Steve Schedler has served in non-profit and human service settings for over 20 years and has worked in non-profit leadership for over 15 years. Steve combines personal and professional passion to help teams and organizations achieve their missional and sustainability goals in effective and creative ways. He also helps train the next generation of counselors and helpers as an instructor at Messiah University.
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Episode Transcript
Nicholas Paulukow
All right, welcome to Servant Leader’s Library, where we uncover the wisdom of leading with compassion, humility, and purpose. I’m your host, Nicholas Paulukow, and today we’re diving deep in with a special guest who embodies the essence of service leadership. Join us in none other than Steve Schedler, the beacon of light at Samaritan Center, where compassion meets action.
Together, we’ll explore the power of service, the art of leading by example, and the transformative impact it has on individuals and communities alike. So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let’s embark on this enlightening journey together. So Steve has served as a non-profit in a human service setting for over 20 years and has worked in non-profit leadership for over 15 years.
Steve combines personal and professional passion to help teams and organizations achieve their mission and their sustainable goals in effective and creative ways. He also helps train the next generation of counselors and helps as an instructor at Messiah University. Steve finds peace in the world with his family and when possible, a remote northern woodland.
I love that. The Samaritan Center fosters hope and healing through professional counseling services, business consulting, clergy and congregation care, and education while respecting and integrating personal and spiritual values. The center strives to ensure that quality professional services are accessible to all people.
Currently, Samaritan serves a client population from Lancaster, Lebanon, Berks, and York and other counties with clinical and administrative programs with a staff of about 40 plus employees, as well as 15 partnering consultants for our other consulting branches. Welcome Steve. We’re really excited to have you join us today.
What a great story of kind of your mission and what you’ve kind of been driving with your career today. We really appreciate you being with us.
Steve Schedler
Well, Nick, thanks for having me. Thanks for that intro. Yeah, appreciate being here.
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah, what a wonderful, wonderful intro. You know, tell us a little bit about your story, Steve. You know, a little bit about yourself, if you don’t mind sharing, kind of what got you into this career.
You know, a lot of non-profit work really about serving others. Can you kind of tell us kind of what spurred that journey for you?
Steve Schedler
Yeah, I think if you go back far enough, it really, you get into, you know, personal influences, definitely, you know, growing up and just trying to figure out life and why do we make the decisions that we make? Why do we interact with people the way that we do? You know, so I think a lot of people that end up in this genre of mental health work, we have some of those big questions about, you know, how and why do things work the way they work amongst us human beings here?
You know, I have this saying, I say a lot of times, you know, we’re on a giant rock flying through outer space, you know, it gets a little complicated.
Nicholas Paulukow
It gets a little heated sometimes.
Steve Schedler
So for whatever reason, I just, I had the, this natural inclination to ponder, to wonder about life and some of these things. And, you know, so ended up in the genre of mental health and human services and such and, you know, coming out of college, I got, my first job was at a large provider of behavioral healthcare services.
Nicholas Paulukow
Really.
Steve Schedler
Okay. And they’re about, even at that point, this is over 20 years ago now, probably, you know, they were over a thousand employees.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, wow.
Steve Schedler
A lot of formative experiences happened there for me, definitely.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, that’s amazing. So, you know, from the perspective of those that are in school today, like, did you always know that you wanted to get into kind of counseling or like, what spurred you kind of through your college career or, you know, to get into kind of this field? I mean, it probably has a vast amount of areas that you can serve in, but kind of what drew you to, you know, getting out of school and getting right into a provider, like how, how did that happen?
Steve Schedler
Yeah. You know, my journey has really been step-by-step. I didn’t always have a master plan on some of this, you know, I shared a little bit of that personal journey, how I had that kind of, those natural inclinations.
And then I ended up studying psychology as a bachelor student. And that’s a degree that a lot of people would try to talk you out of. So I don’t know that everybody was excited about that in my life.
You know, I felt that that was the right place for me at that point. And I just dove in and met a lot of amazing people and had some really memorable professors as well in that. And so you get out, you get out, and then you work on the front lines, at least that’s how it was when I was coming out.
So I worked on the front lines of behavioral health, you know, evening shift, weekends, the whole bit, and worked with high acuity populations, worked with residential treatment, which is adolescents and children that are struggling in significant ways, a lot of trauma, a lot of folks, a lot of kids coming out of trauma backgrounds and this and that. So that was, there was, you know, sometimes I talk, when I talk about my leadership journey, might end up focusing on when I had the titles, right. But, you know, the journey, looking back, the journey really started with some of those initial roles, really, you know, starting out on ground one, you know, four, one, right.
On the kind of the front lines, I say, of behavioral health care and all that.
Nicholas Paulukow
You kind of just sparked your interest when you kind of got into it, I guess, right. Like anything else, like everybody’s like, well, how am I going to know, like talking to college students, like, well, what if I make a mistake? And there is no mistake, right.
This life’s a journey. So like, you got to go experience it. And that’s kind of what you’re saying or what I’m hearing, right.
A secret, don’t laugh at me now. I wanted to get into counseling. And I went to my professor and said, like, this is what I want to do.
And he laughed at me. And he said, do you know what they make? You won’t even be able to feed your family on 20 grand a year.
You are not doing that, son. And I’m like, but this is a real passion. I really want to help people.
And, you know, so that was not such a positive experience. But what really led me to believe is hopefully the work that I do now might not have the same impact, but really kind of drew that same passion of helping others and kind of impacting others. But that was my first experience trying to understand the world that you live in every day.
So I know you’re probably like, oh, man, Nick, thank God you didn’t. You’re a little nuts there for this. You know, not a good listener, Nick.
Steve Schedler
Yeah, yeah. No, thanks for sharing that story. And I think that’s a common narrative that a lot of people hear.
But, you know, part of my story would be that, you know, there’s a lot of pathways in the field and there’s a lot of opportunity in the field to really have a lot of impact and find creative ways to build a career over time. And, you know, some of those early positions where, you know, you’re kind of starting out, they can be pretty intense, but you learn a lot. And from a leadership perspective, you know, I was thinking back to when was the first time that, you know, I really carried any type of leadership flag, you know, right.
It goes all the way back to that and even that initial position. Really? And there were times when, you know, someone had to be kind of the shift lead.
So we would have a small core team that was responsible for running the unit. Right. Those shifts.
And there were times where we would we would take turns being shift lead and, you know, pretty intense moments in all of that. Formative, very formative. And out of some of those experiences through a series of promotions in that setting, then I ended up getting my first director role then.
Okay. In the course of about five years, I had a couple of different positions and then I was tapped on the shoulder. I didn’t apply.
I was tapped on the shoulder.
Nicholas Paulukow
Wow.
Steve Schedler
You think about being a program director and, you know, at the time that I was one of the youngest program directors in that whole system, definitely.
Nicholas Paulukow
Okay.
Steve Schedler
At that point. So that’s another one of my passions is the multi-generational workforce, you know, because I was pressed for that right away. You know, here I am.
I’ve been named a program director, you know, and I’ve got, you know, staff that I’m younger than most of my staff, really.
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah. That had to be hard.
Steve Schedler
Yeah. It was a unique and formative life experience. But, you know, that organization, to their credit, had a leadership development process.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, okay.
Steve Schedler
Okay. So we knew managers and directors. We had to set aside a block of time on a regular basis to meet with our CEO.
Nicholas Paulukow
Wow. Okay.
Steve Schedler
And we would, it was specifically to learn leadership and management. Wow. Okay.
That’s neat! It was really neat. And one of the formative moments I’ll never forget early on in those times with our leader at that point of the whole organization was he was talking about, you know, stereotypes of leadership.
Okay. And the stereotype of the dynamic CEO riding in on a white horse, you know, carrying a flag, you know, and this might date me a little bit, but his example, and date him too, perhaps, his example that he used was like Lee Iacocca. Oh, wow.
You remember, you know, came in and like saved Chrysler Corporation or something like that. You know, but…
Nicholas Paulukow
The one-man show to do it all.
Steve Schedler
Well, yeah, yeah. He’s just gonna come in and have all these amazing ideas and is just gonna ride off into the sunset and the organization’s gonna, you know, take off and, you know, but that organization, their emphasis was on servant leadership. That’s not the norm.
Right. You know, that’s not the norm. And then really teaching us, you know, what is servant leadership and what does that look like and the power of that.
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah. Delve into that a little bit more, Steve. So from your perspective, what did you learn?
I kind of have two kind of areas to go into because I’m learning a lot of what you’re saying. You know, what really is the difference from your perspective of leadership and servant leadership, right? Like, how do you define those in your eyes, especially since you kind of went through a process of acknowledging that or at least that’s what I’m hearing from what you were saying from some of those formative times.
Steve Schedler
Yeah. You know, I think there could be times a stereotype that a leader has to look and sound a certain way and you have to be very good, maybe even loud and dynamic. And you’re kind of driving with your charisma and the force of your will, you know, is gonna bring excellence to the table and you’re gonna, you know, achieve all these amazing things.
And their point was that, you know, servant leadership is just different than that. And that was really impactful for me because, you know, I’m a little more introspective and, you know, I’m not always going to be the loudest person in the room right off the bat. You know, I have a different energy than that.
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah. And that introverted side of things.
Steve Schedler
A little bit, you know, and I obviously love interacting with people all the time, but there’s a part of me that’s more introspective. And yeah, that’s great. You know, I’m not going to walk in and be the loudest person off the bat, you know.
So I kind of out of that process, probably I learned is like, whoa, you know, people like me can can be leaders, you know. And so they spent.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, so you felt you self if you felt that if you didn’t have that boisterous intensity that you probably couldn’t be. So you felt that’s an interesting thing. So I didn’t mean to interrupt you there.
That really is for a lot of people that are listening, probably that are that that are trying to be leaders like right. The leaders come, I think, in all different, you know, formats, right? Like it’s not, you know, but I think what you’re saying is before it seemed like the standard leader was this audacious, you know, loud person.
OK, very good. I’m sorry. Continue.
Steve Schedler
Oh, yeah, that’s they really spent a lot of time trying to dispel that myth, because that’s not the type of we wanted, right? You know, they wanted a leader that that that kind of more of a servant leader mold where the idea was that your goal is to lift up others, you know, and, you know, create teams that where people feel valued and respected and there’s collaboration. You know, so it’s a process.
And, you know, that and long term, consistent quality effort over a long span of time. You know, so.
Nicholas Paulukow
And how did they kind of compare? Like, so that’s beautiful because I love that, right? Like and you talk about like generations and generational aspects of that.
But like like talk about how how did or was there any conversation on the values of the organization or what what we define as like core values today? Like was that integrated into this conversation? If so, could you kind of enlighten us a little bit more of of like how that was brought into the conversation?
Steve Schedler
Yeah, it definitely was. And, you know, my career has ended up really in the nonprofit world. And this was a nonprofit setting.
I’ll be at the nonprofit setting. And, you know, I’ve wondered sometimes if maybe in nonprofit culture, the conversation around mission and vision and values is just it’s just a part of our essence. Part of being right.
And that’s the world I’ve been a part in all these years. But I’ve wondered at times, you know, has some of that began to filter out in a bigger way, maybe to our friends in the in the corporate world?
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah.
Steve Schedler
But are they maybe adapting some of our language a little bit more in a way? I don’t know what your take is on that.
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah.
Steve Schedler
Yeah. So there is that dynamic to point out that it’s it’s always it’s been a part of the nonprofit DNA for a really, really for a while. It really is just part of who we are.
So, yeah, that was definitely a part of it. And I think that the nonprofit setting and the concepts of servant leadership are natural, natural fits there that maybe in the corporate world, it’s maybe been a little bit of a process. Right.
To weave them together. And maybe that’s where, you know, take some intentionality, like a like a podcast like this to really elevate conversation and say, how do how do we bring some of these principles to bear in our settings that are that are more corporate or more for profit?
Nicholas Paulukow
For you know, that’s well said, I think from conversations that we’ve had, you know, right. It’s very easy to hear kind of mission and vision is what drives a lot of nonprofits. Right.
But then when you look at it from a corporate world, I think many times it’s not even defined. Right. So employees get into organization and don’t even understand why the organization exists.
Right. And I think so, like as a nonprofit, we know beautiful intro Samaritan Center and and the beautiful things they do and they exist for a reason. I think sometimes in the corporate world, people don’t understand what organizations they join and why they exist.
And and I think that that’s not a healthy place to be. Right. Like, how do you how do you integrate into an area?
You become very individualized and not really servant minded in a way, I guess, is somewhat of my opinion from what I’ve seen. But but it seems as if, you know, that was beautiful, though, that back then they got you all together. Were you selected?
Like so people that are listening that are trying to become leaders, right. Like what sparked your your thoughts of like, I can lead or like, did it instinctively come to you? Were you mentored?
Were you coached? Like, it sounds like you’ve had some really great people in your life that have helped lift you up, which is amazing. And we hear that quite often.
But like what spurred you to kind of think like, you know what, I’m going to lead into this uncomfortableness and I’m going to I’m going to try this like like.
Steve Schedler
Yeah, yeah. I would say there’s maybe a couple of ingredients in that. One was I had already had kind of a work ethic.
No matter what I was doing, I’m going to try to bring my best to the table no matter what. Right. So that even goes back like in high school.
I’ll give this example. In high school, I got a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Nicholas Paulukow
All right.
Steve Schedler
Right. This is high school.
Nicholas Paulukow
Some good potato wedges there.
Steve Schedler
High school stuff, you know, so would work the evening shift closing, you know, closing down the kitchen then at the KFC, about 20 minutes from where I grew up. And, you know, by golly, by the time we left, the kitchen looked great. It was shining, you know, that was hard.
Nicholas Paulukow
That was hard work.
Steve Schedler
It is. Yeah, it’s not glamorous and it’s hard work. So just as for whatever reason, I had this inkling that there’s always an opportunity to bring good work to the table, to bring that to the table.
So I just kept that mindset the whole way along. And I think that was important where people saw something out of that, you know, something that was a little bit different. You know, maybe I cared a little bit more about how that kitchen looked at the end of the night.
Nicholas Paulukow
Right, right.
Steve Schedler
And, you know, I think that’s where, you know, at times people would tap me on the shoulder then. And that’s where it just kind of happened. When those moments came, you know, like that first time I was tapped on the shoulder about being a director, I took a day and I just kind of, in my way, thought about it, you know, reflected, prayed, you know, however you want to put it.
And, you know, I gave him the answer the next day that, you know, I’m going to accept. And so the other ingredient then was that I’ve just had this willingness to go one step at a time and do the next step. Yeah.
Do the next step. And it’s a leap of faith. You don’t know what’s going to happen.
Right. And there’s times where that next step has taken me into situations that were far from certain. I’ve gone into situations where there were big question marks on, even is the organization even going to make it?
Right. I’ve encountered that. And, you know, whether just that willingness or even youthful exuberance, some of these decisions, I was a little younger back then, but, you know, just was willing to step out.
Yeah. And be vulnerable. Right.
And have without guarantees. There’s no guarantee if something’s going to work all the time.
Nicholas Paulukow
That’s right. You know, that’s well said. I think, kind of going back, I have a question.
So you talked about your work ethic, or I guess I’m summarizing it as your work ethic, like who you are and how you perform. You know, do you feel that you received that as like something that was instilled in you from a family perspective or was it instinctive? Many times we hear a lot of people say, man, it started at home.
Right. These were the actions that were instilled in me, the values and that type of thing. Do you find that to be similar in your situation?
Steve Schedler
Yeah, I think it was a mix. You know, I think, you know, I could see some pieces of that from home and just in my personal journey. Okay.
You know, yeah, it just evolved. I must have gotten some satisfaction. For some reason, I got a satisfaction out of that.
Out of that. And maybe also a little bit of trust that, you know, somehow there’s good fruit that could come out of it.
Nicholas Paulukow
So it was more of a, you know, your leading journey has been of kind of summarizing for those that are listening to kind of that you led into kind of some uncomfortableness. You’re like, I’m going to try this. And it sounds like every time you tried that, there was some level of growth.
And then that helped to instill kind of even more confidence to understand and validate kind of what your abilities were. So that’s amazing. You know, from your perspective on kind of how that grew, how did that lead you to then being, you know, the executive director at like, you know, Samaritan?
Steve Schedler
Yeah, so this is my second executive director role.
Nicholas Paulukow
Okay.
Steve Schedler
So the first executive director role was very formative and very pivotal in my journey as a leader. Really? Because again, I was tapped on the shoulder.
And the person who came before me left pretty kind of abruptly. It wasn’t totally known that that was going to happen at that moment. But again, I leaned into that moment, not knowing for sure what was going to come out of it.
And, you know, from that journey, ended up proposing some pretty radical changes for that organization and led them through some pretty radical changes, you know, and so a lot of formative moments came out of that. But a common theme, you know, I think is just having that willingness to step out into the unknown a little bit and just keep building, keep building brick by brick, you know, and trust a little bit, trust a little bit that, you know, you’ve learned enough to take the next step. Right.
To do the next thing. But when you get to those moments, it is a leap. It is a leap because there is no guarantee.
Right. There’s no guarantee that you’re going to know enough or have the best idea or ever that the team is going to, you know, come around, you know, you have to be willing to put yourself out there a little bit. Put it that.
Nicholas Paulukow
That’s great said. I think a lot of people, too, that we talk to that are trying to go through this journey, think that it also comes that you have to have this master’s MBA and all this education. And from my experience, I don’t see that as I mean, we all are leaders, right?
We’re maybe leaders in our family, leaders in a team. You know, we don’t all have to be at an executive level to lead or to have impact. And I think what’s really cool about leading at a servant level is from my perspective is, is that it’s about we before me, right?
Like it’s about the collective good of the impact that we’re creating over the individualist. Now, I will say we all have to pay our bills and we all have we all have a little bit of the, you know, we, you know, we’re moving forward, but we have to take care of ourselves as well. So I don’t want to neglect that for those that are listening.
But I think it’s really neat to hear those that are. It seems like such a fulfilling experience to kind of help others and build others up. Right.
And what I hear sometimes from leaders is like, well, I was a really great individual performer. And now I’m building other people up to get all the credit. And I’m like, well, but that’s leadership, right?
Like that. And some then that’s where they kind of self select. Like, I like to be the individual, you know, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
I think I just see that that’s where the journey is. And many of them say, well, I’ve been working in a role for so long. I think I should probably be a manager.
And so like, we don’t want them to not take the leap, but realize that it’s OK not to be either.
Steve Schedler
Right. No, it’s one of those classic concepts of being on the right seat of the bus type of thing. Right.
And having that self-awareness, you know. Right. You know, this journey is not for everybody.
You know, I’ve had my share of sleepless nights. Definitely. You know, I’ve had to learn how to manage that and how to take care of myself to where they’re at a minimum.
You know, you can’t all the time, but they definitely can happen. And, you know, there can be even a little there can be a loneliness that comes from where if the buck stops with you at the end of the day, there can be a level of loneliness in that.
Nicholas Paulukow
It’s so hard. Yeah, that’s well said. I think one thing that I’ve learned from some other people like Patrick Lencioni that talks about trust and building trust and and having inherent trust.
It really kind of takes a little bit of that loneliness away. But like, you know, the more that you get into the we I found from a leadership perspective, it takes some of the loneliness away because now we’re collectively trusting and are on the same page makes it a lot easier to make decisions. But still quite sleepless, right?
Like every day, I don’t think it ever goes away. And I said, I personally have a coach. And he said to me, the day that you stop feeling that way is the day that you probably should stop doing what you’re doing.
And I’m like, wow, that’s so insightful. And I’m like, well, what do you mean by that? He goes, that is the little tick that makes us make sure that we’re still performing for the people we need to serve.
And I was like, wow. Wow.
Steve Schedler
Yeah. Yeah, that’s well said. And that, yeah, it’s an indication of the care and concern.
Right. That it is serious. It is serious work, you know, to be responsible.
And great. That’s very true about about the team as well. And growing, that’s a huge part of this work.
And, you know, that’s one of the like you said, it’s not it’s not for everybody. But that creating a situation lifts others up and allows people to grow. But for me at this point, you know, seeing someone be given an opportunity to do something and to step up and perform and, you know, get to see them have that satisfaction and increase the confidence of, no, I can do this.
You know, it’s like, wow. You know, OK, that’s a good day.
Nicholas Paulukow
What’s really amazing, too, is then it helps them professionally, personally. Like, it’s so amazing to see people kind of grow in all areas. That’s that’s what gets me excited as a leader of of like if we can do it together and accomplish kind of our common mission or goal, but then that we all develop.
Right. Every day we’re developing. I think also, too, there’s a misunderstanding of like I’ve hit the leadership level, so I never have to stop learning and I’ve hit the pinnacle.
And that’s absolutely from at least my experience. Every day I mess up. Yeah, I redirect and I try to just be one percent better each and every day.
And that’s all that I can expect of anybody else, too.
Steve Schedler
That’s yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. It’s it’s a never ending refinement, constant refining of like, oh, yeah, I didn’t hit the note on that one. I missed that one.
I wasn’t quite the right, you know, it wasn’t quite the right energy or the right way, right, right communication, you know. So, yeah, and that’s another there’s a level of intensity to that that maybe everybody is going to embrace. But, yeah, staying teachable and that that journey of being willing to be refined.
Right. Over a long span of time, a period of time.
Nicholas Paulukow
So from your perspective, one thing that just keeps thinking in my head is right. Like you said, like it’s instinctive for for nonprofits to have this mission and vision. What do you think is like a singular core value that a for profit business really should have in the organization that you feel that would help them align with the service leadership mentality?
Steve Schedler
Yeah, that’s that’s a great question. And, you know, you’re certainly asking someone that hasn’t had to think about that a lot. But, you know, for better or for worse.
But, you know, I think, you know, adding, you know, what value are you adding to somebody’s situation? You know, I’m I love one of my hobbies is, you know, food. I love food.
You know, I’m a little bit of a foodie. I love I got all different ways to cook. And as a hobby, you know, to prepare and play around.
And I love checking out, you know, exciting places that have like a buzz. You know, I get really excited. But to me, those places add value to my life.
You know, you know, the place where, you know, they’re really cooking with love and passion. You know, you almost can tell like there’s something to feel it. They’re not just doing this.
They’re not just doing a job, right? Creating something different. They’re creating something with another value.
You know, I love that.
Nicholas Paulukow
That’s good.
Steve Schedler
They’re sharing a part of themselves. You know, that’s exciting.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, I like that. But that’s kind of like they’re kind of leading with their passion. And that’s yeah.
Oh, I love that. That gets me fired up.
Steve Schedler
You know, I think those are some of the end up being some of the best restaurants. And they don’t have to be, you know, super fancy. They don’t have to be the most expensive.
Yeah. But they’re bringing something to the table that has impact. I think that comes from something deeper than just trying to make the bottom line.
Nicholas Paulukow
Right. That’s right. Oh, that’s a great one.
As we start to talk about like learning, is there any like people that you follow or that you read that have inspired you that might inspire others to that are listening?
Steve Schedler
Yeah, you know, I’ll keep it simple on that front. I’m always seeking inputs. And even the last couple of years, I’ve tried to I’ve increased my reading another notch.
Okay. So and I’ve actually started to read more fiction, which for a long time, I hadn’t been reading any fiction. So I’ve added in a bigger dose of fiction these last couple of years, which I’ve really found that to be one of it’s become one of my great joys and a way to take up a little bit is to read more.
But if I think about, you know, there’s all the classic works, you know, that we’ve probably all been through good to great and all these different things. But yeah, out of out of everything, you know, one that I wanted to pass on and just emphasize again is that’s impacted me over and over and over again is seek first to understand than to be understood. I love it.
Yeah. So I was kind of getting into a little bit, you know, if I was going to pass on one of the most impactful words of wisdom that I’ve picked up from reading or being involved in leadership, being mentored and things like that. It comes back to this this principle that most a lot of us have heard before, but to seek first to understand and be understood that that’s a principle that I’ve just kept coming back to over and over and over again.
And I still I’ll catch myself and I’m like, no, this is a time to slow down. This is a time to listen and listening to the point where the other person feels like you actually are getting that like you’re actually getting right.
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah.
Steve Schedler
Right. Because so much so many times we might be in where we’re already thinking about the answer and we’re not listening. Then it’s done.
Yeah. They’re talking, you know, they want to be understood. They’re trying to make me understand that maybe I want to make them understand me.
Right. So we’ve just missed the moment. We’ve just missed it.
So I put that on myself. Another aspect of my life, I try as much as possible to I say it maybe in a little bit of a harsh term. I blame myself first.
I’ll take the responsibility. OK, I missed that. Right.
I didn’t listen good enough. I didn’t under I didn’t make you feel understood. That’s on me.
That’s on me. I can do better. I can do better.
Nicholas Paulukow
Now, what you say, though, that some of that is like humbleness, right? Like when you’re humble and you’re leading and you’re putting others in front of your interest, you instinctively reflect on that. Or at least I find similar to myself, like those that I’ve spoken to that that embody this really have a humbleness to them.
Right. Like they have a humbleness to to learn for themselves, to redirect, to say, OK, what can I do better? It seems like really great leaders have the same instinct that you have, that it’s like, what can I do better?
You know, how can I improve it? And that seems to be a really constant great quality that I hear over and over again. And I think that’s really remarkable that it also probably gives you the drive to, you know, what you probably learn.
You probably then institute in with the people maybe that you are teaching as well, too. I think it’s got to be really hard to be in the position you’re in. Like, I don’t even know how they teach you that.
Right. Like, how do they teach you to listen and to then effectively ask questions in counseling? Like that has to be right because you have to really be such a great listener and then a nonjudgment voice of compassion like that.
You have such a wonderful, you know, opportunity. But man, that’s got to be quite difficult. Right.
Especially if you’re like, man, I know if you did this tomorrow, you would be, you know, but that’s not the way you have to think. And I think you’re explaining like leadership and servant leadership is very similar to that. Right.
Steve Schedler
Yeah, there’s definitely overlap. You know, that’s a neat connection. I don’t know.
Thanks for putting it that way. You know, the humility is just if you’re in this at any length of time, it’s just the reality that you’re not going to get everything right. Right.
Right. So you either like embrace, you embrace your own humanity. Yeah.
Or you burn out. I don’t know what would happen. You know, there’s just the reality.
Like I’ve said that, you know, there’s no way that I’m going to, you know, see every variable all the time. There’s no way I’m going to totally understand every dynamic. You know, I’m going to miss things.
I’m going to miss it. I’m going to, you know, it might be an opportunity. It might be a connection.
It might be a something, an idea. You know, I’m going to I’m not going to hit everything right on, you know, and so this work is humbling and you have to find a way to be OK with that or else you might not stick with it.
Nicholas Paulukow
Right. Yeah, that’s well said. And I think it goes along from the counseling, but the leadership too.
Right. I think both sides, you know, it’s difficult at sometimes to be a leader because you’re leading a one person who gave me this visual that’s just really impactful to me is that there’s a group that we lead and they’re kind of in a desert. Right.
And they’re all beside, you know, in the tents and comfortable. And you lead and you go out into the desert and you look to see where these dangers are and these cliffs and other things that are happening. And then you find the next vision and you bring them along.
I was like, wow, that’s like a really strong visual, at least for me, maybe because I’m just kind of a basic person. Right. But it really just brought to the point that we don’t take everybody with us.
So we kind of connect with the vision is as a leader and then can understand where the dangers are and then bring them effectively along. So I don’t know. I was thinking about that while you’re talking.
Steve Schedler
Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. And this is a little glimpse into, you know, I have a little bit of a maybe a geeky or a nerdy side.
And my fiction I’m reading right now, somehow this never got on my reading list, even when I was younger, is Dune. I’m reading Dune.
Nicholas Paulukow
Really?
Steve Schedler
So your desert analogy is aligning with my reading right now. Thanks for that.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, that’s amazing. That’s amazing. Well, so, you know, from your perspective, you know, for those that are listening, you know, there’s a lot that we talked about.
We kind of like summarize that we said that a lot of these were experience of the kind of leaning in, feeling uncomfortable. You know, what would you say for people that are really they feel the fire like you did, right? Like at a young age, they could be in high school.
They could be in college right now. They could just be in the workforce. And like, what advice would you give them that like if they feel the fire, but they’re kind of afraid to lean in?
Like what next step could they take in your eyes? Or, you know, because many of them say, well, I, you know, my boss doesn’t tell me that I can lead or I don’t have the opportunity to do it. Do you have any advice for them on maybe where they can kind of start to lean in?
Steve Schedler
Yeah. Two things. One, always that with that fire, bring excellence to the table, to the best of your ability, no matter what you’re doing.
It doesn’t matter. The task doesn’t matter. The task doesn’t matter.
You know, take away that, you know, I think sometimes young folks might come out and think they have to, you know, conquer the world in five years or something or achieve like a fancy position right away. No, forget it. Don’t worry about that so much.
Don’t worry about the title behind your name at the moment. Right. Just develop the principles, develop the simple principles and apply them consistently over a long span of time.
Bring excellence to the table and then be teachable. Be teachable. Maybe get a mentor.
One of the first things I did when I got that first executive director role was to get an executive mentor coach, you know, and I probably, you know, I’ve had mentors all along the way. So that wasn’t my first time with that. Anytime if you can, if you can find someone that’s willing to be a little bit of a mentor to you, either formally or informally, there’s ways to formally seek that out.
Little plug, we’ve got a great organization in Lancaster, the Score Foundation. Oh, yes. Big fan of Score.
I have a coach through Score.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, that’s amazing.
Steve Schedler
Yeah, yeah. So that’s a formal version, but there could be someone in your life that could be a coach if you have that desire, if you want to do more and be involved in this journey.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, that’s great. I love that. That’s wonderful, Steve.
And one thing that kind of recognized too, there’s a book, everybody, if you’re interested called Go Giver, and it’s a really amazing, amazing small book, but it kind of goes over what Steve’s saying right now, right? Many of us that have gone through our leadership journey, then generally turned to be more mentors or thought, you know, coaches. And it’s an amazing story that shows somebody that has, that is brand new and wants to conquer the world.
And it shows what it means to be a Go Giver as kind of an actual real gem, right? Like, whereas we’re trying to drive for money or status, at the end of the day, the richest person was the one that gave the most away, right? From even coaching, not necessarily money.
So if you’re into that, anybody, take a look, take a listen. It’s pretty amazing. And we have a really amazing leader here, Steve.
You know, Samaritan, if you don’t know Samaritan, check it out. Samaritan Center is filled with many wonderful things in the Lancaster community. They are a gem.
And the really beautiful thing that you heard earlier in intro is about healing. And what Steve has put together as a team has really brought a lot of healing to people and to communities and to businesses. And you can speak more to that, Steve.
But a very big passion that I feel sometimes goes unnoticed, right? Like, we’re always trying to solve problems, but healing is part of solving the problem, sometimes, maybe, or getting over something. So I really appreciate the work that you do and your team does and the energy that you put towards it and the dedication and how you lead through that.
You’re very inspirational and more people should understand what it means to lead in that manner.
Steve Schedler
Well, thank you, Nick. Very kind words. And thanks for the little plug for Samaritan there as well.
Check us out, www.SamaritanLancaster.org. Our nonprofit mission is to provide quality counseling services to anybody. We’ve taken steps to be more accessible than ever as far as the different insurances that we take.
And we’re also expanding to a new location down in Lancaster City, which we’re really excited about. Yes, beautiful. So that’s the core of what we do.
But we impact the community in multiple different ways. We provide consulting services for businesses, which is just really neat to impact people’s lives in that way. We say we’re here to build healthy minds and strong communities.
We spend a lot of time at work, a lot of time at work, sometimes more than at home, you know, depending on the situation. So our business consulting group is doing a wonderful job and everything that they do then folds back into our nonprofit mission to create access to counseling services. So we got a unique thing going on here.
And we’re very blessed to be a part of the Lancaster community.
Nicholas Paulukow
Wonderful. Keep up the great work. And as we kind of close our chapter here today, this kind of wraps up another, you know, enlightening episode of Servant Leader’s Library. A huge thank you to our incredible guest, Steve. You’re wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your invaluable insights from the heart of Samaritan Center.
And remember, folks, in a world where leadership often means climbing the ladder, servant leadership reminds us to build bridges instead. So until next time, keep leading with kindness, compassion, and a sparkle of, you know, excitement there. Not too much, as Steve said, but, you know, add a little excitement there.
This is Nicholas Paulukow signing off. Stay servant-hearted, my friends. Until next time.
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