Leadership Lessons: 6

Leadership Lessons

Today is the final lesson from Tim Elmore’s idea of the leadership lessons from the Presidential elections. (Lessons I Learned From the Election, Tim Elmore http://www.growingleaders.com/.)

Elmore wrote in his introduction: “Now that it's all over, and the dust has settled, I have reflected on lessons we can learn from this historic campaign. What did the whole thing teach us about leadership and about people? Let me suggest these insights for you to discuss with your team."

Lessons 1-6 include:

1. Leaders must inspire people before they challenge people.
2. Leaders must build a brand that creates a tribe.
3. Leaders must communicate in an authentic and a fresh fashion.
4. Leaders must play offense not defense the majority of the time.
5. Leaders must connect with ordinary people.

The last of the leadership lessons, Lesson Six . . .

6. Leaders must foster a hope that people can make a
difference.

“The bottom line question in any election is: who inspires more confidence? Napoleon Bonaparte said it two hundred years ago: "Leaders are dealers in hope." The leader who projects greater hope for the people, gets followed. While both senators tried to communicate hope, the season America is in today dictated which one had greater success. McCain spoke of established traditions. Obama spoke of emerging trends. Today, because of the present unrest and uncertainty
in our country, people voted for the younger, suave, savvy leader. People felt that Barak Obama had a better handle on where the future was going than John McCain did. If a leader can instill confidence, and if the leader can motivate ordinary people to join them because they will make a difference in history. . . you've got yourself a winning combination.”

Certainly the Bible is full of examples of leaders who gave hope to their people. I again refer to Nehemiah (Neh. 2:17-20). The people of Jerusalem needed to have a reason to commit to this project, Nehemiah gave them the hope and confidence that indeed, this was God’s idea and work, not just a good idea of Nehemiah. The necessary and ultimate cause of hope for the Ministry Leader is always God. And of course, if that is truly the case, God will also give the success.

This leads to an important point with which to conclude this series: For the Christian leader, all leadership success comes only because God has ordained it to happen. The principles (lessons) that Elmore has drawn from the election are solid, and I believe, quite useful; moreover, they are consistent with a biblical perspective of leadership (though not all encompassing of what the Bible has to say about leadership). For the most part, these lessons have focused on how the leader inspires or motivates people. From the leadership construct we use in my Ministry Leadership course, we would say, how a leader “shepherds people on to God’s agenda.” But note, it must be God’s agenda, and not the leader’s; if it is, God will give whatever success or accomplishments needed for the situation.

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Blessings
3 John 8
Bill H