It is all about Relationship (Part 1 - God)

2008-12-09T17:21:00.007+08:00

I mentioned in my "Leadership Journal" ( Leadership Basics ), leadership can be summarised into three basic points :

a) A close relationship with God.

b) A close relationship with People.

c) A close relationship with Oneself.

You can choose to ignore point (a) if you are a free thinker. You may have to define your own concept of "spirituality" or put into more simple terms, "conscience" or "at peace with oneself" to fill up what is taken away. Otherwise, take point (a) completely off and concentrate on points (b) and (c).

If you belong to a religious faith, you may get what I mean when I mentioned, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its labourers build in vain.". Unless leadership is founded on God, Leaders may still lead but meeting no success. What matters more is not your work for God - but your walk with God.

Picture a tree in your mind - a big and strong tree,

Majority of the roots of a tree is hidden below ground. A tree may look strong on the surface but if the roots of the tree do not grow deep into the ground - one day, the tree may be brought down by strong winds. How many Leaders of the past do you remember fallen suddenly from grace after leading people for a long time? We do not expect the fall - but they did fall.

Think of words that relate to "Leaderhip" now - some of them could be "confidence", "control", "character", "discipline", "teamwork" and etc. What would your words that define your understanding of leadership be? How many of the words would you decide that they are the "roots" of your leadership? Roots that must be deep so that your leadership might withstand winds and storms of this world.

What would my roots of leadership be? These are important to me as they will decide whether I will fall "suddenly from grace". They are :

1) Character - It determines how I would react and act in difficult times and times that demand sound decisions making, often involving moral values. It also determines my consistency in leadership in front of or behind the people that I am leading.

2) Integrity - It builds my credibility with people. Trust is one of the key factors that binds leaders to their followers.

3) God

If my walk with God is close or the world defines it as "religiously sound"- points (1) and (2) will be taken care of. God will teach and direct me what I should and must do at all times. A big portion of my leadership credibility and potential will be in place.

What if I do not believe that there is a God? You may ask.

You do not need to believe me and is free to put aside what I have written thus far.

You have to decide on "a set of rules" or "guiding principles" that will allow you to fall back on at any time. That set of guiding principles will be your roots that uphold your leadership.

I will touch on the next two points of the basics of Leadership (with people, with oneself) in my next posts.

Leadership Concepts

2008-11-16T01:48:00.002+08:00

This blog will contain concepts of leadership which I have gathered, read from books and articles. It will also contain some of my thoughts on leadership.

Heavy stuff here - so be prepared.