tanhaThe Leadership Continuum
November 1st 2006 13:16
I came across a great concept today.
We are all born with lots of energy, and as we develop that energy will have its voice. Energy needs direction towards purpose or it will either implode or explode.
There fore it stands to reason we are all born with a purpose. What’s yours?
Your purpose is probably to do something about the things which get you all fired up (and possibly angry).
Now have a look at this! Either the energy you have within you will inspire, or else it will manipulate!.
To inspire is to lead (disperse your energy) by example, in freedom, without domination or control of any sort. To manipulate is to attempt to lead by control, either by telling, demanding (belittling, tantrum behaviour, placing guilt, threat etc) or playing the plaintiff or victim (poor me syndrome).
True leadership will tend to the freedom end of the scale, bring out the great in people. Short-sighted leadership energy dominates and controls.
Where would you, honestly, place yourself on this leadership continuum? What, if anything, can you learn from it? God-given energy is for inspiration and a leadership style which firstly appreciates, and then encourages to good purpose. Domination is not the feature which produces creativity in the other, but rather limits and despoils.
Inspirational style will set essential boundaries I believe, for example when dealing with children or immature persons), but not attempt domination.
This could be effective interpersonal or international strategy.
We are all born with lots of energy, and as we develop that energy will have its voice. Energy needs direction towards purpose or it will either implode or explode.
There fore it stands to reason we are all born with a purpose. What’s yours?
Your purpose is probably to do something about the things which get you all fired up (and possibly angry).
Now have a look at this! Either the energy you have within you will inspire, or else it will manipulate!.
To inspire is to lead (disperse your energy) by example, in freedom, without domination or control of any sort. To manipulate is to attempt to lead by control, either by telling, demanding (belittling, tantrum behaviour, placing guilt, threat etc) or playing the plaintiff or victim (poor me syndrome).
True leadership will tend to the freedom end of the scale, bring out the great in people. Short-sighted leadership energy dominates and controls.
Where would you, honestly, place yourself on this leadership continuum? What, if anything, can you learn from it? God-given energy is for inspiration and a leadership style which firstly appreciates, and then encourages to good purpose. Domination is not the feature which produces creativity in the other, but rather limits and despoils.
Inspirational style will set essential boundaries I believe, for example when dealing with children or immature persons), but not attempt domination.
This could be effective interpersonal or international strategy.
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Comment by Adrienne
Comment by Deorre
Stress Alive
Man Lessons
Comment by Helen's House
Helen
Comment by Helen's House
What God has given to us is choice. He will never remove that, or over-ride it. Some people call it free will. He wants us to respond to Him on the basis of our free choice, because He values that. He does not value a relationship with us in which we operate like robots or puppets. Instead He has given us qualities like His own, and the ability to comprehend enough to choose wisely. Of course there is no guarantee that we will do that. Selfish choices have caused much of the misery, starvation, disease etc that the world now suffers because we do not love sufficiently.
Along with choice goes the consequences of what we choose. Wise decisions get blessing. Poor decisions get the opposite, namely a curse – or negative consequences. Scripture is full of “how to” follow the guidelines and operate wisely. We have been given a sound mind, the ability to learn and understand, scripture for a guideline on what will work and what will not. (God created the universe and knows exactly how it all works. He even sent His Son, Jesus, to put right all the things that have gone wrong because of our wrong choices. That was a very expensive little excursion! It cost Him His blood – not His life because he could put that down and take it up again!).
So a lot has been put into our hands.
I’m suggesting that we are capable of doing a lot better than “allowing nature to take its course”. There is a lot more wisdom available to us than there is to animals who can only do what nature dictates. Yes, we can operate on that level. We have that choice. But with vision and goalsetting, and the other gifts that we have been given, (that are exclusively the prerogative of humans) we can rise a lot higher than that.
The question might be asked – “Why bother?”
The answer is LOVE (nothing to do with sex). We have the God-given capacity to love because we are made in the image of God who is LOVE. We can operate in the energy of love. If I love horses then I spend a lot of time with them developing skills with them, and have much joy. Likewise if I love books, or mountaineering. The energy of love is basic to the operation of humanity.
The crux is that we are to love one another. This means preferring one another’s interests to our own, spending our energy on one another. If I am in a group of ten people and we all look after number one, then there is only one person with my interests at heart and no relationship happening. However, if everyone in that room really looks after the interests of everyone else, then there are nine people taking care of me, plenty of relationship happening (which I long for), and my mind is not absorbed in my own interests but in the needs of others, which is my contribution to community. This really works much better. The community thrives on this. This is what God designed originally and what Jesus came to revitalise. Through Him we have the ability to become “real” humans again!
Full blown LOVE is only possible through relationship with Jesus. It is totally possible through Him. No-one can possibly impose this on anybody. The option is there, and it’s a very exhilarating path to travel. The consequences of our choices are also there. But the choices are all ours.
Your question – “Do we allow nature to take its course or do we “impose” our chosen path on nature’s path?” Answer: You have that option. Animals do not have that option. Humans do. We’ve been given gifts like delayed gratification, vision, the ability to plan ahead, communication skills, creativity, inventiveness, faith and others. All of these take a little more than just nature to develop. The greatest gift of all is LOVE. (Sorry, sex is only part of the animal nature).
You might be interested in the next post I am preparing. It will explain more of this.
Thank you again for your question Deorre. I trust this helps.
Helen