Foundations of Data Analytics

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how data is changing the face of the world and most importantly, businesses. Countless organizations including the Google, Microsoft, Amazon etc. leverage the…

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Lessons In Leadership From A Black Mom With Only A Sixth Grade Education

Leaders are not born. They are developed over time

There is a saying that leaders are born, but I don’t believe that is true. Of course, there may be traits that people are born with that predispose their personality and character for leadership. However, leadership is not a birthright that is produced simply because of genetics.

Here’s the reality of leadership. It can be learned. Because it can be learned, it can be systemized. If it can be systemized it can be followed and taught with predictable results.

In this article, I share three (3) leadership principles that my mother taught me while I was growing up. Her mentorship continued after I became an adult. She was a strong and determined black woman.

I was born in a small Texas farming community. My father left when I was five and mom was left to fend for herself and eight children, two older than me.

She was a domestic worker. She struggled day and night to keep food on our table and a roof over our heads.

Our home was a shanty shack. In the winter it was extremely cold. The wind howled loudly through every crack of the walls sounding like a train whistle rolling down a railroad track.

We huddled together in blankets and quilts around a potbellied stove, its sides showing a brilliant red from the fire inside. Chills ran through us often.

In the summer it was just the opposite. It was stifling hot. Visibly thick heat waves rolled lazily across the flat terrain where we lived.

I could see through the cracks of the living room floor. Underneath, Butch, my dog, would look up through the floor gaps and stick his nose up wagging his tail as if to say “no matter what, I’m your friend and I’m sticking with you.”

We were dirt poor. On top of that, we lived under an overt cloud of racial prejudice and discrimination.

On occasion, mom would have me go to the home of one of the white families she worked for to pick up her paycheck. Her instruction always was “son be sure you go to the back door not the front and be sure to say yes sir and no sir to the man of the house.”

Mom toiled for years scrubbing floors, washing windows, cooking, and taking care of the “white folk.” She would come home late at night bone tired.

Often during the night when she thought we were all asleep, I would hear the muffled sound of crying and praying. In the morning her red swollen eyes told the story of the pain and humiliation she was suffering and having to endure.

But endure she did and through it all, she passed on several character traits to me and my siblings. Her main goal was to make sure we would have an opportunity to become whatever we wanted to be and to instill in us the personality and leadership characteristics that would make us equal to anybody no matter who they might be.

Although she only had a sixth-grade education, mom was very smart. She was a natural leader and taught all her children by example. Three things she drilled into us that I came to understand as I grew into adulthood are linchpins of leadership.

Nobody will follow you for very long if what you say is incongruent with what you do. If you do it and show how it can be achieved and provide guidance and respect for those who look to you as a leader they will respect you and give all they’ve got. You can’t ask for more.

This is what mom did. She walked what she talked.

Her dignity was never compromised and she held her head high with integrity. She taught us to be thankful for what we had, work diligently, tell the truth, and always seek to better yourself and help others.

The goal of any good leader is to obtain results, reach the objective, and complete the mission. Just as different colors make up a rainbow, people you lead have different perspectives, mannerisms, and skill levels.

If you expect them to do things the same way you do that’s not leadership. That’s management. The two are not the same.

Good leaders make sure those they manage or are following them have the tools, skills, and support they need to get the job done. How they do it, as long as its moral, legal, ethical, and timely should be left up to them.

That allows them to reach their full potential without being hindered by “the way the leader says it must be done.” Train, trust, and inspire.

Mom would give me something to do. First, she would show me how to do it. Then she would tell me to do it and leave. Sometimes, I would do it differently and use my ingenuity to get it done quicker or improve it.

I always loved to cook so I’d add different spices and tinker with dishes helping her to feed her hungry clan.

She would taste it and I’d see her eyebrow raise signaling that she detected something different. Then she’d often smile and just acknowledge that I got the job done.

I had relieved her from having to cook and the whole family was fed which was the objective in the first place. I did it differently from how she would have, but the results were the same. Our hungry family’s stomach was full of a replenishing meal.

That encouragement gave me the spirit of exploration while keeping an eye on the overall goal.

Mom forbade us to say can’t when she knew very well we could. Although she is no longer with us, I can still hear her telling me “don’t tell me you can’t cause you can.” I don’t recall her ever being wrong when it was something I had decided I couldn’t do.

She forced me to put my mind to it. She didn’t know it or understand at the time but she was teaching the power of mindset. Good leaders know the power of mindset and instill it in those they are leading.

I call this the ability to get rid of excess baggage. Having the right mindset is crucial when you want to accomplish anything. You have to get rid of thoughts that say you can’t and discard those like luggage when you’re going on a trip and decide to travel light.

You don’t need the extra pair of shoes, two pairs of pants will do instead of five, etc. I was taught to get rid of can’t and concentrate on the can. You always accomplish more with a can-do mindset.

These three leadership traits that mom instilled in me have stood the test of time:

They have helped sustain me all of my life through whatever circumstances I’ve faced and continue to do so. They are lessons in leadership from a black mom with only a sixth-grade education.

You see, leaders are not born. They are made.

People look to leaders to guide them in their actions. They act as role models for people and give them hope, direction, and stability. Without leadership, a family, nation, and our world is in trouble. Leadership provides a vision that translates into hope. It even has Biblical significance.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18

We are in desperate need of leadership in all places in our society. Family, business, religion, state, national, and globally.

Dollars are not the true measure of success and failure. Leadership is. It is by leadership that lives are saved and lost. Leadership that takes the lead on the highway of life is what is needed. That is the challenge.

Where do you stand with leadership? What will you do to make your leadership make a difference?

Instill will, zeal, and leadership into those with whom you have influence. Do what you can to make the world a better place to live.

“Don’t tell me you can’t cause you can.” A message from my mom

Foundations of Data Analytics

Lessons In Leadership From A Black Mom With Only A Sixth Grade Education

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