Servant-leadership-KNOW Yourself: Worldview

This, the third leg of the “Knowing Yourself Stool,” expresses your integration of your belief system (purpose – a vertical relationship, so to speak, with your God) with your ethical system (the horizontal relationships with others) into a systematic process of understanding the past, interpreting the present and thinking about the future – teleology.

The literature on the theory and practice of leadership has been around a long time. From Plutarch’s Lives, to more modern writers, a body of literature has developed about the ways leaders must think and behave to motivate followers - each writer offering valid ideas and processes on leadership. Studies have emerged from many disparate disciplines that have shaped and augmented the literature. Each writer, some intentionally, many without intention, has reflected a particular worldview.

One’s worldview consists of at least three attributes, (with thanks to Nancy Pearcey, writing in Total Truth for this model) it:

• Assumes something about origins (fundamentally either matter or spirit - first cause - is eternal);
• Defines the problems that beset the human being (at the core it’s either sin, or some evolved set of environmental/societal drivers); and finally,
• Ultimately offers a solution to the human condition.

Our view of these three attributes determines our views about intentions of individual behavior, behavior – the acting out of those intentions, and impact humans have on each other and the role that leaders and followers play in that dance of interaction.

Some questions to consider include:

• How do you view the worlds of scared and secular? Are they interrelated or separated by a “divide” that thinking humans do not cross?

• How do you incorporate your belief system into your mental models of how the world operates – the dynamics of human interaction?
• How do you connect your perceptions (assumptions) with reality (what your senses communicate)?
• How do you connect your purpose with your principles in a pattern of thought that will position you in the mind of those with whom you interact?

Are you leading from your core of “getting stuff done” that separates work, from play, from home, from faith, or are you leading from an integrated core that maintains that one is the same in each instance, expressing a different focus, but not a different person?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Servant-leadership – KNOW Yourself: Ethics

Imagine visiting an African game preserve. Hot. Sometimes windy. Often oppressively still. There, you are introduced by your guide to the Wildebeest or Gnu – a species of the Antelope - with horns sloping forward, its head looks very much like an ox, a mane like a horse, and a long tail. These strange looking creatures run in huge herds, creating a tremendous roar as they soar across the African plains.

From time to time, you may catch a glimpse of a carcass of the Wildebeest lying on the parched African earth, stripped of most of its flesh. Ask any guide, “What happened?” and you will learn that one strayed from the head and became a lion’s meal. The lions are watching carefully, always looking for that one or two that will stray from the pack.

Christian business leader, you and I face a “roaring lion” whose aim is to devour us. We are in a war! A battle for our foundational beliefs. Our understanding of eternal purpose. Our values. Our ethical framework

Many unprepared “Christians” in the business community are losing battles fought in the trenches of practical business decisions. Distracted – Dismayed – Discouraged – they have strayed from the herd.

The herd, in this case, may simply be a shared values system: sharing made more difficult now by three things: the assimilation of diverse cultures who have NOT become part of the “melting pot” that once defined being “American;” the eroding of the family and marriage; and the use and glorification of situational ethics promoted by the entertainment media. More and more pressure is put on the “grounded” businessperson to become shaped by this new pluralistic, postmodern culture - rather than shaping it.

As a leader, have you wrestled with questions like:

• Where are your values and ethics derived?

• What principles are non-negotiable and drive you?
  
  
• What is the ethical basis for your beliefs about:
  
  • How you treat other people?
  • The source and importance of truth?
  • The role of your obligations – are they binding or can they be changed?
    

Where does the business leader find his value system? There is an answer. I’ll explore that in a later blog.

Are you shaping your team, organization or company’s culture? Or are you being shaped?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Servant-Leadership - KNOW Yourself: Purpose

On your journey to becoming a better leader, especially moving along the path to mastering servant-leadership, understanding your purpose is vital and demands of you some powerful introspection. The fundamental question is: how can you lead anyone if you don’t really know where you are going?

Do you know why you are here on earth? Is your life, like all lives, ultimately an expression of random chance? Or were you created for meaning and purpose?

Where are you headed – ultimately? When you’re dead, you are just dead, right? Or do your choices in this life have a meaning that has eternal implications?

Does your life have meaning that is not just self-centered? Is it all about you? Are you just a mass of chemicals that evolution somehow connected that give birth to your body, mind and spirit? Do you believe that God created humans in His image and made humans “living spirits” – beings that are eternal?

What is your understanding about God? Is He the great “watch-maker” who wound it all up and has just “walked away” and let the watch run its course? Do you think that evolution really did happen but God interrupted it (in some mysterious way) to make humans special? Is God’s revelation accurate – does He exercise sovereign control over his revelation to humans (the Holy Bible) or is he playing with us, fooling us, and ultimately deceiving us? Did the Creator God make us in his image, came to us as human, died for our sin, conquered death for us so that we can be born one more time, this time in righteousness allowing us to live in the presence of a perfect God?

Is your chief purpose to glorify God and enjoy Him forever? Or is that just some religious point of view that is OK for some, but not for everybody?

How you answer these questions lays the foundation for your leadership style. Do be confused by the Zen approach to purpose – sure, humans can conquer fears, find meaning, even in suffering, and choose to be positive in the face of ugly circumstances. Good stuff – all of it. The question still remains, “so what?” What does it all matter if you gain the whole world – conquer fear, display sadness, give yourself to the poor and needy - but lose your soul?

Does your purpose have eternity in mind?


Copyright © 2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Led to Lead

Proverbs 20:24 (NIV) A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

For the Christian Leader, this may be a “Well, Duh!” verse. Of course! Really? Interesting conundrum here: we have a responsibility to think and act; but in our doing so, we never contradict God’s sovereignty.

As one moves through management and into leadership, bosses, processes or initiatives, which seem to be outside the spiritual realm, most often direct steps. This verse is one of those very tough leadership verses for we supposedly “know the way.”

You’re the leader: Strategy has been formulated. Implementation is in process. The vision is shared. The team is focused on the mission. Actions are shaped by the core values. You inspire and motive. You lead. But it’s not autonomous.

The key here is that this verse is PERSONAL – it's our individual steps that God controls. He works in all things – our bad decisions as well as our good ones – for His glory and purpose.

Scripture makes it clear: to lead, we must first be willing to be led, which demands of us a constant dependence on God. When I stop depending on Him and just venture out with a “Griff-generated-thing,” it most often results in being all about me. Not good. That’s “walking by sight” – not by faith.

Are you joining God, in prayer and by faith, to direct your “steps” – even at work?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Countering Gossip at Work

Proverbs 18:8 (MSG) Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you really want junk like that in your belly?

The internal politics of an organization can damage an otherwise healthy culture. Conflicting views of business strategy, for example, often yield pettiness, personal attacks and the politics of the destruction. Leaders, in both “sacred” and “secular” organizations, must deal with the human tendency to devour gossip.

When leaders allow the team to eat the cheap candy of gossip, the work environment becomes charged with negative energy that discourages at best and destroys at worst. Consequently, people loose faith in the leadership, and even good ideas for solving business problems are viewed skeptically.

When Adam and Eve realized “they were naked…and hid themselves,” we humans have developed a lust to expose the nakedness of others by telling stories that tear down the character of the person, or build ourselves up. The sinful result of having the “knowledge of good and evil” is judgmental behavior – gossip being one expression of it.

Leader, here are some tips to handle office gossip:

• Make certain you are not providing cheap candy to those with a “sweet tooth.”
• When making tough business decisions, collaborate effectively.
• Air conflicting strategic views.
• Ask hard questions, without demeaning, that demand critical thinking.
• Then, after a path is chosen, ask each team member how he or she will help motivate and inspire people to follow the direction just set.
• If team members cannot get behind the decision after this process, they don’t belong on the team. It’s a cliché, but applies: there is no “i” in team.

Most importantly, gossip is a spiritual battle; therefore be sure that you fight it with spiritual weapons – or you will loose.

Are you armed correctly to fight spiritual battles, like gossip, at work?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Positive, Persuasive Leadership

Proverbs 16:21 (NAS) The wise in heart will be called understanding, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.

Definitions of leadership include words like influence, persuasion and motivation, i.e. the ability to inspire others to do what they normally may not consider doing.

Those writing about leadership agree that the simplest definition of a leader is a person who has followers. Street gangs have leaders. Criminal organizations have leaders. Organizations of followers have a leader. Right. Our focus then, is not about leadership, per se; it is about the right kind of leadership.

Wise leadership develops from other-centeredness that flows from a commitment to purpose greater than self; an ethical framework that cares about others first; and a view of the world that recognize individual lives have meaning.

Leadership is about - heart. Motives are changed. Perspectives are different. The intent of this heart yields “sweetness of speech” that increases impact – speech that motives, inspires and transforms listeners from hearers to "heeders."

Transformational leaders are first committed followers. When your heart is in sync with God’s heart, your persuasiveness takes on a winsomeness that results in mobilized action in your followers.

Do you want willing, motivated, and committed followers? Start with your heart.


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Understanding Essential Issues

Proverbs 13:15-16 [PGL] Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the social deceiver whose conscious is warped does not endure. The prudent acts with knowledge, but the fool lays open his foolishness.

There are many expectations followers have about their leaders: one in particular is the leader’s ability to “understand.” A well-rounded leader wins the favor of followers by faithfully communicating, “they get it.”

This is a leader who has learned to both manage complexity well and lead clearly through the tensions inherent in the structural conflicts involved in change. Careful! Success here can lead to personal hubris. The “prudent” remembers that it is their Creator who has equipped them, not they, themselves.

Effective leaders understand that the tension between continuity and change is perceived differently by each follower and is based on how each were “hard wired.” The aware leader can inspire and motivate in a way that “wins favor” because this leader recognizes the communication style that will get through and get action for each member of the team. Jesus employed different approaches based upon the listener to whom he was speaking. Shouldn’t we?

Those practicing manipulative management and self-serving leadership have become slaves to their own ego. They are fools. The music of life is not in the baton of the maestro, but in the musicians in the orchestra.

The prudent leader with good understanding is the maestro we favor. The score of the music is the common purpose. The musicians’ take personal responsibility for fulfilling their portion of the purpose. Remember, tuning the orchestra does not produce pleasant music, but is necessary. The music begins when the conductor, with a clear understanding of each musician’s role, and knowledge of the author’s intent with the piece, raises the baton to start the music.

Are you a maestro trying to be an orchestra?
Do you know the “author’s intent” in the score of life and it’s expression at work?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

LOVING DISCIPLINE

Proverbs 12: 1 (AMP) Whoever loves instruction and correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is like a brute beast, stupid and indiscriminating.

Controlling self is a critical stage in learning how to lead: Discipline; Determination to change your approaches and responses to behavior yielding different results. I’m reminded of what M. Scott Peck said in his book The Road Less Traveled, “without discipline we can solve nothing.”

To put this verse more simply – “to learn, you must have discipline (NLT).” To grow personally as a leader, it demands of you not only self discipline, but also the “discipline” from others: both have the power to shape your work and your life to better pursue the direction needed to create positive change.

But note also what this word of wisdom from Proverbs tells us: we are not to tolerate discipline. Not deal with it. Not accept it. Love it. Leaders learn that every action taken is a learning experience: they see it as producing a result- not as success or failure, per se. That’s the attitude of loving discipline. Learn from the results you produce.

If you don’t like the results, change what you are doing – don’t be a “brute beast, stupid and indiscriminating.” Learn. Change. Grow.

Have you developed the attitude needed to learn from discipline?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Integrity - A Core of Servant-Leadership

Proverbs 11:3 (AMP) The integrity of the upright [righteous] shall guide them, but the willful contrariness and crookedness of the treacherous shall destroy them.

“Integrity,” here meaning not only complete, but also ethical straightness and perfection, is from a Hebrew word used only in this verse in Proverbs and four times in the book of Job - notably when God challenged Satan that Job would continue to “hold fast his integrity,” and Job’s wife challenged him by asking, “Do you still cling to your integrity? Curse God and die.”

Leaders who are driven by integrity make a difference – they are the ones who manage change well. Completeness I believe, has at its core an obligation of each leader to “know self” and this is a journey of three, interconnected phases:

Understanding Purpose:

• Do you know why you are here?
• What is your purpose? Have your written your personal vision statement?
• Why were you created?

Establishing Personal Ethics:

• What are the guidelines that direct your intentions and behavior? Do you have a list of words that you hold fast and dear?
• Do you believe that personal truthfulness, accountability and respect for the individual are without variation even in the face of changing circumstances?
• Have you written your core beliefs? Do you read them?

Developing a Worldview

• Why are humans on earth? How did we get here? Have you thought this through in a way that will help you motivate, inspire and challenge followers?
• What is the human condition? Are we just blank slates imprinted by environment and DNA? Are all humans sinners?
• What is the answer - the solution - to the human condition? Is our salvation a good education? Riches? Government? The Lord Jesus Christ?

Job apparently wrestled well with these questions. Even in the midst of horrific circumstance, he knew who he was, what guided him and how that fit into his worldview. He was an authentic leader.

Who and what guide you?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

A Leader's Words Give Life

Proverbs 10:11a (NKJV) The mouth of the righteous is a well of life…

All sorts of people can inspire, motivate to bring about change. Sometimes, the oasis of hoped for change is just a desert illusion.

Not so with a righteous leader: this person draws from a well of “living water” and motivates people to move (change) quenching their thirst with “the healing water” from the Giver of Life.

According to John P, Kotter, (Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management), a leader sets the direction, aligns the key factors that will yield success, motivates and inspires and produces positive change. To do these things, words take on great power. If a leader’s words are colored by discouragement, hesitancy based on current circumstances and an almost fatalistic recognition of present conditions, motivation is lost. Followers are not inspired. There is no joy for the words are not drawn from the “well of life.”

Yes, in the year 2009, we are going thru economic hardship – some of us. Not all. There are still “winners” in the stock market. Some businesses are counter-cyclic.

Regardless of your season, the personal focus must be on how the Lord is showing up even if we are in the “winter of our discontent.” Christian leaders must first communicate joy - because the “joy of the Lord is your strength.” Effective leaders speak first of what is going well (in a church or ministry context, it would be a conversation about God’s goodness) before s/he communicates the trials that must be faced and overcome. We can only truly motivate and inspire when we draw first from the “well of life.”

Leader: do your words result in joy, hope and inspiration to bring about positive change?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Building a Life of Significance

Proverbs 9: 1, 10 (MSG) 1Lady Wisdom has built and furnished her home... 10Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-GOD, insight into life from knowing a Holy God.

A special house has been built for Believers and it should be enough - but many times, we spend time looking out the window at other buildings that seem bigger, better, bolder.

The world does this as their practice of living. Never content. Always wanting more.

Building, per se, is not wrong, misguided or to be ignored. Leaders are often called "to build." Building a meaningful, significant life is important. That's building to the model of Wisdom's house. Skilled living - that’s the key.

Christian business leaders have the opportunity to demonstrate what God can do with a business wholly committed to him -- one that thrives, grows and is profitable - an enterprise run for His glory. Dickens would not have had much material to use if Christians, at the time his novels were placed, were committed to running Christ-enabled businesses.

Building a businesses, or simple building a life, God's way should be better - the leader more skilled at living because she/he isn’t trying to build a house on a foundation of the shifting sands of relative values.. We are called to build lives of significance at home, at work, at play - and success in this arena is measured by how well we walk down the path of skilled living.

Are you walking on the path that leads to the house Wisdom has built?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Following Jesus

Guest Blog: Aaron Potratz

Servants and Leaders


A few weeks ago I was listening to a Christian radio station, and one of the DJ’s was talking about servant-leadership. What he said struck me and I’ve not been able to let it out of my mind ever since. He said that there are so many books out there on servant-leadership, but very few people write about simply being a servant – which is what Jesus said He came to be in Mark 10: 43-45.

To be sure, I did an Amazon.com search on several keywords or phrases such as “servant leader,” “leadership,” “servant,” and “be a servant.” Here’s what I found:

· Most of the books on servant-leadership were newer books, written/published within the past 10 years or so
· Many servant-leadership book titles tended to focus on leading others through being a servant
· Books on servanthood or being a servant were generally much older and tended to be heart-focused or on developing godly characteristics
· There were many books in the “servant” search category that also included the term “leadership”

Who cares about book titles on Amazon and what does all of this matter anyway?

The point is that when we focus on leadership and greatness like the disciples did (Mark 9:34, Mark 10: 35-37, and Luke 22:24), we lose sight of what God has called us to.

Our culture is rich with messages telling us that leadership is desirable and a sign of success. Leadership itself is not a bad thing, it can be a good thing, but it is not the best thing according to Jesus. True greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven and discipleship is comprised of humble and loving service. We should be setting our sights on meeting the needs of others through service, sacrifice, and humility. In this way, we edify and exhort others while glorifying God’s name.

This is to be our primary concern, even above leading others because when it is reversed, it becomes too easy to get caught in the snares of self-glory and pride. However, when our own desires become second to the needs of others, those sinful tendencies become exposed and refined in the fire.

So what do you desire?

If you follow Jesus, your answer is to “be slave of all,” (Mark 10:44). Make being a servant your heart’s true passion and let God do the leading; He is more qualified and more experienced anyway.

Copyright ©2009 by Aaron Potratz

An Absolute for Leaders

Proverbs 5:1-2 (NIV) My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.

Whom you look to for wisdom when leading your team, your small business, your ministry determines – well, everything. Your understanding of personal purpose, your core values and your worldview all merge at this intersection.

Biblical business ethics adheres to the underlying principle that there is absolute, foundational truth upon which you must build your thought life and behavior. Solomon of old never assumed that truth was relative and that morality was a function of personal choice: his worldview drove his proverbs.

Finding and assimilating Godly Wisdom drives two actions: first, that your view of others will not be self-serving (maintain discretion); two, what you say actually builds the continuity of useful knowledge (your lips may preserve knowledge).

Leadership that honors others and builds a legacy begins at the source. Pay attention to what God teaches first then you’ll be better able to understand and avoid the situational, shifting ethics of man.


Who is your source for wisdom: mankind or God?


Copyright © 2009 P. Griffith Lindell

Leadership Fundamentals

Prov. 2:2 (NAS) Make your ear attentive to wisdom; incline your heart to understanding; 2:9 (NKJV) Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.


Business schools demand certain perquisites to take advanced classes. Those “fundamental” classes lay the foundation for the deeper thinking required.

So also, Biblical Leaders have foundational classes; not only are we to “tune into” wisdom, we are to apply wholeheartedly what we have learned – it is an action consisting both of reason (thinking) and will (behavior). Inclining [our] heart goes to our purpose – why we were created. If the "chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," we start that journey by acknowledging we need to first learn wisdom from our Creator.

The result? Effective and Godly leaders will develop an understanding of the impact of four attributes that shape leadership.

• Righteousness – here meaning conformity to an ethical standard. Word most often used in reference to judges who, looking at the law (standard), rule without partiality. Leaders have an ethical standard that is absolute and grounded and does not shif depending on the situation.
• Judgment – here emphasizing the application of the standard, even in a state of ambiguity. Ethics is lived out in the real world where all things are not black and white: it is one of the ramifications of eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It’s tough out there. Our ego will often cloud our judgment – at least that’s been my experience. I, too often, make decisions based on what Griff thinks – not what God thinks. Conforming to the image of Christ is an every day commitment of will.
• Equity – here used in a clear legal context means simply level or straight. The drive to “know ourselves” (wisdom) gives birth to behaving in a way that is “true.” I understand the difficulty here: one can have the best intentions: behavior, however, is what makes the impact. Can’t be a “straight-shooter” unless the heart is plumb, level and straight. That takes lifelong work.
• Knowing every good path. Every. Catch that. Take it from one who has stumbled along. Fallen often. “Every” is a tough standard. Interesting that this word for “good” has a practical meaning – economic benefit. I’m sure that “a good path” was presented as an option that I choose to ignore. It’s that “heart” thing again. One must will to choose the good path. Every time.

Have you taken your fundamental classes yet? Need a refresher course. I know I do.

Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell