Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Legacy Leadership: Honoring Dr. King | Episode #431 | Encore Edition
Transcript
- 0:21Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your
- 0:27Speaker 1: Life Count. I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, international
- 0:34Speaker 1: leadership expert and trusted advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make
- 0:42Speaker 1: your Life Count. I am so delighted that you joined
- 0:47Speaker 1: me today. I want to give a big thank you
- 0:50Speaker 1: to those of you who are listening, and here's a
- 0:53Speaker 1: great big shout out to all of you listening around
- 0:57Speaker 1: the world. I'm delighted and so grateful that you tuned in.
- 1:02Speaker 1: I sure hope you're enjoying a fabulous day today and
- 1:06Speaker 1: that you're having a fantastic week, because you know what,
- 1:11Speaker 1: in the grand song of the universe, life is very
- 1:15Speaker 1: very short. It's short, sweet and very precious. So I
- 1:22Speaker 1: hope you're making a difference in your own life because
- 1:26Speaker 1: when you do, you also make a difference in somebody
- 1:29Speaker 1: else's life. Now, a lot of folks want to make
- 1:34Speaker 1: their life count for something, and they ask me, doctor Gloria,
- 1:39Speaker 1: how do you do that? Well, it's very simple, very simple.
- 1:45Speaker 1: Here's how I do it. I make my life count
- 1:49Speaker 1: as a daughter, as a wife, mom, sister, and in
- 1:54Speaker 1: my professional life as a leadership expert, as a speaker, coach, professor,
- 2:00Speaker 1: as a mentor. I make my life count by being
- 2:04Speaker 1: on purpose, by living, learning and serving every single day
- 2:12Speaker 1: three sixty five, twenty four seven. See it's pretty simple, right,
- 2:19Speaker 1: You can do it too. You can make your life
- 2:22Speaker 1: count day by day, step by step, moment by moment,
- 2:26Speaker 1: every single day. Three sixty five, twenty four seven. That's
- 2:32Speaker 1: what legacy living, Make your Life count is all about.
- 2:38Speaker 1: You can learn more about legacy living make your life
- 2:41Speaker 1: count by visiting the Gloria Burgess website. That's right, the
- 2:46Speaker 1: Gloria Burgess website, or you can visit me on Facebook
- 2:51Speaker 1: dot com at doctor Gloria Burgess pH D. Okay, all right,
- 2:58Speaker 1: well today I have a very special show for you.
- 3:02Speaker 1: Today's podcast is all about serving. Specifically, I will focus
- 3:09Speaker 1: on celebrating on lifting up service because you know what
- 3:14Speaker 1: everybody can serve. Now, if you are a regular listener
- 3:19Speaker 1: to this podcast, you know that serving and being of
- 3:24Speaker 1: service is one of the great ideas we talk about here,
- 3:28Speaker 1: not just once in a while, but every single podcast.
- 3:32Speaker 1: That's really what legacy living is really all about. Right,
- 3:37Speaker 1: It's making a difference in your own life and making
- 3:40Speaker 1: your life count. In other words, serving others, making your
- 3:44Speaker 1: life count for others. Legacy Living is all about living, loving,
- 3:49Speaker 1: and serving every single day. You've heard me say it before,
- 3:54Speaker 1: we do it three sixty five, twenty four seven. And
- 3:58Speaker 1: you know what. That's exactly how Reverend doctor Martin Luther
- 4:03Speaker 1: King Junior lived his life, living, loving, and serving. Now
- 4:13Speaker 1: doctor King served three sixty five twenty four seven. How
- 4:17Speaker 1: did he do that even while he was asleep? Listen
- 4:22Speaker 1: up today. I want to shine the light on serving.
- 4:28Speaker 1: Shine the light on serving by looking through the lens
- 4:32Speaker 1: of what doctor King calls the drum major instinct. I
- 4:38Speaker 1: love that, the drum major instinct. Before we dive into
- 4:43Speaker 1: the podcast, I want to take a moment to welcome you.
- 4:48Speaker 1: If you're just joining us, I'm your host, Doctor Gloria,
- 4:52Speaker 1: and this is Legacy Living. Make your life count. I'd
- 4:58Speaker 1: like to extend a special welcome to those of you
- 5:01Speaker 1: who are joining my podcast or if you're joining Talk
- 5:04Speaker 1: Network Radio for the very first time. I'm so excited
- 5:09Speaker 1: to have you listening in today, and I'm deeply honored
- 5:13Speaker 1: that you've allowed me to be part of your day
- 5:16Speaker 1: so you can be inspired by ideas and resources to
- 5:21Speaker 1: make your life count. You are in for a very
- 5:25Speaker 1: special treat. As I mentioned earlier, today's episode is all
- 5:31Speaker 1: about serving. You don't want to miss a single word
- 5:36Speaker 1: of this podcast. So grab your earbuds or find yourself
- 5:41Speaker 1: a comfortable chair, grab yourself a nice cool glass of
- 5:45Speaker 1: water or a cup of tea or coffee. We are
- 5:48Speaker 1: going to have a great time. Now again, we're going
- 5:53Speaker 1: to shine the light on serving of being of service
- 5:57Speaker 1: by looking through the lens of what Doctor King calls
- 6:01Speaker 1: the drum major instinct. In fact, Doctor King delivered a
- 6:08Speaker 1: sermon called the drum major instinct. Now some of you
- 6:12Speaker 1: may know that he delivered this important sermon towards the
- 6:18Speaker 1: very end of his life, and this sermon is all
- 6:23Speaker 1: about That's right, you guessed it. It's all about serving. Now,
- 6:29Speaker 1: what does serving and being a drum major have in common.
- 6:34Speaker 1: That's a great question, isn't it. Well, let's look at
- 6:37Speaker 1: what it means and what it takes to be a
- 6:40Speaker 1: drum major. Have any of you ever seen a marching band. Well,
- 6:47Speaker 1: one of the two leaders of the marching band is
- 6:50Speaker 1: the drum major. If you've ever seen a pipe band
- 6:55Speaker 1: or a drum and bugle corps, the leader of these
- 6:58Speaker 1: groups is also called a drum major. Now I want
- 7:03Speaker 1: you to picture this. The drum major is usually positioned
- 7:08Speaker 1: at the very head, at the very front of the
- 7:11Speaker 1: marching band, or at the front or the head of
- 7:15Speaker 1: the drum and bugle corps. Now, maybe some of you
- 7:18Speaker 1: have been part of a marching band or a pipe band,
- 7:21Speaker 1: or perhaps you've been a musician as a member of
- 7:24Speaker 1: a drum and bugle corps. I certainly have. I remember
- 7:28Speaker 1: when I was in my high school marching band, I
- 7:32Speaker 1: played the saxophone. And I also remember we had these
- 7:36Speaker 1: wonderful uniforms. Our school colors were green and gold, and
- 7:42Speaker 1: our uniforms were this beautiful dark green with gold corded trim.
- 7:48Speaker 1: On the shoulders, we had wonderful white helmets that we
- 7:53Speaker 1: wore that set up on top of our head very high, right,
- 7:56Speaker 1: so you felt very tall and regal. And on top
- 7:59Speaker 1: of that that helmet was a beautiful feather in green
- 8:03Speaker 1: and gold. And on the bottom of our uniform we
- 8:07Speaker 1: wore white spats on top of our black shoes. And
- 8:11Speaker 1: to top it off, we wore those shimmery gold overlays
- 8:16Speaker 1: kind of like a long vest that we wore outside
- 8:20Speaker 1: of our jacket. We looked sharp. I'm gonna say snazzy.
- 8:25Speaker 1: We looked so so wonderful. We thought we looked actually fantastic.
- 8:32Speaker 1: And you know what we did, now, the drum major,
- 8:37Speaker 1: the drum major always looked very snazzy too. In fact,
- 8:42Speaker 1: the drum major's outfit was even snazzier than the band members. Right,
- 8:47Speaker 1: it was the same green and gold, but the gold
- 8:50Speaker 1: corded trim was much more ornate and thicker. Right, it
- 8:55Speaker 1: had more ribbon, a bigger braid in the cord, and
- 8:59Speaker 1: more core words actually draped down over the shoulders. I
- 9:04Speaker 1: remember that the drum major also had a shorter jacket
- 9:08Speaker 1: than we wore as members of the marching band. The
- 9:11Speaker 1: drum major's jacket was white so that we could easily
- 9:15Speaker 1: see him or her right, And instead of black shoes,
- 9:19Speaker 1: the drum major wore black boots. Yeah, that's right, black boots,
- 9:24Speaker 1: boots that were knee high and very very impressive looking. Now,
- 9:30Speaker 1: the drum major also carried a baton, the kind of
- 9:34Speaker 1: baton that you see gymnasts use, the kind that you
- 9:37Speaker 1: whirl around, right, And the drum major wore a whistle
- 9:41Speaker 1: around the neck. Now, why the baton and the whistle, Well,
- 9:46Speaker 1: the drum major was the person who provided the commands
- 9:50Speaker 1: to the band. The drum major was also the person
- 9:53Speaker 1: responsible for leading the band while we were marching. The
- 9:58Speaker 1: drum major set the rhythm, the tempo for our march right,
- 10:04Speaker 1: and the tempo for the music we played. The drum
- 10:08Speaker 1: major would use the whistle to signal the tempo. I remember,
- 10:13Speaker 1: tweet tweet, tweet, tweet right, and he or she held
- 10:18Speaker 1: the baton way up high, right, pumping, pumping his or
- 10:24Speaker 1: her arm to amplify the tweeting, to amplify that whistle.
- 10:29Speaker 1: The drum major of that marching band was a servant
- 10:34Speaker 1: leader of the entire ensemble, the entire I don't know.
- 10:40Speaker 1: We had multiple, multiple ranks of marchers, of musicians and
- 10:45Speaker 1: our marching band. So all that ornate clothing and the
- 10:49Speaker 1: baton held high, and the whistle tweets, all of that
- 10:54Speaker 1: served a purpose, a very specific purpose. The drum major
- 11:01Speaker 1: served so that all could see, so that all were touched,
- 11:07Speaker 1: so that all were moved quite literally in the same direction.
- 11:14Speaker 1: So Doctor King's sermon about the drum major instinct is
- 11:21Speaker 1: all about serving just like that drum major of the
- 11:25Speaker 1: marching band. Doctor King's sermon is all about being of service,
- 11:31Speaker 1: all about being a servant leader. As I listened to
- 11:36Speaker 1: Doctor King delivered that sermon, there were so many many
- 11:41Speaker 1: lessons in it that I wanted to share with you.
- 11:45Speaker 1: Then I realized I could probably do a whole year's
- 11:49Speaker 1: worth of episodes, a whole year's worth of podcasts on
- 11:54Speaker 1: that one sermon alone. Imagine that, right, But I knew
- 12:00Speaker 1: I needed to focus on just one thing for this podcast,
- 12:04Speaker 1: and again, that is serving. In his sermon, Doctor King
- 12:10Speaker 1: talks about the drum major instinct, and he says that
- 12:15Speaker 1: you know what, we all have it, right. We don't
- 12:18Speaker 1: need those fancy green uniforms. We don't need that gold
- 12:23Speaker 1: overlay or that white hat with the green and gold
- 12:26Speaker 1: feathers of the baton. We all have it. Whoever we are,
- 12:30Speaker 1: wherever we are. This instinct shows up in our desire
- 12:36Speaker 1: to be recognized, our desire to have someone call our name,
- 12:42Speaker 1: so to speak. This is our desire for importance or significance.
- 12:50Speaker 1: In scripture, in the Gospel of Matthew, the Disciples, James
- 12:55Speaker 1: and John make a specific request of the Mass. Like
- 13:01Speaker 1: many Hebrews before them, James and John dreamed of a
- 13:06Speaker 1: coming king of Israel. This coming king would set Jerusalem free.
- 13:14Speaker 1: This coming king would establish his kingdom on Mount Zion.
- 13:22Speaker 1: This coming king would rule in righteousness. Indeed, this king
- 13:28Speaker 1: would rule the world. James and John actually thought of
- 13:35Speaker 1: Jesus as this kind of king. And James and John
- 13:41Speaker 1: said to Jesus, now, when you establish your kingdom, let
- 13:46Speaker 1: one of us sit on the right hand and the
- 13:49Speaker 1: other on the left hand of your throne. We are
- 13:55Speaker 1: told that the other disciples were upset. They became angry
- 14:01Speaker 1: with James and John. Now why did the disciples get mad?
- 14:08Speaker 1: Because just like James and John, they also wanted to
- 14:12Speaker 1: be up close and personal with King Jesus. Like James
- 14:17Speaker 1: and John, they also wanted to sit at the right
- 14:21Speaker 1: and left hand. Like James and John, they wanted to
- 14:26Speaker 1: have a seat right next to the throne of the king.
- 14:31Speaker 1: Can I just tell you something. All of us are
- 14:36Speaker 1: like those disciples. We all want attention. We all want
- 14:41Speaker 1: to be first, We all want to be the favorite.
- 14:48Speaker 1: That desire for attention, that desire to be first, that
- 14:54Speaker 1: desire to be important, to be recognized, that desire to
- 14:59Speaker 1: lead the that desire is what doctor King refers to
- 15:06Speaker 1: as the drum major instinct. In his sermon, doctor King
- 15:15Speaker 1: also cautions us. That's right, he warns us. He cautions us.
- 15:22Speaker 1: He actually beckons us to harness this instinct. He pleads
- 15:30Speaker 1: with us to harness, to put the halt on this instinct.
- 15:36Speaker 1: Why because if we don't harness the instinct to be noticed,
- 15:42Speaker 1: to be recognized, to get attention, to feel important. If
- 15:47Speaker 1: you don't harness this instinct, it is very easy to
- 15:51Speaker 1: fall into the trap of pushing others down in order
- 15:57Speaker 1: to lift ourselves up, or to fall into the trap
- 16:02Speaker 1: of feeling important because you belong right to this exclusive
- 16:06Speaker 1: club or that exclusive club, or that exclusive church, or
- 16:12Speaker 1: go to that exclusive school, or you belong to that
- 16:15Speaker 1: exclusive golf club or women's group or men's group or neighborhood,
- 16:21Speaker 1: or the kind of car you drive or you wear
- 16:25Speaker 1: that particular brand of clothing or shoes. Right you could
- 16:29Speaker 1: only carry that particular kind of briefcase, or have that
- 16:32Speaker 1: particular kind of computer or whatever. You know what I'm
- 16:36Speaker 1: talking about, don't you. I mean, the list goes on
- 16:39Speaker 1: and on and on, doesn't it. In this sermon, Doctor
- 16:43Speaker 1: King reminds us that we all, we all have a
- 16:49Speaker 1: common father, that all women are sisters, and all men
- 16:55Speaker 1: are brothers because we all have a common father. So
- 17:02Speaker 1: he shows that the desire, the drive, the motive to
- 17:07Speaker 1: serve can actually become distorted, right. We can misuse it.
- 17:14Speaker 1: We can misuse our desire to serve ourselves instead of
- 17:19Speaker 1: serving others. Doctor King also reminds us that when we
- 17:26Speaker 1: nurture this instinct, that it can be an incredibly rich resource,
- 17:32Speaker 1: a very powerful resource that you can use, that I
- 17:36Speaker 1: can use, that all of us can tap into, tap
- 17:40Speaker 1: into our greatness. In that sermon, doctor King reminds us
- 17:48Speaker 1: that Jesus confronts his disciples James and John, on their
- 17:53Speaker 1: instinct to be first, on their desire to be recognized,
- 17:58Speaker 1: their desire to be on the right hand and left hand.
- 18:03Speaker 1: We know, we know that what Jesus did was radical.
- 18:09Speaker 1: It was positively radical. Like he does so many times,
- 18:14Speaker 1: Jesus turned things upside down. Doctor King says that what
- 18:21Speaker 1: Jesus did was all together different. He that is, Jesus said,
- 18:29Speaker 1: in substance, Oh, I see, you want to be first,
- 18:35Speaker 1: You want to be great, you want to be important,
- 18:38Speaker 1: to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're
- 18:44Speaker 1: going to be my disciple, you must be. But he
- 18:51Speaker 1: reordered priorities. And he said, yes, don't give up this instinct.
- 18:58Speaker 1: It's a good instinct if you use it right. Yes,
- 19:04Speaker 1: it's a good instinct if you don't distort it and
- 19:07Speaker 1: pervert it. Don't give up. Keep feeling the need for
- 19:14Speaker 1: being important, keep feeling the need for being first. But
- 19:21Speaker 1: but Jesus said, I want you to be first in love.
- 19:27Speaker 1: I want you to be first in moral excellence. I
- 19:31Speaker 1: want you to be first in generosity. This is what
- 19:36Speaker 1: I want you to do. And so my favorite book
- 19:44Speaker 1: tells us that Jesus was radical because he spoke to
- 19:48Speaker 1: his beloved disciples. Doctor King says that Jesus transformed the
- 19:55Speaker 1: situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you
- 19:59Speaker 1: know how he said it. Here's what he said. Now, brethren,
- 20:06Speaker 1: I can't give you greatness, and really I can't make
- 20:10Speaker 1: you first. This is what Jesus said to James and John.
- 20:17Speaker 1: You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism,
- 20:24Speaker 1: but by fitness. And the right hand and the left
- 20:28Speaker 1: are not mine to give. They belong to those who
- 20:33Speaker 1: are prepared. And so Jesus gave us a new norm
- 20:41Speaker 1: of greatness. If you want to be important, wonderful. If
- 20:46Speaker 1: you want to be recognized wonderful, if you want to
- 20:51Speaker 1: be great, wonderful, but recognize that he who is greatest
- 20:57Speaker 1: among you shall be your servant. That's a whole new
- 21:03Speaker 1: definition of greatness. And the thing I like about it.
- 21:09Speaker 1: By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody,
- 21:16Speaker 1: everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don't
- 21:23Speaker 1: have to have a college degree to serve. You don't
- 21:28Speaker 1: have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
- 21:33Speaker 1: You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
- 21:37Speaker 1: You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve.
- 21:43Speaker 1: You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics
- 21:47Speaker 1: and physics. To serve, you only need a heart full
- 21:56Speaker 1: of grace, a soul generated by love. And you, that's right,
- 22:08Speaker 1: you and me, and you can be that servant. You
- 22:15Speaker 1: only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated
- 22:22Speaker 1: by love, and you can be that servant. So now
- 22:31Speaker 1: you know the secret, the secret to serving and serving well.
- 22:37Speaker 1: You don't serve to get attention or to be recognized
- 22:41Speaker 1: or to be first. Oh No, you serve because that's
- 22:46Speaker 1: what being in his purpose for your life is all
- 22:50Speaker 1: about beyond purpose in His purpose for your life. That's
- 22:57Speaker 1: how I strive to live my life as a daughter
- 23:02Speaker 1: of the Most High. That's how I want to live
- 23:07Speaker 1: my life. Do I get it right all the time?
- 23:10Speaker 1: No way. Just ask my husband or my daughter or
- 23:13Speaker 1: my sisters. All right. But one of the reasons I
- 23:17Speaker 1: just love doing this podcast is that it helps me
- 23:21Speaker 1: remember who I am and whose I am. It helps
- 23:27Speaker 1: me remember who and what is important. It helps me
- 23:33Speaker 1: remember that if you want to transform your relationships or
- 23:38Speaker 1: your family, or your friendships, or your team at work,
- 23:41Speaker 1: or your organization or your community, guess what you first
- 23:46Speaker 1: have to transform you? You have to transform yourself, just
- 23:53Speaker 1: as we learn today. One of the best ways to
- 23:56Speaker 1: do that is by serving. I want you to ask
- 24:02Speaker 1: yourself this question, how am I serving today? Am I
- 24:12Speaker 1: serving myself? Or am I serving others? Am I truly
- 24:17Speaker 1: serving others? All right? We are here for just a
- 24:27Speaker 1: few more minutes, so I want to remind you if
- 24:30Speaker 1: you missed last week's podcast or any part of this week's,
- 24:35Speaker 1: you can download the recording and listen to it at
- 24:38Speaker 1: your convenience. You can even listen to it on the go.
- 24:43Speaker 1: Check it out on iTunes, Audible, Alexa, SoundCloud, iHeart, tune in, Spreaker,
- 24:51Speaker 1: dot Com, Talk Network Radio, and so many other places.
- 24:57Speaker 1: Or you can listen live each week or download the
- 25:01Speaker 1: show to listen later. You can do that right here
- 25:04Speaker 1: at www dot talknetwork Radio dot com Forward Slash Hosts,
- 25:13Speaker 1: Forward Slash Legacy Living. That's Talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward
- 25:19Speaker 1: Slash Hosts Forward Slash Legacy Living. You can also find
- 25:25Speaker 1: me on the TEDx site and listen to one of
- 25:27Speaker 1: my ted talks. Just type in my name to find
- 25:31Speaker 1: me there. Once again, I want to thank you for
- 25:36Speaker 1: joining me for today's episode. I'm your host, doctor Gloria
- 25:41Speaker 1: Gloria Burgess, and this is Legacy Living. Make your Life Count.
- 25:49Speaker 1: Please join me again next time right here for another podcast,
- 25:54Speaker 1: another show of Legacy Living. Make your life count. Don't
- 26:00Speaker 1: just count the days in your life. Make the days
- 26:05Speaker 1: in your life count. That's what Legacy Living is all about.
- 26:12Speaker 1: Have a fantastic day, and remember, make the days in
- 26:17Speaker 1: your life count. God bless you. That's our show today.
- 26:35Speaker 1: I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll
- 26:41Speaker 1: join me again next time. Until then, don't just count
- 26:45Speaker 1: the days in your life. Make the days in your
- 26:49Speaker 1: life count. That's what legacy living is all about. Here's
- 26:54Speaker 1: to you have a fantastic day and be sure to
- 26:58Speaker 1: make it a yes kind the day. Remember to celebrate
- 27:03Speaker 1: the music of your life. Make the days in your
- 27:10Speaker 1: life count