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Leadership Lessons from A Christmas Carol

by BLAdmin

Guest Post: Ed Nelson, Baylor Law’s Director of Marketing & Communications

Charles Dicken’s 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, more commonly known simply as A Christmas Carol, is a perennial favorite of millions of people during the Christmas season. The story centers around Ebenezer Scrooge, a selfish and unlikable miser who hates Christmas. The story has been retold, reworked, and recreated dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of times in plays, movies, and books.

As we approach the Christmas holiday in 2020… I thought it would be fun to take a quick look at the valuable leadership lessons we can glean from this classic story:

Leadership Lessons from Christmas Past

We must constantly remind our students that good leaders learn from their mistakes and strive to not repeat them in the future. Babies don’t learn to walk without falling down, repeatedly. All of us, no matter how accomplished we are in our profession, have had to face failures, some of our own doing, some thrust upon us. Some of the best – and most memorable lessons we learn come from these mistakes and failures. In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge was forced to face the mistakes he had made and the opportunities that he had missed. In the end, he recognized that he could never change the past, but he had the opportunity to learn from his mistakes and ensure they were not repeated in the future. We must teach our law students to do the same. The past can’t be changed. But as Professor Walt Shelton shared recently, each of us should, on a regular basis, openly and honestly analyze our successes and failures and try to learn the lessons that each have to offer.

Leadership Lessons from Christmas Future

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that as humans, we have incredibly limited ability to predict future events. If we had been asked two or three years ago to predict how many of the nation’s law schools would be teaching their curriculum online during a pandemic – none of us would even come close to a correct prediction. None of us know with certainty what the future holds. The only thing certain about the future is uncertainty. With the rapidly changing circumstances, technology, and social mores in the world today, it is more important than ever that we train our law students to be proactive, flexible, and adaptable. Dean Teague has emphasized in recent posts the importance of training our students with grit and resilience. These are traits that can be learned – and implemented.  

Is your law school promoting a culture of empowerment and change? Are you focused on the future or stuck in the past doing the same things, in the same way, and surprised with the same outcomes? Scrooge didn’t just learn from his visit to Christmas Future, he was willing to adapt and make much-needed changes. If we take this even further, we can see that when he changed, he became someone who supported, encouraged, and empowered others to succeed. A wonderful change indeed!

Leadership Lessons from Christmas Present

As Scrooge learned, changing the future requires making difficult – and sometimes painful – changes in the present.

According to the Texas Young Lawyers Association, the legal profession is “buckling under the weight of stress, anxiety, substance use, and depression.” For many, the holiday season, rather than being a time of relaxation and reflection, simply amplifies already high stress levels. As if the legal profession wasn’t stressful enough, the holidays can increase pressures on your time and resources — shopping, baking, decorating, and entertaining, just to name a few. The spread of COVID-19 is adding to an already stressful time – and many of us are worried about how to celebrate the season without endangering ourselves or others. It can all be too much!

This Christmas season, carve some time out of your schedule to relax and recharge. Turn off your work email for a few days (or weeks!) and spend time some doing something you truly enjoy. Read a good book, focus on a favorite hobby, take some good long walks, or simply binge-watch a few sappy Hallmark Christmas Specials. 2021 will be here before we know it – and the demands on your time will resume. Model good mental health and wellness for your students this Holiday season.

From all of us here at Baylor Law’s Training Lawyers as Leaders Blog…  we wish you a wonderful holiday season.

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The Practice of Effective Leadership

by BLAdmin

Guest Post: Walt Shelton

This post is a guest post by Professor Walt Shelton. The Daily Practice of Life by Professor Shelton is a wonderful book and would make an excellent stocking stuffer if you still need to pick up some Christmas gifts! Here’s a link to buy it now on Amazon.

The Practice of Effective Leadership

What is the most important characteristic of an authentic and influential leader?  Character.  A stellar group leader is first and foremost a very good person, a role model in demeanor and behavior.  An effective leader emanates the “feel” of being part of the group rather than “above it.”   There is never any hint of attitudinal superiority.  Rather, respected leaders talk with instead of to their group in tone and substance.  Additionally, they work hands on like everyone else, as part of the group instead of its boss in group-related projects and activities.

Are Attorneys “Leaders”?

The Preamble to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct declares that our “incentive [is] to attain the highest possible degree of ethical conduct ” (Section 9, emphasis added). As members of our time-honored profession, we must aspire to this objective in our practice and representation of clients, and more so, in how we live and balance our priorities in life. Lawyer jokes aside, we should accept leadership roles with humility and assume a servant-oriented leadership mentality. We should give no hint of arrogance or partiality in our speech or conduct. Rather, drawing from Judeo-Christian and other authentic faith-related traditions, true leadership includes exercising and modeling compassion, kindness, and gentleness, as well as pursuing justice in our work and daily affairs.

Recognize That You Are a Role Model

In legal and all other contexts, people acknowledge and actually follow leaders that they respect.  Like it or not, life-quality and implementing excellent leadership skills are intertwined. Similar to children with parents, people watch how leaders live, what they do and live out, more than hearing what leaders say. Group members pay special attention to how their leaders react to difficult and challenging circumstances. Thus, qualitative daily living lays the foundation (or not) for people actually wanting to listen to you (actions and words) and embrace your position as a leader.

Owning Our Mistakes and Resolving to Improve

No one is perfect. Leaders are often in the spotlight and scrutinized in their behavior and decision-making.  Whatever the context, including legal representation, actively serving as a leader, or simply how we live each moment, when we err, we must own it. Subsequent to falling down, we apologize, implement a plan to personally remedy any harm, and resolve to improve. No one knows everything, including persons in leadership positions and recognized for their expertise. Anyone with an omniscient presence is not qualified to lead. “I don’t know” are among the smartest and most honest words leaders can ever speak. Following not knowing with diligently finding out and acting constructively upon it strengthens our leadership position and future performance.

Periodic “Self Auditing” is Important

Learning from experiences and reflecting upon them is an important yet often underrated mechanism toward more qualitative living and leadership. Taking the time for periodic, solitary, and unrushed hard looks at how we are living and leading others relative to our intentions and priorities is an excellent and necessary practice. True self-reflection results in progressive improvement. For example, we can pick a time of the year, such as the beginning of fall or a new year, as a season for this formative type of introspection to consider our priorities and goals in life, including leadership objectives. Honestly examining how we lived and performed over the past year, or some shorter period of time, relative to what we really care about in life and leadership provides a wealth of information. It allows us to: (1) understand and, as necessary, re-assess our goals; and (2) establish new habits toward the hard work of changing for the better. We can further enhance our effectiveness when we couple it with daily routines to focus and remind ourselves of our priorities as people, attorneys, and leaders: people who we would respect and want to follow.

Walt Shelton is one of the most well-read faith and life-quality columnists in Texas.  He has been a part time Professor at Baylor Law for 30 years and has led faith and life-quality related discussion groups for almost 40 years.  Professor Shelton also frequently speaks to other groups on ethical, legal, faith, and life related subjects.  His book, The Daily Practice of Life: Practical Reflections Toward Meaningful Living (CrossLink Publishing 2020) is available at or through most book stores.  Professor Shelton’s book includes an Appendix with ideas for leading small groups.  These include always being prepared and flexible, allowing for open yet unforced discussion, listening more than talking, and respectfully embracing differences of opinion.

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Want to Change the World? The Journey Begins Within.

by BLAdmin

An inscription on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abbey:

“When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser I discovered the world would not change – So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country, but it too seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only changed myself first, then by example I might have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement I would then have been able to better my country, And who knows, I might have even changed the world.”

Before you can lead an organization or community … before you can impact the world … you must first “lead” yourself.  For us, the most important aspect of any leadership development program is to start with a focus on “growing” yourself. Easier said than done!  But why? Could it be that we are too eager to skip ahead to leaving our mark on the world? We can be so focused on doing the “important” and wanting to be remembered for what we accomplish that we forget leadership – like any other subject in law school – begins at the beginning. There is no substitute for the elemental work that feeds our growth layer by layer, branch by branch.

In our leadership development course, we spend about half our time guiding the students on a journey of self-discovery. Since we begin every orientation at Baylor Law with emphasis on the role of lawyers in society (as guardians of our democracy, trusted advisors to their clients and leaders in their communities), we do not start from ground zero in our leadership development class. We begin with a deeper discussion of our obligations to society and the important opportunities they will have to be influencers with integrity. After setting expectations for their future, we introduce them to leadership characteristics, traits, and styles, as well as various scenarios where their leadership will be needed. Starting with these concepts, terms and contexts – the language of leadership development – sets the foundation.

The core of our leadership class is devoted to helping students come to “know” themselves – their preferences, strengths, and areas of challenge. We know this is essential to prepare them for future situations that will require them to act and to make decision, or to offer guidance to those who will.  We guide our students through a series of discussions, self-assessments and self-reflective exercises designed to help them be better prepared, even practiced, for those future actions and opportunities. Just as with other areas, we know that students are more likely to handle a difficult or stressful situation, even a crisis, with competence and integrity if they have seen or at least thought about the scenario, or a similar one, at some time before. That is the wisdom and judgment gained through practice and experience.

We also spend some time in our course on what it means to “lead” others (including working well with others, recognizing the influence lawyers can have on others, and successfully building an inclusive team). We end with an attempt to inspire students to consider the impact they want to have on the world and then to be thoughtful, strategic and adaptive as they plan their next steps.  

Leadership development is a life-long journey to be better at helping others be more and accomplish more. As lawyers, our legal education and training, and our sense of honor and purpose as guardians of our democracy, make us ideally suited to impact those around us … and, yes, maybe even change the world… if we recognize early enough that it all begins with us.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

-LJT
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