Delegating

Hello everyone!!

So it's winter again in Ohio!!  Robins are hanging around in the streets, like they usually do when it snows after their return.  Isn't their ability to survive amazing?

The title of this morning's blog is, "Delegating." 

The Pope called Argentina.  He dialed directly to the little newspaper kiosk that delivered his paper each day in order to cancel his subscription.  A boy answered and thought it was a joke.  The Pope said, "Daniel, it's Cardinal Jorge."  The boy finally realized who was on the other end and he cried. What a moment!

Delegating is considered  one of the hallmarks of good leadership.  Have someone else do things for you so you can do bigger things, I suppose it might be said.  I worked for a woman who loved to delegate, because it made her feel bigger and more powerful.  She lorded her power over the underlings she ruled.  Her leadership style, although she delegated, was poor indeed.  The office was dysfunctional and unhappy. 

Then I worked for Dale, my boss for more than 17 years.  He delegated too, but he did a lot of things for himself.  He filed his own paperwork; he made his own plane reservations; he kept his own calendar.  Apparently, his former administrative assistant had done many things for him, and then when she left, he couldn't find a thing and felt lost.  He didn't want to go down that road again.

It was just fine with me.  Filing has always been what I do worst.  Plane reservations -- then if he gets a lousy seat or the flight is diverted, I'd feel responsible.  Keep his calendar?  Nope.  He realized that he forgot things much less when he wrote it down himself.  Believe me, what he did delegate kept me very, very busy.

The best of the "big shots" have learned that doing for yourself isn't such a bad thing.  It keeps you in touch with people and situations that you would overlook.  It keeps you humble.  The Pope apparently is very humble, and around now he probably misses that little apartment and his morning paper and the phone calls from the parish priests in Argentina.  But he must now serve a higher purpose.

Easter approaches fast.  More than 2,000 years ago, Jesus was preparing for his trip to Jerusalem, and his disciples were concerned about the timing.  They would be in the city during the Jewish Passover, and there would be many pilgrims there.  The agony for Jesus is just beginning.

Let us do for ourselves what we can, and let us appreciate and respect those who do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  Let us serve.