Beginning a Discussion of Leadership and Purpose

As a beginning point, a brief look at how Leadership has been defined over the years might be warranted.

As society changes, and culture changes, so do our concepts of leadership. In some respects that is good and in some respects bad. 100 years ago people were perhaps more trusting and prepared to line up behind a strong leader and follow almost blindly. But in the last 100 years, we have seen what can happen when people haplessly follow a leader like a Hitler, for example. Perhaps we are not so naive or trusting anymore.

Over the last 100 years we have seen a progressing from emphasis on the strong leader as a commander to emphasis upon the leader and his followers working together to achieve goals. In the late 1950's leadership was viewed as “inducing subordinates” toward a desired behavior. The very terms used almost sound militaristic. In the late 60's the ideas were softened somewhat, but still had to do with leading by “getting others to comply,” albeit “because they want to, not because they have to.” By the late 1990's the idea of leadership had moved toward the idea of team building—the followers of the leader have a real stake in the leadership as a part of a team.

For purposes of this blog, we will not be discussing leadership methods that are 100 years old, nor will be we just “buy into” contemporary approaches to leadership. Because I am unapologetically a Christian, my views on leadership are informed by godly principles and values. As we approach the subjects of leadership and purpose, I believe we will do well to get on our knees before God and get His fresh revelation and direction for our generation and our situation. This blog will be about discussing that objective. Hope you will join in along the way.