I had the privilege this past weekend of going on another
hike to the Cathedral Peak area in the Drakensburg. The team was made up of
myself and 3 other natural leaders, and this got me to thinking about
leadership.
If you have a look at the mountain register we signed before
we started the hike it clearly states that I was the leader of the group – but
this is more a theoretical. The reason my name was on the register as the
leader was simply because I organised the hike but certainly I was not the only
leader nor did I lead the walking at all times, in actual fact, we all had a
chance to lead at some point or another.
The question I have been asking myself is what distinguishes
a leader in some facets of life but not in another? Should someone who leads in
a social environment naturally lead in a business or religious one? Regardless
of the “correct” answer, people do not always lead in all circles they find
themselves in.
Here are some reasons I think this is the case:
Experience and
knowledge: One of the hikers, who only lead the walking for a small bit was
a first timer for proper hiking in the Berg. This meant that the knowledge of
the terrain and routes was not there.
Assuming there is
someone better: People take a back seat because they wait for someone who
seems better qualified.
Fear: Sometimes
people are scared to take the risk in case they make a mistake. We were in the
wrong valley altogether on this hike so we never got to complete the route that
we set out to do, but that is not a reason to not try.
May I take a moment to make a distinction that I think requires
clarity – A leader, a manager and a pioneer are not the same thing. It is
possible that a leader is a manager and a pioneer is a leader, but a manager is
not always a leader nor is a leader always a pioneer.
Generally managers hold you to something and reprimand you
when it is not achieved, where a leader will be able to set out the task and
often is more integral in you achieving it – they walk the road with you. A
pioneer is very different to both of these. When I go to the Berg, the one
thing that is always in the back of my mind is the fact that someone made their
way around here without maps and without paths to guide them – they pioneered
the Berg. Pioneering often comes with great cost and that cost may even be
death. Leading also comes at a cost, but rarely does it cost the leader their
life. A managers most important cost is his or her own reputation.
I think in every area of life, in every country, in every
government, in every business, leadership is almost always lacking and
everyone, from the top down, need to learn what it truly means to lead.
The Bible is full of examples of both good and bad leaders
and there is something we can learn from every one of them. Looking at King
David we can learn two of outstanding starting points to being a good leader:
What is your response when you have messed up? David lied,
stole, committed adultery and murder, but he was quick to seek forgiveness – and to change so as to not walk that same
road again.
Are you more concerned about those whom you lead than
yourself and those who lead you? As good leaders our priority should be seeing
those whom we lead achieve their goals, even if it means that we don’t achieve
ours. Their success is more important than ours.
What type of leader are you?
