Norm owns and manages his own company; he employs around sixty-five people. Norm describes himself as energized by ideas, which is evident in the amount of reading he does, and by problem solving. His strengths include being resourceful, creative and able to see the big picture, often before others. While Norm is rather pragmatic in nature, he works hard to understand people and where they are coming from. This is a great skill to have in pursuit of transformational servant leadership. Through working hard to understand people, Norm listens, demonstrates empathy and is able to facilitate healing (Spears, 2010) in the lives of those he leads.

When Norm reflects on who has been influential in his leadership journey he acknowledges the president of Briercrest College who has a subtle way of affirming while also critiquing, is analytical but very gracious, and knew when it was time to “drop the axe”. From this Norm has been challenged to be more intentionally affirming in his leadership style. Norm’s long-term goal is to take all that he has learned over the years and write an in depth book about leadership development in the church. His goal is for this to be a “nuts and bolts” book that focuses on tools such as temperament analysis and personal financial management. Pursuing this Master or Arts in Leadership is a step in that direction to give credibility to his writing.

References:

Spears, L. C. (2010). Character and servant leadership: Ten characteristics of effective, caring leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, 1(1), 25-30. Retrieved from http://www.vizenllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CharacherAndServantLeadership.pdf