I have seen lots of good things written about leadership, both here and in other forums, but, I had a thought today. I thought about maybe what drives me the most

How do we find the people who are seeking leaders to lead them?

Do those people exist? Isn’t that the real reason that we strive to be leaders? Does a leader actually have to have followers to be a leader? Or is leadership like integrity? Do you know the old saying, “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking”?

I wonder if seeking leadership is like the adage, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”. I guess you can lead someone but can you make them follow? Does the fact we are trying to be good leaders, make us followers of each other? I am intrigued by Kevin’s email sign off, Leader/Follower/Guide; I understand the Leader, I agree whole heartedly with the follower, but Guide? Let me come back to that in a moment.

As a Christian, is part of our responsibility to seek out those searching for leaders? I find myself taking the easy way out, limiting the witnessing, and invitations to visit our blog to my friends and family. I am coming to the realization that maybe a leader needs to step outside of his comfort zone to be sure he is “serving” his followers well. How do we figure out who our followers are? How do we figure out what their needs are? Is it possible that leadership groups could overlap and leaders can be accountable to each other?

So, let me go back to the “guide” in Kevin’s email signature block. In my head I am coming to almost see leadership as a pyramid, not like an illegal financial scam, but a pyramid none the less. Not a hierarchical pyramid, but perhaps one that expresses the three groups by relative quantities. Imagine that pyramid with Christ at the top, and the middle third filled with Guides, people shaping and equipping leaders to bring people into their flocks so to speak. The bottom third is filled with the leaders and the followers, trying hard to keep the pyramid growing.

Lastly, Kevin and I had a great conversation recently after church about an old sales idea of keeping the “client bucket” full. At some point a good sales person has to stop accepting new customers in order to maintain the level of representation his current customers have come to expect. Is that a good lesson for leaders as well? Should you recognize the limit of your leadership and seek an additional leader from your followers to continue on?

In closing, consider this question: How do we recognize people that are actively seeking leadership?
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