A Home-Schooling Mom Displays Great Leadership

Most discussions of great leadership that I read about discuss great leaders of great companies or organizations. Very seldom do we tend to promote and celebrate the great displays of leadership all around us everyday in the normal activities of life. One of the things I really enjoy doing is observing how leadership impacts us in all aspects of our lives. During a recent vacation trip I had the opportunity to observe just such a case of great leadership being displayed in a normal family dealing with some difficult challenges.

Last week our family traveled to Charlottesville, VA to visit my sister-in-law’s family and my father-in-law. One lasting impression on me from that visit was the great display of leadership by my sister-in-law, Karen Johnson. Karen is a pastor’s wife and a home-schooling mom of four great kids ages ranging from 5-12 years old.

Over the past year my father-in-law, Randy Grim, has went through some very dramatic life changes that have impacted his independence and ability to handle many of life’s normal activities on his own. Randy has gone through multiple surgeries that have resulted in him having both legs amputated just above his knees. As a result he had to sell his home in Florida and move into a nursing home in Virginia. The first home he moved into in Virginia was not taking care of his needs in a good way so Karen sprung into action to help resolve this situation.

Karen has worked many hours to get things lined up with lawyers, nursing homes and countless other people to find Randy a more suitable and comfortable place to live. Karen found him a place to move to close to her home and made all the transportation arrangements to have him transported 5 hours across the state. All of this took lots of determination and resolve as she ran into numerous obstacles and challenges along the way, but she did not let that deter her from finding her Dad a better living situation.

Karen also help arrange the purchase of a new motorized wheel chair that tilts back to allow Randy to be so much more mobile and comfortable around his new home. I have failed to mention that Karen pulled all this off while having surgery in the midst of all these activities. She is truly a remarkable woman who has provided a great display of what servant-leadership looks like.

As John Maxwell states, Leadership=Influence, nothing more nothing less. Karen’s great example of servant-leadership shows how one woman’s resolve can influence many others to accomplish a worthwhile goal in an effective way. Karen had to influence numerous people to get all the different aspects of this process lined up in such a way as to pull off a successful transition for Randy. I am so impressed with Karen’s leadership abilities and all she has done to make Randy’s life more enjoyable and comfortable while also leading her children through their home-schooling activities and serving as a pastor’s wife.

What great examples of leadership are going on in the world you live and participate?