What is leadership anyway?

If you were to be asked about the idea of leadership you probably think you have a  pretty good general idea if not completely detailed notion of  ”what” it is.   But when asked to define it could could you really describe what leadership truly is?  Have you ever asked yourself what does it really take to get someone to follow you?  A wise person once observed that a leader with no followers is simply out for a walk.

We are a people that tends to worship heroes; solo performers who by the strength of will and power of their own intellect overcome impossible odds.  However truly powerful movements; transformations, whether in business or the church are actually accomplished by people working together.  Leaders and followers alike are galvanized around a single or set of ideas that lift the corporate entity beyond individual capacity.

So how does leadership happen? In what setting does it occur? Where does leadership authority come from?

John Maxwell (2007), noted author, speaker and leadership consultant declares that leadership is influence;  nothing more, nothing less. Stephen Covey (1989)  observed in his groundbreaking book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, that leaders are not just those with the right map, but are able to indicate the correct direction.  One thing is clear, leadership involves some sort of transaction between leader and follower that inspires both to accomplish a shared goal.  The leader demonstrates some sort of authority, and the follower believes in the source of that authority enough to supply energy and effort.

Think about this for yourself: What does it take to get someone to follow you?  The corrollary question is, of course, what makes them stop following? There is no single answer to the first question, but the answer to the second lies in the way leaders draw authority, and thus exercise leadership.  Uncovering the the many facets of leadership illicits a mosaic of ideas and principles that rise to nearly an art form. Yet it is an art that can be learned, imitated and developed.  In the next blog, we will discuss the sources of leadership power and the ways each are used or misused.

Until then ponder the question: What is leadership anyway?

Emerge Offers New Campus: Media Light!

Emerge Offers New Campus: Media Light!  Classes open January 2010.  Second batch May 2010.  Enroll now: info@emergenetwork.org

Why Focus on Visual Media?

This generation is demonstrating a profound shift from written word to video screen as the primary means of communicating big ideas.   Filmmakers in every nation have become the new prophets, directing the focus and values of their cultures.  Emerge provides significant training to assist emerging Christian leaders in becoming powerful communicators using visual media.

“If we don’t mobilize believers to use visual media, then we are “dead in the water” with the next generation.”
–Jim Green, President of The Jesus Film Project.

Consider these statistics:

85% of USA college graduates will never read another entire book in their lifetime.  Ministry lesson: we can’t use print media very effectively with this generation.

The average teen spends 6.5 hours a day consuming media, but gets 8.5 hours of content because they often use two media sources at a time (watching TV while surfing the net). Their primary media choices are visual in nature.

At Emerge, we are particularly interested in developing outreach leaders and media missionaries for the harvest of Asia.  We want to see them having the confidence and ability to get a fiery vision, make a strategic communication plan and then execute it effectively through an indigenous team whose talents they have helped develop.

Download the application…. click here!

Work. Stop. Rest. Repeat

In the beginning there was nothing. Then God gets to work.

“Let there be light.”         Bam!         Light.        “I like it,” God says.      Day two: sky, three: dry land, and so on and so forth until man on the sixth day. Then God rests on day seven. Because we’ve heard it so many times, it’s easy to blow past the richness of this story.

Reading it this time around, I realized something so simple that I had overlooked it in searching for deeper spiritual maxims. God, the omnipotent creator of everything, only did one thing a day. He didn’t just burn out his reserve tank till he got the whole project done and then crash on the seventh day. He structured the process so that he spent all his attention on one thing for a day. When the day ended, he stopped working, stood back, appreciated his work, then rested. The next day he picked up where he left off and continued the process.

One of the things that I am worst at is setting a cutoff point. I think that’s the lesson here, though. God would have been perfectly capable of accomplishing everything in one go, but he didn’t. When the workday ended, he didn’t keep plugging away, he stopped working and enjoyed the sense of accomplishment of that day’s work. You see, the only value that our work has in our lives is the value that we give it by taking time to rest and enjoy what we have accomplished.

How bout you? What have you found out about God’s nature when it comes to work and rest?

Where Does it Hurt?

This is a picture of my collarbone which got popped out of socket riding motorcycles a few months ago. (Yes, it hurt.) Pain usually gets us into action mode. When the pain gets loud enough we will do something about a condition that may have existed for quite some time. Pain has a deep and meaningful place in our lives whether it is physical, emotional, relational or psychological. Here’s the thing about it that you need to celebrate: Wherever your pain is…that’s also where your growing edge will be. Some of my biggest revelations and breakthrough concepts and ideas came out of the motivation of pain. Maybe I felt that my kids didn’t really respect me any more or that I was in a losing slump overall or that I had become marginalized in groups I really wanted to be a part of. That rejection and pain either makes you pout and descend into self-pity OR it drives you to fix the problem so you can win again! Don’t run from your pain. Don’t just try to anesthetize it through fun, travel or time wasting pastimes. Embrace that pain. Look it in the eye and find a way to overcome that thing that is hurting you. Dig out that thorn so it won’t ever hurt you again! So, think about your life’s circumstance now…where does it hurt?

Introducing Craig Gray

We are delighted to welcome to our blog team,  Craig Gray, leadership guru (MA in Organizational Leadership) and director of Information Services and Technology at Lee University, one of America’s most dynamic colleges.  Craig has an interesting intersection of knowledge and experience in both technology and leadership.  We are anticipating some insightful insights and mentoring from his contribution to the blog.  He has also offered to help us develop some online courses in leadership so stay tuned for more developments on that.  Craig, welcome to the Emerge Network!

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