Serving Bread

I heard a great quote over the weekend at an InterVarsity sponsored Leadership Conference. The speaker quoted Peter Drucker (one of the foremost experts on the study of leadership) as saying, “there may be ‘born leaders,’ but there surely are far too few to depend on them.” Drucker’s quote addresses the question that may comes up often: Are leaders born or made? Drucker seems to think that question as being irrelevant.

There is something freeing with what Drucker says. We do not need to disqualify ourselves from leadership because we don’t think we are ‘born leaders.’ Some people may have the ideal personality and gift types to bring leadership in important situations and organizations, but we will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we only look for those kinds of people to be leaders.

Development is the key to doing good leadership, not just identification of someone’s gifts or passions. If I spend more of my energy in identifying potential leaders and not developing them, then I risk of writing the eulogy to my ministry. The ministry that will last will be the one that not only identifies, but develops and trains the next generation of leaders.

And just as development is important to raising up younger leaders, it is important for my leadership as well. I need to continue to put myself in situations and settings that stretch my leadership and teach me new insights into being a better leader and a better leader developer.

There are plenty of books and resources on leadership, but the sheer volume of literature doesn’t necessarily reflect the reality on the ground. If I can be so bold as to say that my campus context is a microcosm of our world, we desperately need solid leaders who will lead people to the glory of God.

The call of leadership is not necessarily knowing that we have the gift of leadership. The call of leadership is to commit ourselves to the needs we see and to have a desire to address those needs.

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