This document summarizes key points from chapters in two leadership readings. It discusses the role of gender in leadership expectations and the importance of developing cultural appreciation and multicultural skills. Effective communication requires understanding different speech communities. Leaders should develop empathy over sympathy by understanding others' perspectives. Listening is an intentional activity requiring mindfulness. Servant leadership principles include being motivated by compassion, honoring all people, surprising others with humility and grace. A leader's identity comes from God, not achievements or recognition.

1. Foundations of Leadership Reading
Komives Ch. 5 & Perkins Ch. 13

2. ● We must realize that we all deal with
sex & gender roles
o Sex Roles→ Expectations
resulting from biology
o Gender Roles→ Socially
constructed expectations that
get labeled masculine or
feminine.
● Regarding to Leadership….
o Expectations that leaders often
face deals with the traditional
masculine paradigm.
● From the very beginning, our gender
plays a huge role in shaping patterns
of how we work and communicate
Understanding Gender
Diversity

3. ● Effective leaders need to develop:
o an appreciation for multiculturalism build inclusiveness, collaboration, and common
purposes.
● Culture
o Often described in terms of race and ethnicity.
 Be CAUTIOUS!
● The Relational Leadership Model
o Embraces the belief that the group, team, organization, community, nation, and world
 will be made visible
 the valued for their contributions
● Building Multicultural Appreciation
o As effective leaders it is requires to know
 developing an openness
 appreciation of various cultures
 aspects of how others may differ
o It is important for individuals to develop their
 awareness, knowledge, and skills to be able to work effectively in a multicultural
environment .
Understanding Cultural
Diversity

4. Communication
● Speech communities
- “A speech community exists when people share
norms about how to use talk and what purpose it serves.”
-Can be determined by gender, ethnicity, workplace,
interests, etc.
-Examples?
● “Different is just different; different is not wrong.”

5. Empathy vs. Sympathy
Empathy
● “Intelectual and emotional
participation in another person’s
experience”
● Using another person’s
standards and reference points
to understand their experience
Sympathy
● “Feeling sorry for or sad about
the other person”
● Putting yourself in the other
person’s place while retaining
your perspective and standard of
judgement

6. Sympathy or Empathy??
➔ Imagine a friend with low self-confidence who confides,
“I made a comment in our meeting today and it was
awful! People laughed at me.”
1. “Oh, I am sure it wasn’t that bad, and what you said
was just humorous; probably no one even remembers.”
2. “I know how hard it is to speak up in that meeting.
You don’t talk much in that setting and it must have been
very scary.”

7. Listening
● “For most of us, hearing is a natural and almost
automatic process. Listening, however, is more difficult
and is a purpose activity requiring one to be
intentionally mindful. True listening is far from a passive
activity.”
● The chinese pictogram for listening includes the three
symbols for ears, eyes, and heart.

8. Perkins Ch. 13 - Genuine Servant
Leadership
Principle One:
Servant Leaders Are Motivated By Compassion
- Internal Response
- Avoid valuing the destination over the trip
- “Cultivated through a listening ear” (180)

9. Principle Two:
Servant Leaders Honor Second-String Players
- Examples of the “little guys”
- Finding the good in others leads to affirmation

10. Principle Three:
Servant Leaders Do the Unexpected
- Surprise Them with Humility
- Surprise Them by Yielding
- Surprise Them with Grace

11. “Jesus knew who he was, where he had
come from, and where he was going. That
kind of self-awareness meant that Jesus
had nothing to prove. He could use his
incomparable power to serve because,
unlike the disciples, he wasn’t vying for
influence and recognition.” - Perkins,
p.187

12. “When a leader’s identity is wrapped up in
God- not in their own achievement, power,
fame, or wealth - they’re liberated from the
baneful striving after these things. Once this
liberation occurs, the strength of Jesus will
flow through them”
- Perkins, p.189

13. Works Cited
Komives, Susan R. Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Print.
Perkins, Bill. Awaken the Leader Within: How the Wisdom of Jesus Can Unleash Your Potential. Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 2000. Print.