Servant Leadership Forum: Henry Cloud

September 10 and 11, Southeastern University is hosting a Servant Leadership Forum.  There are some pretty amazing speakers going on.  The first speaker was Henry Cloud.  He is a clinical psychologist, has written or co-written more than 20 books, including the best-sellers Boundaries and The Secret Things of God: Unlocking theTreasures Reserved forYou. He has appeared on numerous radio and television broadcasts, and he co-hosts the nationally syndicated radio program “New Life Live,” which is heard in more than 150 markets. As president of Cloud-Townsend Resources, Cloud has produced and conducted hundreds of public seminars, speaking on business and leadership development.
Cloud founded and was clinical director of a health care company that operated treatment centers in 35 cities. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University. He completed his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Biola University and his clinical internship at Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.  Here are some notes from that talk:

• Great Leaders have not neglected personal development
• Character is more than integrity, it’s the ability to meet reality
• Leaders create, establish and maintain trust
  • connect to the hearts of those they lead
  • take your people one step at a time
• Leaders seek for reality truths
  • start with no assumptions
  • know your business
  • know your target audience
  • know the solution between the solution
• Leaders are oriented towards results
  • be willing to move on and let go
  • must embrace negative results
  • “no problems, no profits”
  • stay active even after great victories

I’m reminded of something I heard about another day that said “growth is equally tied to one’s ability to withstand pain.”  A leader is the one who must make the hard decisions that change the organization and affect the people the most in order to meet the reality. This is good application to business, marriages and personal relationships.

Reality check. What’s the reality for you? Can you handle the truth?