One of the best leaders and models of loving leadership was Dawson Trotman, who died after helping to rescue two drowning girls.
Trotman died in Schroon Lake, New York. He died in an area that he was an expert in — he drowned. He was an expert swimmer.
The last few moments of his life, he lifted one girl out of the water. He went down and got another girl and lifted her out of the water and then sunk in the lake and was not found again until the dragnet found his body a few hours later.
Time Magazine ran an article on Trotman’s life the next week, and they put a caption beneath his name, and it read, ‘Always Holding Somebody Up.’
In a sentence, that was Trotman’s life as a loving leader — he invested his life in those around him . . . by holding them up.”
So, Leadership is not having others follow you and become like you……as much as it is lifting others up so that they can succeed who they are called to become.
And that’s what it means to LEAD WITH LOVE.