Leadership Stronghold #1: Excellence

This month we are looking at the two Universal Strongholds that are hindering our ability to fix the church.

This week we are looking at the first Universal Stronghold: Leadership.

I have written a lot about Leadership both on this blog and in the Second Book. This week I will focus on showing practical applications of the Universal Stronghold we have concerning Leadership. This means I will provide links for more information and conclude each post with a specific stronghold that needs to be replaced in the brain.

Remember, a stronghold is a source of ammunition and resources for the enemy within our brains that ultimately leads to us being Unprofitable. When I speak of Universal Strongholds, I'm stating that EVERYTHING about this topic is Unprofitably filed away in our brains. This week I will show how our intentional application of Leadership ACTUALLY causes us to be Unprofitable.

As we saw in the previous posts, the first step in removing a stronghold is to define it. We think in terms of WORDS. We communicate in terms of WORDS. We file away information in terms of WORDS.

The MAIN reason Leadership is a Universal Stronghold is that we have a wrong and contradictory definition for Leadership.

Read ANY book on Leadership and the definition (when it is given) will be in terms of EFFECTS.

(I realize some people are put off by my "flippant" use of extreme claims. However, when I capitalize the extreme word, it means I realize it is an extreme word and I want you to know I know this. It is NOT a flippant comment. I have spent over fifteen years reading books on Leadership. I have not found ANY that give a definition that is a cause. If you find one, PLEASE contact me either by e-mail or putting a comment at the end of this post and I will amend this statement. Actually, THAT offer goes for ANY extreme statements I have made in this blog or in the Second Book...and I will be grateful.)

We saw that when we define concepts with effects:
1) the concept is NOT able to be understood
2) the application (effects) of the concept are contradictory
3) the concept is NOT able to be achieved intentionally.

However, when a concept is defined in terms of causes:
1) the concept can be understood
2) the applications (effects) of the concept can be non-contradictory
3) people are able to achieve the concept intentionally.

This post titled, "IS Leader" lists the most common definitions for Leader. Everything from "has followers" and "has influence" to an actual list of effects.

The main problem with these common definitions is that Hitler and Satan fit the definition of a Leader. The minute a person states Hitler and Satan were leaders but they were "bad" leaders, the contradictions begin. (Notice, they are making the definition an effect when they add "bad" or "good".)

The definition of Leader is a person who facilitates the Purpose and Progress of others.

I cover this definition in depth in the post titled, "Definition of Leader".

Hitler and Satan facilitated THEIR OWN Purpose and Progress at the EXPENSE of others. I call these people BOSSES.

The common definition we have for Leader is ACTUALLY a definition for BOSS. When this happens, EVERYTHING that results is ultimately Unprofitable.

In the post titled, "Effect of Leadership", I explain the main effect of Profitable Leadership:

A LEADER bears pain, they don't inflict pain.
A BOSS inflicts pain, they don't bear pain.

In that post we saw that Jesus is the Ultimate Leader because ultimately He bears ALL our pain.

Unfortunately, some people see the main benefit of being a Leader is that they can displace their pain onto others.

In the post titled, "Leaders Acting Like Bosses" we see there are instances where the Leader acts as a Boss, however, it is in response to the individual whose Purpose and Progress is begin facilitated. Ultimately, the guiding principle for a Leader is love.

However, today people WANT to be Leaders because they want privileges. Some people even speak of the "perks of Leadership". Jesus NEVER personally benefited from being a Leader! This belief that Leadership has perks is PROOF the individual has a stronghold. Leadership is a responsibility.

In fact, the main PROOF that someone has a stronghold when it comes to Leadership is when a person thinks that Leaders can be LESS excellent. Leaders OUGHT to be MORE excellent.

Whenever people exempt themselves from the rules they impose on others, they are PROVING they are LESS excellent than their "followers". One of the biggest areas these LESS excellent people focus on is being questioned. These people don't believe they ought to be questioned by their "followers". Yet they expect their "followers" to answer every question that they are asked...


SUMMARY
Leadership Stronghold #1: Leaders should NOT be MORE excellent.

A BOSS holds their subordinates to a higher standard than they hold themselves. This is hypocrisy. Why would people think God's definition of Leadership encourages hypocrisy.

Leadership Stronghold #1 needs to be intentionally replaced with the statement: Leaders OUGHT to be MORE excellent, NOT less.

Tomorrow, we will look at Leadership Stronghold #2...

Next Post