The Servant Leader by Klemmer

Leaders are driven by being of service to people.

Why should you make more money? Because you can be a bigger blessing to more people. Leaders are driven by being of service to people.

Without money you can offer your compassion and encouragement, but with money you can do more–so much more. You can make a difference.

Do you know the story of the good Samaritan in the Bible? Regardless of your religious persuasion, it's a great story I recommend you read (Luke 10:30-36).

Most people think of it as a story of compassion, because two people passed by a hurt man on the road without helping him. One felt he had more important things to do and the other was afraid of getting involved.

But the third person, the Samaritan, took him to an inn and asked the innkeeper to take care of him for a month. He also gave the innkeeper enough coins to take care of the man and told him that if it weren't enough, he'd give him more when he came back in 30 days.

How many innkeepers do you think would have taken the hurt man on for no cash? The only reason the Samaritan could do what he did was because he had the money.

When people tell me they do not care about making more money, I shock them by telling them, "That is the most selfish thing I have ever heard!"

I wait until they ask why and I explain that to take care of themselves is easy to do. It does not require much money. But to truly care for all those others who need help takes courage and compassion . . . and more money! "If you don't want more money, then you obviously only care about yourself or a very limited number of people."

How big a blessing do you want to be to others? Most people live in a world of indifference because they are afraid they are incapable of making a difference. Allow yourself to see the needs of the world so that you have the need to create enormous amounts of cash.

Commit this week to making and giving away more money than you ever have before.

TAKEAWAY! The purpose of making money is to be a bigger blessing to more people. The way you use money describes your true value system.

Action Step #1 Pull out your checkbook. Look at the last three months. Outside of bills and birthdays, how much money have you spent on other people?

An Example

My friend John is what's known as a big tipper. Even when John has been close to broke–and he has– he hands out five-dollar bills to skycaps at airports and bellhops. He always tips serving people 20 percent and usually more.

John says he's just helping the people who are helping him. Win-win.

Action Step #2

Get out of your daily routine and expose yourself to the needs of others. Visit a children's hospital and talk, not just to the children, but to the parents and administrators as to how it is being paid for. Go to a homeless shelter and ask them what they could do if they had $10,000 more a month. Now, come up with two or three things you could do to make sure they get that money.

An Example  I have another friend named Azim Khamiza. His 19-year-old only son was shot and killed by a 13-yearold gangster. His son was delivering pizza as a way to work through school and a gang held him up. When he refused to give up the pizza, the 13-year-old was ordered to kill him. Until I met Azim, my mind didn't even want to think of these kinds of occurrences. Violence seemed far away from me. Yet, after meeting Azim, I was exposed to how prevalent violence is with many of our youth. Azim and the guardian of his son's killer, Plez Felix, formed the TKF Foundation to end violence among youth. In one year alone our Klemmer & Associates Heart of the Samurai graduates pledged over 1 million dollars for TKF (www.TKF.org). In one sense that is great, but in another sense it is but a drop in the bucket as to what needs to be done. For a mere 30 dollars a child they make a real statistically significant difference on steering youth away from violence. It requires courage to open up to the need and allowing oneself to be compelled to do something about it.

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is 'what are you doing for others?'" –Martin Luther King Jr