County Treasurer John Ewing Jr. shares perspective on leadership and life
J ohn Ewing Jr. is an all-star leader: as the busy treasurer of Douglas County, Nebraska, he regularly finds time for roles ranging from board positions to teaching and ministry work. We talked recently about what being a leader really means and why prioritizing your responsibilities to match your values is a crucial key to success.
What makes a good leader?
In short, Ewing says,
“ it’s about being able to motivate people to get things done — not telling them what to do. ”
How do you do that?
Ewing used an interesting word to describe a leader: “salesperson.” He says that leaders are selling themselves every day to make people believe in them.
They sell themselves, their vision, and their strategy. And only by making both themselves and their organization compelling enough to believe in are they able to help those they lead succeed.
Talking time
So many people never have enough of it—but Ewing says there’s no such thing as “not enough time.” It’s about prioritizing. If the most important thing to you is money, you’ll prioritize work. If it’s family, you need to fill your time with that first.
And the things that don’t matter should go. If you don’t value going out, replace that with the activity you say you never have time for.
“ We all have time for the things we care about, Ewing says. We’re just not using it properly. ”
Ewing and I dug deep into the essence of leadership and prioritization. Tune in to our video interview to hear his thoughts on:
- How young leaders can make a difference for young people.
- The importance of service.
- The biggest mistakes young leaders make.
- What makes a balanced life.
Who is the leader you admire most in your life, your community, or the world? What do you think makes them so good at leading? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
About John Ewing
John Ewing Jr. is the current Douglas County Treasurer responsible for the collection of over 1.7 billion dollars in taxes for the governmental entities in Douglas County. The Douglas County Treasurer’s Office also makes investments for the county and Sanitary Improvement Districts and disperses tax dollars to the appropriate entities. Before that, John was the Omaha Police Department’s Deputy Chief for over 24 years. In that role, he served as the Deputy Chief of the Police Services Bureau, which was responsible for the management of the police budget, Fleet, and Facilities, the Detention Unit, Crime Lab, Research and Planning, the Customer Services Unit, the Air Support Unit, and other support services. He was also a former adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
A great community leader who is making a significant impact on the Omaha Community, John is the associate pastor at the Salem Baptist Church in Omaha
You can learn more about John Ewing Jr. at https://www.dctreasurer.org
