Leadership is an exercise not a role
February 17, 2009, posted by Jeff, under The Practicing Church, leadership development | | No Comments
Ron Heifetz makes this simple statement in his book Leadership Without Easy Answers. After reading Todd Hunter’s latest blog on discipleship I can see it applies to discipleship also.
One of the intriguing things about the times in which we live right now is the blurring between role and exercise. It really doesn’t make a difference whether we’re talking about discipleship, leadership or leadership development – all of which might be the same thing depending on your perspective.
The fact remains – we each have the opportunity to exercise leadership regardless of role. A mother is exercising leadership just as much with her toddler as a CEO is with her company in the midst of our financial crisis. While the CEO may (perhaps) get more publicity for her actions, they are both exercising leadership.
A friend and mentor of mine, Jim Henderson often says, ”
We need to make the switch from information to formation.”
Todd is saying the same thing – information is important – it might even be a gateway, but information is by no means comprehensive.
What we need is to exercise our muscles – it’s the action of leadership that makes us true followers of that crazy carpenter not our roles. As he once said, “The kingdom of heaven resides in you”.
