Why do names like Gandhi, King, Mother Theresa and Washington resonate many years after their departure? Why do many around the world still celebrate Jesus about two thousand years after his earthly experience? They are closely associated with giving beyond the ordinary, which true leaders are known for.

I once heard someone define leadership as leveraging other people’s skills, and I wasn’t pleased an iota. What I understood from that statement was that leaders “use” and “exploit” people. But that’s not what real leaders do. That’s not what leadership is about.

The leaders I know give others opportunity to rise to their full potentials. They inspire and engender hope, commitment and performance in ways that promote and protect the dignity and wellbeing of people on their team (and those outside).

Leadership is not a takers’ thrust. It is not an entitlement estate for people on top. It is about giving one’s best toward creating a dynamic organization or society where people have a good sense of belonging, meaning and worth.

I find it hard to reckon anybody as a leader in a given organization or sphere of life if the person cannot show how they’ve helped others. Men and women in the Me-Myself-and-I club are not leaders but rather people in dire need of leadership.

Maybe, my viewpoint has to do with what I do daily at nonprofit Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM, https://drmm.org)). Maybe, it’s because the successful people I have valued associating with are exemplary at giving. Maybe, it’s because my father taught me earlier on in life to help others by all means necessary and nice. Maybe…

Isn’t it justifiable to see a community of penury-stricken residents with an opulent person at the top as leaderless? I see selfishness. I see exploitation. I see injustice. And I ask: Why aren’t there genuine opportunities for the residents to escape the morass of poverty? Chances are that the so-called leader of the community is taking cows and giving chickens. Is that leadership?

Some people ask me why DRMM does not confine itself to providing emergency shelter and soup kitchen for homeless individuals and families in southeast Michigan. Why do we go beyond that to give back-to-school supplies to hundreds of indigent kids, remove blight in Detroit neighborhoods, provide skills development and job readiness training, and refurbish, furnish and donate debt-free homes to poor but working families, among others? My ready response is that leadership is giving beyond the ordinary.

We give, give and give again.

One way you can know organizations with quintessential leaders is by their job vacancy advertisements. They emphasize not only what candidates should bring to the table but also what they (the organizations) provide the successful ones (like great environment to work in). It is based on the helpful understanding that organizations, both forprofit and nonprofit, thrive on give-and-take, and being “used” or “exploited” sounds like anathema to most ears. It sounds anathematic to mine, for sure.

Nobody likes a relationship that is more about “taking” than “giving and taking.” And people tend to like those who provide them opportunities for meaningful personal development, not those who deny them of such.

Learn more in a quick-read book that has just been released by Clay & Gold of New York titled Audian Nonprofit Leadership: 11 Leadership Lessons I Learned From DRMM President Dr. Chad Audi.

My giving continues. So should yours.