Leader Growth

Are you leading or manipulating?

Most of us agree – leadership is influence. And there are times when influence morphs into down-right-out manipulation.

At it’s core leadership involves change. After all, what are we leading people to do? To be? Yet there’s a fine line between leadership and manipulation.

Both involve influencing others. Both attempt to persuade people to do what you want them to do. And both leverage vision, passion, and emotion to elicit a desired result.

So how do you know if you are leading or manipulating?

Leaders work with their eyes open

There are times when it would be perfectly appropriate for a colleague to square up, grab both shoulders, and ask – What are you looking at?!

What do you REALLY value in your work? What elusive dream or fulfillment are you seeking?

According to the Smith-Kettlewell Institute, the vision of a newborn is substantially developed over the first 8-10 months of life. It is believed that most infants have 20/30 (or nearly perfect) vision by 8 months.

I know this because this week I Googled “when can my baby see”. I wanted to know…

What does longevity have to do with leadership?

Longevity is not leadership. Leadership is leadership. And longevity is longevity.

Don’t get me wrong – I love hearing about leaders who launch organizations and serve them for 20, 30, or 40 years. But does tenure make great leaders?

One of my best friends is one of the most loyal people I know. He will likely serve his current organization for the rest of his life. I have learned much about consistency and contentment through our friendship.

My father has been serving the same organization for more than 25 years.

Organizations and teams can benefit significantly from a leader who communicates and implements bold, compelling vision through changing seasons over a long period of time. And Sarah and I are looking forward to investing the most fulfilling and productive years of our lives in a long-term role within an organization.

Yet I’ve learned that although some executives man the helm of an organization for a long period of time, they are not always leading.

Getting things in the right order

Getting things in the right order is a guest post by Rodney Agan. Rodney is Chaplain for the Carrollton City (GA) Police Department and is senior pastor of North Point Baptist Church. Be sure to check out Rodney’s blog and follow him on Twitter.

There are so many things in life that I would like to “do over”.

As we get older and more experienced we see things more clearly. And we see the end results more clearly. When planning a project or event, we should factor in as many potential outcomes as possible.

Normally, we have a great idea, we act on it, and face the results later. Sort of like – Ready. Fire. Aim. And we suffer because of this rationale.

Without proper planning and patience we will fail more than we succeed.

Give the Benefit of the Doubt

They never came to you – they just believed what they were told. There was more to the story – much more. Not just your side, but the truth.

If only they had asked you.

It’s happened to me, too. My motives have been questioned many times. In some instances, I was aware of the questions. But many times I was not – because they never came to me. Grace was not extended – the same grace desired by every person in the world when wrongly accused.