Here's the thing. Pick up just about any book on leadership and they will all pretty much cover the same ground. Trust me. I've read a few.
I won't spoil them for you by telling you what they say, and there is some really interesting, helpfull and informative stuff in them, but my question is this- Is there more to leadership than a ten point blueprint for "success"? Do people really want to be led by someone who comes across like he or she is out of a book, who has all the strategies worked out and perfected and appears to be some kind of super human, or do they want someone who is authentic and real? I'm not saying you can't be both, but the thing that has struck me is that a lot of books about leadership don't say "be true" they say, "Use this list of strategies, and people will follow you."
While I was at Wycliffe training for ordained ministry I took part in a course that was run by my friend Simon Walker, and it would be fair to say that what I learnt from him has changed not just how I try to lead people, but who I am as a man, as a husband, as a father, a son, a brother and a friend.
In all honesty my friend Hamilton was deeply concerned that I was doing the course because he was worried that I would ruin it for the other seven people in my group.
It's not that I am a trouble maker, it's just that most people who know me would agree that I'm not big on introspection. It's partly because by nature I am an activist pragmatist. None of which bodes well if you are doing a course that involves group sessions and 1 to 1's discussing what makes you tick....
Can I tell you the biggest thing that I learnt?
That leadership may be about many things, but it must also be about being naked. Being who we are. Being vulnerable. Risking people seeing the real us.
It is so counter cultural, and yet I truly believe that what people long for is an alternative to the power games and power play that are common in so many of the models of leadership today- to be led by people who are authentic. Who are true. Who facilitate and inspire communities or organizaions where people are not afraid to weep and who are unashamed to dance. Who tell the truth even when it hurts. Who love deeply. Who would rather be unpopular than compromise. Who are transparent. Who are not afraid.
Why? Because they have tasted Fathers love.
And it has set them free.
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