Jimmy Mellado: What Leadership and the Decathlon Have in Common
I have constantly found that my athletic experience informs my leadership. Winning, losing, discipline, goals, character, strategy, focus, disappointment, set-backs, victories, teamwork, injuries, resource allocation, time-management, energy management—they’re all a part of leading an organization.
Continue Reading ›Courageous Leadership
Our ministry takes place in some of the toughest, grittiest places on the planet, but we face these hard realities with an adventuresome spirit.
In the midst of this chaotic world, we do not waiver and we do not blink, as we pursue our single-minded strategy of “Christian holistic development of children in poverty through sponsorship.” We will never raise a white flag in surrender to the evil raging against us.
In the face of extreme poverty, courageous leadership requires determination and faith. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s moving forward despite the fear.
“Courage is fear that has said it’s prayers.” – Karl Barth
Listen to a member of our leadership team talk about the importance of courageous leadership.
Christian Servant Leadership
Servant leadership requires us to surrender our will for God’s will. It requires confession and seeking God’s power to transform us with His servant heart.
Live With Integrity
Integrity is not common.
“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” – Matthew 7:14, NIV
To live with integrity means:
Cherish Family
We cannot do global child development and neglect our own families. God would not be honored if we poured ourselves into the world’s children and neglected our own.
“If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?” – 1 Timothy 3:5, NIV
Listen to Mark Hanlon, Senior Vice President of Compassion USA, talk about the importance of cherishing our families.
What is Integrity?
Integrity is another one of our core values. But what does that mean? What is integrity?
“Integrity means doing the same thing whether people are with you or whether you are alone.” – Ed Anderson, senior vice president and chief financial officer
Integrity doesn’t just apply to big decisions. It also applies to your small decisions. It pertains to your whole life.
Integrity is doing the right thing, not necessarily the popular thing.
Integrity is being honest, upstanding and having a strong character.
Officially, for Compassion, integrity is:
“… aligning our thoughts, motivations, attitudes and actions with the ethical principles found in God’s Word. In both our personal lives and our ministry, what we believe, what we say and what we do should be consistent, congruent, reliable and transparent.”
- Do you think that the children at our child development centers ever “get tired” of “pleasing” the sponsors who briefly, but regularly visit many of the same centers on our sponsor tours?
- If the children do “get tired” and would rather be doing something else but can’t admit that they don’t want to greet another group of sponsors, for whatever reason, is this a matter of integrity?
- If it is a matter of integrity, of not aligning our thoughts with our actions, who is out of alignment? The child? The sponsor? Compassion?
