An excellent and thought provoking opinion piece on the essential qualities of a leader. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today. Those of you in The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh may want to filter the current situation through this lens. Worth taking the time.The world is starting to go through some of the harshest times of the past 75 years. The global economy is sinking, wars are ravaging countries and peoples, climate change is threatening the entire planet, optimism and hope are at very low levels. As the "leader of the free world," the United States is uniquely positioned to drive a multinational effort to overcome all these challenges. Will Barack Obama be capable of taking on this tough leadership role? Can we even say he is a leader at all? For that matter, how can we tell whether any given person is a leader?
Over the years I thought about this problem as I observed the many people I worked with. I came to the conclusion that most so-called leaders were undeserving of the title. I believe that true leadership is about much more than simply having authority or influence.
Now I am not a linguist, so I have difficulty expressing what leadership is in, as my big friend Alberto would say, 25 words or less. On the contrary -- I am a robotics engineer, and I need some kind of tool to "measure" how much of a leader one is.
Several years ago I engineered a "recipe" to forge a leader, consisting of five "ingredients."
Its all here-
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08335/931524-109.stm
1 comment:
I rather enjoyed this, thank you for posting.
It is my hope that the continuing diocese will not become like the what the diocese looked like under the former bishop. When one group gains so much power and influence that the minority is shut out of everything. As a deputy to Diocesan Convention I hated going to district meetings. We were the only church in our district who were opposed to the plans to realign. We walked into the room and I thought, "there's a window to crawl out and escape." It was like being at a execution trial with one of your friends being tried without representation. If I were to speak up I would've been torn to pieces on the spot.
I hope the new regime will will walk a moderate line with room for all. It's how we all need learn to live in life so church would be a good start.
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