The Art of Leadership for Club Officers
The “Club” is the most important level in our organization. Service, fundraising, fellowship, growth, and all that contributes to a successful Kiwanis club, occurs at this level.
I believe my job as a CLE instructor is a most important position in Kiwanis. Trying to inspire our club leaders to make their clubs “the service show place of their community” is invigorating to me. I learn as much from these new club leaders as I try to import.
There are so many great leadership books, seminars, and resources available through Kiwanis International to help club leaders. I wanted to share a few leadership concepts from J. Donald in The Art of Leadership.
Many aspire to leadership, but few understand its true nature. Leadership is not an ego game. True leaders have vision and place goals of the institution above their own interest. True leaders realize the importance of the people working with them. True leaders are not only open to new ideas, but also have the courage to implement them.
Genuine leadership is only one type: supportive. It leads people: It doesn’t drive them. It involves them: It doesn’t coerce them. It never loses sight of the most important principles governing any project involving human beings: namely, that people are more important than things...
I believe one of the greatest challenges we face in Kiwanis is a lack of committed and motivated leaders at all levels. As a new club officer or a returning one, you have been chosen to lead and I hope you accept this challenge. You Are The One!
Sylvester Neal