"Cowards die many times before their deaths
The valiant never taste of death but once."
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
"Be not afraid because of them; for I am with
you to
deliver you, says Yahweh" Jeremiah 1:8
"And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail
because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this
Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from
his youth.
And David said unto Saul, Your servant was keeping his father's sheep;
and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,
I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his
mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him,
and slew him.
Your servant smote both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the
living Elohim.
And David said, Yahweh that delivered me out of the paw of the lion,
and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this
Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and Yahweh shall be with you." 1
Samuel 17:32-37
To be an effective leader, you must overcome fear. David
as a young man was fearless. Many good leaders have this great gift.
However, they are not usually reckless in this regard. People have a very
hard time following an incompetent leader. Worse then this; is the
leader who displays cowardice. In times of war as well as times of peace,
people will follow strong leaders. Vacillation discourages faithful
followers. Leaders must always be clear in the path they ask others to
follow. If the path becomes obscured, so does the followers direction and
abilities to see. They can become blinded by false leaders giving them false
or counterfeit information. There are so many charlatans around masquerading as
bona fide leaders.
Good leaders are always truthful.
"Now listen to my voice.
I will counsel you, and may Elohim be with you. You be for this people before
Elohim, and you bring the matters to Elohim.
And you warn them as to the statutes and the laws, and make known to them
the way in which they should walk, and the work which they should do.
And you, you shall look out men of ability out of all the people, who fear
Elohim, men of truth,
hating unjust gain. And you place these over them as rulers of thousands, rulers
of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
And let them judge the people at all times. And it shall be that every
great matter they shall bring to you, and every small matter they shall judge.
And you make it easy on yourself, and let them bear with you."
Exodus 18:19-22
There is extreme contrast between the righteous
truthful men of Yahweh, and anyone who would lie.
"The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from the belly, speaking lies."
Psalm 58:3
"He who works deceit
shall not live inside my house;
he who speaks lies shall not be established before my eyes"
Psalm 101:7
Yes, the best leaders are always truthful.
They tell their followers the truth no matter hard that may be at times.
Deceit is not in their character composition.
A good leader has an exemplary character. It is of utmost importance that
a leader be trustworthy in order to lead others. A leader needs to be trusted
and be known to live their life with honestly and integrity. A good leader
“walks the talk” and in doing so earns the right to have responsibility for
others. True authority is born from respect for the good character and
trustworthiness of the person who leads. The following list adds up to
excellent leadership characteristics. How many do you have? How can
you improve in your leadership position?
The Top Ten Characteristics Of Excellent Leaders
The Mental Game Of Business
Bill Cole, MS, MA
Founder and CEO
Procoach Systems
Silicon Valley, California
"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." -- Warren Bennis
What makes a good leader? What have people who have led you done that you
admired? What qualities should more leaders possess? What are the most valuable
qualities a leader should possess? What are the most basic qualities a leader
should own?
Most of us would agree that we need to respect a leader we would follow. Some
leaders have feet of clay, but we might follow them anyway. What are the
qualities that might disqualify someone from being a leader?
This is my list of what I admire in a leader. Where do you agree or disagree?
What would you add?
1.The ability to learn from themselves and others, no matter the situation.
2. A humbleness that is inspiring.
3. Integrity, honesty and a strong moral compass
4. Mental toughness and resilience under adversity.
5. Capacity for love, compassion, sensitivity and understanding.
6. Ability to breach the dichotomy between big vision and the smallest detail.
7. Sincere respect for human dignity and genuine concern for others.
8. Taking responsibility for themselves and their behavior.
9. Inspiring words, actions and emotions that propel others to go beyond their
preconceived limits.
10. The ability to renew themselves and others through story, humor, perspective
and reflection.
Leaders know themselves. Leaders help themselves.
Leaders use
themselves as vehicles for good. Leaders embody what is good and right in the
world. Leaders shine the light so others can come out of the darkness.
I used a listing from an individual that is not
associated with religion as his primary source of income. It would appear
that his ten point list was inspired by something, don't you think? Yes!
I would say all of his leadership qualities can be found in Abba Yahweh's Holy
Word in one form or another.
Leaders are required to accept blame for any
failures in their organization. (The devil made me do it blame shifting,
just does not work in the corporate world. Enough failures will bring in
their replacement very rapidly in today's business world.) This especially
applies to leaders in religious groups/organizations, per se. To whom more
is given, more is required. The Bible details the qualifications for
leadership positions, and failure is not an option when following the exact
words of the Most High Yahweh!
The high moral fibre required to lead
Yahweh's people is thoroughly explained in various passages. Leaders need
strength of character, determination and the willingness to give credit to
others for the success of their continued accomplishments. No one gets
there alone! Yahshua the Messiah relied on his Heavenly Father Yahweh, and
the Apostles relied on Him, (Yahshua) along with the Heavenly Father for their
continued success.
"Now Peter and John were going up into the
temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
And a certain man that was lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom
they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms
of them that entered into the temple;
who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked to receive an
alms.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, Look on us.
And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I
you. In the name of Yahshua the Messiah of Nazareth, walk.
And he took him by the right hand, and raised him up: and immediately his
feet and his ankle-bones received strength.
And leaping up, he stood, and began to walk; and he entered with them into
the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising Yahweh.
And all the people saw him walking and praising Yahweh:
and they took knowledge of him, that it was he that sat for alms at the
Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at
that which had happened unto him.
And as he held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in
the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people,
You men of Israel, why marvel you at
this man? or why fasten you your eyes on us, as though by our own power or
righteousness we had made him to walk?
The Elohim of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the Elohim of our
fathers, hath glorified his Servant Yahshua; whom you delivered up, and denied
before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him."
Acts 3:1-13
The Apostle Peter gave the credit to the right
place. Can you do the same? So many times leaders want all of the
credit for everything that happens under their charge! Did they do
everything alone? No! That would be almost impossible, unless of
course, it would be a one man work.
Yahshua the Messiah did not found a one man
work organization. He chose twelve and called them Apostles. He then
chose seventy and sent them forth also, but in a lesser capacity. The
Apostles chose seven Deacons in Acts chapter six, and these men did great works!
Stephen was so pure in heart that he could see things others could not!
"But he, being full
of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of
Yahweh, and Yahshua standing on the right hand of Yahweh,
and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of Yahweh." Acts 7:55-56
Truly, a man of vision!
Humility -
Humility is knowing your ability and limitations especially the correct
measuring of ones own worth and value.
To Thine
Own Self Be True
Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for.
There ... my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel but, being in,
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
-- William Shakespeare
Leaders must really know themselves and their
particular abilities.
How Important Is "Executive Intelligence" for
Leaders?
Published: July 5, 2006
Author: James Heskett
The
impact of one individual on the performance of an organization has
long been debated, and the debate has focused most recently on the
controversy over compensation for CEOs.
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert
Sutton cite studies that maintain that no more than 10 percent of
the performance of an organization can be attributed to its leader
as opposed to other forces.Some might argue that that's a lot.
There is also debate about the most important traits of leadership.
Some recent studies continue to examine the personality and style
attributes of effective leaders. Others are giving more emphasis to
certain forms of intelligence.
Jim Collins concluded in his
classic study, Good to Great,that
among the most important attributes of leaders, people who John
Kotter maintains achieve "extremely useful change," was the
right mix of humility and a drive for success.
More recently, Collins has added to his list (after studying
successful leaders in nonprofit organizations) "legislative
leadership," the ability to create coalitions both within and
outside of organizations. While concluding that leaders have less
control than most people think, Pfeffer and Sutton advise them to
"act as if they are in control" and "behave in ways that cause
others to believe in the possibility of success of both the
organization and the leader."
In his recent book, Executive
Intelligence, Justin Menkes proposes another set of hypotheses,
among them that too much emphasis has been given to personality and
style and too little to types of intelligence that enhance
leadership performance. He argues that "when it comes to predicting
work performance, cognitive-ability tests have been demonstrated to
be approximately ten times as powerful as personality assessments. .
. . Personality is not a differentiator of star talent. It is an
individual's facility for clear thinking or intelligence that
largely determines their leadership success."
Menkes places his bets on an
individual's "executive intelligence," the ability to digest, often
with the help of others, large amounts of information in order to
form important decisions that produce useful action with the right
amount of deliberation.
The success or fail rate of any
good organization is inter-dependant on the leader& those in
responsible positions under that leader. Never minimize this
fact! The mark of a great leader can be found (and seen) in
his men! (Or women if that be the case.) Great leaders always
choose the right subordinates as did Yahshua.
"You have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that
whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it
you." John 15:16
These chosen men (excluding Judas
The Betrayer) rose up from a very shaky start to greatness seldom
seen in any lifetime. From denial and actual departure, these
men (when they were converted) became legends beyond their own time
frame. The Acts of the Apostles still rings true for all of us
today. They continued to learn and lead according to the
abilities and talents given to them by Yahshua the Messiah the true
Holy One of Israel.
"The elders which
are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of
Messiah, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
Feed the flock of Yahweh which is among you, taking the oversight thereof,
not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
Neither as being despots over Yahweh's heritage, but being examples to the
flock.
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of
glory that fades not away.
Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yes, all of you
be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for Yahweh resists the
proud, and gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:1-5
In this passage alone, several great leadership
characteristics/qualities appear. Can you recognize them? Read this
passage again and note the true leaders requirements (although minimized in
number) for any successful individual. What stands out the most?
