There has never been and will never be a better time to take serious stock of who we are as leaders. The past ten months have shaken us, tossed us hither and thither, and wrung us out of all emotion, often leaving us to run on empty while we continued the never-ending duty of caring for others.

It’s mind-boggling really. I sit now and can recall conversations I had with colleagues during the dizzying madness of 2020.

Distant mentors like Dr. Tony Cruz of MDC.

Campus colleagues like Dr. Yessenia Chavez, Dr. JR Ragaisis, and Dr. Destry Dokes.

My mentor and partner in LatinXLearners, Daniel Villanueva.

And the common thread of those talks – mostly digital – was a valiant attempt at sense-making. Surely we could navigate these compounding crises. Surely we could dig deeper and find the fuel to carry on.

And of course, we have carried on.

But in the dawn of 2021, we suddenly find ourselves having to do so with the harrowing images of homegrown domestic terrorism burned into our minds. I submit that our national crisis is not easy on anyone but that it is especially baffling and infuriating to servant leaders. I mean, this is not right. This is not leadership, nor is it even an acceptable example of what leadership is NOT. It’s Veep. Veep is satire.

How did we get here?

How did so many in leadership ALLOW us to get here?

I know I’m not the only minoritized person wondering if this is how things always were and if we were too naive to know it. How did so many people blow past saying the quiet part out loud and embrace overt racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and conspiracy theories? Even for a master compartmentalizer, pondering this can sometimes prove to be too much.

I think the sensible, purposeful thing to do now is to spend time thinking about who we are as leaders and who we aspire to be. Do we know what our leadership styles are? Have we developed personal leadership principles? Are there gaps between those principles and our actions?

I learned about servant leadership from servant leaders – people like Dr. DeeAnn Powell and Dr. Troy McCarley of Pasadena ISD. But I also learned about the research behind it through my masters program at the University of Houston as led by Dr. Augustina Reyes. This is my own style, but I learned in 2020 that it was going to need some supplementation and that I would add informed, active, and passionate advocacy to my toolbox. There can be no question about my morals and ethics. There can be nothing left to ambiguity or mystery.

Friends, we must be more serious about the responsibility we have as leaders, especially those of us who work in education. Our reach is vast, and our influence is great. The future quite literally depends on who we are and what we do today. I hope you’ll spend some time thinking about your role and your goals as a leader . . .

If you’d like to learn more about your place on the servant leadership spectrum, take a look at the self-assessment at the following link. The questions are as thought-provoking as the results.

https://www.servantleaderperformance.com/slp-self/