Leader

Darwin Smith.

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins details the professional life and times of one of his most outstanding heroes: Darwin Smith.

An in-house lawyer for Kimberly-Clark paper company, Darwin Smith doubted the choice that his company’s Board of Directors had made in their new CEO. They had chosen him.

Over the next 20 years, Kimberly-Clark would out-perform the market by over 4 times, shredding Scott Paper (did you like that?) and even leaving companies like Coca-Cola, Hewlett Packard and 3M in its wake.

Darwin Smith was an unlikely corporate superhero, to say the least. Collins says, “He never cultivated hero status or executive celebrity status. When a journalist asked him to describe his management style, Smith, dressed unfashionably like a farm boy wearing his first suit bought at J.C. Penney, just stared back from the other side of his nerdy-looking black-rimmed glasses. After a long, uncomfortable silence, he said simply: ‘Eccentric.’”

“But,” says Collins, “if you were to think of Darwin Smith as somehow meek or soft, you would be terribly mistaken. His awkward shyness and lack of pretense was coupled with a fierce, even stoic, resolve toward life.”

Darwin Smith reminds me of some long-lost Biblical character, buried way down in the cramped, stale, children’s-Sunday-School stacks of my theological brain.

He has the eccentricity of a prophet, and the backbone of a true leader. I can almost see him, black-rimmed glasses and all, screaming at the top of his lungs across the banks of the Jordan River. “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is near!”

Passionate about the message, caring only about the fulfillment of the mission, it was a Darwin Smith sort of charcter who wore camel’s hair clothing and ate grasshoppers with wild honey.

Darwin Smith and John the Baptist: “Level 5 Leaders,” the both of them. Jim Collins calls those corporate CEO’s who blend “extreme personal humility” with “intense professional will,” “Level 5 Leaders.” They are the kind of people who can move organizations from good to great.

But what could move our lives that direction?

John the Baptist carried intensity of will to the extreme. His only goal was the proclamation of the gospel, no matter what the cost. In comparing himself to the one who was to come after him, the Messiah…Jesus, John simply said, “I’m not worthy to untie his sandals.”

And yet, this “unworthy” one was chosen to baptize Jesus Christ himself. It always seems to be that way…the first being last and the last being first. That’s what Jesus tells us. Better yet, it’s what he always shows us.

Real leadership resides in unlikely places. We expect to find it when the package looks right. Leadership looks confident, composed, blow-dried and “slick,” right?

Our eyes aren’t very good at seeing leaders, but our hearts know them every time.

And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, ⁴got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. John 13

“The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes,” Collins says. “They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.”

What could a church full of Level 5 Disciples bring about?

“So if I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” John 13

Darwin Smith. John the Baptist. Jesus Christ.

May our names one day be added to the Level 5 honor roll of humility and will.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

LIFE AT SOTH:

Tonight at 7pm, we will discuss the intersection realignment that will impact our church, slated for 2007. If you’d like slides of tonight’s power point show, give us a call in the office and we’ll send you an e-mail or disk.

RACK Update: Send us your stories! sandi@sothumc.net

When do you know if you have done the right thing or if a person is

really in need? I went to the post office this morning and saw an

older gentleman standing around looking like he was contemplating about

something. I was driven to watch and after about 15 minutes of seeing

him pace and bite his nails, I got out of my car and asked if he had

any breakfast this morning. He said no, but he'd like to. I handed

him a RACK envelope and told him to go eat a good meal. As I walked

back to my car, he called after me and said he had not opened the

envelope, but did I say it was for breakfast. I said yes, and he said

Bless you and asked if he could give me a hug. I hugged him and said

God Bless You. And when I left, I felt like I did the right thing.