Sustaining Voice from Maui on a Long, Lonely Drive through a Snow Storm

Yesterday in our Virtual Servant Leadership Learning Community (VSLLC) call we were focusing on discovering and growing personal genius. There were two stories that caught my attention.

John Lochner told of being in Maui in December, enjoying time with his wife, when he got a call that a very special close friend had died unexpectedly. Then he learned that the friend’s son was driving four hours through a snow storm to get back to support his mother and help with funeral arrangements. What a long, lonely drive!

So John called the son and was with him by phone for most of the trip. When the son was approaching his home he said to John, “You have been a special friend in my father’s life. I’ve heard him speak of you many times. Would you now be my friend?”

What a gift for John to be invited to extend the special relationship he had enjoyed with his friend by now growing close to his friend’s son. Most of us can remember a time especially around a death when we feel so helpless. We want to support yet can’t find the words and are just not sure what to do or how to express our deep feelings of sadness and loss. What touched me so deeply about this story was the creative way John reached out to “be there” for the son. By checking in by phone several times on this long and lonely trip, John was able to connect at a deep level with a young man facing a major life transition. And I know John to be an extraordinary friend and servant leader.

Our work on this call was to explore our personal genius at a deeper level. Just what are those special gifts and what do they ask of us? As each person told their story the rest of us could see so clearly not only the gifts in the story but how they exemplified so much about the story teller. Often the story teller would say something like, “but it was only what any caring person would do.” Our special gifts may seem ordinary to us but when they emerge we experience something extraordinary. Having the courage to live into this special gift is how we can each give back to others.

NOTE: John Lochner is a successful entrepreneur who now is creatively putting together a cluster of businesses which will have in common a culture of servant leadership. His goal is to bring together a learning community of businesses so they can thrive on not only the vigor of internal trust generated by servant leadership (growing, inspiring and appreciating Employees so they can own and grow the business), but also create a synergistic community with leaders supporting leaders.