LEADING…TODAY – not TOMORROW

Proverbs 27:1 (MSG) Don't brashly announce what you're going to do tomorrow; you don't know the first thing about tomorrow.

I was having calendar problems today. Syncing this one with that one and getting too many duplicate meetings between them. Got me thinking about leading and “tomorrows.”

Influencing others is a today thing – can’t put that off for tomorrow. I remember getting so focused on today’s tasks, that the people needing positive influence (nurture, direction, encouragement, care) were placed in the tomorrow slot. As if I would know that I would be there tomorrow to provide that leading. That brashness may not have been verbally announced, but it was part of my thinking. God-like. Knowing tomorrow would be there for me. For them.

Good leadership is about being present. Aware of and taking care of the people and problems - today. You, and they, may not have tomorrow.

Sure, planning is important. So is scheduling properly. That’s not the issue: tomorrow is about attitude. We either have the “I’m in charge” attitude or the “God is in charge” attitude. Which one we adopt shapes how we think about today. And tomorrow.

Got the right attitude?



Copyright ©2010 by P. Griffith Lindell

Leaders Are Always Learning

Proverbs 1:5 (NASB) A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel…

Life-long learning is an attribute of leadership – especially of those seeking to hone their skills as a servant-leader.

From recorded history, wisdom has been institutionalized, and with good reason. The wise were about sharing, training and producing wise people. We learn from history. We learn from the imbued wisdom of intact teams who have been with an organization for years.

Leadership foresight is an attribute of Greenleaf’s servant-leader and is the result the synergy between the lessons of the past and the realities of the present. These are connected in such a way that the potentials for both intended and unintended consequences in the future represent the right thinking at the right time and in the right manner.

Note the parallel construction in the second phrase in Pr 1:5 The word counsel is used only in Proverbs and Job and means to guide, and direct with the attributes of right thinking and experience in decision making.

Increase in learning. Acquiring counsel. Are you a life-long learner?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Leaders Are Aware

Proverbs 22:3 (MSG) A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.

Foresight is one of the characteristics of leadership, and is especially focused upon in the literature about servant-leaders.

Beyond the simple thought of seeing “trouble coming” and avoiding it, is the deeper realization that developing the awareness to integrate information that is flowing toward and around you into knowledge is a product of maturing wisdom.

Information alone is not a building block of “prudence;” rather, it is a clear understanding of past events, the objective look at current reality and an educated estimation of the intended and unintended consequences of what one “sees…coming” that are the hallmarks of prudent leadership.

Leaders are constantly moving between time states and it is the prudent (wise) leader that understands the past, respects the present and practices humility to face the future – especially a future over which the leader has no personal control.

The authentic leader is comfortable with that ambiguity – the servant who is a leader (the real power of servant-leadership) has the ability to make sense of the chaos of the “trouble coming” and the personal character and breadth of vision to respond appropriately for the benefit of the organization and the team. Forecasts are important: foresight adds insight and is vital.

Leadership awareness: are you taking the time to develop the skill of foresight?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell