RLL 79: Live B.I.G. (like Mrs. Hibbs) in 2020

Real Life Leading 79: Live B.I.G. in 2020

During the Christmas season, my colleagues and I said goodbye to a dear friend, Mrs. Teresa Hibbs. She was a fellow teacher, a wonderful Godly woman, and a person who lived out the Gospel every day. At her funeral, I was privileged to hear our school’s administrator, Mrs. Greer, share about Mrs. Hibbs’ life. Yesterday at teacher in-service, I was blessed to hear another Mrs. Greer (daughter-in-law of the aforementioned Mrs. Greer) share again about Mrs. Hibbs. What both Mrs. Greers shared I’ve summarized here, as an encouragement and exhortation to all of us to live as Mrs. Hibbs lived: to live B.I.G. Mrs. Hibbs was a teacher for over 40 years at numerous schools, and the students she taught and influenced is numbered in the thousands. She was a football mom, a constant source of encouragement, and a woman who loved her family and friends fiercely.

As Mrs. Greer said, Mrs. Hibbs believed in other people, even when they didn’t believe in themselves. Students who were struggling, or whom other teachers had written off, found a place of comfort and hope with Mrs. Hibbs. She would challenge them and encourage them and ultimately believe in them so much that they couldn’t help but believe in themselves. It wasn’t that she didn’t hold them accountable; she very much did. In fact, perhaps my favorite story I heard about Mrs. Hibbs is one that I just learned of recently. Mrs. Hibb’s father had a physical disability requiring the use of a prosthetic arm and a hook in place of one hand. She often shared stories about him with her students, to help them see that difficulties can be overcome. And on the rare days that the students would continue to complain about their lot, she would surprise them by pulling the prosthesis and hook out of her desk drawer, placing it forcefully on her desk, and not-so-subtly reminding the students that they had much less to complain about than they thought! She believed in them, and in doing so, she showed them just how much they were capable of.

Second, Mrs. Hibbs inspired her students to accomplish much more than they would have dreamt possible. This was seen in the many, many students who came to her in the midst of academic struggles. For much of her career, Mrs. Hibbs worked with these students, often with various cognitive diagnoses or IEPs that had caused the students to struggle and/or other teachers to write them off. But Mrs. Hibbs set about inspiring these students through her love, her compassion, and her accountability. She never allowed students to use their circumstances as an excuse for not giving the very best effort they could. On the contrary, because of her, many students were able to overcome their circumstances and perform at a higher level than ever before, because of the inspiration they got from her. Many of these students attended her funeral, and it was an amazing testimony to her life to see how many kids had similar experiences in her classroom. Mrs. Hibbs inspired them, and it changed their lives.

Finally, Mrs. Hibbs gave to her students. She gave them her time, her energy, her compassion, her love, her joy, and her hope. She gave them these things when they didn’t have much of it themselves. She was often found at school very early, playing her praise and worship music, and simply being available in case anyone needed to stop by and chat. She gave of her breaks, and her meal times, and her planning periods, to talk with students and just listen to what was going on in their lives. She gave of herself in ways that many students had never experienced from a teacher before, and as a result of that, they knew that she loved them. And this love was transformational for too many of them to count. Because Mrs. Hibbs gave, many others also learned to give.

If you didn’t have the privilege of meeting and knowing Mrs. Hibbs, you missed out on a wonderful woman and a true servant of others. If you did have the joy of knowing her, be thankful, remember her, and pay tribute to her memory by living as she did: live B.I.G. in this new year, and in every year after.

**Special thanks to Mrs. Cindy Greer and Mrs. Meredith Greer for sharing the above message. The acronym is not mine, nor are the stories, but any mistakes or omissions are entirely my fault.**

RLL 35--Inverted Leadership (Part 4 of 4)

RLL 35--Inverted Leadership (part 4 of 4)

Education vs. Experience, Hard Truths of Leading and Life, and Reason to Hope

Good morning, and welcome to the last part of our Inverted Leadership book preview blog series! Today's update contains excerpts from chapters 7-9.

Chapter 7: What Are You Doing Here? Education vs. Experience

In leadership, we often face a false dichotomy in terms of importance: that is, we are either told that education helps us learn or that experience is the best teacher. Looking to the example of Christ, I believe His life shows that both are necessary for proper instruction. Jesus both instructed the crowds and the apostles using stories and parables, and He also lived and traveled with the apostles for years, showing them how His teachings applied in various situations. If we are to be Godly leaders, we must understand that both education and experience are necessary parts of our growth.

Experience is a key component of leadership, and it illustrates something that I want to really emphasize for leaders: every role you are in is either a leadership role, or it is preparing you (giving you experience to help you) for a future leadership role.

We need to balance our practical knowledge (experience) with our theoretical knowledge (education), and as always we need to remember that, when in doubt we should err on the side of service and humility, just as Christ said He came not to be served but to serve.

Chapter 8: Your Biggest Mistakes Are Still to Come: Hard Truths of Leading and Life

Thanks for reading, and I hope you've been encouraged today!

It would be wonderful to be able to say that after reading this book you’ll never make a mistake or have any trouble in your leadership roles. It would also really be a boost to my pride and ego! And it would be entirely false. The truth is that we will all mess up again tomorrow, and we’ve probably already messed up today. That is where, especially as leaders, we must embrace the wonderful power of forgiveness found in the Gospel while also not falling prey to what Bonhoeffer referred to as “cheap grace.” We are forgiven, certainly, but let us not presume upon Christ’s sacrifice and use it as an excuse to sin. We’ll sin plenty without having to try!

Here we see an extremely important leadership principle: in this life, we will never attain perfection, yet as leaders we have a responsibility to strive for it at all times. Knowing we cannot be perfect is no excuse for failing to attempt perfection anyway. As leaders we cannot afford to fall prey to a fatalism or an acceptance that anything less than perfect is good enough. As C.S. Lewis writes, when talking about attempting to exercise virtue, “The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.”

Chapter 9: "Make Each Day Your Masterpiece" (Coach John Wooden): Reason to Hope

As Christians we have the joy of knowing that life is a blessing and a gift from God. We have the joy of the Gospel and the knowledge that, no matter how much we fail here, no matter how bad things get, that in the final assessment God wins. And because we have that joy, even though we won’t experience it fully this side of eternity, yet because of the work of Christ we have reason to hope.

Leadership will not be easy. It is not for the faint of heart. It will be hard, it will be a struggle and a fight. People that you lead will resist your efforts, especially when you challenge the status quo. People will criticize your efforts and not accept your explanations for your choices. It will be difficult, but it is worth fighting for the good. In the excellent movie A League of Their Own, actor Tom Hanks’s character is rebuking a player for quitting when things got hard. He says to her, “It’s the hard that makes it great. If it was easy, everyone would do it.” This is a line I quote every semester to my students and every season to my athletes. Leadership is hard, and it’s the hard that makes it great. Let us take the proper approach when we do it: be confident in God’s goodness and the gifts He has given you, be humble in the way you relate to other people, and always, always, always, fight for the good.