1 QUOTE

“By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

- 1 Corinthians 15:10

1 NOTE

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Sample twice. The first was December 6, 2004 at a scheduled appointment in his office at USC. He inscribed a hard back copy of The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership. As you can tell after 13 issues, this is one of my favorite leadership books. Our second meeting was after USC’s devastating loss to Texas in the 2006 national championship football game. We left the Rose Bowl at the same time, sharing a five minute walk, processing the brutal loss.

I always think of Dr. Sample when I hear someone lament their job description. Sample believed many men and women want to be president, but very few want to do president. Aspiring to high levels of leadership is a noble goal. But so many underestimate what the position requires. Life at the top is usually different from what people imagine. This is why many leaders at the top find themselves lonely and unhappy.

President Sample endured 20 years of relentless challenge by adhering to ‘The Sample 30/70 Work Formula.’ He believed that 30% of our job descriptions should be meaningful matters we want to accomplish. Therefore, 70% of our energy and resources are dedicated to presiding over trivial, routine, mundane and draining tasks. Naive senior leaders believe that 100% of their work will be issues that really count, (and they delegate everything else). Those leaders tend to self-eject after a year or two. To be the top leader in an organization requires enormous discipline to not expect an ideal that will surely disappoint. Leaders that finish well have the wisdom to understand that leadership is fundamentally servanthood. If a leader seeks a life of glamour, they should try to become a movie star. Servants serve!

Sample would always tell students in his class who wanted to be presidents, “Along with helping to guide and shape one of the most noble and important institutions in society, a university president must also kiss a lot of frogs.” I count it a blessing to be a frog Dr. Sample walke with across the Rose Bowl lawn.

1 QUESTION

In your own leadership, do you agree with Sample’s 30/70 work formula?

Until Next Tuesday,

John