leadership early in my career.”
This sentiment underscores a profound truth: Servant leadership is about empowering others to thrive. Personal gain comes second.
My first Thanksgiving column in 2019 (pre-COVID) introduced readers to personal examples of servant leadership. These role models welcomed input — sometimes contrary — from subordinates who could discern right from wrong and were willing to be held accountable.
Capable individuals need to function as “moral agents” in their own lives, a privilege granted me throughout my career, particularly at turning points. From four decades in education, I offer a glimpse of four leaders who listened actively, tolerated dissent (and stubbornness), shared responsibility, and behaved with integrity:
Mal Baroway, University of Michigan: Mal defended my “even handed” editorial portrayal of a controversial political dust-up, overcoming the president’s insistence that I be fired. Mal knew my reasoning and my heart. Risking his own career for what he thought was right, Mal trusted me. He stood by his team, even at personal risk.
Del Weber, University of Nebraska at Omaha: Del provided my first senior span of authority position in higher education, as an “advancement” officer. Through missteps and half steps, I felt empowered and was allowed to find my way. My big regret is neglecting to ask for Del’s help explicitly. Better to “figure things out myself” became missed opportunities to lean on his wisdom.
Kathy Larsen, Grace University (Omaha): Kathy tolerated my respectful challenges to her authority, both spoken and unspoken, until it became time to consider “new opportunities.” She recognized, bless her heart, that I needed to “find something where I was in charge.” Her willingness to listen and to sense my aspirations, cloaked in impatience, served us both, as well as the institution.
Ellen Swieter, Aims Community College: Ellen, assessing the heart as well as the credential, gave me the opportunity to lead in the classroom. As colleagues, the more we shared personally and professionally, the more rewarding our relationship grew. Surely this illustrates the power of vulnerability and trust in the workplace, where asking for help strengthens, rather than weakens, the bond.
As I continue to process a post-retirement life, “recipes” for better decision making emerge from honest appraisals of life experience. Gratitude is warranted for our moments of triumph and disappointment, achievement and setbacks. Surely, opportunities to gain experience, to put others first, to demonstrate humility continue to mold the best versions of ourselves.
Cartier has enjoyed a 55-year career in journalism, educational advancement, and teaching, retiring from Aims Community College this summer as senior adjunct faculty in business. He explores ethical leadership, employee engagement, and behavior that underlies workplace success. Views expressed here are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of Aims.
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