Visionary Leadership and the Common Wealth
We need Visionary Leaders that will work cooperatively with all the leaders of other countries, states, and major regimes,to deal with the common enemies of humanity.
Common enemies like greed and injustice homeless,that breed hatred represent a costly, deadly, trio we must effectively deal with together.
We can work together with other countries to develop new global economic policies that will empower and make much more self-reliant the economies of each country.
Men of Vision.Dr Sammy D.James
A wise man once stated, "Men of vision do not look through the eyes of today, but they look beyond tomorrow." Those who look through the eyes of today can only see their world crumbling around them. All they see is a government who no longer cares for the people, run by politicians instead of statesmen, whose only interest is padding their own pockets. These will say anything and make any promise to be reelected.
Those who look only with the eyes of today see an economy embroiled in debt with no hope for a future. Many only see a nation whose moral values are that of an alley cat. Their future looks dim and hopeless.
But men of vision who look afar off can see their hope is not in a failed world system. Their hope and future is in an everlasting God and His eternal Kingdom.
The Scriptures give us two reasons why people perish. By the Holy Spirit anointing, the prophet Hosea wrote:
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Hosea 4:6
God's creation man is destroyed (will perish) for lack of knowledge. The question then arises: "Why do God's people lack knowledge?" It is because they have failed to read and take heed to His Word. There is a Bible in every home, but many go unopened because they are too busy with the cares of this life, and have no time for God and His Word.
Hosea records, because they have forgotten the law of God, He will also forget their children. This consequence is evident in the children of today who have no knowledge of God. Because the knowledge of God has been neglected in their training, they have no fear of God.
The all-wise Solomon gives us the second reason God's people are perishing:
"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Proverbs 29:18
God's people are perishing because they have no vision beyond today. This is why Jesus informs us:
"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21:26
Those who see through the eyes of today can only see corruption, strife, and lawlessness. Because of this they have no hope. Young children die of heart attacks and teens commit suicide because even they can see what is ahead of them - - - and they do not want to face what they see.
Hope has all but faded from our present day society. Those who are in power have no solutions to the problems the world faces. So, those who are living in fear and with no hope continue in the direction the rest of mankind is heading.
If we are to have hope, we must look at the promises. We must develop Spiritual eyes to see beyond today and tomorrow. Jesus informed John on the Isle of Patmos:
"And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." Revelation 21:5
Jesus stated, "Behold, I make all things new." When Jesus said all things, He meant all things. Four times in the book of Revelation, Jesus stated, "I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." There was nothing before Him, and He will be the end of all things. The truth of the matter is, He is not only the beginning and the end, He is everything in the middle. He is our all in all.
God has promised to make all things new, but first judgment must be poured out on this wicked, sinful world. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied what the earth will be like at the end of God's judgment. Jeremiah was the weeping prophet. Why did Jeremiah weep? It was because God showed him the end of His judgment. Jeremiah cried out:
"My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents poiled, and my curtains in a moment.
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish, they have not known Me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." Jeremiah 4:19-22
Jeremiah was given a glimpse of our day, and he was pained in his spirit when he saw the world and God's people in the hour in which we live. He was given eyes to see the destruction we are beginning to witness all over the earth with fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, erupting volcanoes, earthquakes upon earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, and one destruction after another.
Jeremiah declared that God's people are foolish. The word foolish means "one who despises wisdom, one who mocks judgment, one who is quarrelsome."
Jeremiah also stated that God's people are sottish. The word sottish means "fools." Today God's people have no vision for the future. They do not understand, nor do they have knowledge. As Hosea stated, this is why God's people perish.
Jeremiah was shown the finality of God's judgment:
"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light." Jeremiah 4:23
This was exactly the condition the earth was in, in Genesis:
"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Genesis 1:2a
Now we know why God must make all things new. At the end of His coming judgment on this sinful, wicked world, God is going to begin His creation process all over again with those who remain. Jeremiah continues:
"I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end." Jeremiah 4:25-27
God states there was no man. The word man is Adam. All those who have not dealt with their old, sinful Adam nature will not be part of God's renewed earth.
Jeremiah states, ". . . the whole land shall be desolate, yet God will not make a full end. . ." . God has a people who are His overcomers who have overcome the old, Adam nature. These are those who will inherit God's renewed earth. Jeremiah concluded:
"For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it." Jeremiah 4:28
The heavens above will be black. The prophet Isaiah prophesied that the sun and the moon would be darkened, Isaiah 13:10. Joel also prophesied this in Joel 3:5. Matthew and Mark recorded Jesus' words that the sun and moon would be darkened. Both Matthew and Mark declare when this will happen:
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:" Matthew 24:29
This event will take place immediately after the tribulation which is God's wrath, and as Isaiah recorded:
"The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again." Isaiah 24:19-20
Isaiah prophesied the earth would be utterly broken down, and clean dissolved. The phrase clean dissolved means "to split, to crack." The phrase the earth is moved exceedingly means "to totter, to shake, to be dislodged and to slip."
Isaiah continues to inform us the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and will be removed. What could make the earth act in such a fashion? As we consider the earth in its present condition, we can understand this phenomena. Science tells us the earth sits at a twenty-three and one-half degree angle from true north and south. How did the earth get in this odd condition? Men of vision inform us that at the time of Noah's flood, God shifted the earth, throwing the waters that covered the earth to the poles where it froze instantly. This is why explorers found mammoths and saber tooth tigers frozen in the ice. These animals were frozen instantly, yet still had green grass and daisies in their mouth and in their stomachs.
So what does this have to do with what Isaiah prophesied? Well, we hear about the polar ice caps melting, and how the weight of the ice holds the earth in is present position. So, when enough of the ice caps melt, the earth will move again to its upright position. It will reel to and fro, or wobble on its axis. This will cause the condition which Israel described. The earth will totter and shake causing great earthquakes. It will be dislodged from its present position which will cause the earth to crack and split. The waters of the earth will be moved. Jesus revealed this to John on the isle of Patmos at the opening of the sixth seal:
"And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Revelation 6:12 & 14.
Again, we see the sun being blackened, and the moon looking like blood. We also see the mountains and islands being moved out of their place. How do you move mountains and islands? An island is a mountain surrounded by water. So, when the earth comes to its upright position, and the waters are moved, then the mountains will be surrounded by water, and will become islands, and the islands will become mountains, because the waters moved. Isaiah continues:
"Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." Isaiah 24:23
This is the day God's men of vision are looking for, when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, Revelation 11:15. God also revealed many wonderful things to the prophet Joel:
"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;" Joel 2:1
The trumpet represents the prophetic voice, and the prophetic voice is letting all the inhabitants of the land know the Day of the Lord (God's judgment) is nigh at hand. Joel continues:
"A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." Joel 2:2
The day of God's judgment is a time of darkness, gloominess, and thick darkness. It is the day when the light of God's truths will vacate the earth. It is when man chooses to live like animals, instead of walking in the light of the glorious gospel of truth.
But God has a people of vision who are viewing the morning, the new day, spread upon the mountains. This is God's prepared and overcoming army. These are a group of great and strong people. Joel tells us there has never been a people like this before - - - who have the Kingdom within and who are ready and able to bring His Kingdom rule upon the earth. Let's continue to look at the revelation of Joel:
"A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them." Joel 2:3
This great army is in the midst of the fire of God's wrath. This fire is before them and behind them. But the land before them is like the Garden of Eden. These men of vision are not looking at the situation around them, but they are living by their vision - - - the vision of a renewed earth in which they will rule and reign. Even though the earth is going to become a desolate wilderness in God's wrath, these men of vision are looking to God's promise that, "Behold, I make all things new," Revelation 21:5. Joel continues:
"Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array." Joel 2:5
Joel speaks about this strong people being in battle array, or they have on their battle armament. Paul explained our armament is not physical, but Spiritual:
"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Ephesians 6:14-17
God's strong people who are arrayed for battle are those who will be able to stand in the coming day of battle, because they are Spiritually ready for any circumstance. They have put on God's truth and His righteousness. Their feet have been shod with the gospel of peace. They have their shield of faith and helmet of salvation. Their sword is the Word of God. Joel informs us:
"And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army; for His camp is very great: for He is strong that executeth His Word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" Joel 2:11
God is mustering His army today. The Apostle Paul informs us what we must do to become part of this overcoming army:
"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." II Timothy 2:3-4
We must endure hardness, which means we must suffer trouble and endure affliction. This is why one of the fruit of the Spirit is longsuffering. We must also have love, joy, peace and the other fruit of the Spirit. During the coming time of trouble and affliction, the fruit of longsuffering will be one of the most important fruit in our lives.
Those who are part of God's overcoming army will not allow themselves to be entangled with the cares of this life. This overcoming army of men of vision see the sword coming upon the land and are preparing themselves physically, mentally, and Spiritually for the job ahead. Joel reveals the operation of God's great army:
"They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on His ways, and they shall not break their ranks:" Joel 2:7
These will not break their ranks because they will know their place. Those who are high and lifted up in self will not be part of God's army. Any army can only have one head, and our head is Christ Jesus.
They shall run like mighty men, and climb the wall - - - or they will be able to overcome any obstacle put in their way.
They shall march everyone on His way. This is a Spiritual army, and the only way they know to march is by the orders they receive from their Master and King, Christ Jesus. Joel continues:
"Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in His path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded." Joel 2:8
Joel proclaims, ". . . neither shall one thrust another." The word one is the Hebrew word ISH and means "man." The word thrust means "to vex or oppress." And the word another means "a brother or brethren." This Scripture is stating that these men will not vex or oppress their other brothers who are in God's army. Those in God's army will be endowed with peace and tranquility.
Those in God's army will walk everyone in His path. All God's army will walk in the path God chooses, neither looking to the right or to the left.
Joel informs us when God's army falls upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. No physical weapon will have any effect on God's Spiritual army. The prophet Isaiah speaks of God's overcoming army:
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord." Isaiah 54:17
Every weapon of war is formed, and no weapon of war that man has formed will prevail against God's army. These promises have been made to all Gods' men of vision. Every tongue that rises up against God's army will be condemned.
God's army will be able to turn the words of their enemies, back upon their own heads. This is the heritage of those who are going to become part of God's army. Looking again to Joel, we discover the ministry of God's overcoming army:
"They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief." Joel 2:9
These are God's ministering army. These are God's two witnesses who will minister during God's three and one-half years of His wrath. [see "The Two Witnesses" by George Kirkpatrick]. Paul wrote of these in his letter to the Hebrews:
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Hebrews 1:14
Those who run to and fro in the city will climb upon the houses and enter into the windows as thieves to minister to those who are heirs of salvation. These heirs of salvation are those who love the Lord, but have been robbed of their inheritance in God by the weak and beggarly church system who are still entangled with the cares of this life. But God is going to send His messengers (His angels) to them, that they may hear the true Word of God.
Joel informs us further what we can expect of God's army, and the time of their ministry:
"The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:" Joel 2:10
The earth shall quake before them and the heavens shall tremble. The prophet Haggai revealed this time of shaking:
"For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;" Haggai 2:6
Again we see the time frame God revealed through the pen of Joel. This is the time when the sun and the moon and the stars will be darkened. We need to ask ourselves, "What will cause the sun, moon, and stars to become darkened, and what will the time frame we are to look for?" Joel reveals:
"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come." Joel 2:31
These are the same words Jesus used to describe what will happen before the great and terrible day of the Lord. Joel also reveals what will bring this about:
"And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." Joel 2:30
God is going to show wonders in the heavens. There will be blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. When we think of fire and pillars (or columns) of smoke, what do we think of? This is evident in nuclear explosions. But Joel reveals this fire and pillars of smoke will be in the heavens (in the atmosphere). Russia has armed outer space with nuclear weapons, and have positioned these weapons close to our satellites. If they would detonate these weapons, what would happen? Carl Sagan, the world famous physicist stated, "If a medium range, nuclear weapon were exploded in the atmosphere, it would cause giant windstorms on earth - - - as much as three thousand miles an hour - - - causing the dust and debree to blacken the sun, moon, and stars for up to a year." Carl Sagan called this `Nuclear Winter'. The prophet Isaiah described such a time:
"Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it." Isaiah 47:14
Peter, who was given the keys to the Kingdom, also described this time:
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" II Peter 3:10 & 12
What else will take place when these nuclear weapons are exploded in the atmosphere? Not only will we have giant windstorms, the temperatures of the earth will rise, causing the ice caps to melt even faster. Coast lines will be flooded. Then the earth will let go out of its place and come again to an upright position.
Joel prophesied there would be fire and pillars of smoke in the heavens. Peter asks the most important question:
"Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness," II Peter 3:11
The word conversation means "way of life." What should men of vision do? Joel informs us:
"Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil." Joel 2:12-13
Men of vision who see afar off know these events will happen, and they have opened their hearts (minds) to God to prepare their lives to be part of His overcoming army.
Our God has been gracious and merciful to this sinful, godless world. He truly has been slow to anger. He is only holding back His wrath until He has a people who are without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blame, whom He can put in charge of His Kingdom. God makes many promises to this people:
"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given to you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month." Joel 2:23
Joel writes to the children (sons) of Zion, those who have come to the high place in God. He has given them the former rain which is the first fruit anointing. This is the anointing that came on the Day of Pentecost. This anointing has been revealed many times: the outpouring in 1906, again in the latter rain movement, and again in the charismatic movement of the `sixties and `seventies. But these were only examples of the anointing that is coming on God's overcoming body (His true church). Joel continues:
". . . He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. Joel 2:23b
This will be the `double portion outpouring of the Holy Spirit', the outpouring of the Spirit without measure. This is the same anointing Jesus received on the banks of the Jordan. This anointing was also spoken of by the Apostle James:
"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until He receive the early and latter rain." James 5:7
The husbandman is Christ Jesus, and He awaits the precious fruit of the earth. He has long patience for it, until He can pour out upon it the early and the latter rain. The prophet Hosea goes even further to tell us when we can expect his outpouring:
"After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight." Hosea 6:2
The two days are the church age. The two days are two thousand years. It will be after these two days that God is going to raise us up, and we will live in His sight.
"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." Hosea 6:3
Those who follow on to know the Lord will be prepared for the morning, or the New Day, the glorious seventh day of God's creation. These are those who will receive the early and latter rain, double portion anointing. Many promises have been made to this overcoming people. Joel also prophesied of this time:
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit." Joel 2:28-29
God is going to pour out His Spirit abundantly, but this is not the end of the prophesy God gave Joel:
"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall never be ashamed." Joel 2:25-26
What wonderful promises God makes to His overcomers. Those who only see through the eyes of today cannot understand why God's true people are not concerned about the future. To those whose hearts are failing them for the fear of nuclear war, the collapse of the economy, and God's soon coming judgment, there is no hope.
But, men of vision look to God's Word for their hope, and they believe God's promises, even though they may not see them. Their hope is in the Holy Spirit inspired words of Isaiah:
"Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, My servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, My servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.
Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call His servants by another name:" Isaiah 65:13-15
Those whose hope and trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ have nothing to fear. These are the men whose vision is not based on what they see and read. Their vision is on what they know by reading and believing God's Word.
Peter quoted Joel's prophecy word for word concerning the multitude to the one hundred and twenty in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost:
"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts 2:21
But pay close attention to Joel's prophecy concerning these verses. What Peter quoted was for the church age, but what Joel prophesied was for the coming new day:
"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Joel 2:32
There is a great difference between the word saved which Peter spoke in Acts 2:21, and the word delivered which Joel spoke of in Joel 2:32. The word saved in Acts 2:21 is the Greek word SOZO and means "to make whole, to heal, and to make safe." The word delivered in Joel 2:32 is the Hebrew word MALAT and means "to escape and to preserve."
Peter was speaking of the church age where the message of salvation was to be preached to all the nations of the earth. But Joel was prophesying concerning the saved, baptized, Spirit-filled, mature overcomers who will be delivered from the wrath. It is these mature overcomers who will inhabit the Kingdom and make up the Holy City, New Jerusalem.
Joel reveals ". . . for in Mount Zion and Jerusalem shall be deliverance." What was Joel speaking of when he used the names Mount Zion and Jerusalem? To understand this we must look at the words Jesus spoke to John on the Isle of Patmos:
"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads." Revelation 14:1
This is God's one hundred and forty-four thousand who have the Father's name written in their foreheads. This is the Zion, Joel spoke about - - - and the Jerusalem he spoke of is the New Jerusalem. Jesus also revealed:
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God," Revelation 21:9-10
Jesus revealed to John that the Lamb's wife is the bride of Christ. The Lamb's wife is the New Jerusalem. The one hundred and forty-four thousand are those who will rule and reign in the Holy City. These are those who have been delivered. They are a separated people, men of vision who have their lives prepared. Jesus explained who these are to John:
"And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." Revelation 14:3-4
As Jesus relates, these were not defiled with women. The church is described as a woman. The one hundred and forty-four thousand had not been defiled by the church system. These were virgins which means they were not defiled by the precepts and doctrines of men. These are men of vision, who only look to God and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These are those who follow the words given to John by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
"But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." I John 2:27
These only operate their lives by the Spiritual anointing they receive from the Holy Spirit. As John revealed, the anointing teaches us all things. And, as we are taught of the anointing, we will abide (live) in Him.
As we continue to look at the revelation given to John, Jesus stated this is the firstfruit unto God and the Lamb. This is the Firstfruit Company which Joel revealed will be delivered. Let's look again at the words of Joel:
in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Joel 2:32c
This is God's remnant church He is raising up in the wilderness. These are looking totally to God and His Word. These have no worldly ties and no affiliation to the adulterated church system. Again Jesus reveals:
"And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." Revelation 14:5
The word guile means "deceit." There was no deceit in what they said, or how they lived. These will stand without fault before their God. What are the promises God has made to His men of vision?
"For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." Isaiah 51:3
The Lord will comfort Zion. The word comfort means "to have compassion." The Lord is going to have compassion on all her waste places. He is going to make her wilderness like the Garden of Eden.
Let's look at the words of Jeremiah:
"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void: and the heavens, and they had no light." Jeremiah 4:23
The phrase without form and void means "a wasted wilderness." But, praise the Lord, men of vision will see beyond the wasted wilderness to God's glorious Kingdom. These men of vision are in the midst of the fire, but the land before them is as the Garden of Eden.
This is exactly what God revealed to Isaiah in Isaiah 51:3: Her desert places will be as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will fill the hearts of the men of vision when they stand before the Lord with thanksgiving in their hearts.
We are coming very rapidly to the end of the age. Again, we relish the revelation Jesus gave to John:
"And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I Make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son." Revelation 21:5-7
God is going to make a renewed earth, and this is the inheritance of the overcomers. This will be a renewed earth where they will live in perfect tranquility, and where sorrow and sadness will flee away.
This is why the men who have no vision can only see with the eyes of today. Their hearts are failing them for fear when they see what is coming upon the earth.
But, praise the Lord, the men of vision rejoice because they know what is coming - - - and what is on the other side of God's judgment.
There is still time to repent and rend your heart, and not your garment, Joel2:13.
Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.What makes a leader inspirational? The ability to inspire people to reach great heights of performance and success is a skill that leaders need. Passion, purpose, listening and meaning help make a leader inspirational. The ability to communicate that passion, purpose and meaning to others helps establish the inspirational culture of your organization. These points will tell you how to enable inspiration and motivation in the people you lead.
How Leaders Instill Inspiration in the People They Lead.
* The inspirational leader feels passionately about the vision and mission of the organization. He or she is also able to share that passion in a way that enables others to feel passionate, too. The nature of the vision and mission is critical for enabling others to feel as if their work has purpose and meaning beyond the tasks they perform each day. Sometimes leaders have to help their staff connect the dots by explaining this big picture to all. Communicating the big picture regularly will help reinforce the reason your organization exists.
* The inspirational leader listens to the people in her organization. Talking to people about your passion is not enough. To “share meaning” - my definition for communication - you must allow the ideas and thoughts of your staff to help form the vision and mission, or minimally, the goals and action plan. No one is ever one hundred percent supportive of a direction they had no part in formulating. People need to see their ideas incorporated – or understand why they were not.
* To experience inspiration, people also need to feel included. Inclusion goes beyond the listening and feedback; for real inclusion, people need to feel intimately connected to the actions and process that are leading to the accomplishment of the goals or the decision.
At a client company, we cancelled an annual employee event because of customer orders for product. Many people did not like the decision, but we involved the whole management group, the Activity Committee members and many other employees in the discussion about whether to cancel or re-schedule the event. The inclusion led to a compromise that, while not perfect, still enables a celebration and a positive motivation boost, yet allows the company to meet customer needs.
* Important to inspiration is the integrity of the person leading. Yes, vision and passion are important, but employees must trust you to feel inspired. They must believe in you. Your “person” is as important as the direction you provide. Employees look up to a person who tells the truth, tries to do the right things, lives a "good" life and does their best. Trust me. Your actions play out on the stage of your organization. And, your staff does boo and cheer and vote with their feet and their actions.
* Finally, an inspirational leader gives people what they want within his capabilities. (You can’t provide a raise in pay without company profitability, as an example, but you absolutely must share the rewards if the organization is doing well.) The inspirational leader also understands that, while money is a motivator, so are praise, recognition, rewards, a thank you and noticing an individual’s contribution to a successful endeavor.
Characteristics of a Successful Leadership Style
Much is written about what makes successful leaders. I will focus on the characteristics, traits and actions that, I believe, are key in this series of articles.
Choose to lead
* Be the person others choose to follow.
* Provide vision for the future.
* Provide inspiration. ((Current article - you are here.)
* Make other people feel important and appreciated.
* Live your values. Behave ethically.
* Set the pace through your expectations and example.
* Establish an environment of continuous improvement.
* Provide opportunities for people to grow, both personally and professionally.
* Care and act with compassion.
10 oct 2009
THE CENTER FOR VISIONARY LEADERSHIP.Dr Sammy D.James
Visionary leaders are the builders of a new dawn, working with imagination, insight, and boldness. They present a challenge that calls forth the best in people and brings them together around a shared sense of purpose. They work with the power of intentionality and alignment with a higher purpose. Their eyes are on the horizon, not just on the near at hand. They are social innovators and change agents, seeing the big picture and thinking strategically.
There is a profound interconnectedness between the leader and the whole, and true visionary leaders serve the good of the whole. They recognize that there is some truth on both sides of most polarized issues in our society today. They search for solutions that transcend the usual adversarial approaches and address the causal level of problems. They find a higher synthesis of the best of both sides of an issue and address the systemic root causes of problems to create real breakthroughs.
VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
Are you someone with a vision burning inside that seeks to manifest? Do you see yourself as a visionary?
What is it that makes a visionary become a visionary leader? A visionary may dream wonderful visions of the future and articulate them with great inspiration. A visionary is good with words. But a visionary leader is good with actions as well as words, and so can bring his/her vision into being in the world, thus transforming it in some way. More than words are needed for a vision to take form in today’s world. It requires leadership and heartfelt commitment.
A visionary leader is effective in manifesting his or her vision because s/he creates specific, achievable goals, initiates action and enlists the participation of others.
What are the qualities and abilities of true visionary leaders? What is the mysterious inner process within leaders that enables them to work their magic and radiate the charisma that mobilizes others for a higher purpose?
Visionary leadership is based on a balanced expression of the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical dimensions. It requires core values, clear vision, empowering relationships, and innovative action. When one or more of these dimensions are missing, leadership cannot manifest a vision.
A COMMITMENT TO CORE SPIRITUAL VALUES
A commitment to values is an outstanding characteristic of all visionary leaders. They embody a sense of personal integrity, and radiate a sense of energy, vitality and will. Will is standing in a spiritual state of being. Will is a spiritual attribute, which allows a leader to stand for something.
More self-aware and reflective than others, visionary leaders follow an inner sense of direction, and lead from the inside out, as exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi. He said, “I must first be the change I want to see in my world.” He was a prime example of a commitment to values, as he freed India by appealing to the moral conscience of Britain and using “satyagraha” or non-violent action to reveal the immorality of the British Empire.
Rather than being corrupted by power, visionary leaders are elevated by power and exercise moral leadership. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, embodies this type of moral leadership, as does Marion Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, who has a deep commitment to children’s welfare.
Many successful leaders in business, such as Jeffrey Swartz of Timberland Shoes, have demonstrated the power of living their values. Swartz pays employees to volunteer in the community and honors the “double bottom line”--profit and values”. Tom Chappell, CEO of Tom’s of Maine, found that he could “do well by doing good.” Doing good-- embodying his values--has made his company very profitable. Tom’s of Maine uses all natural ingredients in their products to protect consumers and the environment.
A CLEAR, INSPIRATIONAL VISION
Visionaries who are successful at manifesting their visions base their leadership on an inspirational, positive picture of the future, as well as a clear sense of direction as to how to get there. Vision is a field that brings energy into form. Effective leaders broadcast a coherent message by themselves embodying their vision, as author Margaret Wheatley notes. They keep communicating the vision to create a strong field which then brings their vision into physical reality. Nelson Mandela clearly held a positive vision of a racially harmonious South Africa during his 28 years in jail and helped bring it into reality peacefully-- to the amazement of the world.
The best visionary leaders move energy to a higher level by offering a clear vision of what is possible. They inspire people to be better than they already are and help them identify with what Lincoln called “the angels of their better nature.” This was the power of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. The creative power of lighted, inspired words can sound a certain inner note that people recognize and respond to. This then creates dramatic social change. Like King, visionary leaders have the ability to sense the deeper spiritual needs of followers and link their current demands to these deeper, often unspoken, need for purpose and meaning.
Visionary leaders often have the ability to see higher spiritual forces at work behind the scenes of events, and they align with the vision of these redemptive forces. Both George Washington and Winston Churchill spoke about the help they received from a “guiding hand.” Churchill said, “...we have a guardian because we serve a great cause, and we shall have that guardian as long as we serve that cause faithfully.”
Sojourner Truth, a former slave, was guided by an inner spiritual experience to preach the emancipation of slaves and women’s rights all over the country during the Civil War. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt had a vision of Mohammed who told him to create peace in the Middle East. This vision is the hidden story behind the Camp David Peace Treaty between Arabs and Israelis.
Visionary leaders transmit energy to people, giving them a new sense of hope and confidence in achieving the vision. Television host Oprah Winfrey helps her guests believe in themselves and work to create a better world.
Visionary leaders often enunciate a vision based on principles that become guideposts for humanity. They intuitively draw on the ageless wisdom and present it in a new synthesis to meet the particular need of the times. In the Brundtland Report, Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, helped synthesize the principles of sustainable development that are needed to protect our environment for future generations.
RESPECTFUL, EMPOWERING RELATIONSHIPS
Good relationships are the heart of effective visionary leaders. They embody a deeply caring approach to people, seeing them as their greatest asset. Aaron Feuerstein, CEO of Malden Mills, kept all his employees on the payroll when a fire destroyed 75% of his factories. His employees were so grateful they helped him rebuild and within a year the company was more profitable than ever.
In contrast to the old style of leadership which tells people what to do, and pushes or dominates them, visionary leaders embody a receptive, as well as a dynamic energy. They know how to listen and learn from other points of view and have fine tuned their communications skills. Rita Bailey, Director of Southwest Airline’s University for People, says the secret of the airline’s amazing financial success is living by the golden rule-treating employees as family, with warmth and respect. Employees then treat customers the same way.
Visionary leaders promote a partnership approach and create a shared sense of vision and meaning with others. They exhibit a greater respect for others and carefully develop team spirit and team learning, Building this sense of shared vision and partnership has also been key to the effectiveness of feminist Gloria Steinem.
The most effective visionary leaders are responsive to the real needs of people and they develop participative strategies to include people in designing their own futures. This approach has been very successful for Robert Haas, the CEO of Levi Strauss. Rather than confront or avoid conflict, the new leaders have learned how to transform conflict into usable energy. They work to unite--rather than divide- people.
INNOVATIVE, COURAGEOUS ACTION
Visionary leaders are especially noted for transforming old mental maps or paradigms, and creating strategies that are “outside the box” of conventional thought. They embody a balance of right brain (rational) and left brain (intuitive) functions. Their thinking is broad and systemic, seeing the big picture, the whole system, and “the pattern that connects.” They then create innovative strategies for actualizing their vision. CNN founder Ted Turner transformed television news by boldly creating an around-the-clock international news network. Sammy D.James great visionary for 21 st century have a vision in the islands of the bahamas,to bring that vision all over the world today.
CEO Ray Anderson took courageous action in transforming his world-wide company, Interface Carpets, into the most environmentally sustainable corporation. Interface launched a massive effort to cut its use of energy, replace petroleum-based supplies with vegetable-based substitutes, and reduce emissions by 24%. Customers now don’t buy a wall-to-wall carpet--they rent one--and when it wears out, all its component parts are recycled, and the customer receives a new one.
Visionary leaders anticipate change and are proactive, rather than reactive to events. Their focus is on opportunities, not on problems. They emphasize win/win--rather than adversarial win/lose--approaches. This is the strategy of environmental economist Hazel Henderson, author of Building a Win/Win World, who created The Calvert/Henderson Sustainable Indicators with the Calvert Social Investment Funds.Body Shop founder Anita Roddick addressed health and environmental problems, as well as poverty in the Third World, through the innovative strategies she designed for her hugely successful products and stores. Products are made of non-polluting ingredients and stores are opened in poor neighborhoods to provide employment and return profit to the community.
When we see a truly visionary leader accomplishing great things, s/he is drawing on the resources of their soul and its remarkable capabilities. Each of us can access our inner resources to become a more effective leader in our own field. First we must be willing to take initiative and stand for something we believe in passionately. We must be ready to take the heat. Many of us avoid the responsibility of leadership primarily because we are too sensitive to criticism. But when we know who we truly are and we live from an inner core of values, criticism can be filtered to take in only what is true and helpful to our growth.
Today, as we enter the Third Millennium, thousands of new visionary leaders are emerging in all fields of human endeavor around the world, leading a quiet revolution energized by power of the soul. By appreciating and supporting those who lead from their core spiritual values, we strengthen those leadership qualities in ourselves.
Dr:Sammy D.James/president and founder/ W V M I.
Visionary Leadership.
Elements of Visionary Leadership
The Objective is to increase workplace efficiency by controlling elementary problems with workplace education tools. Workplace education finds efficient ways to get jobs done.
The Goal - The goal in any task is to get the job done. Leadership style controls efficiency, which controls competitive value of product or service, which determines the winner.
Leadership Innovation – Today, fast growing organizations are built on leadership innovation, that is, they are not built by product visionaries but by social visionaries — those who invent entirely new ways of organizing human effort. Southwest Airlines, Inc. is an example.
Definition of Terms
Visionary Leadership increases efficiency by moving decision-making responsibility to the frontline. Efficiency is achieved with limited supervision. To make frontline responsibility effective, leadership must give workers opportunity to develop quality decision-making skills and learn to trust them. Wal-Mart stores use visionary leadership.
Standard leadership assumes employees to be robots and do as they are told. This is based on man’s natural instinct that only leadership is capable of making quality decisions. This is known as command-and-control leadership. Low efficiency is caused by the disconnect between management and the frontline. Management is busy dealing with problems that affect them while ignoring problems that affect the frontline. Front line problems are only dealt with when they explode into a major problem. K-Mart stores use standard leadership.
Workplace education creates a workforce of quality decision makers. Employees at all levels have the opportunity to discover and develop their unique skills, thereby, inspiring them to become quality decision-makers. The key word is “opportunity.” Not everyone will embrace this opportunity, but the few that do will inspire others with positive attitudes. This can only be achieved with visionary leadership.
Primary Elements
Organization structure controls decision-making responsibility. Visionary leadership allows decision-making responsibility all the way down to the frontline. Standard leadership limits decision making to management.
Priorities – Organization priorities control leadership style.
When priority is responsibility at the frontline, leadership will seek talent, people he can depend on to complete tasks with limited supervision. The policy will be “do it.” The frontline develops quality decision-making skills that are also found in layers of management.
When the priority is control, leadership will be organized in a way that all decisions must have approval. The policy will be “do not do anything until being told.” Layers of management slow the final decision, while lowering efficiency.
Policies - Leadership style is controlled by workplace policies. Leaders will adapt their style to the organization priorities and its goals.
High efficiency workplaces are based on visionary leadership, where workplace policies authorize decision-making responsibility at the frontline. Limited supervision is needed with worker responsibility.
Standard leadership is based on man’s instinctive desire for control, which is leadership by default. A leader’s changing mood controls policy of the moment and no one knows what the priorities are – mood-changing priorities reduce efficiency. Standard leadership requires a high level of supervision.
Elementary problems - Leadership style controls the level of elementary problems, which controls workplace efficiency. Level of elementary problems is controlled, in part, by learning opportunities and leader’s personal priority.
Decision-making responsibility, at all levels, allows minor problems to be solved by those who are first aware of them. Management can stay focused on problems related to the organization goals. As a bonus, employee motivation is high when they feel what they are doing makes a difference.
A leader’s desire for control prevents minor problems from being solved, because no one can make a decision without approval. Leaders’ priorities are based on high visibility events. As employees adjust work habits to minor problems, they become accepted as normal. The volume of these problems slowly grows and the workforce slowly becomes less efficient. Management blames workers for their lack of ability to get the job done. Assigning blame without responsibility solves nothing.
Learning opportunity - Quality of worker decisions is controlled by workplace learning opportunities.
Learning to make quality decisions is the result of worker responsibility, resulting in the development of personal skills. An experienced workforce prevents elementary problems. Continuous learning opportunity is highly motivating—it controls employee inspiration, skill level and quality.
People, who only follow orders, do not have learning opportunity, do not develop personal skills and do not learn quality decision making. A workforce that is indifferent to the needs of the organization increases elementary problems. Workers learn no more than necessary to their job.
Achievers – Everyone wants to be an achiever in and out of the workplace. With workplace ambitions, leadership promotes or kills this desire.
People, who have a burning drive to be an achiever, seek opportunity in organizations that have a reputation of supporting personal ambitions. Their presents inspire coworkers to do the same or simply be proud of their surroundings. Leadership welcomes subordinates more capable than themselves, because their first priority is to get the job done with limited supervision.
Command-and-control leadership drives away visionary achievers. Should they become employed, they will soon quit or be fired. Leaders do not want their status threatened by ambitious subordinates or someone more capable than themselves, because their first priority is control. As a result, the workforce waits for official decisions and waits for things to happen. A high level of supervision in needed to keep things moving.
Natural talent - Leadership style controls the ability to recognize natural talent. No one knows what their true capabilities are until they are given opportunity and responsibility.
Where workers have decision-making responsibility, unique skills and natural talent are soon recognized by coworkers and leadership. An employee may discover talent he did not know he had. With discovery, he can search for ways to develop it. Efficiency increases when natural talent is in harmony with assigned tasks.
Where workers only follow orders—unique skills, natural talent and discovery of capabilities are lost to the company and its employees.
Skill level – The ability and desire to share knowledge with coworkers influences the continuing education level of the workforce, thereby, increasing skill level and the value of their services. Workplace education is dead for people who only follow orders.
Technology – Today’s technology is reducing the time it takes to get jobs done. Workplace education is the only way to stay on technology’s leading edge. Visionary leadership, not standard, is the only way for the organization to be a leader in its field.
Getting the job done – Projects only have value when the job is completed, until then, it is garbage. Competitive value depends on the efficiency of getting the job done, which is based on keeping elementary problems to a minimum. Efficiency is also a byproduct of employees’ attitude towards their job. Leadership, opportunity and responsibility influence attitude.
Elements to Consider
Ethical policies – Ethical policies at the organization’s top filter down to the frontline. It is not possible to have unethical policies at the top and enforce ethical policies at the bottom. Leaders’ ethical policies become the mindset of the organization. A person with high ethical standards will not stay long in an organization with low ethical standards, they will quit or be fired. A potential whistle blower becomes a threat, yet, this type of person makes an organization efficient. Success of workplace responsibility requires high ethical policies from top to bottom.
Exception to the rule - The military uses command-and-control leadership, yet the troops are highly skilled, motivated and morale is high. This is opposite the statements stated above. The difference - military organizations are team orientated with continuous training. Troops expanding their skills and experiencing capabilities they never dreamed possible, produces a highly motivated and efficient organization. Learning opportunity and responsibility is the key.
Hiring a visionary leader – Very often, an organization realizes it needs to upgrade its leadership. Management can recognize quality in an applicant, but they do not know how to manage them, should they be hired. The first thing current leadership does is tell new leadership how to manage, using their policies. They are in the habit of giving orders and expect them to do as they say while getting desired results. Current leadership does not want to change, they want the new leader to change subordinates attitudes. Attitudes are reflections of leadership. If leadership wants subordinates to change their attitudes, current leaders must first change their attitudes and develop quality leadership skills. Then they can adapt and benefit from the experiences of visionary leadership.
Self-education – Man has the ability to educate himself without instructors – commonly known as self-education. Employees, of organizations that stay on the leading edge of technology, know how to educate themselves. This is the only way to adapt new technology as it comes on the market. The education system waits for market demand before it is offered in classrooms. Organizations that wait for classroom instruction are on the trailing edge of technology.
Resources - Efficiency is as effective as available resources—tools, supplies, work environment—to complete tasks. Employees will work hard to get jobs done, but they need quality resources to be efficient. Resources influence pride, which affects efficiency.
Self-fulfilling prophecy - If leaders want to control workers, they will lead in such a way that self-fulfilling prophecy will condition workers to do nothing unless closely supervised. If leaders want workers to assume responsibility, they must lead in such a way that self-fulfilling prophecy will condition workers to assume responsibility. Employee turnover sorts personalities, attracting people who fit the leader’s image and rejecting those who do not, thus fulfilling the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Social prejudice believes other people are less capable than we are. If we are managers and we think other people are less capable, then we will establish a management policy that reflects that belief. Through employee turnover and self-fulfilling prophecy, our opinion will be proven right.
The Visionary Leadership Programs Are Offered by Conscious Company Worldwide and Evolution Unlimited
A program for anyone with the desire to grow as an authentic instrument of conscious change and anyone ready to recognize that they are, in fact, already leaders – leaders in business, organizations, sports teams, social groups, and even amongst your family and friends.
Visionary Leadership in World Futures
Does global leadership still face an open moment in this post-Cold War period, as Harlan Cleveland asks? Will the 21st century fulfill its anticipatory promise, envisioned by thousands of new millennium celebrations from 1999 to 2000?
Or has our world, since September 11th entered a black hole of civilization wars, energy shortfalls, failed peace plans, and killer storms? Is this New World Disorder destined to foreclose any sustainable trajectory for international security, trade, social justice or the natural environment?
Drawing upon Robert's biographical research method, this paper will compare and contrast two influential leaders in the first half of the 20th century; H.G. Wells-the futurist and John R. Mott-the ecumenist. Following their introduction, this paper will define three behavioral leadership characteristics, gathered from Kouzes and Posner's book on visionary leadership theory: challenging, inspiring, and enabling. Using these practices as yardsticks, Well's and Mott's leadership style will be compared and contrasted. This paper will conclude with insights on how Well's and Mott's visionary leadership could help non-governmental leaders today address the Global Problematique or Civilizational Crisis of the 21st century (Meadows et al; Slaughter).
H.G. Wells (1866-1946) burst on the scene in 1895 as author of The Time Machine. This was quickly followed by a series of science fiction classics, including The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Through these and other social novels, such as A Modern Utopia, Wells awoke a complacent Victorian age to the enormous scale of change unleashed, through ideas such as Darwinian evolution, the Industrial revolution, and national ideology. Following World War I, in books such as The Open Conspiracy or The Shape of Things to Come, Wells turned from forecasting the crisis of western civilization to advocating for world reorganization beyond militarism. He educated a new workforce of adult learners through his trilogy of integrated knowledge, An Outline of History, The Science of Life,and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind. Wells eventually wrote over 110 books over the course of 50 years, concluding with his bleak farewell, Mind at the End of the Tether in 1945. While the public saw the novelist, journalist or mass educator, Wells thought of himself as a visionary leader offering science, socialism and world service to both youth and the intellectual advant garde who could bring forth an organic world state to replace a shell-shocked western civilization.
John R. Mott (1865-1955) came of age in the YMCA student association in the 1880s and, by the year 1900, had formed the international associations of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Mission (SVM) and the World Student Christian Federation. Within a decade Mott had convened the comprehensive Protestant "World Mission Conference" in Edinburgh based on the vision expressed in the book, The Evangelization of the World in this Generation. This led to the rise of the International Missionary Council, a coordinating body for Christian service around the world, the seedbed from which the World Council of Churches was formed in 1946 (Hogg). In that year Mott received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in leading the young people of the world. In 1955 he died at the age of 90, still a Methodist layperson, yet recognized as the leading apostle of Christian unity during the 20th century (Hopkins).
Both Wells and Mott were visionary world leaders. Both labored through non-governmental organizations. Both challenged personal complacency, hypocrisy and selfishness in the face of militarism, nationalism and industrialism. Both were contemporaries who called young people to world service. Yet there is no record they ever met or corresponded. This is despite common acquaintances with world leaders such as Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt or Winston Churchill. Mott labored within the industrial age framework and championed its enterprise, while Wells worked as a socialist on its periphery, to challenge what Wallerstein calls the modern "world system" of capitalism. Two decades after Wells and Mott's death, each life was marked with publications to celebrate their birth centennials (Costa; Mackie). Despite these scholarly assessments of each leader's work, no paper has examined these men from the vantage point of leadership studies as defined by Burns, Bass or Yukl. This study aims to fill this void, and contribute to the growing body of literature that examines civic or non-profit / NGO leadership, in contrast to government or business leadership.
The method used to examine Wells and Mott is drawn from the biographical research method, while the comparative constructs are taken from visionary leadership. To study historical figures, Roberts claims the biographical research method offers context, depth and meaning. It allows the voice of subjects to be heard, and seeks to understand them in their context. Biographical descriptions and speeches of the leader are usually analyzed to identify behaviors, traits, critical incidents and influence processes. These in turn are evaluated against leadership characteristics. This study will draw its characteristics or constructs for comparison from visionary leadership theory.
Visionary leadership is recognized as a companion to charismatic leadership (Conger and Kanungo; Shamir et al) under the larger framework of transformational leadership (Burns; Bass). Most scholars consider leadership vision or 'visioning' as an organizational and societal process with three distinct steps: (a) as envisioning a desired future state, which (b) when communicated to followers, serves (c) to empower those followers to enact the vision. Westley and Mintzberg (17-18) represent this process in shorthand as:
vision (idea) --> communication (word) --> empowerment (action).
A biographical study, however, needs to translate this process into leadership characteristics. Kouzes and Posner's assessment of exemplary or visionary leadership has been a benchmark in managerial development for over a decade. Their Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) measures five leader behaviors. Its underlying factor studies have been sustained across a wide variety of industries, including the non-profit sector. The five practices are:
(a) Challenging the Process: the extent the leader questions assumption, experiments and takes risk;
(b) Inspiring a Shared Vision, the degree the leader describes an exciting view of the future;
(c) Enabling Others to Act, the amount of cooperative and participative decision making used by the leader
(d) Modelling the Way, the extent the leader consistently practices his or her espoused values; and
(e) Encouraging the Heart, the degree the leader gives positive feedback, publicly recognizes individual contributions and celebrates team achievements.
There is a profound interconnectedness between the leader and the whole, and true visionary leaders serve the good of the whole. They recognize that there is some truth on both sides of most polarized issues in our society today. They search for solutions that transcend the usual adversarial approaches and address the causal level of problems. They find a higher synthesis of the best of both sides of an issue and address the systemic root causes of problems to create real breakthroughs.
VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
Are you someone with a vision burning inside that seeks to manifest? Do you see yourself as a visionary?
What is it that makes a visionary become a visionary leader? A visionary may dream wonderful visions of the future and articulate them with great inspiration. A visionary is good with words. But a visionary leader is good with actions as well as words, and so can bring his/her vision into being in the world, thus transforming it in some way. More than words are needed for a vision to take form in today’s world. It requires leadership and heartfelt commitment.
A visionary leader is effective in manifesting his or her vision because s/he creates specific, achievable goals, initiates action and enlists the participation of others.
What are the qualities and abilities of true visionary leaders? What is the mysterious inner process within leaders that enables them to work their magic and radiate the charisma that mobilizes others for a higher purpose?
Visionary leadership is based on a balanced expression of the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical dimensions. It requires core values, clear vision, empowering relationships, and innovative action. When one or more of these dimensions are missing, leadership cannot manifest a vision.
A COMMITMENT TO CORE SPIRITUAL VALUES
A commitment to values is an outstanding characteristic of all visionary leaders. They embody a sense of personal integrity, and radiate a sense of energy, vitality and will. Will is standing in a spiritual state of being. Will is a spiritual attribute, which allows a leader to stand for something.
More self-aware and reflective than others, visionary leaders follow an inner sense of direction, and lead from the inside out, as exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi. He said, “I must first be the change I want to see in my world.” He was a prime example of a commitment to values, as he freed India by appealing to the moral conscience of Britain and using “satyagraha” or non-violent action to reveal the immorality of the British Empire.
Rather than being corrupted by power, visionary leaders are elevated by power and exercise moral leadership. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, embodies this type of moral leadership, as does Marion Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, who has a deep commitment to children’s welfare.
Many successful leaders in business, such as Jeffrey Swartz of Timberland Shoes, have demonstrated the power of living their values. Swartz pays employees to volunteer in the community and honors the “double bottom line”--profit and values”. Tom Chappell, CEO of Tom’s of Maine, found that he could “do well by doing good.” Doing good-- embodying his values--has made his company very profitable. Tom’s of Maine uses all natural ingredients in their products to protect consumers and the environment.
A CLEAR, INSPIRATIONAL VISION
Visionaries who are successful at manifesting their visions base their leadership on an inspirational, positive picture of the future, as well as a clear sense of direction as to how to get there. Vision is a field that brings energy into form. Effective leaders broadcast a coherent message by themselves embodying their vision, as author Margaret Wheatley notes. They keep communicating the vision to create a strong field which then brings their vision into physical reality. Nelson Mandela clearly held a positive vision of a racially harmonious South Africa during his 28 years in jail and helped bring it into reality peacefully-- to the amazement of the world.
The best visionary leaders move energy to a higher level by offering a clear vision of what is possible. They inspire people to be better than they already are and help them identify with what Lincoln called “the angels of their better nature.” This was the power of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. The creative power of lighted, inspired words can sound a certain inner note that people recognize and respond to. This then creates dramatic social change. Like King, visionary leaders have the ability to sense the deeper spiritual needs of followers and link their current demands to these deeper, often unspoken, need for purpose and meaning.
Visionary leaders often have the ability to see higher spiritual forces at work behind the scenes of events, and they align with the vision of these redemptive forces. Both George Washington and Winston Churchill spoke about the help they received from a “guiding hand.” Churchill said, “...we have a guardian because we serve a great cause, and we shall have that guardian as long as we serve that cause faithfully.”
Sojourner Truth, a former slave, was guided by an inner spiritual experience to preach the emancipation of slaves and women’s rights all over the country during the Civil War. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt had a vision of Mohammed who told him to create peace in the Middle East. This vision is the hidden story behind the Camp David Peace Treaty between Arabs and Israelis.
Visionary leaders transmit energy to people, giving them a new sense of hope and confidence in achieving the vision. Television host Oprah Winfrey helps her guests believe in themselves and work to create a better world.
Visionary leaders often enunciate a vision based on principles that become guideposts for humanity. They intuitively draw on the ageless wisdom and present it in a new synthesis to meet the particular need of the times. In the Brundtland Report, Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, helped synthesize the principles of sustainable development that are needed to protect our environment for future generations.
RESPECTFUL, EMPOWERING RELATIONSHIPS
Good relationships are the heart of effective visionary leaders. They embody a deeply caring approach to people, seeing them as their greatest asset. Aaron Feuerstein, CEO of Malden Mills, kept all his employees on the payroll when a fire destroyed 75% of his factories. His employees were so grateful they helped him rebuild and within a year the company was more profitable than ever.
In contrast to the old style of leadership which tells people what to do, and pushes or dominates them, visionary leaders embody a receptive, as well as a dynamic energy. They know how to listen and learn from other points of view and have fine tuned their communications skills. Rita Bailey, Director of Southwest Airline’s University for People, says the secret of the airline’s amazing financial success is living by the golden rule-treating employees as family, with warmth and respect. Employees then treat customers the same way.
Visionary leaders promote a partnership approach and create a shared sense of vision and meaning with others. They exhibit a greater respect for others and carefully develop team spirit and team learning, Building this sense of shared vision and partnership has also been key to the effectiveness of feminist Gloria Steinem.
The most effective visionary leaders are responsive to the real needs of people and they develop participative strategies to include people in designing their own futures. This approach has been very successful for Robert Haas, the CEO of Levi Strauss. Rather than confront or avoid conflict, the new leaders have learned how to transform conflict into usable energy. They work to unite--rather than divide- people.
INNOVATIVE, COURAGEOUS ACTION
Visionary leaders are especially noted for transforming old mental maps or paradigms, and creating strategies that are “outside the box” of conventional thought. They embody a balance of right brain (rational) and left brain (intuitive) functions. Their thinking is broad and systemic, seeing the big picture, the whole system, and “the pattern that connects.” They then create innovative strategies for actualizing their vision. CNN founder Ted Turner transformed television news by boldly creating an around-the-clock international news network. Sammy D.James great visionary for 21 st century have a vision in the islands of the bahamas,to bring that vision all over the world today.
CEO Ray Anderson took courageous action in transforming his world-wide company, Interface Carpets, into the most environmentally sustainable corporation. Interface launched a massive effort to cut its use of energy, replace petroleum-based supplies with vegetable-based substitutes, and reduce emissions by 24%. Customers now don’t buy a wall-to-wall carpet--they rent one--and when it wears out, all its component parts are recycled, and the customer receives a new one.
Visionary leaders anticipate change and are proactive, rather than reactive to events. Their focus is on opportunities, not on problems. They emphasize win/win--rather than adversarial win/lose--approaches. This is the strategy of environmental economist Hazel Henderson, author of Building a Win/Win World, who created The Calvert/Henderson Sustainable Indicators with the Calvert Social Investment Funds.Body Shop founder Anita Roddick addressed health and environmental problems, as well as poverty in the Third World, through the innovative strategies she designed for her hugely successful products and stores. Products are made of non-polluting ingredients and stores are opened in poor neighborhoods to provide employment and return profit to the community.
When we see a truly visionary leader accomplishing great things, s/he is drawing on the resources of their soul and its remarkable capabilities. Each of us can access our inner resources to become a more effective leader in our own field. First we must be willing to take initiative and stand for something we believe in passionately. We must be ready to take the heat. Many of us avoid the responsibility of leadership primarily because we are too sensitive to criticism. But when we know who we truly are and we live from an inner core of values, criticism can be filtered to take in only what is true and helpful to our growth.
Today, as we enter the Third Millennium, thousands of new visionary leaders are emerging in all fields of human endeavor around the world, leading a quiet revolution energized by power of the soul. By appreciating and supporting those who lead from their core spiritual values, we strengthen those leadership qualities in ourselves.
Dr:Sammy D.James/president and founder/ W V M I.
Visionary Leadership.
Elements of Visionary Leadership
The Objective is to increase workplace efficiency by controlling elementary problems with workplace education tools. Workplace education finds efficient ways to get jobs done.
The Goal - The goal in any task is to get the job done. Leadership style controls efficiency, which controls competitive value of product or service, which determines the winner.
Leadership Innovation – Today, fast growing organizations are built on leadership innovation, that is, they are not built by product visionaries but by social visionaries — those who invent entirely new ways of organizing human effort. Southwest Airlines, Inc. is an example.
Definition of Terms
Visionary Leadership increases efficiency by moving decision-making responsibility to the frontline. Efficiency is achieved with limited supervision. To make frontline responsibility effective, leadership must give workers opportunity to develop quality decision-making skills and learn to trust them. Wal-Mart stores use visionary leadership.
Standard leadership assumes employees to be robots and do as they are told. This is based on man’s natural instinct that only leadership is capable of making quality decisions. This is known as command-and-control leadership. Low efficiency is caused by the disconnect between management and the frontline. Management is busy dealing with problems that affect them while ignoring problems that affect the frontline. Front line problems are only dealt with when they explode into a major problem. K-Mart stores use standard leadership.
Workplace education creates a workforce of quality decision makers. Employees at all levels have the opportunity to discover and develop their unique skills, thereby, inspiring them to become quality decision-makers. The key word is “opportunity.” Not everyone will embrace this opportunity, but the few that do will inspire others with positive attitudes. This can only be achieved with visionary leadership.
Primary Elements
Organization structure controls decision-making responsibility. Visionary leadership allows decision-making responsibility all the way down to the frontline. Standard leadership limits decision making to management.
Priorities – Organization priorities control leadership style.
When priority is responsibility at the frontline, leadership will seek talent, people he can depend on to complete tasks with limited supervision. The policy will be “do it.” The frontline develops quality decision-making skills that are also found in layers of management.
When the priority is control, leadership will be organized in a way that all decisions must have approval. The policy will be “do not do anything until being told.” Layers of management slow the final decision, while lowering efficiency.
Policies - Leadership style is controlled by workplace policies. Leaders will adapt their style to the organization priorities and its goals.
High efficiency workplaces are based on visionary leadership, where workplace policies authorize decision-making responsibility at the frontline. Limited supervision is needed with worker responsibility.
Standard leadership is based on man’s instinctive desire for control, which is leadership by default. A leader’s changing mood controls policy of the moment and no one knows what the priorities are – mood-changing priorities reduce efficiency. Standard leadership requires a high level of supervision.
Elementary problems - Leadership style controls the level of elementary problems, which controls workplace efficiency. Level of elementary problems is controlled, in part, by learning opportunities and leader’s personal priority.
Decision-making responsibility, at all levels, allows minor problems to be solved by those who are first aware of them. Management can stay focused on problems related to the organization goals. As a bonus, employee motivation is high when they feel what they are doing makes a difference.
A leader’s desire for control prevents minor problems from being solved, because no one can make a decision without approval. Leaders’ priorities are based on high visibility events. As employees adjust work habits to minor problems, they become accepted as normal. The volume of these problems slowly grows and the workforce slowly becomes less efficient. Management blames workers for their lack of ability to get the job done. Assigning blame without responsibility solves nothing.
Learning opportunity - Quality of worker decisions is controlled by workplace learning opportunities.
Learning to make quality decisions is the result of worker responsibility, resulting in the development of personal skills. An experienced workforce prevents elementary problems. Continuous learning opportunity is highly motivating—it controls employee inspiration, skill level and quality.
People, who only follow orders, do not have learning opportunity, do not develop personal skills and do not learn quality decision making. A workforce that is indifferent to the needs of the organization increases elementary problems. Workers learn no more than necessary to their job.
Achievers – Everyone wants to be an achiever in and out of the workplace. With workplace ambitions, leadership promotes or kills this desire.
People, who have a burning drive to be an achiever, seek opportunity in organizations that have a reputation of supporting personal ambitions. Their presents inspire coworkers to do the same or simply be proud of their surroundings. Leadership welcomes subordinates more capable than themselves, because their first priority is to get the job done with limited supervision.
Command-and-control leadership drives away visionary achievers. Should they become employed, they will soon quit or be fired. Leaders do not want their status threatened by ambitious subordinates or someone more capable than themselves, because their first priority is control. As a result, the workforce waits for official decisions and waits for things to happen. A high level of supervision in needed to keep things moving.
Natural talent - Leadership style controls the ability to recognize natural talent. No one knows what their true capabilities are until they are given opportunity and responsibility.
Where workers have decision-making responsibility, unique skills and natural talent are soon recognized by coworkers and leadership. An employee may discover talent he did not know he had. With discovery, he can search for ways to develop it. Efficiency increases when natural talent is in harmony with assigned tasks.
Where workers only follow orders—unique skills, natural talent and discovery of capabilities are lost to the company and its employees.
Skill level – The ability and desire to share knowledge with coworkers influences the continuing education level of the workforce, thereby, increasing skill level and the value of their services. Workplace education is dead for people who only follow orders.
Technology – Today’s technology is reducing the time it takes to get jobs done. Workplace education is the only way to stay on technology’s leading edge. Visionary leadership, not standard, is the only way for the organization to be a leader in its field.
Getting the job done – Projects only have value when the job is completed, until then, it is garbage. Competitive value depends on the efficiency of getting the job done, which is based on keeping elementary problems to a minimum. Efficiency is also a byproduct of employees’ attitude towards their job. Leadership, opportunity and responsibility influence attitude.
Elements to Consider
Ethical policies – Ethical policies at the organization’s top filter down to the frontline. It is not possible to have unethical policies at the top and enforce ethical policies at the bottom. Leaders’ ethical policies become the mindset of the organization. A person with high ethical standards will not stay long in an organization with low ethical standards, they will quit or be fired. A potential whistle blower becomes a threat, yet, this type of person makes an organization efficient. Success of workplace responsibility requires high ethical policies from top to bottom.
Exception to the rule - The military uses command-and-control leadership, yet the troops are highly skilled, motivated and morale is high. This is opposite the statements stated above. The difference - military organizations are team orientated with continuous training. Troops expanding their skills and experiencing capabilities they never dreamed possible, produces a highly motivated and efficient organization. Learning opportunity and responsibility is the key.
Hiring a visionary leader – Very often, an organization realizes it needs to upgrade its leadership. Management can recognize quality in an applicant, but they do not know how to manage them, should they be hired. The first thing current leadership does is tell new leadership how to manage, using their policies. They are in the habit of giving orders and expect them to do as they say while getting desired results. Current leadership does not want to change, they want the new leader to change subordinates attitudes. Attitudes are reflections of leadership. If leadership wants subordinates to change their attitudes, current leaders must first change their attitudes and develop quality leadership skills. Then they can adapt and benefit from the experiences of visionary leadership.
Self-education – Man has the ability to educate himself without instructors – commonly known as self-education. Employees, of organizations that stay on the leading edge of technology, know how to educate themselves. This is the only way to adapt new technology as it comes on the market. The education system waits for market demand before it is offered in classrooms. Organizations that wait for classroom instruction are on the trailing edge of technology.
Resources - Efficiency is as effective as available resources—tools, supplies, work environment—to complete tasks. Employees will work hard to get jobs done, but they need quality resources to be efficient. Resources influence pride, which affects efficiency.
Self-fulfilling prophecy - If leaders want to control workers, they will lead in such a way that self-fulfilling prophecy will condition workers to do nothing unless closely supervised. If leaders want workers to assume responsibility, they must lead in such a way that self-fulfilling prophecy will condition workers to assume responsibility. Employee turnover sorts personalities, attracting people who fit the leader’s image and rejecting those who do not, thus fulfilling the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Social prejudice believes other people are less capable than we are. If we are managers and we think other people are less capable, then we will establish a management policy that reflects that belief. Through employee turnover and self-fulfilling prophecy, our opinion will be proven right.
The Visionary Leadership Programs Are Offered by Conscious Company Worldwide and Evolution Unlimited
A program for anyone with the desire to grow as an authentic instrument of conscious change and anyone ready to recognize that they are, in fact, already leaders – leaders in business, organizations, sports teams, social groups, and even amongst your family and friends.
Visionary Leadership in World Futures
Does global leadership still face an open moment in this post-Cold War period, as Harlan Cleveland asks? Will the 21st century fulfill its anticipatory promise, envisioned by thousands of new millennium celebrations from 1999 to 2000?
Or has our world, since September 11th entered a black hole of civilization wars, energy shortfalls, failed peace plans, and killer storms? Is this New World Disorder destined to foreclose any sustainable trajectory for international security, trade, social justice or the natural environment?
Drawing upon Robert's biographical research method, this paper will compare and contrast two influential leaders in the first half of the 20th century; H.G. Wells-the futurist and John R. Mott-the ecumenist. Following their introduction, this paper will define three behavioral leadership characteristics, gathered from Kouzes and Posner's book on visionary leadership theory: challenging, inspiring, and enabling. Using these practices as yardsticks, Well's and Mott's leadership style will be compared and contrasted. This paper will conclude with insights on how Well's and Mott's visionary leadership could help non-governmental leaders today address the Global Problematique or Civilizational Crisis of the 21st century (Meadows et al; Slaughter).
H.G. Wells (1866-1946) burst on the scene in 1895 as author of The Time Machine. This was quickly followed by a series of science fiction classics, including The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Through these and other social novels, such as A Modern Utopia, Wells awoke a complacent Victorian age to the enormous scale of change unleashed, through ideas such as Darwinian evolution, the Industrial revolution, and national ideology. Following World War I, in books such as The Open Conspiracy or The Shape of Things to Come, Wells turned from forecasting the crisis of western civilization to advocating for world reorganization beyond militarism. He educated a new workforce of adult learners through his trilogy of integrated knowledge, An Outline of History, The Science of Life,and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind. Wells eventually wrote over 110 books over the course of 50 years, concluding with his bleak farewell, Mind at the End of the Tether in 1945. While the public saw the novelist, journalist or mass educator, Wells thought of himself as a visionary leader offering science, socialism and world service to both youth and the intellectual advant garde who could bring forth an organic world state to replace a shell-shocked western civilization.
John R. Mott (1865-1955) came of age in the YMCA student association in the 1880s and, by the year 1900, had formed the international associations of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Mission (SVM) and the World Student Christian Federation. Within a decade Mott had convened the comprehensive Protestant "World Mission Conference" in Edinburgh based on the vision expressed in the book, The Evangelization of the World in this Generation. This led to the rise of the International Missionary Council, a coordinating body for Christian service around the world, the seedbed from which the World Council of Churches was formed in 1946 (Hogg). In that year Mott received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in leading the young people of the world. In 1955 he died at the age of 90, still a Methodist layperson, yet recognized as the leading apostle of Christian unity during the 20th century (Hopkins).
Both Wells and Mott were visionary world leaders. Both labored through non-governmental organizations. Both challenged personal complacency, hypocrisy and selfishness in the face of militarism, nationalism and industrialism. Both were contemporaries who called young people to world service. Yet there is no record they ever met or corresponded. This is despite common acquaintances with world leaders such as Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt or Winston Churchill. Mott labored within the industrial age framework and championed its enterprise, while Wells worked as a socialist on its periphery, to challenge what Wallerstein calls the modern "world system" of capitalism. Two decades after Wells and Mott's death, each life was marked with publications to celebrate their birth centennials (Costa; Mackie). Despite these scholarly assessments of each leader's work, no paper has examined these men from the vantage point of leadership studies as defined by Burns, Bass or Yukl. This study aims to fill this void, and contribute to the growing body of literature that examines civic or non-profit / NGO leadership, in contrast to government or business leadership.
The method used to examine Wells and Mott is drawn from the biographical research method, while the comparative constructs are taken from visionary leadership. To study historical figures, Roberts claims the biographical research method offers context, depth and meaning. It allows the voice of subjects to be heard, and seeks to understand them in their context. Biographical descriptions and speeches of the leader are usually analyzed to identify behaviors, traits, critical incidents and influence processes. These in turn are evaluated against leadership characteristics. This study will draw its characteristics or constructs for comparison from visionary leadership theory.
Visionary leadership is recognized as a companion to charismatic leadership (Conger and Kanungo; Shamir et al) under the larger framework of transformational leadership (Burns; Bass). Most scholars consider leadership vision or 'visioning' as an organizational and societal process with three distinct steps: (a) as envisioning a desired future state, which (b) when communicated to followers, serves (c) to empower those followers to enact the vision. Westley and Mintzberg (17-18) represent this process in shorthand as:
vision (idea) --> communication (word) --> empowerment (action).
A biographical study, however, needs to translate this process into leadership characteristics. Kouzes and Posner's assessment of exemplary or visionary leadership has been a benchmark in managerial development for over a decade. Their Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) measures five leader behaviors. Its underlying factor studies have been sustained across a wide variety of industries, including the non-profit sector. The five practices are:
(a) Challenging the Process: the extent the leader questions assumption, experiments and takes risk;
(b) Inspiring a Shared Vision, the degree the leader describes an exciting view of the future;
(c) Enabling Others to Act, the amount of cooperative and participative decision making used by the leader
(d) Modelling the Way, the extent the leader consistently practices his or her espoused values; and
(e) Encouraging the Heart, the degree the leader gives positive feedback, publicly recognizes individual contributions and celebrates team achievements.
9 oct 2009
Real Leadership by Dr:Sammy D.James
We read about great leaders, but rarely do we get the chance to work alongside of them. Recently, I've had the pleasure of being able to experience two leaders up close whom I admire and respect.
Today I'd like to spotlight: Dr Myles Munroe & Eclesiaste Donatian
Dr: Myles is the owner of ITWLA and president founder of BFMI.
Rev:Eclesiaste is the Head of School at Calvary Christian School and TBL.
Here are just 3 traits that make them "great" at what they do:
Character:Myles and Eclesiaste let their core values shine through them. They are more interested in developing their character, before their leadership abilities. They live what they say. When they speak, people believe them.
Relational: I watch the way Dr: Myles and Rev:Eclesiaste treat and interact with others. They put people before tasks. They care about their workers and value each person's well-being before their performance. They treat everyone with respect.
Humble:Dr Myles and Eclesiaste see the bigger picture. They do not think of themselves bigger than the organizations that they lead. They have their ego's in check. They are grateful for the positions they are in and serve others accordingly.
Witnessing great leaders in person is rare. I am blessed to have worked under these two. Don't try to emulate other leaders, instead learn from their example. Great examples of leadership inspire us to get better. Leadership is a process and we can gain much from observing those who are more experienced than we are. Who are you watching? i have chance to be with Dr:Myles Munroe for many years in the Bahamas,and rev Eclesiaste for two years.I learn a lot from Them.And i have thousand of great leader coming from all over the world in our conferences, in the bahamas.Politicians,business,man/women,Social ,christianism, etc
Good Leadership Skills - Don’t give up.Everyone is watching you.Say what you mean! Mean what you say! They will figure you out real quick if you don’t! When I say they - I mean everyone - from your kids - to your employees - and everyone in between. Are you a Leader? Be a Leader! Dr:Sammy D.James
Today I'd like to spotlight: Dr Myles Munroe & Eclesiaste Donatian
Dr: Myles is the owner of ITWLA and president founder of BFMI.
Rev:Eclesiaste is the Head of School at Calvary Christian School and TBL.
Here are just 3 traits that make them "great" at what they do:
Character:Myles and Eclesiaste let their core values shine through them. They are more interested in developing their character, before their leadership abilities. They live what they say. When they speak, people believe them.
Relational: I watch the way Dr: Myles and Rev:Eclesiaste treat and interact with others. They put people before tasks. They care about their workers and value each person's well-being before their performance. They treat everyone with respect.
Humble:Dr Myles and Eclesiaste see the bigger picture. They do not think of themselves bigger than the organizations that they lead. They have their ego's in check. They are grateful for the positions they are in and serve others accordingly.
Witnessing great leaders in person is rare. I am blessed to have worked under these two. Don't try to emulate other leaders, instead learn from their example. Great examples of leadership inspire us to get better. Leadership is a process and we can gain much from observing those who are more experienced than we are. Who are you watching? i have chance to be with Dr:Myles Munroe for many years in the Bahamas,and rev Eclesiaste for two years.I learn a lot from Them.And i have thousand of great leader coming from all over the world in our conferences, in the bahamas.Politicians,business,man/women,Social ,christianism, etc
Good Leadership Skills - Don’t give up.Everyone is watching you.Say what you mean! Mean what you say! They will figure you out real quick if you don’t! When I say they - I mean everyone - from your kids - to your employees - and everyone in between. Are you a Leader? Be a Leader! Dr:Sammy D.James
8 oct 2009
What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?Dr :Sammy D.James
Leadership and management must go hand in hand. They are not the same thing. But they are necessarily linked, and complementary. Any effort to separate the two is likely to cause more problems than it solves.
Still, much ink has been spent delineating the differences. The manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. The leader’s job is to inspire and motivate. In his 1989 book “On Becoming a Leader,” Warren Bennis composed a list of the differences:
– The manager administers; the leader innovates.
– The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
– The manager maintains; the leader develops.
– The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
– The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
– The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
– The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
– The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.
– The manager imitates; the leader originates.
– The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
– The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
– The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Perhaps there was a time when the calling of the manager and that of the leader could be separated. A foreman in an industrial-era factory probably didn’t have to give much thought to what he was producing or to the people who were producing it. His or her job was to follow orders, organize the work, assign the right people to the necessary tasks, coordinate the results, and ensure the job got done as ordered. The focus was on efficiency.
But in the new economy, where value comes increasingly from the knowledge of people, and where workers are no longer undifferentiated cogs in an industrial machine, management and leadership are not easily separated. People look to their managers, not just to assign them a task, but to define for them a purpose. And managers must organize workers, not just to maximize efficiency, but to nurture skills, develop talent and inspire results.
The late management guru Peter Drucker was one of the first to recognize this truth, as he was to recognize so many other management truths. He identified the emergence of the “knowledge worker,” and the profound differences that would cause in the way business was organized.
With the rise of the knowledge worker, “one does not ‘manage’ people,” Mr. Drucker wrote. “The task is to lead people. And the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual.
How Do You Demonstrate Leadership?
Fundamental principles underlie the thinking and conduct of all true leaders, and these principles are even sharply defined for leaders within the kingdom of God. From time to time those whom the Lord has chosen for leadership need to examine themselves in the mirror of thought- provoking maxims. These proverbs are designed to help Christian leaders move forward in administrative excellence.
Responsible leaders do not make irresponsible statements.
A godly leader speaks out of the presence of God.
A humble leader never makes light of eternal truths, but esteems them with reverence.
A wise leader resolves conflicts peacefully, not forcefully.
An enduring leader withstands insult without anger.
A wholesome leader is characterized by tolerance, which saves him from hasty decisions in crisis, and retaliations in the face of contrariness.
The good leader attempts to make friends, not enemies.
Dealing harshly with opponents causes more aggravation and hostility. A polite leader uses gentleness and kindness.
Eight Ways to Save Time
1. Clutter can slow you down by distracting you from what you want to do. To take control, begin in one corner of one room and straighten up. (No cheating! Don't just move the clutter to another corner!) Afterward, give yourself a reward for your good work. If you continue this pattern over time, you'll get the job done.
2. Do you arrive at your office most mornings frazzled from too much rushing around before leaving the house? Prepare for your departure the night before: put your coat, car keys, and briefcase by the door, ready to grab, and set your alarm fifteen minutes earlier. You'll start the day feeling more in command.
3. The next time you pass a card store, stock up on a supply of "thank you," "congratulations," and "great job" cards. Keep a supply at the office and some at home. Remember how you feel when a good word is sent your way and be generous in your compliments to others.
4. Do you keep "to do" lists that run on for pages? If you often feel discouraged by what's not crossed off your lists, make them shorter. The most effective managers identify only three top priorities each day. And their self-esteem is stroked repeatedly when they cross off all three tasks, day after day.
5. In today's world of so-called advanced telecommunications, more people identify "telephone tag" as their biggest time waster. When you leave a phone message on someone's voice mail or answering machine, remember to cover the four W's: who called, why you called, what you'd like the receiver to do, and when you're available to receive a return call. A specific request with detailed information increases your chances of a reply. Furthermore, on the incoming message of your answering machine, direct callers to leave you answers to the four W's.
6. It has been said that the two-letter word no is the single most effective time management tool there is. Saying no to yourself and others is a great way to keep from becoming overloaded with things to do. Much of what we do on a daily basis is nonessential. Limiting the things we allow ourselves to become committed to will free up our time to do the more important things.
7. Are you a "morning person," or a "night person"? Each of us has a biological clock; that is, there are certain times of day when we are most alert and at peak energy and other times when we're not. You will save time if you do your most difficult or demanding work during your high-energy hours. Postpone your routine chores and low-priority tasks until your "down time."
8. Think of ways you can cut down on repeated errands. Unless it's an emergency, don't take only one item to the dry cleaners. Wait until you have two or more. Likewise, accumulate several reasons to visit the pharmacy, the shoe repair, or the hardware store.
Still, much ink has been spent delineating the differences. The manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. The leader’s job is to inspire and motivate. In his 1989 book “On Becoming a Leader,” Warren Bennis composed a list of the differences:
– The manager administers; the leader innovates.
– The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
– The manager maintains; the leader develops.
– The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
– The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
– The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
– The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
– The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.
– The manager imitates; the leader originates.
– The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
– The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
– The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Perhaps there was a time when the calling of the manager and that of the leader could be separated. A foreman in an industrial-era factory probably didn’t have to give much thought to what he was producing or to the people who were producing it. His or her job was to follow orders, organize the work, assign the right people to the necessary tasks, coordinate the results, and ensure the job got done as ordered. The focus was on efficiency.
But in the new economy, where value comes increasingly from the knowledge of people, and where workers are no longer undifferentiated cogs in an industrial machine, management and leadership are not easily separated. People look to their managers, not just to assign them a task, but to define for them a purpose. And managers must organize workers, not just to maximize efficiency, but to nurture skills, develop talent and inspire results.
The late management guru Peter Drucker was one of the first to recognize this truth, as he was to recognize so many other management truths. He identified the emergence of the “knowledge worker,” and the profound differences that would cause in the way business was organized.
With the rise of the knowledge worker, “one does not ‘manage’ people,” Mr. Drucker wrote. “The task is to lead people. And the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual.
How Do You Demonstrate Leadership?
Fundamental principles underlie the thinking and conduct of all true leaders, and these principles are even sharply defined for leaders within the kingdom of God. From time to time those whom the Lord has chosen for leadership need to examine themselves in the mirror of thought- provoking maxims. These proverbs are designed to help Christian leaders move forward in administrative excellence.
Responsible leaders do not make irresponsible statements.
A godly leader speaks out of the presence of God.
A humble leader never makes light of eternal truths, but esteems them with reverence.
A wise leader resolves conflicts peacefully, not forcefully.
An enduring leader withstands insult without anger.
A wholesome leader is characterized by tolerance, which saves him from hasty decisions in crisis, and retaliations in the face of contrariness.
The good leader attempts to make friends, not enemies.
Dealing harshly with opponents causes more aggravation and hostility. A polite leader uses gentleness and kindness.
Eight Ways to Save Time
1. Clutter can slow you down by distracting you from what you want to do. To take control, begin in one corner of one room and straighten up. (No cheating! Don't just move the clutter to another corner!) Afterward, give yourself a reward for your good work. If you continue this pattern over time, you'll get the job done.
2. Do you arrive at your office most mornings frazzled from too much rushing around before leaving the house? Prepare for your departure the night before: put your coat, car keys, and briefcase by the door, ready to grab, and set your alarm fifteen minutes earlier. You'll start the day feeling more in command.
3. The next time you pass a card store, stock up on a supply of "thank you," "congratulations," and "great job" cards. Keep a supply at the office and some at home. Remember how you feel when a good word is sent your way and be generous in your compliments to others.
4. Do you keep "to do" lists that run on for pages? If you often feel discouraged by what's not crossed off your lists, make them shorter. The most effective managers identify only three top priorities each day. And their self-esteem is stroked repeatedly when they cross off all three tasks, day after day.
5. In today's world of so-called advanced telecommunications, more people identify "telephone tag" as their biggest time waster. When you leave a phone message on someone's voice mail or answering machine, remember to cover the four W's: who called, why you called, what you'd like the receiver to do, and when you're available to receive a return call. A specific request with detailed information increases your chances of a reply. Furthermore, on the incoming message of your answering machine, direct callers to leave you answers to the four W's.
6. It has been said that the two-letter word no is the single most effective time management tool there is. Saying no to yourself and others is a great way to keep from becoming overloaded with things to do. Much of what we do on a daily basis is nonessential. Limiting the things we allow ourselves to become committed to will free up our time to do the more important things.
7. Are you a "morning person," or a "night person"? Each of us has a biological clock; that is, there are certain times of day when we are most alert and at peak energy and other times when we're not. You will save time if you do your most difficult or demanding work during your high-energy hours. Postpone your routine chores and low-priority tasks until your "down time."
8. Think of ways you can cut down on repeated errands. Unless it's an emergency, don't take only one item to the dry cleaners. Wait until you have two or more. Likewise, accumulate several reasons to visit the pharmacy, the shoe repair, or the hardware store.
The role of a politician in Administration by Dr:Sammy D.James
Therefore, a politician has to play dual role in his life. He has to play especially an exceptional and logical role in volatile situations and. A true politician is one whose mind is seasoned. He has full control over his mind. Hence he is really happy and free. The absorbing capacity of their mind is so high similar to the Ocean, which absorbs all kinds of water. During normal seasons it receives crystal clear water. During rainy season it receives dirty water and during floods it swallows even filthy water. In this way it protects the human life. Ocean never rejects the inflow of any kind of water. It gives shelter to unaccountable water animals. If we stand at its shore we feel as if an impressive and formidable aspect roaring in our ears. Such is its immensity. Even so is a true politician. He is a real Hero since controlled his mind. There is a saying “He who has controlled his mind has conquered the world”. He maintains equanimity at censures and commendation. He bears any insult with calm and equability without any surging emotions. At insults he appears to be as cheerful as a lark. At onslaught he appears to be as cool as cucumber. He respects all sects equally. He sincerely works for the welfare of the people without giving himself any chance to develop prejudicial intentions. They exercise great control on their actions and feelings.
Contrary to this, hypocrite-politicians move with their egocentric attitude. They do not think that physical freedom is not at all a freedom. If they are freely gripped and pulled away by surging emotional impulses, if they do not possess subtler stability, and ruled by self-pride, egoistic impulses, cravings, passions and vindictiveness how can such persons be happy? Such persons violently react even to small uncritical or undisciplined prolixity especially without any attempt to scrutinize their meaning. With their arrogant and vindictive culture they ruthlessly pursuit to increase their personal importance of wealth, reputation or power by any means even at the cost of the democratic norms. They always in search of a chance to win in return game after losing a game. They cannot cognize the truth since they are as blind as a bat.
As I have said in my earlier article “Why U.P. is burning” a true Politician has to be a perfect funambulist, who is an acrobat that walks while balancing on a suspended rope. Politics is altogether a different kind of life where the insider has to maintain no other quality in its mind except equipoise and calmness. These two qualities provide an unimaginable strength to the politician. A strong and well balanced mind can successfully tackle any problem and take him to summit. Swami Vivekananda says human mind is a big power house. It can generate and supply power on demand. A turbulent mind cannot meet the demand and supply, because it is corrupted with disorders. What are the disorders that attack and weaken the mind? Anger, jealousy, wickedness, selfishness, crookedness, treachery, vindictiveness are some of the prominent virus that attack the human mind and destroy its peace and equilibrium. Any one of the above negative qualities is enough to bring the person down, ultimately, to his knees. It destroys the right conduct of the person and shoves him/her in utter darkness or ignorance or MAYA. Finally he becomes a big MAYA since enveloped by Maya. Ignorance boosts the ego principle. They behave like Godfather with sectarian worship. They live in self-hypnosis. These kinds of persons exist at all times and in all places.
Coming to the power politics; application of Law and Order is an integral part of the administration. We have two types of administrators in the ruling. The first category is appointed by the Constitutional authority, the other being a Politician who is an elected representative. One is directly behind the driving wheel of administration. The latter one though not directly involved but is a powerful coordinator. He is a charioteer of the council of administrators. All matters related to politics are looked after by him. The amiable living and the ideal coexistence among the different sects of the society depends upon his decisions. If they are with ideal perfection-Beau’ ideal then people wholeheartedly invite them and such reforms live forever-In aeternum. The administrator is guided by well arranged official procedures so that he can run his office smoothly under its regulations; whereas, a politician has no such rule book to have the benefit of obtaining guidance in his day to day life. He has to entirely depend upon his intellectual discrimination or Buddhi. Therefore, politician should be a commonsensical and possess well organizing capabilities. He should be equipped with all the above said essential techniques and qualities. Otherwise unpleasant situations may sometimes develop leading to public unrest. Let us study the recent incident that took place in U.P. State. Miss Rita Bhauguna while addressing the Chief Minister of Utter Pradesh in connection with some Rape incidents expressed her feelings or anguish in words that C.M felt objectionable. I feel there was no such adversity in Miss Bahuguna’s comments. Generally we often raise such speculations in our arguments by “if you are in that situation how you do feel?” The Chief Minister, Mayavathi, I think, pathetically over reacted which were the cause, in my opinion, behind the extreme anger and rage of the public. If I were in place of Miss Mayavathi I would have honestly treated it as verbiage; at the same time giving due priority to sense the severity of the situation and acted accordingly to calm down instead of unmindfully make the public furiously angry. This is where a politician has to play his/her preordained part. Therefore, a politician has to play dual role in his life. He has to play especially an exceptional and logical role in volatile situations like Rita Bahu guna verses Mayavathi and in ordinary situations to perform his powerful role as coordinator for the council of Administrators. Therefore, in my opinion, it is essential for the Government of India to organize refresher courses to the elected representatives so as to make them well acquainted with the protocols of a politician.
The Role of Politicians.
It is a common error to assume that the politician's role is to create jobs, encourage economic activity, enhance the welfare and well-being of his subjects, preserve the territorial integrity of his country, and fulfill a host of other functions.
In truth, the politician has a single and exclusive role: to get re-elected. His primary responsibility is to his party and its members. He owes them patronage: jobs, sinecures, guaranteed income or cash flow, access to the public purse, and the intoxicating wielding of power. His relationship is with his real constituency - the party's rank and file - and he is accountable to them the same way a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) answers to the corporation's major shareholders.
To make sure that they get re-elected, politicians are sometimes required to implement reforms and policy measures that contribute to the general welfare of the populace and promote it. At other times, they have to refrain from action to preserve their electoral assets and extend their political life expectancy.
But, how does a leader become a leader?
In this article, we are not interested in the historical process but in the answer to the twin questions: what qualifies one to be a leader and why do people elect someone specific to be a leader.
The immediately evident response would be that the leader addresses or is judged by his voters to be capable of addressing their needs. These could be economic needs, psychological needs, or moral needs. In all these cases, if left unfulfilled, these unrequited needs are judged to be capable of jeopardizing "acceptable (modes of) existence". Except in rare cases (famine, war, plague), survival is rarely at risk. On the contrary, people are mostly willing to sacrifice their genetic and biological survival on the altar of said "acceptable existence".
To be acceptable, life must be honorable. To be honorable, certain conditions (commonly known as "rights") must be fulfilled and upheld. No life is deemed honorable in the absence of food and shelter (property rights), personal autonomy (safeguarded by codified freedoms), personal safety, respect (human rights), and a modicum of influence upon one's future (civil rights). In the absence of even one of these elements, people tend to gradually become convinced that their lives are not worth living. They become mutinous and try to restore the "honorable equilibrium". They seek food and shelter by inventing new technologies and by implementing them in a bid to control nature and other, human, factors. They rebel against any massive breach of their freedoms. People seek safety: they legislate and create law enforcement agencies and form armies.
Above all, people are concerned with maintaining their dignity and an influence over their terms of existence, present and future. The two may be linked : the more a person influences his environment and moulds – the more respected he is by others. Leaders are perceived to be possessed of qualities conducive to the success of such efforts. The leader seems to be emitting a signal that tells his followers: I can increase your chances to win the constant war that you are waging to find food and shelter, to be respected, to enhance your personal autonomy and security, and o have a say about your future.
But WHAT is this signal? What information does it carry? How is it received and deciphered by the led? And how, exactly, does it influence their decision making processes?
The signal is, probably, a resonance. The information emanating from the leader, the air exuded by him, his personal data must resonate with the situation of the people he leads. The leader must not only resonate with the world around him – but also with the world that he promises to usher. Modes, fashions, buzzwords, fads, beliefs, hopes, fears, hates and loves, plans, other information, a vision – all must be neatly incorporated in this resonance table. A leader is a shorthand version of the world in which he operates, a map of his times, the harmony (if not the melody) upon which those led by him can improvise. They must see in him all the principle elements of their mental life: grievances, agreements, disagreements, anger, deceit, conceit, myths and facts, interpretation, compatibility, guilt, paranoia, illusions and delusions – all wrapped (or warped) into one neat parcel. It should not be taken to mean that the leader must be an average person – but he must discernibly contain the average person or faithfully reflect him. His voice must echo the multitude of sounds that formed the popular wave which swept him to power. This ability of his, to be and not to be, to vacate himself, to become the conduit of other people's experiences and existence, in short: to be a gifted actor – is the first element in the leadership signal. It is oriented to the past and to the present.
The second element is what makes the leader distinct. Again, it is resonance. The leader must be perceived to resonate in perfect harmony with a vision of the future, agreeable to the people who elected him. "Agreeable" – read: compatible with the fulfillment of the aforementioned needs in a manner, which renders life acceptable. Each group of people has its own requirements, explicit and implicit, openly expressed and latent.
The members of a nation might feel that they have lost the ability to shape their future and that their security is compromised. They will then select a leader who will – so they believe, judged by what they know about him – restore both. The means of restoration are less important. To become a leader, one must convince the multitude, the masses, the public that one can deliver, not that one knows the best, most optimal and most efficient path to a set goal. The HOW is of no consequences. It pales compared to the WILL HE ? This is because people value the results more than the way. Even in the most individualistic societies, people prefer the welfare of the group to which they belong to their own. The leader promises to optimize utility for the group as a whole. It is clear that not all the members will equally benefit, or even benefit at all. The one who convinces his fellow beings that he can secure the attainment of their goals (and, thus, provide for their needs satisfactorily) – becomes a leader. What matters to the public varies from time to time and from place to place. To one group of people, the personality of the leader is of crucial importance, to others his ancestral roots. At one time, the religious affiliation, and at another, the right education, or a vision of the future. Whatever determines the outcome, it must be strongly correlated with what the group perceives to be its needs and firmly founded upon its definition of an acceptable life. This is the information content of the signal.
Selecting a leader is no trivial pursuit. People take it very seriously. They often believe that the results of this decision also determine whether their needs are fulfilled or not. In other words : the choice of leader determines if they lead an acceptable life. These seriousness and contemplative attitude prevail even when the leader is chosen by a select few (the nobility, the party).
Thus, information about the leader is gathered from open sources, formal and informal, by deduction, induction and inference, through contextual surmises, historical puzzle-work and indirect associations. To which ethnic group does the candidate belong? What is his history and his family's / tribe's / nation's? Where is he coming from , geographically and culturally? What is he aiming at and where is he going to, what is his vision? Who are his friends, associates, partners, collaborators, enemies and rivals? What are the rumors about him, the gossip? These are the cognitive, epistemological and hermeneutic dimensions of the information gathered. It is all subject to a process very similar to scientific theorizing. Hypotheses are constructed to fit the known facts. Predictions are made. Experiments conducted and data gathered. A theory is then developed and applied to the known facts. As more data is added – the theory undergoes revisions or even a paradigmatic shift. As with scientific conservatism, the reigning theory tends to color the interpretation of new data. A cult of "priests' (commentators and pundits) emerges to defend common wisdom and "well known" "facts" against intellectual revisionism and non-conformism. But finally the theory settles down and a consensus emerges: a leader is born.
The emotional aspect is predominant, though. Emotions play the role of gatekeepers and circuit breakers in the decision-making processes involved in the selection of a leader. They are the filters, the membranes through which information seeps into the minds of the members of the group. They determine the inter-relations between the various data. Finally, they assign values and moral and affective weights within a coherent emotional framework to the various bits information . Emotions are rules of procedure. The information is the input processed by these rules within a fuzzy decision theorem. The leader is the outcome (almost the by-product) of this process.
This is a static depiction, which does not provide us with the dynamics of the selection process. How does the information gathered affect it? Which elements interact? How is the outcome determined?
It would seem that people come naturally equipped with a mechanism for the selection of leaders. This mechanism is influenced by experience (a-posteriori). It is in the form of procedural rules, an algorithm which guides the members of the group in the intricacies of the group interaction known as "leadership selection".
This leader-selection mechanism comprises two modules: a module for the evaluation and taxonomy of information and an interactive module. The former is built to deal with constantly added data, to evaluate them and to alter the emerging picture (Weltanschauung) accordingly (to reconstruct or to adjust the theory, even to replace it with another).
The second module responds to signals from the other members of the group and treats these signals as data, which, in turn, affects the performance of the first module. The synthesis of the output produced by these two modules determines the ultimate selection.
Leader selection is an interaction between a "nucleus of individuality", which is comprised of our Self, the way we perceive our Self (introspective element) and the way that we perceive our Selves as reflected by others. Then there is the "group nucleus", which incorporates the group's consciousness and goals. A leader is a person who succeeds in giving expression to both these nuclei amply and successfully. When choosing a leader, we, thus, really are choosing ourselves.
APPENDIX - A Comment on Campaign Finance Reform
The Athenian model of representative participatory democracy was both exclusive and direct. It excluded women and slaves but it allowed the rest to actively, constantly, and consistently contribute to decision making processes on all levels and of all kinds (including juridical). This was (barely) manageable in a town 20,000 strong.
The application of this model to bigger polities is rather more problematic and leads to serious and ominous failures.
The problem of the gathering and processing of information - a logistical constraint - is likely to be completely, satisfactorily, and comprehensively resolved by the application of of computer networks to voting. Even with existing technologies, election results (regardless of the size of the electorate), can be announced with great accuracy within hours.
Yet, computer networks are unlikely to overcome the second obstacle - the problem of the large constituency.
Political candidates in a direct participatory democracy need to keep each and every member of their constituency (potential voter) informed about their platform, (if incumbent) their achievements, their person, and what distinguishes them from their rivals. This is a huge amount of information. Its dissemination to large constituencies requires outlandish amounts of money (tens of millions of dollars per campaign).
Politicians end up spending a lot of their time in office (and out of it) raising funds through "contributions" which place them in hock to "contributing" individuals and corporations. This anomaly cannot be solved by tinkering with campaign finance laws. It reflects the real costs of packaging and disseminating information. To restrict these activities would be a disservice to democracy and to voters.
Campaign finance reform in its current (myriad) forms, is, thus, largely anti-democratic: it limits access to information (by reducing the money available to the candidates to spread their message). By doing so, it restricts choice and it tilts the electoral machinery in favor of the haves. Voters with money and education are able to obtain the information they need by themselves and at their own expense. The haves-not, who rely exclusively on information dished out by the candidates, are likely to be severely disadvantaged by any form of campaign finance reform.
The Role of a Leader.
Your ability to negotiate, communicate, influence, and persuade others to do things is absolutely indispensable to everything you accomplish in life. The most effective men and women in every area are those who can quite competently organize the cooperation and assistance of other people toward the accomplishment of important goals and objectives.
Of course, everyone you meet has different values, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, cultural values, work habits, goals, ambitions, and dreams. Because of this incredible diversity of human resources, it has never been more difficult and yet more necessary for diplomatic leaders to emerge and form these people into high-performing teams.
Fortunately, leaders are made, not born. You learn to become a leader by doing what other excellent leaders have done before you. You become proficient in your job or skill, and then you become proficient at understanding the motivations and behaviors of other people. As a leader, you combine your personal competencies with the competencies of a variety of others into a smoothly functioning team that can out-play and out-perform all its competitors.
When you become a team leader, even if your team only consists of one other person, you must immediately develop a whole new set of leadership skills. In order to determine what these skills are, you need to consider the genesis of high-performing teams.
Teams generally go through four phases as they evolve toward high performance. These stages are called forming, storming, norming, and performing.
The forming stage is very important, perhaps even critical, to the success of the team. Your ability to select the proper team members in order to accomplish a particular task-personal or business-is the mark of the superior leader.
If you select the wrong people in the first place, it becomes almost impossible afterward to build a winning team, just as it would be impossible to win athletic championships with unskilled or ill-suited players.
In the forming stage, the team members come together and begin to get a feeling for each other. There will be a good deal of discussion, argument, disagreement, personal expression of likes and dislikes, and the forming of friendly alliances between team members. This stage, especially the discussions and conversations that take place, may seem time consuming, but it is absolutely indispensable to the development of a unified group of people that you can lead. One of the most important qualities of a leader is that of patience. And patience is never more necessary than when you are going through the early stages of assembling your team.
The second stage of team development is called storming. Storming is a shortened form of the word “brainstorming.” It is during this stage when the group, whose members are now comfortable with each other, begins the hard work of setting goals and deadlines, dividing up the tasks, and getting on with the job. During the storming phase, people learn about the contributions that each member can make to achieve the purposes of the team.
The third stage of team development is called norming. This is where norms and standards are established among the team members so that everyone feels secure and confident in his or her place. All members know what is expected and how it is to be measured. And all members are aware of the responsibilities and obligations that they have, not only to the job, but to the each other as well. Your ability as a leader to promote the norming process is critical to the success of the team.
The fourth stage of team development is performing. In the final analysis, your ability to get results is all that really matters. Your lifestyle, your rate of promotion and level of rewards, and your respect and esteem among your co-workers and bosses will all be determined by your ability to perform and to get others to perform. There are basically five qualities of the most productive work teams that you need to foster throughout the stages of team development. The degree to which you accomplish this before you start working will determine your success as a team leader and the success of the team as a whole.
The first quality is the existence of shared values. You can foster this quality by asking the question, “What are our values?” or, “What do we stand for?” People will contribute the values they consider the most important. As they do, you or someone else can write them on a flipchart. The values will usually be something like: integrity, excellence, quality, caring about people, profitability, and harmony. The second quality of top teams is shared objectives. It is absolutely essential that everyone takes the time to discuss the actual reason for forming the team and the chief results that are expected of them.
Leaders are those who can see the big picture. They are absolutely clear about what it is they want to accomplish and what it will look like. They have the ability to articulate this vision in the minds and hearts of others and to get everyone, no matter what their background or personality, working together in harmony toward the realization of that vision.
People cannot hit a target they cannot see. Again, even though it may appear time consuming, everyone needs to have ample opportunity to discuss and agree on the ultimate goals desired before work begins. The more thorough the discussion on goals and objectives, the more effective the team will be when it begins working.
The third quality of highly-productive teams is shared activities. Everyone knows what they are supposed to contribute to the achievement of the overall goals and objectives of the team. Everyone also knows what each of the other members is expected to do. All the work that has to be done is clearly divided up among the team members, and everyone knows their role in the process.
The fourth quality of high-performing teams is that the head of the team leads the action. You become the role model for all of the others.
You go out in front. You continually look for ways to make it easier for your team members to do their jobs. You accept complete responsibility for the achievement of the overall goal. You start a little earlier, you work a little harder, and you stay a little later. You set careful priorities on your time and you always work on your highest value tasks. You never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. You always put yourself out in front and go to bat for your people in every circumstance. You are a leader because you continually lead.
The fifth and final quality of high-performing teams is that individually and as a group, they continually evaluate their progress toward their goals and values. The are always asking themselves, “How are we doing, and how can we do better?” When they manufacture or sell products in the marketplace, they ask their customers for ongoing feedback and evaluation. They set incredible standards of excellence and they are constantly striving to be better.
Whenever they have problems, misunderstandings, or difficulties within the team, they reexamine their values, their goals, their activities, their assignments, and their responsibilities. They are more concerned with what’s right than with who’s right. They are more concerned with winning than with not losing. High-Performing teams run by excellent leaders, are determined to perform in an excellent fashion. All members know that their ability to work together in harmony and cooperation is the key to the success of every one of them.
The wonderful thing about becoming a leader in your work and personal life is that you can practice the skills of influencing and persuading others toward a common objective. You can promote the principles of excellent teamwork by establishing your values and goals, determining your activities, and then leading the action. And you can improve yourself by continually evaluating your performance against your standards.
One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential. You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards. The more proficient you become at getting the results for which you were hired, the more opportunities you will have to get results through others. And your ability to put together a team and then to lead that team to high performance will enable you to accelerate your career and fulfill your goals faster than ever before. Dr Sammy D.James
Contrary to this, hypocrite-politicians move with their egocentric attitude. They do not think that physical freedom is not at all a freedom. If they are freely gripped and pulled away by surging emotional impulses, if they do not possess subtler stability, and ruled by self-pride, egoistic impulses, cravings, passions and vindictiveness how can such persons be happy? Such persons violently react even to small uncritical or undisciplined prolixity especially without any attempt to scrutinize their meaning. With their arrogant and vindictive culture they ruthlessly pursuit to increase their personal importance of wealth, reputation or power by any means even at the cost of the democratic norms. They always in search of a chance to win in return game after losing a game. They cannot cognize the truth since they are as blind as a bat.
As I have said in my earlier article “Why U.P. is burning” a true Politician has to be a perfect funambulist, who is an acrobat that walks while balancing on a suspended rope. Politics is altogether a different kind of life where the insider has to maintain no other quality in its mind except equipoise and calmness. These two qualities provide an unimaginable strength to the politician. A strong and well balanced mind can successfully tackle any problem and take him to summit. Swami Vivekananda says human mind is a big power house. It can generate and supply power on demand. A turbulent mind cannot meet the demand and supply, because it is corrupted with disorders. What are the disorders that attack and weaken the mind? Anger, jealousy, wickedness, selfishness, crookedness, treachery, vindictiveness are some of the prominent virus that attack the human mind and destroy its peace and equilibrium. Any one of the above negative qualities is enough to bring the person down, ultimately, to his knees. It destroys the right conduct of the person and shoves him/her in utter darkness or ignorance or MAYA. Finally he becomes a big MAYA since enveloped by Maya. Ignorance boosts the ego principle. They behave like Godfather with sectarian worship. They live in self-hypnosis. These kinds of persons exist at all times and in all places.
Coming to the power politics; application of Law and Order is an integral part of the administration. We have two types of administrators in the ruling. The first category is appointed by the Constitutional authority, the other being a Politician who is an elected representative. One is directly behind the driving wheel of administration. The latter one though not directly involved but is a powerful coordinator. He is a charioteer of the council of administrators. All matters related to politics are looked after by him. The amiable living and the ideal coexistence among the different sects of the society depends upon his decisions. If they are with ideal perfection-Beau’ ideal then people wholeheartedly invite them and such reforms live forever-In aeternum. The administrator is guided by well arranged official procedures so that he can run his office smoothly under its regulations; whereas, a politician has no such rule book to have the benefit of obtaining guidance in his day to day life. He has to entirely depend upon his intellectual discrimination or Buddhi. Therefore, politician should be a commonsensical and possess well organizing capabilities. He should be equipped with all the above said essential techniques and qualities. Otherwise unpleasant situations may sometimes develop leading to public unrest. Let us study the recent incident that took place in U.P. State. Miss Rita Bhauguna while addressing the Chief Minister of Utter Pradesh in connection with some Rape incidents expressed her feelings or anguish in words that C.M felt objectionable. I feel there was no such adversity in Miss Bahuguna’s comments. Generally we often raise such speculations in our arguments by “if you are in that situation how you do feel?” The Chief Minister, Mayavathi, I think, pathetically over reacted which were the cause, in my opinion, behind the extreme anger and rage of the public. If I were in place of Miss Mayavathi I would have honestly treated it as verbiage; at the same time giving due priority to sense the severity of the situation and acted accordingly to calm down instead of unmindfully make the public furiously angry. This is where a politician has to play his/her preordained part. Therefore, a politician has to play dual role in his life. He has to play especially an exceptional and logical role in volatile situations like Rita Bahu guna verses Mayavathi and in ordinary situations to perform his powerful role as coordinator for the council of Administrators. Therefore, in my opinion, it is essential for the Government of India to organize refresher courses to the elected representatives so as to make them well acquainted with the protocols of a politician.
The Role of Politicians.
It is a common error to assume that the politician's role is to create jobs, encourage economic activity, enhance the welfare and well-being of his subjects, preserve the territorial integrity of his country, and fulfill a host of other functions.
In truth, the politician has a single and exclusive role: to get re-elected. His primary responsibility is to his party and its members. He owes them patronage: jobs, sinecures, guaranteed income or cash flow, access to the public purse, and the intoxicating wielding of power. His relationship is with his real constituency - the party's rank and file - and he is accountable to them the same way a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) answers to the corporation's major shareholders.
To make sure that they get re-elected, politicians are sometimes required to implement reforms and policy measures that contribute to the general welfare of the populace and promote it. At other times, they have to refrain from action to preserve their electoral assets and extend their political life expectancy.
But, how does a leader become a leader?
In this article, we are not interested in the historical process but in the answer to the twin questions: what qualifies one to be a leader and why do people elect someone specific to be a leader.
The immediately evident response would be that the leader addresses or is judged by his voters to be capable of addressing their needs. These could be economic needs, psychological needs, or moral needs. In all these cases, if left unfulfilled, these unrequited needs are judged to be capable of jeopardizing "acceptable (modes of) existence". Except in rare cases (famine, war, plague), survival is rarely at risk. On the contrary, people are mostly willing to sacrifice their genetic and biological survival on the altar of said "acceptable existence".
To be acceptable, life must be honorable. To be honorable, certain conditions (commonly known as "rights") must be fulfilled and upheld. No life is deemed honorable in the absence of food and shelter (property rights), personal autonomy (safeguarded by codified freedoms), personal safety, respect (human rights), and a modicum of influence upon one's future (civil rights). In the absence of even one of these elements, people tend to gradually become convinced that their lives are not worth living. They become mutinous and try to restore the "honorable equilibrium". They seek food and shelter by inventing new technologies and by implementing them in a bid to control nature and other, human, factors. They rebel against any massive breach of their freedoms. People seek safety: they legislate and create law enforcement agencies and form armies.
Above all, people are concerned with maintaining their dignity and an influence over their terms of existence, present and future. The two may be linked : the more a person influences his environment and moulds – the more respected he is by others. Leaders are perceived to be possessed of qualities conducive to the success of such efforts. The leader seems to be emitting a signal that tells his followers: I can increase your chances to win the constant war that you are waging to find food and shelter, to be respected, to enhance your personal autonomy and security, and o have a say about your future.
But WHAT is this signal? What information does it carry? How is it received and deciphered by the led? And how, exactly, does it influence their decision making processes?
The signal is, probably, a resonance. The information emanating from the leader, the air exuded by him, his personal data must resonate with the situation of the people he leads. The leader must not only resonate with the world around him – but also with the world that he promises to usher. Modes, fashions, buzzwords, fads, beliefs, hopes, fears, hates and loves, plans, other information, a vision – all must be neatly incorporated in this resonance table. A leader is a shorthand version of the world in which he operates, a map of his times, the harmony (if not the melody) upon which those led by him can improvise. They must see in him all the principle elements of their mental life: grievances, agreements, disagreements, anger, deceit, conceit, myths and facts, interpretation, compatibility, guilt, paranoia, illusions and delusions – all wrapped (or warped) into one neat parcel. It should not be taken to mean that the leader must be an average person – but he must discernibly contain the average person or faithfully reflect him. His voice must echo the multitude of sounds that formed the popular wave which swept him to power. This ability of his, to be and not to be, to vacate himself, to become the conduit of other people's experiences and existence, in short: to be a gifted actor – is the first element in the leadership signal. It is oriented to the past and to the present.
The second element is what makes the leader distinct. Again, it is resonance. The leader must be perceived to resonate in perfect harmony with a vision of the future, agreeable to the people who elected him. "Agreeable" – read: compatible with the fulfillment of the aforementioned needs in a manner, which renders life acceptable. Each group of people has its own requirements, explicit and implicit, openly expressed and latent.
The members of a nation might feel that they have lost the ability to shape their future and that their security is compromised. They will then select a leader who will – so they believe, judged by what they know about him – restore both. The means of restoration are less important. To become a leader, one must convince the multitude, the masses, the public that one can deliver, not that one knows the best, most optimal and most efficient path to a set goal. The HOW is of no consequences. It pales compared to the WILL HE ? This is because people value the results more than the way. Even in the most individualistic societies, people prefer the welfare of the group to which they belong to their own. The leader promises to optimize utility for the group as a whole. It is clear that not all the members will equally benefit, or even benefit at all. The one who convinces his fellow beings that he can secure the attainment of their goals (and, thus, provide for their needs satisfactorily) – becomes a leader. What matters to the public varies from time to time and from place to place. To one group of people, the personality of the leader is of crucial importance, to others his ancestral roots. At one time, the religious affiliation, and at another, the right education, or a vision of the future. Whatever determines the outcome, it must be strongly correlated with what the group perceives to be its needs and firmly founded upon its definition of an acceptable life. This is the information content of the signal.
Selecting a leader is no trivial pursuit. People take it very seriously. They often believe that the results of this decision also determine whether their needs are fulfilled or not. In other words : the choice of leader determines if they lead an acceptable life. These seriousness and contemplative attitude prevail even when the leader is chosen by a select few (the nobility, the party).
Thus, information about the leader is gathered from open sources, formal and informal, by deduction, induction and inference, through contextual surmises, historical puzzle-work and indirect associations. To which ethnic group does the candidate belong? What is his history and his family's / tribe's / nation's? Where is he coming from , geographically and culturally? What is he aiming at and where is he going to, what is his vision? Who are his friends, associates, partners, collaborators, enemies and rivals? What are the rumors about him, the gossip? These are the cognitive, epistemological and hermeneutic dimensions of the information gathered. It is all subject to a process very similar to scientific theorizing. Hypotheses are constructed to fit the known facts. Predictions are made. Experiments conducted and data gathered. A theory is then developed and applied to the known facts. As more data is added – the theory undergoes revisions or even a paradigmatic shift. As with scientific conservatism, the reigning theory tends to color the interpretation of new data. A cult of "priests' (commentators and pundits) emerges to defend common wisdom and "well known" "facts" against intellectual revisionism and non-conformism. But finally the theory settles down and a consensus emerges: a leader is born.
The emotional aspect is predominant, though. Emotions play the role of gatekeepers and circuit breakers in the decision-making processes involved in the selection of a leader. They are the filters, the membranes through which information seeps into the minds of the members of the group. They determine the inter-relations between the various data. Finally, they assign values and moral and affective weights within a coherent emotional framework to the various bits information . Emotions are rules of procedure. The information is the input processed by these rules within a fuzzy decision theorem. The leader is the outcome (almost the by-product) of this process.
This is a static depiction, which does not provide us with the dynamics of the selection process. How does the information gathered affect it? Which elements interact? How is the outcome determined?
It would seem that people come naturally equipped with a mechanism for the selection of leaders. This mechanism is influenced by experience (a-posteriori). It is in the form of procedural rules, an algorithm which guides the members of the group in the intricacies of the group interaction known as "leadership selection".
This leader-selection mechanism comprises two modules: a module for the evaluation and taxonomy of information and an interactive module. The former is built to deal with constantly added data, to evaluate them and to alter the emerging picture (Weltanschauung) accordingly (to reconstruct or to adjust the theory, even to replace it with another).
The second module responds to signals from the other members of the group and treats these signals as data, which, in turn, affects the performance of the first module. The synthesis of the output produced by these two modules determines the ultimate selection.
Leader selection is an interaction between a "nucleus of individuality", which is comprised of our Self, the way we perceive our Self (introspective element) and the way that we perceive our Selves as reflected by others. Then there is the "group nucleus", which incorporates the group's consciousness and goals. A leader is a person who succeeds in giving expression to both these nuclei amply and successfully. When choosing a leader, we, thus, really are choosing ourselves.
APPENDIX - A Comment on Campaign Finance Reform
The Athenian model of representative participatory democracy was both exclusive and direct. It excluded women and slaves but it allowed the rest to actively, constantly, and consistently contribute to decision making processes on all levels and of all kinds (including juridical). This was (barely) manageable in a town 20,000 strong.
The application of this model to bigger polities is rather more problematic and leads to serious and ominous failures.
The problem of the gathering and processing of information - a logistical constraint - is likely to be completely, satisfactorily, and comprehensively resolved by the application of of computer networks to voting. Even with existing technologies, election results (regardless of the size of the electorate), can be announced with great accuracy within hours.
Yet, computer networks are unlikely to overcome the second obstacle - the problem of the large constituency.
Political candidates in a direct participatory democracy need to keep each and every member of their constituency (potential voter) informed about their platform, (if incumbent) their achievements, their person, and what distinguishes them from their rivals. This is a huge amount of information. Its dissemination to large constituencies requires outlandish amounts of money (tens of millions of dollars per campaign).
Politicians end up spending a lot of their time in office (and out of it) raising funds through "contributions" which place them in hock to "contributing" individuals and corporations. This anomaly cannot be solved by tinkering with campaign finance laws. It reflects the real costs of packaging and disseminating information. To restrict these activities would be a disservice to democracy and to voters.
Campaign finance reform in its current (myriad) forms, is, thus, largely anti-democratic: it limits access to information (by reducing the money available to the candidates to spread their message). By doing so, it restricts choice and it tilts the electoral machinery in favor of the haves. Voters with money and education are able to obtain the information they need by themselves and at their own expense. The haves-not, who rely exclusively on information dished out by the candidates, are likely to be severely disadvantaged by any form of campaign finance reform.
The Role of a Leader.
Your ability to negotiate, communicate, influence, and persuade others to do things is absolutely indispensable to everything you accomplish in life. The most effective men and women in every area are those who can quite competently organize the cooperation and assistance of other people toward the accomplishment of important goals and objectives.
Of course, everyone you meet has different values, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, cultural values, work habits, goals, ambitions, and dreams. Because of this incredible diversity of human resources, it has never been more difficult and yet more necessary for diplomatic leaders to emerge and form these people into high-performing teams.
Fortunately, leaders are made, not born. You learn to become a leader by doing what other excellent leaders have done before you. You become proficient in your job or skill, and then you become proficient at understanding the motivations and behaviors of other people. As a leader, you combine your personal competencies with the competencies of a variety of others into a smoothly functioning team that can out-play and out-perform all its competitors.
When you become a team leader, even if your team only consists of one other person, you must immediately develop a whole new set of leadership skills. In order to determine what these skills are, you need to consider the genesis of high-performing teams.
Teams generally go through four phases as they evolve toward high performance. These stages are called forming, storming, norming, and performing.
The forming stage is very important, perhaps even critical, to the success of the team. Your ability to select the proper team members in order to accomplish a particular task-personal or business-is the mark of the superior leader.
If you select the wrong people in the first place, it becomes almost impossible afterward to build a winning team, just as it would be impossible to win athletic championships with unskilled or ill-suited players.
In the forming stage, the team members come together and begin to get a feeling for each other. There will be a good deal of discussion, argument, disagreement, personal expression of likes and dislikes, and the forming of friendly alliances between team members. This stage, especially the discussions and conversations that take place, may seem time consuming, but it is absolutely indispensable to the development of a unified group of people that you can lead. One of the most important qualities of a leader is that of patience. And patience is never more necessary than when you are going through the early stages of assembling your team.
The second stage of team development is called storming. Storming is a shortened form of the word “brainstorming.” It is during this stage when the group, whose members are now comfortable with each other, begins the hard work of setting goals and deadlines, dividing up the tasks, and getting on with the job. During the storming phase, people learn about the contributions that each member can make to achieve the purposes of the team.
The third stage of team development is called norming. This is where norms and standards are established among the team members so that everyone feels secure and confident in his or her place. All members know what is expected and how it is to be measured. And all members are aware of the responsibilities and obligations that they have, not only to the job, but to the each other as well. Your ability as a leader to promote the norming process is critical to the success of the team.
The fourth stage of team development is performing. In the final analysis, your ability to get results is all that really matters. Your lifestyle, your rate of promotion and level of rewards, and your respect and esteem among your co-workers and bosses will all be determined by your ability to perform and to get others to perform. There are basically five qualities of the most productive work teams that you need to foster throughout the stages of team development. The degree to which you accomplish this before you start working will determine your success as a team leader and the success of the team as a whole.
The first quality is the existence of shared values. You can foster this quality by asking the question, “What are our values?” or, “What do we stand for?” People will contribute the values they consider the most important. As they do, you or someone else can write them on a flipchart. The values will usually be something like: integrity, excellence, quality, caring about people, profitability, and harmony. The second quality of top teams is shared objectives. It is absolutely essential that everyone takes the time to discuss the actual reason for forming the team and the chief results that are expected of them.
Leaders are those who can see the big picture. They are absolutely clear about what it is they want to accomplish and what it will look like. They have the ability to articulate this vision in the minds and hearts of others and to get everyone, no matter what their background or personality, working together in harmony toward the realization of that vision.
People cannot hit a target they cannot see. Again, even though it may appear time consuming, everyone needs to have ample opportunity to discuss and agree on the ultimate goals desired before work begins. The more thorough the discussion on goals and objectives, the more effective the team will be when it begins working.
The third quality of highly-productive teams is shared activities. Everyone knows what they are supposed to contribute to the achievement of the overall goals and objectives of the team. Everyone also knows what each of the other members is expected to do. All the work that has to be done is clearly divided up among the team members, and everyone knows their role in the process.
The fourth quality of high-performing teams is that the head of the team leads the action. You become the role model for all of the others.
You go out in front. You continually look for ways to make it easier for your team members to do their jobs. You accept complete responsibility for the achievement of the overall goal. You start a little earlier, you work a little harder, and you stay a little later. You set careful priorities on your time and you always work on your highest value tasks. You never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. You always put yourself out in front and go to bat for your people in every circumstance. You are a leader because you continually lead.
The fifth and final quality of high-performing teams is that individually and as a group, they continually evaluate their progress toward their goals and values. The are always asking themselves, “How are we doing, and how can we do better?” When they manufacture or sell products in the marketplace, they ask their customers for ongoing feedback and evaluation. They set incredible standards of excellence and they are constantly striving to be better.
Whenever they have problems, misunderstandings, or difficulties within the team, they reexamine their values, their goals, their activities, their assignments, and their responsibilities. They are more concerned with what’s right than with who’s right. They are more concerned with winning than with not losing. High-Performing teams run by excellent leaders, are determined to perform in an excellent fashion. All members know that their ability to work together in harmony and cooperation is the key to the success of every one of them.
The wonderful thing about becoming a leader in your work and personal life is that you can practice the skills of influencing and persuading others toward a common objective. You can promote the principles of excellent teamwork by establishing your values and goals, determining your activities, and then leading the action. And you can improve yourself by continually evaluating your performance against your standards.
One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential. You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards. The more proficient you become at getting the results for which you were hired, the more opportunities you will have to get results through others. And your ability to put together a team and then to lead that team to high performance will enable you to accelerate your career and fulfill your goals faster than ever before. Dr Sammy D.James
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