!?Leadership?!

What is a leader? Yeah Yeah, I know you've heard that question a hundred times, but really What Is A Leader?

I am beginning to realize that what I have always called leadership really isn't leadership. People who are really in the spotlight and can really DO alot, are more often than not terrible leaders. They have so much confidence in their ability to get the job done on their own, and their ability to "perform", that think they no longer need anyone else and before you know it, no one will follow them!

OUCH! I know that hurts me. It's not about how well I can perform and how much I can get done, those things make me a good worker and a good follower, but not a good leader. Now that is not saying that performance is bad, I believe truly great leaders can perform well, but performance does not equal leadership! Just like a Square is a shape, but not all shapes are squares!

So you can sing really well, you can speak really clearly, you are a "good" servant, you can do everything I ask you to do, but ARE YOU A GOOD LEADER? Does anyone follow you? Do you choose to do tasks because you enjoy them or do you do it because you couldn't get anyone else to do it if you had too!

I'm sick and tired of performance oriented people complaining about not having enough time to do things! I have discovered that leaders never have time and always have time for whatever has to be done! Yes that is an absolute paradox! The truth is, if you are a great leader you will always have more on your plate than should seem possible, however, great leaders know how to take that plate and load others up with the pieces that maximize their gifts and talents and abilities!

If you want to lead, stop carrying all of the weight!

I think in our minds we have equated leading to being out front, and while you can lead from out front, generally only people who want to be just like you will follow. When you learn to lead from behind then people can be themselves and they can actually set a standard that is different and above your own! It's the freedom of identity!

Now I don't have act like you, now I don't have to step in the exact same track as you, but we can still get to the same place, but I can do it using the strategies and techniques that God has gifted me with and you can use the ones that he has gifted you with.

Is your leadership standard warped! Write down the top 3 leaders in your life (not superhumans who you really don't know, I'm talking about people you really see as YOUR LEADER). Now I want you to leave a comment on what you discover is the real reason you think they are leader! Maybe they are and maybe they aren't... just evaluate why you really have placed them as a leader in your life. Does anyone actually follow them? Or are they just really good at something you wish you were good at... if that is the case you want their approval because you have no identity and you need them to give you some identity. Learn to be content within who God made you to be and you will suddenly want others to be themselves too! This life is not about who finishes first, because if that's your perspective, you might as well die now... that way you finish first.


Remember it is LEAD-ership!