I enjoyed this post on Michael Hyatt’s blog yesterday. It was actually a guest post by Dan Foster, a Branch Manager for Prudential Northwest Properties in the Portland Metropolitan Area in which he reflects on a question Max Lucado asks in his book, Outlive Your Life, “Do you see through people or into people?”
I appreciated Dan’s honesty and I think many of us would agree that we are often guilty of seeing right through people and staying focused on our world, our problems, our issues. How do you see people? I know personally, that many who are involved in the world of technology for their career can often have a greater love for software and shiny gadgets than they do the people who use them. Before you answer the question of how you see people, read Dan’s 5 characteristics of someone who sees through people. How many can you relate to?
If you have ever known someone who truly sees into people, who saw into your life, you know the power that person has to not only encourage and lift you up, but the influence and difference they can make in your future.
To be a leader that sees into people is no easy task. It requires courage, self-sacrifice, and the desire to engage people no matter where they are in life. When you see into people, you are not looking for what you are going to get out of that interaction, but, instead, how you can bless the person you are engaging.
This may require that you get your hands dirty. You may find yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Your wallet may not be as fat as it was before, and you may need to create margin in your calendar for opportunities to serve.
My hope and prayer is that in increasingly technology-driven world, that we would not be seduced into self-centeredness but try instead to look beyond tools and into the people they connect you with. Do you try to get to actually know them and step into their world? As Dan point’s out, it is work and requires your time, but you just might find in makes a world of difference not only to them but to as well.