Tweet As a leader, there are many times I feel like the mediator between opposing viewpoints. I’m steering our team towards a common, shared vision, but there are a myriad…
Have you ever considered what the common traits are of great leaders? I call the traits the pillars of leadership. I think about the question a lot, because I love observing leaders and I strive to be a better leader. I like simple, easy-to-understand answers, so I have asked this type question frequently through Twitter, to see what common agreement exists about what makes a leader great.
Here are 7 pillars of leadership I’ve landed on in my search. You’ll find these among all great leaders.
Tweet Do you want to harness the greatest power in your organization? The best assets of your church, business or non-profit never appear on your balance sheet. The truth is…
In a previous post, I wrote the reasons to micromanage. (Yes…there are times…Read that post HERE) Most of the time micromanaging is not a positive characteristic of leadership. Here are some reasons leaders resort to micromanaging:
Tweet When I was growing up I frequently heard the phrase. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Are people still saying it and I’m just…
Tweet I’ve always valued hard work and usually resented lazy workers. There. I said it. I have a bias against laziness. I started working when I was 12 years…
Tweet I was talking with a concerned man recently about his church. He’s concerned the church is wasting a lot of resources and accomplishing little towards its vision to make…
As a leader, one of your most valuable assets is the respect of the people you are leading. If a leader is respected, people will follow him or her almost anywhere. If a leader loses the respect from the ones he or she leads, it becomes very difficult to regain that respect.
Often a new leader is given respect because of his or her position as a leader, but respect can be quickly lost due to performance. Many times, it’s the seemingly small things which cause the most damage to a leaders’s reputation.
I have found that with a few simple (some not so simple) acts help protect the respect a leader enjoys:
It’s been a long time since I wrote the post 10 Characteristics of Good Leadership. It remains one of my most read posts, being found by readers through search engines. Shortly after I wrote the post my friend Jesse Phillips at Catalyst asked me to expand on each item. You can thank Jesse for this post.
In an expanded version, here are 10 characteristics of good leadership:
Tweet I have a strong desire to help improve the quality of leadership in churches and ministries, especially among the next generation of Christian leaders. My youngest son, Nate, who…