The Call to Lead: It is my firm conviction that everyone is called to provide leadership at some point in their life: that leadership may take place in the home, marketplace, or the church. The call to lead may be for a moment, a season, or an extended period of time. What does that type of leadership look like? Leonard Sweet, author of Summoned to Lead, describes it this way: “Leaders are neither born nor made. Leaders are summoned. They are called into existence by circumstances. Those who rise to the occasion are leaders.”
The Leadership Journey: Extraordinary leaders are learners! Leadership development is a process that involves gleaning lessons from both positive and negative life circumstances. Sometimes it is the negotiation of the hard things in life that provide us with the passion and skills to lead. Leadership is not about perfection, it is about the ability to make adjustments.
Reflection is a key part of leadership. Effective leaders are individuals who have learned to reflect upon current and past experiences. They have developed the ability to be honest about their personal motivation, feelings, and thinking – and understand the contribution of their own actions upon the situation. Reflective leaders lead from a holistic perspective that includes an awareness of the actions of self and others, as well the complicated dimensions of the problems they wish to remedy.
The leadership journey includes development of the leader as a person. Leadership acts flow out of a real person. Your leadership actions are a demonstration of the accumulation of your most important life lessons. The relationships and events that have deeply impacted in life provide the motivation and platform for your leadership.
The Test of Leadership: I personally measure my success as a leader in the heart and spirit of this statement by Robert Greenleaf, whom many consider the Father of Servant Leadership.
“The best test, and difficult to administer, is this: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?” – Robert Greenleaf
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