Leadership Essentials

     I was flying home from a leadership conference last week when I picked up the in-flight magazine and opened it to an article on leadership. Now I have read a lot of books and articles about leadership over the years. But there is something "new" in the leadership literature these days. Leadership trainers are talking about character as the basis for leadership and you can pay big money (up to $13,000 according to the article) to learn how to improve your character as a leader.

Playing a Leadership Game

     Most of the character traits these big time consultants talk about can be found in the Bible... but you probably already knew that. I have been in a lot of leadership workshops, and we usually talk about character as one ingredient for leadership. But last week we spent most of the week talking about character and wrestling with who we are, what we believe, and how that affects our leadership. That is how important it is. It isn't the things you say and do. It's what really motivates those actions and words, deep down in our hearts that makes a good leader. It's called authenticity. It means that we aren't just saying and doing the right things in order to be a leader. It means we're a leader because people want to follow someone with deep personal convictions and character.

     Young people will catch on to our authenticity or lack of it right away. I think that's why we are losing so many of our young people... why they are leaving the church in droves. Our lives just don't seem real to them. Too many of us in the church wear a mask and say "everything is fine here", yet up close you can still see the cracks, the flaws, the defects. Authentic people admit they don't have it together. They show the cracks and flaws. They admit that they struggle with life's issues. Authentic people take off the mask and trust that God will heal the defects.

     I certainly have my flaws and I am painfully aware of them. How about you? Let's all try to be just a little more authentic in our lives. Who knows, an unbeliever might even get an up-close look at us and decide that he or she doesn't have to be perfect to follow Jesus either... 'cause if that was the requirement, none of us would make it
....

Doug