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This week we celebrated mothers. On Sunday, Mother’s from all over the country received well-deserved cards, flowers, candy, and a myriad of gifts to say “Thank You” for the tireless investments that they make in their children. If you’re a mom, I too salute you. And, I could think of few better ways to honor my mom than to reflect on the 7 leadership lessons I learned from my mom, Dorothy Penn Arnold. Happy Mother’s Day, mom!
First, let me be clear. I can never fully understand the breadth and depth of a mother’s love. I’m not sure any man can fully appreciate that. I feel that my mother loves me deeply. And, it reinforces the idea that a mother’s love is relational—as contrasted with a father’s love which tends to be more functional.
In other words, mother’s relational love prioritizes connecting through feelings. Father’s functional love prioritizes connecting through transactions (aka “activities”). Now, this isn’t to say that mother’s don’t show functional love or that father’s don’t demonstrate relational love. But, it speaks to the points of emphasis. And, these emphatic differences are important because together they can provide children with a well-rounded framework for becoming the leader’s that we are destined to be.
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Why are you here on earth? Depending on your age, you’ve probably wondered that before. And, it makes sense for each of us as individuals to reflect on our purpose or as my friend Dr. Daniel Lee says to “Do What You’re Built For”.
If you haven’t asked yourself that question then I suggest that you do spend some time thinking about it. It is important to have a sense of who you are as a person and how you will leave the earth a better place than you found it. I honestly believe that this is what we are on earth for.
I advocate that each of us adopt this purpose-focused lens to assess your meaningful contribution to your community (both potential and accomplished).
For example, my personal mission statement is to “transform family life through healthy relationship building”. One can readily see from my mission that family is the focus, transformation is the goal, and relationship building is the process to get you there.
When you read my blog posts at HaroldArnold.com or listen to my “Leading You Home” podcast or read my book, Marriage ROCKS for Christian Couples or hear me speak on leadership you can readily see that everything points back to my mission statement. In a real sense my mission statement is a guidepost that keeps me setting goals and strategies that move me in the direction that I am “built for”.
Even if you haven’t personally put your mission statement on paper, most of us see the value of having one. But, what about the importance of a mission statement for your family.
If you accept the importance of our individual mission statements then what happens when you think about your entire family—a collection of personalities, talents, and interests. A mission statement is just as important for your family as it is for you. But, few families ever go through the process of figuring it out.
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