what does she stand for I don’t really
know what she stands for what does she
she’s kind of a people-pleasing
do-gooder she’s well-liked she knows
everybody in the city she has a little
bit of influence here and there
she’s been here forever as long as the
dinosaurs but what does she stand for
what does she stand for I have no idea
what she stands for my friends this was
a piercing observation lodged against me
by some young thought leaders in this
community they had no idea of what I the
one named wonder the artist formerly
known as what I stood for I’m not gonna
lie that misperception cut me like a
knife
I had a bruised ego so I did what every
red-blooded African American woman who
was a Christian did I’ve jumped in the
that kind of healed what was going on
inside of me what was going on was that
have I honestly lived the last 30 years
in this community doing all that I do
and these young thought leaders my
community colleagues had no idea what I
stood for that hurt see it’s easy for
all of us in this room
today to know what we stand against it
comes to your mind doesn’t it we stand
against war most of us right we stand
against child endangerment concepts like
brutality and realities we stand against
those things but when we take a deeper
dive what do we really stand for I’m
talking about planting your feet firmly
in the ground drawing a line in the sand
and saying I stand for fill-in-the-blank
I’m gonna tell you today what I stand
for okay don’t leave the room
I stand for servant leadership now let
me tell you this is not gonna be some
airplane TED talk about the ethereal
concept of servant leadership many of
you might think that it’s this religious
philosophical historical philosophy and
you may say oh god that is such an
overused term what does that really mean
but it’s what I stand for it almost
seems like it’s an opposite doesn’t it
how can you be a servant to others and
also be a leader it’s very easy for me
because my capacity to lead others is
filled with tenants such as assuredness
integrity a love of other people
righteousness justice conceptualization
those are the things that drive me to
serve others but I still got a bruised
ego because my community colleagues did
not know what I stood for I thought that
by working for a servant leader
organization such as the public library
they would know what I stood for one of
the most democratic of all institutions
right
a place that’s open to all a place that
doesn’t have the top-down mentality
someone that opens their doors I stood
for servant leadership because I work
for a servant leader organization didn’t
they know that didn’t they see all the
things I’m affiliated with have deep
meaning I’m trying to help others not
for some gratification of self but then
Mahalia Jackson just didn’t do it for me
I had to go to friends in the community
who knew my core who knew my very
essence who had been ride-or-die with me
from day one
one of them in the room has known me
since my childhood the other one I serve
on a joint council with and after some
libations and a really good dinner and
the most sinfully delicious bread
pudding I told them what happened to me
I said these young thought leaders
people who might Meyer they didn’t know
what I stood for and they said Rhonda we
understand what you stand for
put the ego under the glass put it in
check and this is what we want to
challenge you to do tell us Rhonda what
is the driving force behind your servant
leadership why do you do what you do for
others why do you give of your time why
are you people centric and not some
top-down mentality some hierarchal
mentality and the first two things that
came out of my mouth were my faith and
my family now let me tell you a little
bit about this
my faith is unshakable I will repeat
that my faith is unshakable I have been
through enough life experiences and
actually witnessed miracles one of them
being the birth of my twin daughters who
only weighed one pound at birth they’re
18 now off to college doing well but it
was my faith that I could do all things
my faith was the guiding force of why I
do what I do and then there was my
family my family DNA runs through my
blood of servant leadership that’s all
that I have witnessed throughout my
lifetime my servant leadership from my
family are slaves free men and free
women CEOs college professors domestics
and I’m sure there’s probably a bank
robber in there somewhere my family
guided me to do for others what they
could not do for themselves so let me
tell you about them the woman in the
uniform is my grandmother these are both
my grandmother’s the woman in the
uniform is Lottie Mae Houston cops
Sewell she was a badass
I have her dog tags today she didn’t
know me for very long she died when I
was four months old she was a dietician
in the US Army serving her country
servant-leadership
she left me stocks and bonds what would
now be AT&T stocks and bonds she had a
white attorney to invest for her because
she was born and raised during a time
where a black woman could not invest for
themselves those stocks and bonds paid
for my undergraduate college education
of what scholarships wouldn’t pay for
them my maternal grandmother Lavina
Walton sitting so elegantly in that
chair
Lavinia Walton was a domestic she
cleaned the houses white people growing
up in Kentucky she got out of the
Kentucky mentality that she was growing
up in we’re only black women could be
domestics and she studied and became an
x-ray technician and she drank Kentucky
Bourbon now you know where I get it
servant leader she served her community
she served the church that she worked in
she was a servant leader Willoughby
Brown Willoughby Brown is my cousin my
third cousin my maternal cousin she was
the first african-american woman in US
history to receive her commercial
pilot’s license she was the first black
person to be a officer in the Civil Air
Patrol
of the United States Air Force another
badass
servant leader what guided her was not
that she taught Tuskegee Airmen which
she did I didn’t see her and George
Lucas’s Red Tails I didn’t see her
described there I only saw women in his
movie described as love interests but
she taught some of the Tuskegee Airmen
but you know what her real calling was
she wanted African Americans of her time
who were making first she wanted them to
go back to Africa not to stay just to go
back to connect with who they were
servant leader fo Louis Payne my
paternal cousin she is on a u.s. postage
stamp the Black Heritage series they
call her the First Lady of the Black
Press she pissed off President
Eisenhower being one of the very few
women of color in the White House press
corps because she dared to ask him about
integration in u.s. railway he never
called on her again it’s documented in
Time magazine this is who I am servant
leader her servant leadership came in
the face of working for the Chicago
Defender African American newspaper and
going over on the front lines to find
out what African American soldiers were
doing they were being discriminated
against fighting for a country that
really at the time did not believe in
my grandfather the one in the tie I
never knew him he died when my dad was
just about five or six years old Richard
Henry Sewell he was the president of
Lane College he roomed with the poet
Langston Hughes in undergraduate school
at Lincoln University servant leader
George carpenter no that is not a white
man although I just did my ancestry I’m
George carpenter and his wife Cindy
carpenter
they were half Cree and mulatto and they
were servant leaders trying to better
their community trying to do so much and
my servant leadership comes from this
family
I implore all of you to try servant
leadership family and faith might not be
the tenants that guide each of you into
doing something for others not only will
it make a better society but it will
make a better person see too many times
we are standing on that little tippy toe
of pyramids instead of doing an inverted
pyramid and thinking about others were
on that tippy toe on the point on the
pinnacle and we’ve got the mirror right
in our face we need to remove the mirror
out of our faces it will make a better
society but it will make a better you
see someone once told me that if you’re
only thinking about self and you’re only
composed about and and and looking at
yourself internally as to how can I get
ahead how can I get on top as to what
I’m doing in my life I’m gonna run this
rat race and I’m gonna get ahead but
constantly moving others out of your way
not giving of your time talent and
treasure to other people to help them
along the way an entrepreneur once told
me that you can run that rat race if you
want to and you might win the race but
when you cross that finish line you’re
we’ve got to help others we’ve got to be
militant about the validity of our
stories and our truth Gloria Naylor
author of the women of Brewster place
said that and it always resonated with
me while I’m here and it’s not a short
time people we’re losing people every
day I’ve loved been to three funerals in
just the last couple of weeks we’re here
for a short time
let it be meaningful I’ll leave you with
this quote by Oliver Goldsmith the poet
who said these words you can preach a
better sermon with your own life than
with your lips what do you stand for
thank you [Applause]
know what she stands for what does she
she’s kind of a people-pleasing
do-gooder she’s well-liked she knows
everybody in the city she has a little
bit of influence here and there
she’s been here forever as long as the
dinosaurs but what does she stand for
what does she stand for I have no idea
what she stands for my friends this was
a piercing observation lodged against me
by some young thought leaders in this
community they had no idea of what I the
one named wonder the artist formerly
known as what I stood for I’m not gonna
lie that misperception cut me like a
knife
I had a bruised ego so I did what every
red-blooded African American woman who
was a Christian did I’ve jumped in the
that kind of healed what was going on
inside of me what was going on was that
have I honestly lived the last 30 years
in this community doing all that I do
and these young thought leaders my
community colleagues had no idea what I
stood for that hurt see it’s easy for
all of us in this room
today to know what we stand against it
comes to your mind doesn’t it we stand
against war most of us right we stand
against child endangerment concepts like
brutality and realities we stand against
those things but when we take a deeper
dive what do we really stand for I’m
talking about planting your feet firmly
in the ground drawing a line in the sand
and saying I stand for fill-in-the-blank
I’m gonna tell you today what I stand
for okay don’t leave the room
I stand for servant leadership now let
me tell you this is not gonna be some
airplane TED talk about the ethereal
concept of servant leadership many of
you might think that it’s this religious
philosophical historical philosophy and
you may say oh god that is such an
overused term what does that really mean
but it’s what I stand for it almost
seems like it’s an opposite doesn’t it
how can you be a servant to others and
also be a leader it’s very easy for me
because my capacity to lead others is
filled with tenants such as assuredness
integrity a love of other people
righteousness justice conceptualization
those are the things that drive me to
serve others but I still got a bruised
ego because my community colleagues did
not know what I stood for I thought that
by working for a servant leader
organization such as the public library
they would know what I stood for one of
the most democratic of all institutions
right
a place that’s open to all a place that
doesn’t have the top-down mentality
someone that opens their doors I stood
for servant leadership because I work
for a servant leader organization didn’t
they know that didn’t they see all the
things I’m affiliated with have deep
meaning I’m trying to help others not
for some gratification of self but then
Mahalia Jackson just didn’t do it for me
I had to go to friends in the community
who knew my core who knew my very
essence who had been ride-or-die with me
from day one
one of them in the room has known me
since my childhood the other one I serve
on a joint council with and after some
libations and a really good dinner and
the most sinfully delicious bread
pudding I told them what happened to me
I said these young thought leaders
people who might Meyer they didn’t know
what I stood for and they said Rhonda we
understand what you stand for
put the ego under the glass put it in
check and this is what we want to
challenge you to do tell us Rhonda what
is the driving force behind your servant
leadership why do you do what you do for
others why do you give of your time why
are you people centric and not some
top-down mentality some hierarchal
mentality and the first two things that
came out of my mouth were my faith and
my family now let me tell you a little
bit about this
my faith is unshakable I will repeat
that my faith is unshakable I have been
through enough life experiences and
actually witnessed miracles one of them
being the birth of my twin daughters who
only weighed one pound at birth they’re
18 now off to college doing well but it
was my faith that I could do all things
my faith was the guiding force of why I
do what I do and then there was my
family my family DNA runs through my
blood of servant leadership that’s all
that I have witnessed throughout my
lifetime my servant leadership from my
family are slaves free men and free
women CEOs college professors domestics
and I’m sure there’s probably a bank
robber in there somewhere my family
guided me to do for others what they
could not do for themselves so let me
tell you about them the woman in the
uniform is my grandmother these are both
my grandmother’s the woman in the
uniform is Lottie Mae Houston cops
Sewell she was a badass
I have her dog tags today she didn’t
know me for very long she died when I
was four months old she was a dietician
in the US Army serving her country
servant-leadership
she left me stocks and bonds what would
now be AT&T stocks and bonds she had a
white attorney to invest for her because
she was born and raised during a time
where a black woman could not invest for
themselves those stocks and bonds paid
for my undergraduate college education
of what scholarships wouldn’t pay for
them my maternal grandmother Lavina
Walton sitting so elegantly in that
chair
Lavinia Walton was a domestic she
cleaned the houses white people growing
up in Kentucky she got out of the
Kentucky mentality that she was growing
up in we’re only black women could be
domestics and she studied and became an
x-ray technician and she drank Kentucky
Bourbon now you know where I get it
servant leader she served her community
she served the church that she worked in
she was a servant leader Willoughby
Brown Willoughby Brown is my cousin my
third cousin my maternal cousin she was
the first african-american woman in US
history to receive her commercial
pilot’s license she was the first black
person to be a officer in the Civil Air
Patrol
of the United States Air Force another
badass
servant leader what guided her was not
that she taught Tuskegee Airmen which
she did I didn’t see her and George
Lucas’s Red Tails I didn’t see her
described there I only saw women in his
movie described as love interests but
she taught some of the Tuskegee Airmen
but you know what her real calling was
she wanted African Americans of her time
who were making first she wanted them to
go back to Africa not to stay just to go
back to connect with who they were
servant leader fo Louis Payne my
paternal cousin she is on a u.s. postage
stamp the Black Heritage series they
call her the First Lady of the Black
Press she pissed off President
Eisenhower being one of the very few
women of color in the White House press
corps because she dared to ask him about
integration in u.s. railway he never
called on her again it’s documented in
Time magazine this is who I am servant
leader her servant leadership came in
the face of working for the Chicago
Defender African American newspaper and
going over on the front lines to find
out what African American soldiers were
doing they were being discriminated
against fighting for a country that
really at the time did not believe in
my grandfather the one in the tie I
never knew him he died when my dad was
just about five or six years old Richard
Henry Sewell he was the president of
Lane College he roomed with the poet
Langston Hughes in undergraduate school
at Lincoln University servant leader
George carpenter no that is not a white
man although I just did my ancestry I’m
George carpenter and his wife Cindy
carpenter
they were half Cree and mulatto and they
were servant leaders trying to better
their community trying to do so much and
my servant leadership comes from this
family
I implore all of you to try servant
leadership family and faith might not be
the tenants that guide each of you into
doing something for others not only will
it make a better society but it will
make a better person see too many times
we are standing on that little tippy toe
of pyramids instead of doing an inverted
pyramid and thinking about others were
on that tippy toe on the point on the
pinnacle and we’ve got the mirror right
in our face we need to remove the mirror
out of our faces it will make a better
society but it will make a better you
see someone once told me that if you’re
only thinking about self and you’re only
composed about and and and looking at
yourself internally as to how can I get
ahead how can I get on top as to what
I’m doing in my life I’m gonna run this
rat race and I’m gonna get ahead but
constantly moving others out of your way
not giving of your time talent and
treasure to other people to help them
along the way an entrepreneur once told
me that you can run that rat race if you
want to and you might win the race but
when you cross that finish line you’re
we’ve got to help others we’ve got to be
militant about the validity of our
stories and our truth Gloria Naylor
author of the women of Brewster place
said that and it always resonated with
me while I’m here and it’s not a short
time people we’re losing people every
day I’ve loved been to three funerals in
just the last couple of weeks we’re here
for a short time
let it be meaningful I’ll leave you with
this quote by Oliver Goldsmith the poet
who said these words you can preach a
better sermon with your own life than
with your lips what do you stand for
thank you [Applause]
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