Mariann Budde has served as Bishop of Washington in the District of Columbia since 2011 -- the first female bishop of the diocese. She spoke boldly at the state funeral for President Jimmy Carter. She recently shared her thoughts about leadership, which Ladner Rotarian Peter Roaf presented as an invocation at a club meeting.
Recently, I have been called on to reflect upon what it means to be a leader, specifically, a leader with integrity and worthy of people’s trust.
Leadership draws upon our particular gifts and talents and benefits from how we’ve been educated and mentored over the years. Yet it also asks of us more than we can give on our own, for it beckons us beyond where we are now toward a horizon of as yet unrealized possibilities.
We need to show up and put all other concerns aside in order to focus on what’s needed in the urgency of now.
For people look to their leaders for the kind of stability that cannot be shaken by circumstances, for it is rooted in resilience, perseverance, and hope.
Anyone enjoying the better things in life, who, as a leader, feels empathy and a commitment to the common good is aware of suffering and unease at living in a time and culture that rewards a few at the expense of so many.
Every crisis carries seeds of opportunity. For new life will rise from the ashes of what is being destroyed or dismantled and we can cultivate the soil in which those seeds can flourish.
Wherever you are called upon to be a leader, with all that you are holding in your heart and in your life right now, dare to believe that you are called to be where you are.
So much of this applies to us in Rotary, our commitment to shared values and action to serve those in need, in our communities and in our world.
