What does having a beard have to do with Leadership? Well, maybe nothing, but maybe everything. If you look back through history, have all of our great leaders been older? Have they all had beards? I think one of our best leaders in history had a pretty epic beard, Abraham Lincoln.

What is my point? My point is that it doesn’t really take age or facial hair to be a leader, although I think it should. My point is, however, that it takes maturity to both have facial hair and to be a leader.

“No one was ever born with a beard”

Anonymous

No one was ever born a leader. I think maturity, like leadership, is one of those things that is not inherent in life. You are not guaranteed or promised maturity, or leadership. Maturity is also different in all of us. It is found in different places, and different times and we discover our maturity for different reasons. Personally, it took a war, for me to discover mine. I will admit I have times of immaturity, and I think that is not only okay, but is healthy. I don’t think we should take ourselves too seriously.

I think it is safe to say, while it doesn’t take a beard to be a leader is does take maturity. There are immature people in leadership positions, but their leadership is either poor or short lived. Remember maturity is several things. It is physical. It is mental. It is emotional and it is spiritual. All of these things contribute to the style and the effectiveness of your leadership.

A leader has a mission. A leader has a plan. A leader is going somewhere. There’s a reason for doing what you’re doing, and when anybody thinks about you, they think about a person with a plan. A person that’s got something to do. A person that does it well. A person that’s dedicated.

The second quality demonstrated by a leader is intellectual maturity. You believe in something, you stand for something, and you’re decisive. You speak in such a way that causes people to make choices. You make it so plain that they can’t ignore you.

The third important quality of a leader is to demonstrate emotional maturity. If someone doesn’t follow through on a responsibility, or exhibits poor behavior, then as a leader you’re going to address it. You don’t need to be hostile. You just need to walk humbly and walk in the Spirit.

So, are you a mature leader? Do you have a beard? If not, take this quiz and find out.

Try this direct link to the original website.  Or, if that doesn’t work, try this link and download the quiz from our site. => [gview file=”http://leadershipvoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Bearded-Leadership-Quiz.pdf”]

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