Sadly, I recently delivered the eulogy for my brother-in-law Daniel Dillard in Natchez, MS. Daniel was 67 years young (1955-2023). Death is just like a lightning strike, when it hits close to you, it gets your attention! Our lives are blessings from God and as I have blogged before, what our dash says between our year of birth to our year of death is so important. What have we really accomplished during our dash, our years of life? What significance have we played in the lives of others? This might seem dramatic yet, we occasionally need lightning to get our attention.  

So excited to share that Daniel is a Christian and his family was able to celebrate the hope that comes with followers of Jesus Christ. Part of Daniel’s dash was his humble spirit and heart of gratitude. In all of the conversations from the large crowd of friends and family at the funeral and gathered afterward, I heard those words over and over. We simply never know how many people we are playing a significant role in their lives by how we connect and interact with them. 

In my book, Leading with Significance, one of the magnetic insights that we discover is leaders and team members must be vulnerable and provide each other the benefit of good intentions. Leadership must trust first in the inherent good in people, and serve and care in intentional ways to build high-trust organizations with a strong sense of belonging. When we trust more, we see fewer attempts to control. We begin to see cultures where results matter and people give discretionary efforts to build something bigger than themselves. It starts to be magnetic! It starts and ends with trust.

People were influenced by Daniel due to the grace he extended with his humble spirit and always extending trust to them first. What does our dash say? Are we giving people the benefit of good intentions? Are we seeking to understand each other or are we simply trying too hard to be right? All of our choices make up our dash and yes, our dash will end one day. Today is the time to build and add to a dash of significance.  

Leading with Significance received recognition from Amazon as being the number one new release on our pre-order book launch last week. You can order your copy here. For more information on my presentations or to access my beBetter blog library go to joeyhavens.com   

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Joey Havens Author

Joey Havens, CPA is the author of Leading with Significance. He is currently a partner with HORNE LLP a top 25 CPA firm. He previously served as managing partner of the firm from 2012 to 2021, leading more than 1,800 team members to build the Wise Firm© while passionately living out his life’s calling to help others see and reach their full potential. Prior to being named managing partner in 2012, Joey served as the managing partner of healthcare services and the managing partner of government services, respectively.