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Leadership
and Community
Keith Starcher
DayStar Consulting, Inc.
Allow
me to begin this Insight with a quote from the book Why
Should Anyone Be Led By You? By Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones
(2006).
Unless you are clear about your purpose and
your values and are doing something that you really care about,
it is difficult to act as a leader.
Leadership is not easy. Without the above to
steel your resolve, you will be slowly overwhelmed by the
inevitable uncertainties and setbacks that will occur. In
addition, if you do not engage with a supporting community, a
place where you can be encouraged and held accountable at the
same time, your leadership impact will wane. Community is
important.
But we in America live in an age that seems
to worship rugged individualism; an age that many would say has
led to the rise of excessive individualism. Have we moved past
the need for authentic expression of self right into selfishness
itself?
And how
can we lead and be led without an overarching set of shared
moral values? When we allow right and wrong to be determined
“based on the situation” rather being based on absolutes, we
move down a slippery slope that leads to damaging scandals such
as the ones we have seen at Enron, Tyco, and World-Com (among
others). We need a community that believes in something solid,
something timeless, and something that is bigger than ourselves.
Unfortunately, we in America are moving toward a society where
individuals decline to get involved in self-government in
exchange for a government that meets our material needs. We see
a declining membership in informal communities that provide a
“social glue” for us (fewer parents involved in the PTA, fewer
citizens showing up at public meetings). And get this, Putnam,
in his book Bowling Alone, declares that despite the
popularity of bowling in the United States, there are fewer and
fewer people participating in bowling leagues. They’d rather
bowl alone than in community.
At work our sense of community
is also declining. In the not-too-distant past, a person went
to work for a company hoping to climb a relatively stable career
ladder within one organization. Those days are gone. The lack
of loyalty from both parties (employees and employers) has led
to the notion that we are alone and architects of our own
working destiny. Many employees agree that just when they begin
to sense of feeling of community (belonging) within an
organization, something happens (a buyout, a merger, a new
opportunity) and they leave the community. The rallying cry of
“one for all and all for one” has morphed into an aberration of
“it’s all about me.” And each time this happens, all of us lose
something we really need – community.
In what way should leaders
respond to this downward spiraling turn of events? We must
realize that followers want to feel part of a community. We are
social creatures. There is something within us that makes each
of us want to stand shoulder to shoulder in a fight that’s worth
fighting. We have a deep-rooted desire to belong, to feel as
though we are a part of something that is bigger than
ourselves. (When I asked our youngest daughter a few years back
why she enlisted in the Air Force—that was her main reason for
signing up.)
So ask
yourself, “Am I developing a sense of belonging among my
followers? Am I a community builder?” Do you help people to
connect—to each other and to the overarching purpose of your
organization?
Remember,
your followers are constantly asking these questions (either
consciously or subconsciously):
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Why are we here?
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What is our purpose?
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What can we achieve together?
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Why are you our leader?
As
always, we turn to the Ultimate Leader to answer these types of
questions.
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You are here because I created you to love
you and to hold you in community with God’s children and
myself.
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Your purpose is “love God and enjoy Him
forever.”
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We can achieve the ultimate—we can love God
with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our
neighbor as ourselves.
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Because I loved you enough to die for you.
Let’s face it. We
need each other. We need to live in community. And modern life
is doing all it can to make each of an isolationist. Just
yesterday I asked a cable service technician the most TV’s he
had seen in one home. His answer—12, and it was in a regular,
middle-class home, not a mansion. He mentioned that the husband
and wife each had their own television in the bedroom. Some of
you may remember way back when most homes had but one
television. I remember. Many Friday nights at our house meant
popcorn and the family gathered around the TV. Families don’t
seem to gather like that anymore. Many don’t even eat together
around a common dining table. We’re just too busy. And
community within the family suffers.
May each of us
consider this week the role that we play in building up or
tearing down of community within our families, our workplaces,
our churches, and in our neighborhoods.
True leaders develop
true community. How are you doing?
Keith
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