THE LEADERSHIP DISCOVERY

Genesis chapter 1




Today we are walking in: The Hidden Leader In You (The Leadership Discovery)






Today we look to the word-LEADER- H5057 nagiyd-- leader, ruler, captain, prince; excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.



The Torah Testifies.............................

*****






The prophets proclaim...............



Isaiah 55:4 - Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader H5057 and commander to the people.








The writings bear witness.............



2Chronicles 32:21 - And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders H5057 and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword



Part One: The Leadership Discovery


CHAPTER ONE The Hidden Leader in You


Trapped within every follower is an undiscovered leader.
An army of sheep led by a lion will always defeat an army of lions led by a sheep. This statement cap- tures the spirit of this book. This concept became real to me during one of my trips to the continent of the cradle of humanity, Africa. It was there, deep in the village lands of the African bush, that I heard a story that encapsu- lated what I have come to understand as the missing link in the leadership development process.


It was a sunny but cool day in the bustling, modern city of Harare, the capital of the southern African nation of Zimbabwe. I had just finished speaking in the conference center of the Harare Hilton to over 5,000 leaders. As the guest of one of the largest community organizations in the nation, I had been invited to provide leadership training and motivational sessions for aspiring and seasoned leaders. This was our last session after over seven days of presentations. At the end of the session, my host asked if I would consider going to another town to speak to an additional group of leaders who had asked if I would come to them.


I gladly consented, and arrangements were made for my driver—who also served as my interpreter—and me to leave at first light the next morning.
We started out at six o’clock, and after driving for almost two hours, we finally left the modern city lights and were greeted by unpaved roads, dusty villages, and dense green forests. Just when I thought we were about to arrive, my driver indicated that we still had another two hours to go before we arrived at our village destination.


Suddenly, I realized that we were headed for a safari experience. After another bumpy two hours through what seemed to be jungle, we finally entered a clearing. There stood a group of children who suddenly broke into wild, excited chanting, as if they had just experienced the end of a long anticipation.


As we came to a noisy stop, a group of happy men emerged from a large thatched hut. They were led by a gentle man wearing a welcoming smile and simple clothing. We embraced, and he invited me in to the grass-roofed building in which over three hundred men and women sat eagerly waiting for us to begin the teaching session. I was deeply humbled by the hunger and patience of these beau- tiful people, and I gave them my best. It was a joy to be so well received.


After the session, the chief of the village invited me to a special dinner in my honor where I was treated to cuisines traditional to village life and culture—some familiar to me and some not. It was during this meal that the chief told me the story that taught me a lesson in leadership I will never forget.


A LION AMONG SHEEP


There was once a farmer who lived in this village and also was a herder of sheep. One day, he took his sheep out to pasture, and while they were grazing, he suddenly heard a strange noise coming from a patch of grass, which first sounded like a kitten. Led by his curiosity, the old shepherd went to see what was the source of this insistent sound, and to his surprise, he found a lone shivering lion cub, obviously separated from his family. His first thought was the danger he would be in if he stayed too close to the cub and his parents returned. So the old man quickly left the area and watched from a distance to see if the mother lion or the pack would return. However, after the sun began to set, and there was still no activity to secure the lion cub, the shepherd decided that, in his best judgment, and for the safety and survival of the lion cub, he would take him to his farmhouse and care for him.


Over the next eight months, the shepherd hand-fed this cub with fresh milk and kept him warm, safe, and secure in the protective confines of the farmhouse. After the cub had grown into a playful, energetic ball of shiny muscle, he would take him out daily with the sheep to graze. The lion cub grew with the sheep and became a part of the herd. They accepted him as one of their own, and he acted like one of them. After fifteen months had passed, the little cub had become an adolescent lion, but he acted, sounded, responded, and behaved just like one of the sheep. In essence, the lion had become a sheep by association. He had lost himself and become one of them.


One hot day, four years later, the shepherd sat on a rock, taking refuge in the slight shade of a leafless tree. He watched over his flock as they waded into the quiet, flowing water of a river to drink. The lion who thought he was a sheep followed them in to the water to drink. Suddenly, just across the river, there appeared out of the thick jungle bush a large beast that the lion cub had never seen before. The sheep panicked and, as if under the spell of some survival instinct, leaped out of the water and dashed toward the direction of the farm. They never stopped until they were all safely huddled behind the fence of the pen. Strangely, the lion cub, who was now a grown lion, was also huddled with them, stricken with fear.


While the flock scrambled for the safety of the farm, the beast made a sound that seemed to shake the forest. When he lifted his head above the tall grass, the shepherd could see that he held in his blood-drenched mouth the lifeless body of a lamb from the flock. The man knew that danger had returned to his part of the forest.


Seven days passed without further incident, and then, while the flock grazed, the young lion went down to the river to drink. As he bent over the water, he suddenly panicked and ran wildly toward the farmhouse for safety. The sheep did not run and wondered why he had, while the lion wondered why the sheep had not run since he had seen the beast again. After a while, the young lion went slowly back to the flock and then to the water to drink again. Once more, he saw the beast and froze in panic. It was his own reflection in the water.


While he tried to understand what he was seeing, suddenly, the beast appeared out of the jungle again. The flock dashed with breakneck speed toward the farmhouse, but before the young lion could move, the beast stepped in the water toward him and made that deafening sound that filled the forest. For a moment, the young lion felt that his life was about to end. He realized that he saw not just one beast, but two—one in the water and one before him.


His head was spinning with confusion as the beast came within ten feet of him and growled at him face-to-face with frightening power in a way that seemed to say to him, “Try it, and come and follow me.”


As fear gripped the young lion, he decided to try to appease the beast and make the same sound. However, the only noise that came from his gaping jaws was the sound of a sheep. The beast responded with an even louder burst that seemed to say, “Try it again.” After seven or eight attempts, the young lion suddenly heard himself make the same sound as the beast. He also felt stir- rings in his body and feelings that he had never known before. It was as if he was experiencing a total transformation in mind, body, and spirit.


Suddenly, there stood in the river of life two beasts growling at and to each other. Then the shepherd saw something he would never forget. As the beastly sounds filled the forest for miles around, the big beast stopped, turned his back on the young lion, and started toward the forest. Then he paused and looked at the young lion one more time and growled, as if to say, “Are you coming?” The young lion knew what the gesture meant and suddenly realized that his day of decision had arrived—the day he would have to choose whether to continue to live life as a sheep or to be the self he had just discovered. He knew that, to become his true self, he would have to give up the safe, secure, predictable, and simple life of the farm and enter the frightening, wild, untamed, unpredictable, dangerous life of the jungle. It was a day to become true to himself and leave the false image of another life behind. It was an invitation to a “sheep” to become the king of the jungle. Most importantly, it was an invitation for the body of a lion to possess the spirit of a lion.


After looking back and forth at the farm and the jungle a few times, the young lion turned his back on the farm and the sheep with whom he had lived for years, and he followed the beast into the forest to become who he always had been—a lion king.


As I sat there listening to this fantastic story, I was engulfed by the revelation of the deep principles it commu- nicated relating to leaders, leadership, and the critical pro- cess involved in discovering and becoming your true self. I went away from that village with a deeper understanding of why it is so difficult for many individuals to make that transition across the river to their true selves. I suddenly under- stood that lasting change could occur only when it took place in the spirit of the mind. Without this metamorphosis, no amount of training, study, or education could transform a follower into a leader. In essence, a converted attitude is the key to a transformed life. Until this attitude change happens, the lion will still think, act, respond, and live like a sheep instead of the king of the jungle.


A DECISION AFFECTING THE FUTURE


Just as the young lion’s genuine growl revealed his inherent strength, you can release the inherent leader- ship strength within you when you come to understand your true self. Just as the young lion watched the beast walking away and knew that he had to make a decision about his future, you have a choice to make about your own future.


Just as the young lion looked back at the farm where the sheep were and then looked toward the forest where the lion was heading, you have to evaluate your past and your potential and step toward one or the other. Just as the young lion knew that, to become his true self, he would have to give up the safe, secure, predictable, and simple life of the farm and enter the frightening, wild, untamed, unpredictable, dangerous life of the jungle, you will have to leave the safe confines of being a follower if you are going to become a leader.


Just as the young lion turned his back on the farm, crossed the river, and walked into the forest—leaving behind his old life as a sheep and embarking on the life he was born to live—so this book is designed to challenge you to cross your own river of intimidation and fear and enter the forest of the spirit of leadership, which you were created to manifest.


As one who has had to cross that river myself, my desire is to be a catalyst, like the beast, roaring an invita- tion into your life and heart and hopefully helping you to enter the adventure of discovering and releasing the leadership spirit within you.


THE POWER OF ATTITUDE


There is nothing as powerful as attitude. Attitude dictates your response to the present and determines the quality of your future. You are your attitude, and your attitude is you. If you do not control your attitude, it will control you.
Attitude creates your world and designs your destiny. It determines your success or failure in any venture in life. More opportunities have been lost, withheld, and forfeited because of attitude than from any other cause. Attitude is a more powerful distinction in life than beauty, power, title, or social status. It is more important than wealth—and it can keep one poor. It is the servant that can open the doors of life or close the gates of possibil- ity. It can make beauty ugly and homeliness attractive. The distinguishing factor between a winner or a loser is attitude. The difference between a leader and a follower is attitude.


What is attitude? We will discuss this topic in detail in coming chapters, but for now let me simply define attitude as “the mind-set or mental conditioning that determines our interpretation of and response to our environments.” It’s our way of thinking. It is also important to understand that attitude is a natural product of the integration of our self-worth, self-concepts, self-esteem, and sense of value or significance. In essence, your attitude is the manifesta- tion of who you think you are. Leaders think differently
about themselves, and this distinguishes them from followers.


The story of the lion and the sheep demonstrates the power of attitude. We live our attitudes and our attitudes create our lives. The difference between the attitudes of a lion and a sheep determines their place in the scheme of the animal kingdom. Perhaps that is why the Creator, as recorded in the books of the Hebrew writer Moses and other biblical writers, identifies himself with the unique tempera- ments or natures of certain animals.
We live our lives based on who we think we are.


According to the illustration, if you believe in your heart that you are a sheep, then you will stay in the confines that others have placed you in or that you have made for your- self. If you think that you are a lion, then you will venture beyond manmade limitations and embark on the life of leadership that you were born to live. You will develop into someone who inspires and influences others within your inherent domain.


No amount of training in leadership skills, courses in management methods, power titles, promotions, or associa- tions can substitute for the right attitudes. I am convinced that all the money in the world may make you rich, but it can never make you a leader. Your leadership development is determined by your perceptions of who you are and why you exist—in other words, your sense of significance to life.


DESIGNED TO LEAD OUR ENVIRONMENTS


This point is fundamental to understanding our lead- ership potential and capacity as humans. Therefore, let me offer you a somewhat technical definition of our reason for living. It is my firm belief that the nature of each human being is to be in control of his environment and circumstances. Each of us was created to rule, govern, control, master, manage, and lead our environments. You are in essence a leader, no matter who you are, regardless of whether you manifest it or not. Whether you are rich, poor, young, old, male, female, black, white, a citizen of an industrialized nation, a citizen of a third-world nation, educated, or uneducated—you have the nature and capacity for leadership. Yet you can fulfill your inherent leadership potential only when you discover, understand, develop, and begin to exercise who you are designed to be and the nature of your true leadership potential.


It doesn’t matter whether you are the CEO of a large corporation, a teacher, a homemaker, the owner of a small business, a construction worker, an artist, a clerk, a govern- ment worker, a farmer, a student, a doctor, or any other voca- tion or position in life: The self-discovery of your inherent leadership potential and an understanding of who you are and what you are meant to be are the keys to fulfilling your purpose for existence as a leader.


Title, position, power, notoriety, fame, or family name cannot make you a true leader. For example, you can hire someone as a manager in a company. You can give him a title, a budget, a desk, a staff, and everything else. But then suppose he doesn’t take initiative. He doesn’t try to solve problems by himself, seek better ways of performing tasks or improving systems, or understand that part of man- agement is pushing the boundaries and exploring new concepts and ideas. He just does as he’s told and doesn’t disturb policy or challenge old, outdated methods. That’s not leadership.


In essence, there are some unique attitudes of leaders that distinguish them from followers, and these attitudes produce certain behaviors that stretch the leader beyond the limitations of the norm. It is these attitudes that we will explore and call the “spirit of leadership.” Therefore, being in the position of a follower doesn’t negate your inherent leadership potential. Knowing and cultivating certain atti- tudes about yourself will give you the mind-set you need to develop your leadership potential to the fullest and fulfill what you were born to do.


A NATURAL INSTINCT FOR LEADERSHIP


Though we often don’t recognize it for what it is, every human on this planet has a natural inclination for leader- ship, in one form or another. As birds have an instinct to fly and fish have an instinct to swim, humans have an instinct to be in control of their lives, circumstances, decisions, or environments. When we aren’t in control, we want to be.


Perhaps this is why the natural human instinct or response is frustration, depression, discomfort, or even psychological and physical illness when we are under the control of creditors, banking institutions, or even friends to whom we have obligations. It is because our circumstances are dominating us, and our spiritual, psychological, and physical natures were not designed to live under these conditions.We were not designed to be dominated. When we are not in charge of our lives, we feel bound and restricted. For example, if you have a thirty-year mortgage on your home, you don’t feel free until you pay it off. Even though you’re enjoying your house, there’s a voice in the back of your mind saying, “But it’s still theirs. It belongs to them for as long as they’ve got that paper.”


On the other hand, why do you experience relief and contentment when all your bills are paid? When you get a bonus and it covers all your debts and you don’t owe anyone anything, all of a sudden, you get a smile on your face. You want to say hello to everybody you meet. Am I right? When all your needs are met, you feel as if you’re walking on top of the world. That’s because you are experiencing what you were born for. You were designed to be able to manage your environment.


Many people want to make a lot of money, but it’s usually not because they want the money itself. The fundamental desire for wealth is motivated by the desire for power— power to dominate and control lifestyle, circumstances, and environment. It’s the power that money gives us that makes us pursue it. Every human naturally wants to control his life, and money or wealth seems to promise this power of control. We are after the feeling or sense of dominion that we get from the ability to buy what we want, live where we wish, eat what we desire, wear what we fancy, and go wherever we decide to. It is the power over circumstances and, in some cases, over people, that we seek.


This desire to have control over our lives explains many of the problems in our world. For instance, why does a young teenage boy get a gun, walk in to a store, and say, “Everybody hit the ground!” Imagine that you’re in the middle of such a situation. Suppose that the boy is thirteen years old and you’re thirty-four; he’s 5 feet tall, and you’re 6 feet. You know that you’re physically stronger than he is. But since he has the advantage of a dangerous weapon that threatens your life, you have to cooperate with his commands. For one brief moment, that young man feels what he was born to feel—what is called a “rush.” It is a strange sense of power, control, and invincibility.


Our society puts a young man like this in a juvenile detention center, and he does his time and comes back out. But he remembers that feeling and is haunted by the temptation to repeat the act. I believe that this is more than a psychological issue. It involves that deep spiritual desire in the nature of man to dominate his environment. It’s tied to how he feels about himself. I’m convinced that the desire for power over others is a distortion of something good; it’s a distortion of our inherent human desire to exercise leader- ship dominion.


LEADERSHIP AND OUR BELIEFS ABOUT ORIGIN


Where do most of our attitudes about leadership come from? Whether you think you are a leader or not, your ideas about leadership are probably a conditioned response.


Generally, we have been taught that leadership is reserved for an exclusive group of people who were handpicked by destiny to control, rule, and subordinate the masses. I want to demonstrate to you that, contrary to popular opinion, leadership is not an elite club for a certain few. It is the true essence of all human beings.


I have found that people’s concepts of their origin often influence the way they think about themselves, including their ideas about their leadership potential. In our world, there are two major theories about origin: evolution and creation. There are several variations to evolutionary theory, but many evolutionists believe that the universe was formed as a result of an explosion of energy. This is known as the big bang theory. Over millions of years, microscopic life developed on earth, out of which came animal species that mutated, with the stronger species winning out over the weaker ones in a survival of the fittest. At this point in our history, human beings are the most advanced of the species.


According to this theory, humans are, at their essence, sophisticated amoebas. There is no specific purpose for life— it exists merely as a result of forces of nature. This theory also supports the idea that those who are stronger—physically, intellectually, or creatively—are destined to lead and control others, while the rest are destined to be followers.


The other major theory of humanity’s origin is creation. This is the idea that an intelligent Being formed the uni- verse and created the earth, the vegetation, the animals, and human beings. Some creationists believe that the Creator made the world and then left it to its own devices, while others believe that the Architect of the earth is still actively involved in it and made humanity with a specific nature and purpose. This concept supports the idea that every person has a role and contribution to make, no matter what their station in life and current level of ability.




Evolution is still a theory. It has not been proven. There is no hard evidence to verify its claims. It’s a very interesting premise, yet I believe that the experience and makeup of the human creature defies the evolutionary concept. The intri- cate design of human beings and the orderly nature of the universe don’t support it.


The alternative is that there must have been a higher, more sophisticated creative process than the arbitrary process of evolution. The ancient writings, as recorded in the first book written by Moses, present a more plausible and reasonable explanation of our origins: We are the products of a highly intelligent and creative Supreme Being. The proposition in the first two chapters of Genesis is that Yah personally and purposefully created human beings in his own image and likeness and then told them to be fruitful, fill the earth, and rule over it. They were to be stewards of the earth, responsible for its care and well-being. We should note that the Creator designed human beings in his image and likeness after he made the vegetation and the animals, specifically separating them from the rest of creation in some important ways.


The ancient account says that he brought the rest of cre- ation into being with statements such as “Let there be light” or “Let the land produce living creatures.” Yet when it came to one particular creature, he said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” Human beings were the only creatures who were indicated as being made in the image and likeness of their Creator. This means that they have his nature. A signifi- cant aspect of that nature is the ability to plan ahead, imagine, create, and effectively administer the manifestation of plans. In other words, being made in his image means having the nature or spirit of leadership.


THE ORIGIN OF OUR LEADERSHIP SPIRIT


The Creator poured out his own nature into human beings when he established their nature, and this is the origin of our leadership spirit. In this sense, we are a portion of the poured-out Yah. As the Creator is purposeful, organizational, and creative, we are designed to be the same.


You have to decide which concept of origin you will accept as the basis for your life. Only you can choose what you believe about yourself and human nature, as well as the nature of leadership. Is leadership only for the strong who are able to win out over the weak, or perhaps only for those who receive it by fate? Or is leadership an inherent part of our design as human beings? My experience and observations of humanity support the latter belief and are the basis for what I describe in the rest of this series as our human vocation.


I believe that you and I were created to lead. Leadership is inherent in our nature and is fundamental to our ori- gins, our human makeup—and our destiny.


MYTHS ABOUT LEADERSHIP


Partly because our contemporary society has accepted a “survival of the fittest” mind-set, many of us have come to believe certain myths about leadership. These ideas have been fostered by our families, cultures, and nations. In addition, much of the theoretical foundations for our beliefs about leadership are derived from the thoughts of great Greek philosophers, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates.


During the height of the golden age of the Hellenistic period, the art of human nature, social development, the control and management of the masses, and the study of governmental structures for national development were the subject of great debate and research. The art of leadership was among the principal subjects studied and discussed, and the conclusions were so potent that most of our present-day beliefs, philosophy, and concepts of leadership and govern- ing can be traced back to the ideas of these philosophers.


This issue is vitally important because our beliefs, con- victions, and ideas form our personal philosophies and serve as the source of our perceptions of ourselves and others, as well as of life itself. In essence, our philosophies determine the way we think. In fact, we live our thoughts and mani- fest them in our attitudes toward ourselves and others. We cannot live beyond our thoughts and convictions.


It is my belief that many of our current theories of leadership have produced a number of myths that must be understood, studied, and challenged. Many leadership “gurus” have identified and articulated these myths. They can be summarized as follows:


Myth #1 Birth Trait Theory: “Leaders are born, not made.”
This theory is the belief that leadership is a result of special birth traits inherent in the personality and nature of the individual. It implies that some humans are born with unique qualities that earmark them for leadership, while the others—the majority, who do not possess these traits—are destined to be led.


This concept leads us to deify our leaders as men and women who are essentially unlike us and therefore supe- rior to us. This philosophy results in our blocking our own leadership potential and development and surrendering our untapped leadership capacity to the control and limi- tations of others. When this happens on a cultural level, we can even stunt the growth of our countries’ next genera- tion of leaders.


Myth #2: Leadership by Providence
There is a belief that certain people are chosen by “the Yahs” and appointed to the elite position of leader- ship over the unfortunate masses. In essence, leadership is reserved for the few chosen by a divine power to control,
manage, and direct the life, future, fortunes, and aspirations of the un-chosen.


Myth #3 Leadership Is the Result of a Charismatic Personality This is the theory that only certain individuals who pos- sess a unique measure of charisma; who exhibit special traits, such as a force of will; who are extroverts; who are magnetic speakers, and so on, are leaders. The difficulty with this theory is that, in every generation, there arise significant leaders who do not display the charismatic traits celebrated by this philosophy.


In many cases, leaders emerge from the unique circumstances of the times in which they live without manifesting any special charisma. Sometimes, it takes a crisis for someone to step forward and reveal his or her leadership ability. Certain people’s past or present status as leaders should not keep us from acknowledging that other people—including ourselves—are potential leaders in particular spheres or circumstances of life.


Myth #4 Leadership Is the Product of a Forceful Personality This theory emerges from the belief that leadership is the result of an authoritarian, coldly calculating, no-nonsense, hard-driving, impatient, quick-tempered, and moody person- ality. This false perception comes from the idea that people are fundamentally incompetent and naturally lazy and have to be forced, threatened, and manipulated by their leaders and managers if anything is going to be accomplished. However, the evidence has always defied this belief, showing that people are most productive and cooperative when they are inspired rather than manipulated by leadership.


Myth #5 Leadership Is the Result of Special Training This is the belief that leaders are produced through spe- cial educational courses and training. Many people feel that they have to have an MBA or attend leadership conferences in order to be able to lead others. There’s nothing wrong with such training, in itself. Yet as I wrote in the Introduction, true leadership is not a technique, a method, a style, or the acqui- sition of skills. It is the manifestation of an attitude based on the knowledge of who you were born to be. Your attitude about yourself has a tremendous impact on your daily life and whether you fulfill your central life purpose.


We have allowed circumstances, other people, and our own unsubstantiated beliefs to block our natural leadership tendencies. We should never allow anybody to get the idea that we don’t have a will or some sense of point of view or unique perspective of our own. Others may be in positions of author- ity over us, which we should respect, but that doesn’t mean that they should stifle our inherent potential as leaders.


In this series, I will introduce an alternative philosophy of leadership that challenges the above theories and traditional concepts of leadership potential. I call this theory the “inher- ent nature of leadership.”




IT’S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE


The essence of leadership, again, is not in techniques for controlling and manipulating people, which seem to be popular in leadership training today. All the college courses in business administration you may take, all the leadership methods you learn, and all the management seminars you attend can give you information, but they cannot develop you into a real leader.


THE TECHNIQUES; ESSENCE OF IT’S LEADERSHIP IN OUR ATTITUDES.
IS NOT IN


True leadership is an attitude that naturally inspires and motivates others, and it comes from an internalized discovery about yourself. You cannot “learn” an attitude. If someone learns an attitude, it’s called conditioning or mere mental assent. That’s not leadership.


You can condition an animal to do something by rewarding or threatening it with an external result. But an attitude is a perspective, a motivation, or a desire that comes from within and is not based on a temporary external consequence. It is something deeply personal and internal that influences and transforms your thinking about yourself and your ability, value, self-worth, self-esteem, outlook on life, actions, and perceptions of others.


“AS YOU THINK, SO SHALL YOU BE”


Learning about leadership and knowing what it means to be a leader are two different things. Learning comes from education, while knowing comes from revelation. Learning is cognitive, while knowing is spiritual. You do not really change until you “know.” Knowing changes your mind, which transforms your attitude, which, in turn, informs, directs, and regulates your behavior.


William James wrote, “The greatest discovery of our gen- eration is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be.” This was really a rediscovery because, centuries earlier, another generation heard a similar truth from King Solomon, the wisest and richest man of his day, who essentially said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” What a person thinks in his heart is what will ultimately come out in his actions. However, the challenge is in knowing how to change one’s attitude. If attitude transformation were simple, then many of us would have changed a number of times during our lifetimes.


Most of us are not leaders today because, in our hearts, we don’t believe that is who we are. From my extensive experience in training people in leadership, I have found that what is often missing is a sense of the inherent leadership spirit that lies within them. What and how we think about our purpose in the world is the basis of our attitudes and actions, toward others and ourselves.
Your future and ability to succeed aren’t tied to what others think of you. They are tied to what you think of yourself. The source of your attitude is your mind-set and thoughts. That’s really what the spirit of leadership is all about.


THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT AND THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP


In this series, I make a distinction between the leadership spirit and the spirit of leadership so that you can better understand your leadership potential and the attitude that accompanies it. We were given the leadership spirit when we were created. Our leadership potential is still intact, but we have lost the spirit of leadership—that is, the consciousness of our being made in the image of our Creator, as well as the attitudes that accompany that awareness, which are the foun- dation of true leadership.


We still have the raw material of leadership potential, but most of us don’t have the desire, courage, or will to use it as we are meant to. It’s like planting a fertile field but not having any rain to make the grain grow. Or it’s like owning a Rolls-Royce but not having any gasoline to run it. You possess something with powerful promise, but you are unable to maximize its full potential. In essence, we possess the aptitude, but we lack the attitude that activates this untapped power. We’ve been emptied of the Spirit that is meant to empower us for living and enable us to be what we were intended to be. Some people have, instinctively or purposefully, been able to tap into their leadership ability, as we will see in the next chapter, but most of us have not.


ATTITUDE CREATES ENVIRONMENT


We must have a clear understanding that true leadership is an attitude of the heart birthed by a renewed understanding of purpose. It is more a matter of being something than doing something. It is a self-discovery that translates into meaning- ful activities such as creating, building, and nurturing.


This brings us back to our inherent human desire to be in control of our circumstances. Because true leaders discover and understand who they are and what their purpose is, they influence their environments more than their environments influence them. Have you noticed how, when some people find themselves in financial difficulty, they immediately start finding and working on solutions to the problem, while other people panic, lose hope, surrender to their circumstances, and become immobilized by the debt? Do you know people who can turn a one-room apartment into a beautiful and comfortable haven that is more appealing and inviting than many mansions?


These simple examples show different ways in which people tap in to their leadership abilities and influence their environments rather than the other way around. There are innumerable applications of this principle in everyday life, on both large and small scales, depending on people’s gifts and calling. True leaders strive to overcome crises, and they become creative in difficulty.


CAPTURE AND CULTIVATE THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP


All of us must capture and cultivate the spirit of leader- ship, this attitude of shaping and forming our lives according to our purposes. Though every human being on this planet has an inclination for leadership, most of us do not have the courage to cultivate it. This is a very serious problem. We’ve been so conditioned by discouragement, failure, or the oppression of others that we are afraid to follow our natural leadership instincts. We make excuses, such as “I’m too shy,” “I’m not as gifted as he is,” “I don’t have the education,” “My family was never good at that,” and so on.


Relatively few people in the entire human race ever cap- ture or discover the spirit of leadership to the point where they ignite their leadership potential. Our challenge is to nurture our leadership instincts to the extent that we can rise from being followers to being leaders in our inherent domains.


When you make the decision to cultivate your intrinsic leadership potential, a transition will occur. You will become like the young lion who left the sheep pen and went into the forest so that he could fulfill his true nature. Did he face the uncertainty, challenges, and danger of the forest? Yes. But he also became what he was designed to be. He learned, grew, and became a leader by discovering the potential within himself.


DISCOVER THE LEADER WITHIN YOU


The leadership potential within you is waiting to be discovered. This book will enable you to identify the nature and attitudes that correspond to the leadership spirit so that you can become all that you were designed to be.


Again, true leadership is self-discovery. It has very little to do with what you do, but is fundamentally a matter of becoming who you are. It is the result of one’s commitment to self-manifestation.


You were born to lead, but you must become a leader. Every human being was endowed by the Creator with leadership potential in a specific area of gifting. The human spirit is designed to manage and control its world, and it functions best when creating an environment conducive to this pursuit.


You are a leader, regardless of your present status or your feelings about your leadership ability and potential. When you discover this truth and become convinced of it, then you won’t be content with just being a follower any longer. You will learn the secret to becoming a leader by discovering the hidden leader within.


Are you ready to step out and embark on the life you were born to live?




THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES


1. Trapped within every follower is an undiscovered leader.


2. An army of sheep led by a lion will always defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.


3. A converted attitude is the key to a transformed life.


4. We were meant to rule, govern, control, master, manage, and lead our environments.


5. You can fulfill your inherent leadership potential only when you understand who you are designed to be and discover the nature of a true leader.


6. Every human being has a natural inclination for leader-
ship.


7. Most of our attitudes about leadership are a learned or conditioned response to erroneous ideas fostered by our families, cultures, and nations.


8. People’s concepts of their origin often influence their
ideas about their leadership potential.


9. The leadership implication of evolution is that those who are stronger—physically, intellectually, or creatively—are destined to lead and control others, while the rest are destined to be followers.


10. The leadership implication of creationism is that, regardless of our stations in life or current levels of skill, we all have leadership contributions to make in society according to our inherent domains.


11. Being made in the image and likeness of the Creator means having the Creator’s nature, which is the spirit of leadership.




12. Five myths of leadership are: (1) Birth Trait Theory: “Lead- ers are born, not made”; (2) Leadership by Providence; (3) Leadership Is the Result of a Charismatic Personality; (4) Leadership Is the Product of a Forceful Personality; and (5) Leadership Is the Result of Special Training.


13. True leadership is an attitude that naturally inspires and motivates others.


14. Learning about leadership and knowing what it means to be a leader are two different things. Learning comes from education, while knowing comes from revelation. Learning is cognitive, while knowing is spiritual.


15. Most of us are not leaders because, in our hearts, we don’t believe that is who we are.


16. The leadership spirit is our inherent leadership potential. The spirit of leadership is the consciousness of our being made in the image of our Creator, as well as the attitudes that accompany that awareness.


17. Every human being has the raw material for leadership, but most do not have the desire, courage, or will to use it.


18. True leadership is an attitude of the heart that is birthed by a renewed understanding of purpose.


19. You were born to lead, but you must become a leader.