``Great ideas come with great price tags!’’
The Bible is full of the biographies of fallen, sinful leaders-just like you and me-who were still used by God. Nonetheless, the more their lives were cleansed of sin and pride- the more powerful and effective their leadership became. It is paramount therefore for every Christian leader to spend a lot of time studying the lives and leadership of people like Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Esther, Samuel, David, Solomon, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul etc. The Bible portrays them is stark realism. The Holy Spirit reveals each of them with great transparency. There is no cover-up of their sins. No justification of their failures. No glossing over of their mistakes. No air brushing of their blemishes. We see each of them in all of their humanness and fallenness.
Yet we see God using these men and women over and over again to accomplish His ultimate purposes. He alone is the sovereign Leader of the universe that ultimately superimposes His will over the will of man. That’s why history is His Story – not ours! Therefore, the supreme example of Godly leadership is that of the Lord Jesus. In Him was no sin…no fault…no pride…no ego…no failure…no mistake (II Cor. 5:21;Heb. 4:15; I Pet. 2:22; I Jn. 3:5). So only the ideas that motivated His life are worthy of authentic Biblical leadership.Therefore, every great leader in history who has positively impacted the world, was to some degree motivated by the same ideals that were perfectly incarnated in the life and leadership of the Lord Jesus.
Principle II
Pay the high Price for your ideas no matter what
Dr. Martin Luther King
A good recent example of the positive – but painful – impact of leadership idealism is that of civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King. The leadership vision that he demonstrated was perhaps the most revolutionary one in America politics in the Twentieth Century. The transforming power of an idea whose time had come is echoed in the famous speech that Dr. King gave in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. His riveting speech resounded with the phrase: “I have a dream!” It was his dream of racial equality and reconciliation that sparked the Civil Rights Movement that changed the political and social history of America! The dream inflamed King’s heart – and ignited the hearts of millions of black and white Americans – as well as millions of other oppressed people around the world.The dream of one man soon altered forever the political, social, and economic landscape of America! The dream ultimately cost him his life – and the lives of many of his friends and associates. That’s because great ideas usually come with great price tags!
PRINCIPLE III
“Ideas change leaders, and leaders change the world.”
Great ideas not only transform the life of the leader –they also transform the lives of the followers. That’s why Jesus warned His disciples: “Because the world has hated Me, it will also hate you” (Jn. 15:18). As long as ideas remain only as ideals or idealism in the mind of the leader – they will not cost him much. But when the ideas begin to be expressed and applied to life – they will meet resistance…opposition…hostility. That’s because new ideas always challenge the status quo…the pet paradigms…the customary way of doing things…the accepted norm. Therefore, ideas change leaders – and leaders change the world! So the ideas and ideals that change a leader become the vision that transforms people…society…politics…businesses…churches…nations…destinies forever!
Closing question:
· Are you willing to pay the price to see that idea fulfilled?”
Further Leadership Insights on Idealism
· The Law of the Big Picture: “The goal is more important than the role.” (John Maxwell, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork)
· If you are pursuing a vision God has birthed in your heart, there will be moments along the waywhen you will find yourself standing in awe of what He has done on your behalf. In those moments your attention will be drawn away from the work of your hands to the faithfulness of your heavenly Father. Your visions are not only avenues God will use to do something through you. They are also avenues God will use to do something in you. For the natural response to His intervention is worship, surrender, and obedience. (Andy Stanley, Visioneering)
· Visions demand constant attention. Stay fully engaged. Visioneering calls for bold leadership.Develop a healthy intolerance for those things that have the potential to impede your progress toward what could be and should be – those things God has put in your heart to do. (Andy Stanley, Visioneering)
· In order to do more I’ve got to be more. (Tim Rohn)
· Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we ought to be.(John Gardiner)
· My goal is not to build big churches. It is to build big people. (Jack Hayford)
· Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
· The difference between leaders and managers: Managers have as their goal to do things right. Leaders have as their goal to do the right thing. (Warren Buffett, financier)
· If you really know what you want out of life, it’s amazing how opportunities will come to enable you to carry them out. (John M. Goddard)
· We will not be accountable for gifts we do not have, but we will be accountable for the gifts we do
have. The Question: “Are we willing to give up some things we like to do, to move on to those things we must do?” (Satenig St. Marie)
· Prayer is after all, a very dangerous business. For all the benefits it offers of growing closer to God, it carries with it one great element of risk: the possibility of change. In prayer we open ourselves to the chance that God will do something with us that we had not intended. (Emily Griffinwrote in Clinging)
· The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say “Thank you.” In between, the leader is a servant. (Max Depree)
· The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die. (Soren Kierkegaard)
· Will the real leader please stand up? Not the President or the person with the most distinguished title or the longest tenure but the role model. Not the highest paid person in the group but the risk taker. Not the person with the largest car or the biggest home but the servant. Not the person who promotes himself or herself but the promoter of others. Not the administrator but the initiator. Not the taker but the giver. Not the talker but the listener. Why do we want to lead and who are we benefiting? (Bill Pollard)
· The pace of events is moving so fast that unless we can find some way to keep our sights on tomorrow we cannot expect to be in touch with today. (Dean Rusk)
· The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year. (John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State for Eisenhower)
· The safest road to hell is a gradual one – the gentle slope, soft under foot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without sign posts. (C. S. Lewis)
· The story we’re called to tell and live and die by is one of risk confronted, death embraced.What’s more, Jesus calls us to walk the narrow way, take up a cross with Him, daily. It’s terribly risky business. Ask that bright company of martyrs that quite recklessly parted with goods, security, and life itself, preferring to be faithful in death rather than safe in life. (William H. Willimon)
· If you want to know God’s plan for your life, just do the next little thing He tells you to do. (Oswald Chambers)
· Impossibilities vanish when a man and his God confront a mountain. (Robert Schuller)
· I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. (William Penn)
· Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment, and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax for the journey. (Harold V. Melchert)
· Life is full of unforeseen detours. Circumstances happen which seem to completely cut across our plans. Learn to turn your detours into delights. Treat them as special excursions and learning tours. Don’t fight them or you will never learn their purpose. Enjoy the moments and pretty soon you will be back on track again, probably wiser and stronger because of your little detour. (Steve Penny)
· God is too good to be unkind. He is too wise to be confused. If I cannot trace His hand, I can always trust His heart. (C.H. Spurgeon)
· (American Express’s Kenneth Chenault) “The battle at home and around the world is going to be for ideas and nontraditional thinking, and we have to look at the entire global marketplace as the playing field.” (Jeffrey E. Garten, The Mind of the C.E.O., New York, NY: Basic Books and Perseus Publishing,2001. p. 79.)
· The New Economy is foremost about people, and about creating an environment in which they can be productive and able to take advantage of changing opportunities. (Jeffrey E. Garten, The Mind of the C.E.O., New York, NY: Basic Books and Perseus Publishing, 2001, p. 230.)
· In an era of heightened competition, the vision had better be spectacular, but the more spectacular the vision, the more difficult it is to execute. (Jeffrey E. Garten, The Mind of the C.E.O., New York, NY: Basic Books and Perseus Publishing, 2001, p. 134.)
· …while vision is a prerequisite for being a great CEO, it is the failure to execute well that gets chief executives in trouble. (Jeffrey E. Garten, The Mind of the C.E.O., New York, NY: Basic Books and Perseus Publishing, 2001, p. 165.)
· CEOs make the point over and over that the company must stand for something beyond mere profitability, although that is a precondition for success. Their companies must radiate these values over a long period of time, through swings in the business cycle and other shifting factors.They must communicate their values in a clear and understandable way to all their constituencies.(Jeffrey E. Garten, The Mind of the C.E.O., New York, NY: Basic Books and Perseus Publishing, 2001, p. 117.)
