How well do you lead?
"Everything rises and falls on leadership" - John C. Maxwell
''I am glad I was up so late, for that's the reason I was up so early.'' - Shakespeare¹
This is the type of article Reasology provides in it's professional series, we will give a light yet reasonable approach to leadership today.
People so often focus on the pay raise or societal attention that comes with the term "leader". They often miss why higher compensation is needed or why we hold that person in higher regard. Responsibility is a word many would like to avoid, a simple pay raise on the road to their dreams will suffice they think, no messy or mushy stuff in between. The dictionary says responsibility is not only synonymous for leadership, but also for liability. Liability is synonymous for debt and even hinderance. These words paint a picture of a person bound to something who not only can get in the way of success, but there is a high price for failure.
What area of our lives do we bear responsibility?
Reasology invites people very often to divide their life into 3 sections. Internal, external and super-external. These concepts are planned to be explained later in more detail, however this exercise has been used to show people their assumptions and perspectives in relation to reality. There are many worldviews that do not put any responsibility on its adherents, naturalism being a prime example. If people are the by product of time + matter + chance then there is no inherent worth. Who or what would impose moral values and duties on anyone? No one and nothing. Life would be a self-centered, nightmarish game of survivor. There are other worldviews that place high responsibility on its adherents, theistic worldviews such as Christianity being a prime example. If people are the by product of divine design then there is value in people. That value would mean that life is sacred, and would tie the well being of others in high regard when considering our actions.
Many people attempt to teach responsibility working from the external to the internal. This works in certain instances, if I externally provide an antibiotic, that will resolve the root of your illness. Yet once the problem becomes non-physical, this struggles a little. Say you want to raise a responsible child or develop responsible employees, how do you do that? Changes in scenery, competitions, bribes, promises are all common external motivators that many deploy. Often with devastating results. Statistics around children and workplace productivity paint a picture that children are adhering less and careers are changing more.
Why?
Personally, I have served in a leadership role in over 11 organizations, overseeing several operations generating over 80 million in annual revenue. This is not speculation, this is what I been invited to teach and speak on in several cities as leaders seek to duplicate the high, consistent results of my teams. We demonstrate that not only is there a level few are ignorant of, super-external, it is this level that you must start at.We would need volumes to expand this thought, yet once the super-external or supernatural reality is addressed, significant progress can be gained internally, which revolutionizes the external environment. This model can be demonstrated in all applicable areas of reality.
Specifically on leadership, internal failure produces three distinct external issues for leaders. This list was presented to 30+ leaders for Wal-mart at a hotel in denver.
3 = A lack of morality.
This is commonly reported as the 3rd greatest reason leaders fail. This cannot be produced internally or externally. Naturalism, Buddhism, Scientism and many other worldviews attempt to recreate this without the super external level of reality. History and personal experience bears witness, specifically the 20th century, to the "morality" based on simply human effort and reasoning. Gallup, Muse and many other business polls show that an inability to discern right from wrong and challenge injustice, undermines many leaders.
2 = A lack of competence
This is commonly reported as the 2nd greatest reason leaders fail.This can be considered the level of virtual reality. If I taught a chimpanzee checkers, then forced it to play the game for 30 years, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. That monkey would be very, very hard to beat in checkers. Our neurological capacity allows for adaptation, learning and our ability to master just about anything we persistently and consistently work at. Many leaders are aware of this, obsess over it and devote great internal energy to make this a consistent reality. Competence will take a leadership far, not however, all the way. The late 4 star general Schwarzkopf stated "If you have to choose between competence and character, always choose character".
1 = A lack of compassion
This is commonly reported as the greatest reason leaders fail. David long wrote extensively how if your people do not feel cared for by you, you will fail. Where does compassion come from? Is it generated by human will and effort, if you say yes we challenge you to demonstrate this without implementing a supernatural framework. I have chosen to simply demonstrate the love of Christ in my leadership, the result has been national and international awards and recognition at a young age. Leaders have chosen to take pay cuts to work for me, teams I have lead have lead regions for entire quarters. Addressing the super external , addresses all levels of reality.
"Right living Presupposes Right thinking" - Dr Williams Lane craig.
Work cited:
¹= William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Cloten, in Cymbeline, act 2, sc. 3, l. 33-4. He has been gaming all night, and so was early enough to pay musicians to sing at sunrise to wake Imogen.
