1. The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt
2. The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. Theodore M. Hesburgh
3. Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too. Robert Half
4. Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. George S. Patton
5. Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Peter F. Drucker
I have been thinking and reading a lot about leadership lately. What makes a 
great leader? Why do people follow one person and not another? Is leadership innate or learned? Bill Hybels has said that if you have the spiritual gift of leadership it is your responsibility to develop that gift for the sake of the church to the zenith of the gifts potential.
Most of us who lead have to lead followers and that is easy to understand. But we also need to be mindful of leading peers (those who walk along side of us). It would be easy to stop there but if you have someone over you, you should be mindful of learning how to effectively lead up. For most people the hardest person they will ever lead though is their own self.
Self Leadership seems to be a missing link far too often. It is the issue of integrity that we see missing in more than a few leaders today. So, my personal quest in this season of learning is to first and foremost focus on mastering the art of my own self leadership. Self Leadership can be defined as “the process” of influencing oneself to establish the self-direction and self-motivation needed to perform in a God honoring way.
Acts 24:16 (New International Version) “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.”
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July 22, 2009 at 12:52 am
Konrad Sjoblom
Hey, Mark, just taking a little time to read up and catch up. I have picked up a few books that I’m currently walking through right now that may help you in your noble quest. The one I’m blogging on right now is titled, “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus, A Timeless Model for Today’s Leaders” by Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard. It deals directly with Self-leadership and is an easy read that would only take the average reader not more than two hours to get through. After doing the initial read through, I decided that this would be my first application of leadership principle as I walk along my journey of discovering my own leadership values. The next book is, “The Master Plan of Evangelism” by Robert Cole with foreword by Billy Graham and comes with its own study guide for each chapter. This one is truly about executing leadership how Jesus did it and understanding the importance of your inner core, your core and your group. Powerful read that taught me a lot about how to be an effective leader. The last one that I haven’t gotten into yet is titled, “The Bible on Leadership, from Moses to Matthew – Management lessons for Contemporary Leaders”. Once I finish my study of “Leadership Lessons of Jesus” I plan on digging into and blogging about this one.