Caricatures of Leadership

Most of my days and weeks are filled with conversations. It’s one reason I love the work I do.

Recently, one of those conversations was with a ministry leader I only see occasionally at conferences. Since our work routines don’t often result in our paths crossing, when they do, we spend some time catching up.??

In our most recent conversation, I asked my friend about another man we both know who had recently moved to an area near him to pastor a church there. “How’s he doing?” I asked. With an eyebrow raised and his head tilted, he began with a slightly higher pitch in his voice, “He’s doing OK.” The non-verbal cues and tone of voice made It the sort of reply that undermined the reality of the statement.?

He continued, “I think he’s doing what the people there want him to do.’ That statement took me back more than 20 years. Someone in the church I pastored at the time complained to another, “Dennis is not a good Christian leader because he won't do what people want him to do.” I literally laughed out loud at the time and replied, “I’m not sure they understand the fundamental concept of leadership.”?

Throughout my life, I’ve encountered (sometimes in the mirror) those who have gone to opposite extremes as they demonstrated a misunderstanding of leadership and how to exercise it.?

A couple of years ago, I defined my understanding of leadership as the leveraging of abilities and influence to facilitate accomplishment or change. Pastor Bud Wrenn, who I am honored to call a friend, defines it more succinctly as “behavioral influence.”?

At either extreme are two caricatures of leadership that are not genuine expressions of behavioral influence that result in accomplishment or change a pastor, small business owner, or president of a non-profit is pursuing. We will consider those exaggerated extremes in hopes of being aware should we begin to drift toward them in our leadership.?

The Know-It-All, Large and In-Charge Lone Ranger. I’ve witnessed numerous expressions of this type of “leader” in politics, small businesses, trucking management, and churches - sometimes in the pulpit and other times in the pews.?

There are a few keys to recognizing them. They do all the talking when their management team is gathered around the conference table. No matter what ideas others bring, their ideas are the only ones deemed practical or beneficial. The questions they ask are not intended to learn or offer a healthy, helpful challenge. Their questions are designed to find fault in others. They have few, if any, genuine friends. There are no voices they trust to speak into their lives and leadership. Nothing is ever good enough. Praise or appreciation is rare. Criticism is abundant. Accomplishments are reported as their own, and their staff, team, or church members are never recognized for the value they bring.?

I’ve worked in environments like that. In my trucking management days, I’ve “led” like that. I’ve worked with church planters, pastors, and other denominational leaders like that. Yet, what I have never witnessed is anyone accomplishing anything significant while attempting to lead as a Know-It-All, Large and In-Charge Lone Ranger.?

The Fearful, Fading Flower. These are the people who land in roles of leadership yet are afraid to lead. They may have a title or position that calls for them to lead, but they are too scared to do so. Sadly, I’ve been there and done that, too.?

Since I have spent the last 28 years in vocational ministry, this is where I have most often encountered the Fearful, Fading Flowers. Pastors may have been threatened by or even fired from a church. As a result, they become overly cautious, unwilling to take risks, or boldly challenge those they are purportedly leading. They can be conditioned to simply “punch the clock,” check off the tasks others have given them, do what they are told, and collect their paycheck.?

Over decades in trucking management and ministry, I have made mistakes I’ve survived and from which I’ve learned. Thankfully, some things I have learned by watching, listening, and learning from others who have led well.?

Collectively, what I have learned and what I attempt to live is to lead others to pursue a worthwhile objective together. That objective might be a vision that is distant and seemingly impossible. It may be something like seeing lives, families, streets, neighborhoods, and the city of Chicago transformed from selfish and self-destructive pursuits to one that radiates with peace, harmony, and joy. It is what I hoped to lead a regional staff, church planters, and longer established churches in and outside the city to pursue when we moved to Chicago in 2014.?

Other objectives might be smaller and shorter - like pulling together a meeting of pastors to discuss a specific project or need and how to meet it.?

Yet, in either case, genuine leadership involves bringing others around a specific vision and mission and having them lend their creative abilities, wisdom, and unique insight into accomplishing it. Leadership is not gathering people to perform tasks we assign to them. Instead, leadership invites them to invest in that mission and vision and pursue it with the same passion, determination, and creativity we hope to demonstrate.?

What about you? What mission and vision are before you today? How are you gathering others to pursue that??

If you have a long-tenured leadership role, do you find yourself drifting to one of those extremes? How can you adjust your leadership practice to avoid careening toward ineffectiveness? Find a trusted friend and talk through those.?

Enjoy your weekend!

The views and opinions expressed in my Thursday Thoughts on Leadership are my own. They do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina or any affiliated churches.