A Few Thoughts on Leadership

Ok granted, the buzzword in business and churches alike for the past 10+ years has been “Leadership” and developing leadership, and synergizing leadership and blah blah blah… but what is this creating? Massive amounts of Middle Management. The chance to manage even one or two people is jumped at faster than a $20 on the sidewalk. People would rather have Mgr. before their name than make another $5k. Why? Because we’re told we’re supposed to.

Now I’m not saying John Maxwell isn’t great, and that he doesn’t teach good leadership principles, because he is and does. I like John a lot, but eventually the pendulum he started needs to swing the other way.

Ok, we’ve developed our leaders, but what about our followers?

What are the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Followers”? Rather than pushing them to perform just for a raise or a new title and some power, shouldn’t we be pushing them to follow because that’s the way you’re supposed to work?

I think the topic has some merit, and over the next few weeks I want to look at it more. Somebody should write a book on this, preferably someone with a longer attention span than mine though…

I think this is especially important for people my age. We come out of college and we’re expecting some high paying job as a CEO. This however seems to be the exception instead of the rule. This leaves us discouraged and disappointed as we assume a role with “Assistant” tagged on the end. How do we become the good followers that our employers will keep on board long enough that we can get rid of that Assistant tag and become Managers? Another question, what’s wrong with being an assistant?

Right now they’re just thoughts to ponder. I want to start down this road though; I’m hoping it doesn’t turn out too much like “Brave New World”