Thoughts on Leadership

Greetings All!

     This week's post is a collection of 25 quotes relating to leadership.  I post them for three reasons.  First, because it is my conviction that no matter who we are, someone is looking up to us as an example, or for guidance of one sort of another, which makes us a leader of sorts even when we don't have the title and didn't ask for the responsibility.  One does not have to be delegated the authority to carry out the role, and we can inadvertently carry out the role without even knowing we are!  The person simply trying to be an example to others is being a leader in their own right.

     The second reason I post them is because we can all gain insight and wisdom from leaders of the past who have shared what guided their leadership -- even if we don't consider ourselves to be one.  And last, I share it because as I looked hem over I was amazed how much current thought of leadership is little more than a confirmation (plagiarization of sorts) of the teaching of Jesus on the topic, or practical insights gained from His words and example, even when those giving the advice are not themselves Christians. I had many more than listed. I paired them down to 25. I offer them as the best of what I found.  If you have a favorite (or favorites) and have a chance, let me know which ones.  Enjoy.

Thoughts on Leadership

1. "The true test of a leader is this: A respect for that person that is so deep that people will continue following their lead even when the official title and delegated authority have been taken away."

2. “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”  Ralph Nader

3. “Leaders must possess courage.  Yet do not be mistaken: Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is the determination not to let our very real fears paralyze us, hold us back, or scare us into silence and inactivity when words and actions are what is needed.”

4. “You aren’t fit to lead until you know how to follow.  If you want to become a remarkable leader, follow a leader of character, conviction, and vision. Don’t ask people to follow you until you’ve humbly followed someone else. Following is perhaps the most neglected development principle of remarkable leadership… Follow advice from those more knowledgeable.  Follow a vision bigger than yourself.  Follow someone you respect.  Follow the most noble person available.  Follow someone who is going somewhere.  Remarkable leaders are remarkable followers. Admiration of big-egoed-leaders degrades us all.  Worry less about becoming a remarkable leader and more about becoming a remarkable follower.”   Dan Rockwell

5. “The chief characteristic of Christian leaders, Jesus insisted, is humility not authority, and gentleness not power… The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.”  John Stott

6. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”   John C. Maxwell

7. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”    Vince Lombardi

8. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it...  I never failed, I just learned 10,000 ways that won't work.”   Henry Ford

9. “According to Scripture, virtually everything that truly qualifies a person for leadership is directly related to character.  It’s not about style, status, personal charisma, clout, or worldly measurements of success. Integrity is the main issue that makes the difference between a good leader and a bad one.”   John MacArthur

10. “Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.”   Unknown

11. “True greatness, true leadership, is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you.”   J. Oswald Sanders

12. "My research debunks the myth that many people seem to have… that you become a leader by fighting your way to the top. Rather, you become a leader by helping others to the top.  Helping your employees is as important as, and many times more so than, trying to get the most work out of them."   William Cohen

13. "The first and most important choice a leader makes is the choice to serve, without which one's capacity to lead is severely limited."    Robert Greenleaf

14. “The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.”   Sheryl Sandberg

15. "We must be silent before we can listen.  We must listen before we can learn.  We must learn before we can prepare.  We must prepare before we can serve.  We must serve before we can lead."   William Arthur Ward

16. “To change your life, you have to admit what’s not working. You have to humble yourself. You have to ask for help. You have to learn... Your ego will defend your current circumstances, but you cannot allow a fleeting feeling of shame to eclipse reason. You cannot live the rest of your life as you are just because you are too prideful to admit something isn’t right.”   Brianna Wiest

17. “If your objective is to be as good as you can be, then you’re going to want criticism.”  Ray Dalio

18. "If leadership serves only the leader, it will fail.  Ego satisfaction, financial gain, and status can all be valuable tools for a leader, but if they become the only motivations, they will eventually destroy a leader. Only when service for a common good is the primary purpose are you truly leading."   Sheila Murray Bethel

19. “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.”   Rosalynn Carter

20. "People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care."   John C. Maxwell

21. "When you get to be the president, there are the honors, the 21-gun salutes, all those things.  You have to remember it’s not for you.  It’s for the presidency…  It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”    President Harry S. Truman

22. "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."    John Wooden

23. “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.”   Max Lucado

24. "Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain."   Ralph Waldo Emerson

25. "Servant leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win.  In that situation, they don't work for you; you work for them."   Ken Blanchard

     So, what are the key characteristics of good leadership?  Humility, learning to be a follower, the heart of a servant, integrity, character, love, determination, a desire to see others excel, pushing beyond our fears, and many more. They are all virtues that anyone can apply to their lives.  And when we do, we may in some cases find people following our lead -- even when that wasn't our objective.

Living in His Grace, Pastor Jeff

A Lesson in Integrity

Greetings All!

     This week's "thought" was sent to me by a friend.  It's basically a lesson in integrity in a world that often lacks it.  It came from the blog site: WONDERNEED ( runwonder.com ) and was the post for August 7th.  I thought it was a story worth passing on simply for the truth it teaches -- that in a world that has embraced moral relativism, some still look for people of godly character.  Enjoy.

How One CEO Taught His Employees a Lesson in Integrity

     "A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.  Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.  He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you..”  The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued: “I am going to give each one of you a SEED today – one very special SEED… I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”

     One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.  By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.

     Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil – He so wanted the seed to grow.  A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful — in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

     When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”   The CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot.  He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front.  Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”  When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed – Jim told him the story. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!  His name is Jim!” Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed.  “How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.

     Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow.  All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”

     In a world where we can tend to think that the road to success is simply a matter anticipating what others want, and then seeking to give them what we think they want (even if it means violating what we know to be right and true), this story stands as a helpful corrective. The honest person, or the person of integrity, as we all know, does not always "win out" in the end -- from a worldly perspective. Many people without solid integrity rise to the top, while those who have integrity get left in the dust.  In many cases honesty and truthfulness and a refusal to do what is wrong can be a problem when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder.  I knew a man who had to step down from a good paying managerial job because he was asked to change (tell an outright lie) on an employee accident report where the company was indeed at negligent and at fault, so that his employer would not be sued by the injured workers for their lost wages.  His honesty resulted in his losing his job, not a promotion.

     Yet, that's the choice we must all make.  Do what's expected and wanted, or do what is right.  Tell the truth, or manipulate the truth to our advantage. Do what we are asked (though immoral) or refuse to do it and accept the consequences -- whether they are good (by the world's standards) or bad (by the world's standards). Be a person of integrity because we know that's what God wants, and Christ calls us to, or do whatever enables us to get ahead in the world.  After all, many things that are legal are not moral, holy, or righteous in the sight of God.

     It brings us back to the ultimate question:  "What good is it if we gain the whole world and lose our soul?"   Every twisting of the truth...  every breach of integrity...  every overly-inflated charge (like the OT weighted scales)... chips away at the substance of our character and makes us less and less of what God wants us to be.  As Jesus told his disciples, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no; whatever is more than these is of the evil one" (Matthew 5:37).  When confronted by a moral dilemma, our goal should never be,"what will benefit me (in the worldly sense),"  but what honors God the most?  What does honesty and integrity demand?  For only then can it truly be to our benefit.

In the Glad Service of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

Men and Sexual Temptation

Greetings All,

   This week's 'thought' comes to you from Jay Kesler's book, "Being Holy, Being Human: Dealing With the Incredible Expectations and Pressures of Ministry."  The book is full of wise pastoral insights, and written in his typically transparent and down-to-earth style. Yet it's for more than just pastors or 'people in the ministry,' since in reality (at least biblically speaking) there's a sense in which all believers are called to be 'priests unto God'  or 'ministers'  -- I Peter 2:9-12.
     Over the weekend I spoke at our church's "Men's Advance" on the topic of "Men and Sexual Temptation" from Proverbs 1-7.  I had intended to read this excerpt at the end but I ran out of time just covering the material in Proverbs 5:1-20; 6:23-29 and 7:1-27.  Therefore, to those who attended I send this out as a way of tying together everything I said, and to those who weren't there, I send it out as a story worth reading, considering and being ready to repeat.  It's great stuff from a great book and a great man -- and yes, even if you're female I believe you can be edified and encouraged by it!  Enjoy.  
     "The only way you can prey on people and turn them into some kind of objects, especially for lust, is to mentally get them out of context. Conversely, if you think of them in context, you're not nearly so tempted to lust. Thus, I find it a good practice in ministry to continually think of people in context. For example, suppose I'm driving down the street and see some beautiful teenager who's dressed in an attention-getting way. My automatic response now is to

contextualize her, to say to myself, “Hey, she's about the age of my daughter. I wonder who her parents are and how she gets along with them?” And suddenly the sexual part of it disappears. The girl hasn't changed, but my perception has. Instead of being an object of sexual thoughts, she's become someone's daughter, someone's little girl. The same thing

is true now that I find myself a college president on a campus that has its share of beautiful coeds. I can't say I haven't noticed them—I'm not blind—but I can honestly say that I don't think of them as a sexual turn-on. To me, they're all someone's daughters, someone's sisters, someone's granddaughters. After I realized how my mind's eye was seeing people in context, I also realized that this is a biblical principle. It's what Paul told Timothy to do in — relate to older women as mothers, to younger women as sisters.

       I've also seen enough lives and ministries ruined by sexual sin that that's a deterrent for me. I've had frightening temptations in my own life that help deter me, too; just thinking about what might have happened if they'd gone another step in the wrong direction scares a lot of sense into me when I need it. We might call that putting yourself in context when you're tempted.

        One time when I was much younger, I was flying to Denver on business, and a young

woman in her twenties was sitting next to me. As we were flying, I noticed she was crying. I wondered if I should say anything or just respect her privacy. But after several minutes, I finally said, "Is there any way I can help you?” "I don't know," she said, then looked away. "Well, I'm involved in youth work, in Youth for Christ," I said. "And I'd be happy to just talk to you if that would help." She began to open up then. She said she had been engaged to a young man, and she'd just learned that he had run off to marry another woman. "The worst part of it is I'm still a virgin," she said. She went on to say that she had always believed that if you kept yourself pure, everything would turn out right. Now she had decided that since a "wild girl" had stolen her man, her remaining pure had been to no avail, and she was going to go to some ski lodge and make up for lost time. "Do you think it's worth giving up what you've always believed because of one painful experience?" I asked. "I don't know," she said, then sank into silence. Finally she continued, "Well, where are you staying tonight?" I told her, and she said she was staying there, too. Then she suggested that maybe after we arrived we could "have a couple of drinks together and see how the evening turns out."

       In effect, she was inviting me to help her initiate her new lifestyle. "I don't want you to be confused," I said. "Let me show you my  

pictures." I took out my wallet and showed her my family photos. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I was putting myself in context. Looking at your wife and children really cools a potentially hot situation. After I showed her  the photos, I



went on, "I sympathize with the pain you feel. If you need someone to tell you you're pretty, let me tell you that you're very pretty. If you need someone to tell you you're sexually attractive, let me tell you that you're very attractive and desirable. But if you want me to say I'm willing to act on that desire, no, I'm not going to do it. You're vulnerable right now; you're in a difficult situation. Further, I'm married. I'm also a Christian. And I'm not going to do it because it would mean taking advantage of you and violating my commitments and my faith." Then I explained a bit of how my faith commitment guides my life. She was silent for a few minutes, but then she said, "Well, if I thought that by waiting the rest of my life I could find another man who would turn down the offer I made to you tonight, I'd stay a virgin till I found him.” I replied, "There are more guys like me out there than you may think. I hope you don't go through with your plan."

        When we got to Denver , I put the young woman in touch with some female YFC staff, and she stayed the night with them. They spent a few days with her and then sent her back home. So far, thank God, I've never been given that kind of offer when I was vulnerable. But I have been tempted, and it's always helped me to put both the woman and myself in context...

               Sexual temptation is all around us these days, and if we're honest with ourselves, we know we're often vulnerable. In spite of all we do to avoid tempting situations, there will be times, such as my experience on the plane, when temptation will stare us right in the face.

Our job is to prepare ourselves and keep our marriages strong before we find ourselves in those situations so that when the temptations come, we'll be able to maintain our integrity—and our ministries.”

 What could one possibly add?  It speaks for itself.  In Christ's Service, Pastor Jeff