Developing Kingdom Leaders – Tom Yeakley

Taking the Mystery out of Leadership

Archive for the tag “character development”

02 Nov 2015

The Grateful Leader

The Apostle Paul in his message to the Athenians while standing in front of the Areopagus says this about God:  “…he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).  Has is every struck you that all you have as a leader finds its source in God Himself?

Yes, you have accomplished some things as a leader through your wise decisions, good stewardship, faithfulness, and hard work.  But think a minute.  Who gave you the mind to be able to make decisions?  Who created an ability to discern what was good and not so good in your stewardship?  Who created within you a will that enables you to choose to be faithful?  And who created within you a desire to work and accomplish a task?  Yes, all these things, and yes, everything we are and have finds its source in Him.

Therefore, what should be our response?  It must me one of contrition for taking any credit upon ourselves, humility, and a proper perspective that truly “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

How about making a gratefulness list?  What are you grateful to God for?  Express them to Him from a sincere heart of praise and thankfulness.  Can you truly thank Him for everything including those things that don’t feel or seem good or pleasant?

Here’s some things to get you started:  your relationship to Him, your spouse and family, your mind and body, your spiritual gifts, your role and influence, your opportunities for service, your friends, your team, your possessions, your experiences, and your weaknesses (see 2 Cor 12:9).

A grateful, thankful spirit is attractive.  It bleeds authenticity.  It brings proper perspective.

“Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Posted in #2 BE - Who a Leader Is, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , , ,
12 Oct 2015

Leadership Jazz – 6

Here’s the final installment from Max DePree’s outstanding book titled, “Leadership Jazz.”  In this section DePree addresses the topic of what are the key attributes needed for great leadership.

Attributes of Leadership:  A Checklist

  • Integrity.  Integrity is the linchpin of leadership.
  • Vulnerability.  Vulnerability is the opposite of self-expression.
    There is no such thing as safe vulnerability.
  • Courage in relationships. Followers expect a leader to face up to tough decisions.
  • Discernment
  • Awareness of the human spirit.
  • Sense of humor.
  • Intellectual energy and curiosity.
  • Respect for the future, regard for the present, understanding of the past.
  • Predictability.  To their followers, leaders owe predictability as a human being.
  • Leaders must be calculable forces in organizations; they are not free to follow a whim.
  • Tending a vision is as difficult as conceiving one.
  • Breadth.  To borrow from Walt Whitman, leaders are people large enough to contain multitudes.
  • Comfort with ambiguity.  Healthy organizations exhibit a degree of chaos.
  • Organizations always delegate the job of dealing constructively with ambiguity to their leaders.
  • Presence.  Leaders stop—to ask and answer questions, to be patient, to listen to problems, to seek the nuance, to follow up a lead.
  • Leaders stand alone, take the heat, bear the pain, tell the truth.”

How’s your assessment related to the above checklist?

Posted in #2 BE - Who a Leader Is and tagged , , , , , , ,
05 Oct 2015

Leadership Jazz – 5

Continual personal development as a leader is essential for implementing great leadership.  Max DePree addresses this topic in his book titled, “Leadership Jazz.”

“We need to take into account not only the needs of our careers, but the “careers” of every member of our families.

“Leaders think about polishing their personal gifts.

“Leaders see a twofold opportunity—to build a life and to build a career.  And the fact is that people become leaders only by building both.

“Leaders deal in substance and the quality of life, deaf to the calls to pursue quantity and appearances.

“Good leaders know that moving up in the hierarchy does not magically confer upon them competence.  They know that being elected president, for instance, gives them the opportunity to become president.  Leaders also know that their real security lies in their personal capabilities, not in their power or position.

“A leader’s capabilities begin to be tested shortly after she arrives on the job.  Spontaneity and reflection begin to fade away amid the din of schedules leaders don’t make and commitments they don’t seek out.  Required reading begins to edge out elective reading.  More and more energy goes into resisting pressure to move in undesired directions.

“Followers adamantly demand that a leader possess a high degree of integrity when it comes to self-perception.  A combination of self-confidence and humility seems to me to be crucial.

“Organizations have a right to expect decisiveness from leaders.  Being decisive in an area of one’s strengths is not too difficult.

“Acting in the face of one’s weakness requires courage and risk.

“Am I willing to reserve time on my calendar for reflection?

“In learning to listen, have I thought about improving my ability to practice the art of silence?

“Am I prepared to think about polishing gifts as a way of dealing with time and leaving a legacy?  As the years slip by, am I learning to see through the lens of mortality?  How does this improve me today as a leader?

“What will give me joy at seventy or eighty?

“At the end of life, what will I face?  Or, more important, whom?

“Ask yourself frequently, “What truly gives meaning to my life?”

Are you continuing to develop yourself over a lifetime?  Are you continuing to be a life-long learner?

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks, #4 REPRODUCE - Developing More Leaders and tagged , , , , ,
14 Sep 2015
1 Comment

Leadership Jazz – 2

Max DePree in his great leadership book, “Leadership Jazz” has some excellent thoughts regarding a leader’s promises.

“Though I’m still learning things about being a leader, I can tell you at least two requirements of such a position:  The need to give one’s witness as a leader—to make your promises to the people who allow you to lead; and the necessity of carrying out your promises.

“Followers can’t afford leaders who make casual promises.  Someone is likely to take them seriously.

“For no leader has the luxury of making a promise in a vacuum.

“A leader who backs away from her promises under duress irreparably damages the organization and plants the seeds of suspicion among her followers.

“The best leaders promise only what’s worth defending.

“It’s important to understand that leadership is a posture of indebtedness.  The process of leading is the process of fulfilling commitments made both to persons and to the organization.

“Knowing what not to do is fully as important as knowing what to do.

“Remember to think of followers as volunteers.  Remember, too, that the goals of the organization are best met when the goals of people in the organization are met at the same time.

“Here are several questions that leaders should expect to hear.  The answers to these questions, you see, are some of the promises leaders will make.

  • What may I expect from you?
  • Can I achieve my own goals by following you?
  • Will I reach my potential by working with you?
  • Can I entrust my future to you?
  • Have you bothered to prepare yourself for leadership?
  • Are you ready to be ruthlessly honest?
  • Do you have the self-confidence and trust to let me do my job?
  • What do you believe?”

If you are a verbal processor you can unintentionally make promises that you never intended.  As a leader your words carry extra weight and your thoughts expressed are assumed to be decisions.  You did not intend your words as final, just talking and thinking aloud, but others remember and will quote you in the future.  Beware of communicating what to you are just thoughts in a process but others hear as final decisions.

Are you a faithful leader?  Are you faithful to your word?  Can you be counted on to do what you say you will do?

Posted in #2 BE - Who a Leader Is, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , , ,
07 Sep 2015

Leadership Jazz

Max DePree has a second leadership classic titled, “Leadership Jazz.”  Here are some of his thoughts on the subject of faithfulness in the section, “Finding Your Voice.”

“Let me suggest five criteria as a way to start thinking about faithfulness.

  • Accountability for others, especially those on the edges of life and not yet experienced in the ways of the world, is one of the great directions leaders receive from the prophet Amos.  Amos tells us that leaders should encourage and sustain those on the bottom rung first and then turn to those on the top.
  • Integrity in all things precedes all else.
  • The servanthood of leadership needs to be felt, understood, believed, and practiced if we’re to be faithful.
  • There is a great misconception in organizations:  That a manager must be either in control or not in control.  The legitimate alternative is the practice of equity.
  • Leaders have to be vulnerable, have to offer others the opportunity to do their best.  Leaders become vulnerable by sharing with others the marvelous gift of being personally accountable.

“One becomes a leader, I believe, through doing the work of a leader.  It’s often difficult and painful and sometimes even unrewarding, and it’s work.”

Are you becoming a faithful leader?

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks, #3 DO - What a Leader Does and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
17 Aug 2015

Leadership is an Art – 3

Here’s a final thought from Max DePree’s classic leadership book, “Leadership is an Art.”

“In addition to all of the ratios and goals and parameters and bottom lines, it is fundamental that leaders endorse a concept of persons. This begins with an understanding of the diversity of people’s gifts and talents and skills.

“Understanding and accepting diversity enables us to see that each of us is needed. It also enables us to begin to think about being abandoned to the strengths of others, of admitting that we cannot know or do everything.

“When we think about leaders and the variety of gifts people bring to corporations and institutions, we see that the art of leadership lies in polishing and liberating and enabling those gifts.”

One of our primary leadership functions is the development of those we lead.  This development must be intentional, seeking to maximize a person’s contribution to the mission.  This development must be individualized, with forethought given to opportunities and personal needs.

Are you developing those you are leading or just hoping that with the passing of time and more experience that they will be developed as better leaders?  It has been said, “Experience is not the best teacher, but it is evaluated experience that truly develops leaders.”  Give feedback to those you lead and they will be better leaders.

 

Posted in #1 KNOW- How a Leader Thinks and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
20 Jul 2015

The Amazing C.T. Studd

There are no guarantees we will live a pain-free life. God does not apologize for asking much of His followers. It is His right. He owns us. He bought us with His own blood. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

But God also promises us that whatever cost we are asked to pay in denying self and following Him He will repay multiple times over. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). Therefore, whatever has been sacrificed for Christ, when compared with what has been gained in return, will not seem to be too great a cost to pay.

C.T. Studd came from a wealthy English family and was a 21 year-old student at Cambridge University when he trusted Christ as his personal Savior. Studd was an outstanding athlete, with a possible career in professional sports, in addition to being a good student. After his conversion, he dedicated his life and wealth to Christ.

He and six other Cambridge students offered themselves to Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission in 1885. Nine years later he returned to England with a wife, but broken in health. After recuperating, he gave away his home to the mission and traveled throughout America for two years recruiting young men and women to give themselves to missions. In 1900 the family moved to India for six years when once again they had to return to England. In 1910 he left his family in England to pioneer a new mission into the heart of Africa. This ministry eventually became Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC) which continues to this day.

Studd personally had a ministry on four continents and through those he touched, the entire world. But this adventure began with a decision to deny fame and fortune in this world in order that he might follow Christ.

Jim Elliott, martyred by Latin American Indians as a young man. said this, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, in order to gain what he cannot lose.”

Posted in #2 BE - Who a Leader Is and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
13 Jul 2015

A Sacrificial Life

Sacrifice means, “to give something up for the sake of something of higher value.” Sacrificial living is to give up our own lives for the purpose of following Christ. Jesus modeled the perfect sacrificial life by giving His very life for the sins of mankind. It is this type of lifestyle, one that chooses to live for others instead of self, that models real love for people (John 15:12-14).

Sacrificial living is a daily decision, not a one time event. Paul urges us to, “…. offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).” We are to continually offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices as an act of worship to God for all He has done for us. He died for us! Living for Him is the least we can do!

Jesus reminds us that being His disciple means, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). To follow Christ means that we must first deny ourselves. That is, give up all rights to our own plans, desires, dreams, and hopes for our lives and let God determine our future. It is an abandonment of self into the loving hands of God. Secondly, we must take up our cross daily. To the first century audience, the picture of a person carrying a cross meant that they were condemned to death by the Roman government. They had no future–only death. Jesus uses this picture to illustrate that this death to self is to be daily, not just a one time decision. Each and every day we must choose to live for Christ and not self.

Sacrificial living goes against the wisdom of this world. The world says to seek self-gratification. “If it feels good do it!” The implication being, if it doesn’t feel good, then it should not be acted upon. To choose to deny self in order to gain the opportunity to serve God is something that will be hard for others to understand.

Are you living for self or dying to self?  It’s a daily, moment by moment choice and lifestyle.

Posted in #2 BE - Who a Leader Is and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
06 Jul 2015

The Amazing John Sung

John Sung was a young Chinese believer who was sent by his family to America to study chemistry. After obtaining his PhD from Ohio State he went on to seminary before returning to China. During his time in the U.S., God called John to a life of service for the Kingdom. On the ship home one evening, he took his diplomas and threw them into the Pacific Ocean, telling God he would follow Him wherever He led.

After arriving home, he told his family of his calling and decision to serve Christ rather than teach science. The family thought he had lost his mind and committed him a mental institution. During his 193 days in the asylum, Sung read the Bible through 40 times! Finally, the family had him released, and he became an itinerant evangelist traveling throughout China and many Asian countries. His fifteen-year ministry was characterized by unusual power and influence until his death at the age of 43.

Not all of those who seek God’s best will be asked to give up their careers in order to serve Christ full-time. Many will serve Him in God-honoring careers, being light and salt in the marketplace. But whatever their vocation, the pilgrims of this new generation of believers will often live lives that will be misunderstood by others.

Pilgrim values will be contrary to the values of this world. Life decisions based on eternal values will go against the tide of this world’s norms. Pilgrims will be thought of as foolish or at least not living up to their full potential. It will only be in the world to come that we will see completely who made the correct choices. “But wisdom is proved right by all her children” (Luke 7:35).

How’s your value system?  Is it based upon this world or the world to come?

Posted in #2 BE - Who a Leader Is and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
29 Jun 2015

Living with and Eternal Value System

What will it take to find a generation of God’s people who will live for the summit of God’s best? It will begin with individual believers who base their lives on eternal rather than temporal values. It will take believers who are so convinced about the reality of life in heaven that this world’s pleasures will not be able to grip their lives. It will begin with an eternal value system in the believer’s life.

Both the seen and unseen world have values. Individuals adopt these values and life’s choices are based upon them. This world places value on such things as youth and physical beauty, intelligence and education, the accumulation of money and physical goods, personal power and position, and self-gratification.

The world to come says that this world and its values will soon pass away. In the world to come we will all be given new bodies that don’t age or deteriorate (1 Cor. 15:35-58), we will know even as we are known (1 Cor. 13:9-12), there will be rewards for faithful service (1 Cor. 3:5-15), and we will reign with Christ forever (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 22:1-5).

Those believers with an eternal value system will have a pilgrim’s mentality. They will view this life as temporary, a brief interlude on the way to eternity forever with Jesus. They are only passing through this world on the way to a better life. The time given for this temporal life will be used for God’s glory, always with the eternal end in view. Decisions in this life will reflect the reality of the eternal life we await.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

Jesus reminds us that where our treasure is, there our heart will be (Matthew 6:21).  Where’s your treasure?  Where’s your heart?

Posted in #2 BE - Who a Leader Is and tagged , , , , , , , ,

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →