Recently, immediately following the morning service at church, my wife texted two of our dear friends, “Joey just shouted ‘Amen’ in the Catholic church and I am under the pew.”
Needless to say, that text led to lots of laughs at my expense. Everything was true in her text except that she did not actually get under the pew (but she clearly wanted to). As it was happening, I could feel her ease away from me and start looking in a different direction like she did not know me. I have to admit, after faithfully attending different Catholic church services for over 15 years, I have never heard an amen. So, I immediately understood her denial of my existence that Sunday morning.
You see, I was unfamiliar with the Catholic faith (obviously I am still learning) until I married my wife. I was raised Southern Baptist where a good “Amen” was the norm! Not so much in the Catholic service. I learned a lot from that Amen, and I think others did too.
That fateful morning, the priest was delivering an unusually emotional and direct sermon and to say the least, he really laid it on the line. Caught up in the moment and so excited to hear these truths so boldly proclaimed, I simply said, “Amen”(rather loudly) as he concluded his message. Thank goodness, a couple of seconds later, a wonderful soul a few pews over whispered another soft “Amen.” Believe me, with the silence and the feeling you could hear a pin drop, that little whisper was wonderful. The best part was that as the priest stepped down, the entire congregation applauded. I knew then that by sharing my excitement and commitment, the energy within the service has been raised. It was almost like someone saying, “Hey, it’s okay to be excited and to share it.” I think that moment cemented the message even more into our hearts and it lifted everyone to a higher level of engagement around the message.
So, what does this have to do with leadership? It appears to me, that we miss out on a whole lot of the excitement, fun and engagement of the work we do because we don’t boldly share it.
I wonder if we miss out sometimes by trying too hard to fit into some image or expectation we have for a leader or we restrict our outward display of energy and excitement because it simply makes us uncomfortable. I think if we were bolder about our passion and excitement, our clients and our teams would love us even more. In fact, a lot of the amazing client compliments I hear revolve around our team’s passion, service, and positive team members!
Let’s dare to be different. Let’s dare to be bold. Let’s share our positive energy and lead without limits.
