Leadership Lessons
Are you leading or driving?
Do you know people that have a way to have influence your life? I’m not talking about people who try to boss you around. I am asking, do you know true leaders?
In life there are people that “drive” you and there are people that “lead” you. Having been a pastor for 5 years, and in churches for 13 years, I have seen many types of leaders.
Some were authoritarians and other were plain authentic leaders. I found that people conform for strong personalities. The sad reality is that many people in leadership are not true leaders. They simply have a personality that drives people, but they truly do not have the heart of people.
True leadership is NOT based on a title or personality. True leadership is based on helping.
The world teaches that we must strive for ourselves. A true leader strives for others. This is principle called Servant Leadership.
Servant leadership is both a leadership philosophy and set of leadership practices. Traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid.” By comparison, the servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.
The greatest leaders placed their own will aside for the benefit of others.
How do I know?
Because I have led from a power based model…and it does not work!
I had to learn that people may conform to a strong personality, but their inward man is screaming “I want to do what I want to do!”
Now, I must remind you, there is a difference from rebellion and having an opinion. I often thought that if people did not agree with me, then they were rebellious. In reality, they have a mind and opinion that is just as valid as mine.
As long as there is a corporate or agreed upon set of agreements or laws, then there is room to move. Sometimes as a leader, people will “move” in a different direction than our direction. As long as the laws are being followed, there is nothing wrong with a change of direction.
Often people have opinions because they have different experiences. We can learn from each other and from life lessons we have all been through.
We as leaders, need to recognize the potential in our followers. If we are true leaders, then our job is not to make our follows conform to us. Our job is to develop our followers into leaders themselves.
How is this achieved? By simply following the Servant Leadership model. We must put people before ourselves.
A great example of this is the captain of a ship. If a ship is sinking, the captain is responsible of the lives of the people on the ship. He is to ensure his people are safe, even if he is to give his own life. The captain is the last off the ship.
Why?
He is giving his life for the people for whom he is responsible.
So, do you place your followers before yourself? If you own a business, do you place a great emphasis on meeting the needs of those who will benefit from your business?
So, what kind of leader are you?
Find out more about ministry and calling at:
http://EstevanMontoya.com
~ Estevan Montoya
