Erik Hatch, the owner of Hatch Realty and Hatch Coaching, is passionate about leadership. After a career of starting businesses and leading people, Hatch has put what he’s learned down into words in his new book “A Guide To Servant Leadership.” Read the exclusive excerpt here.
Servant Leadership In Action
Servant leadership is often talked about yet rarely demonstrated. I try to improve on it daily, but I still feel like a novice in this journey because I see the ultimate example in Jesus Christ and how he lived his life. Most days, I’m left staring at two sides of a pendulum: one side is grace; the other is the hard edge of business. If I’m trying to figure out how to be the best servant leader I can possibly be, I have to understand that it can mean making tough decisions that don’t necessarily sit well with everyone. I’m learning that both grace and authority should exist in the workplace. It’s not a problem; it’s a polarity. Grace doesn’t cease to exist because authority is necessary (and vice versa). Rather, these two coexist in harmony — even though they’re sometimes seen as polar opposites of each other.
A servant leader struggles knowing that someone or a small group won’t benefit. Intrinsically, this is tough. But it’s part of the responsibility we have to those in our care. Servant leaders have the ability to zoom in, analyze up close what’s best for the person and then zoom out to see what the consequences are for the whole team. We sometimes wrongly think that, as a servant, it’s always our duty to help every individual person, to lie down for them whenever they ask. But we can’t take “being a servant” so literally. To serve does not mean letting someone walk all over you. I’ve been close to that line; I’ve let the pendulum swing too far toward grace, and people have taken advantage of situations.
I can’t just do what’s right for one person when my responsibility is to see the entire puzzle. My job is to piece together everything. Consider why parents discipline their kids. They love them enough to discipline them because addressing problematic behavior is important to the entire family. Similarly, servant leaders bring grace and love. They also maintain that edge in order to act for the benefit of the entire team.
About the Author
Erik Hatch is an entrepreneur, public speaker, social media junkie, do-gooder and servant leader. He has built 18 businesses (and counting) in the last six years. From real estate to coaching, marketing to the nonprofit sector and more, Erik is passionate about building businesses and people.
Check out Erik’s radio show (Real Estate Radio) every Sunday morning on The Mighty 790, KFGO.
