An
interview with Actress Jodie Foster from Women.com
Women.com:
Back to the topic of leadership, what else can we be doing to
promote leadership in women?
Foster: Well, I have this really outdated philosophy about success
in a corporate structure, and you're going to think I'm really
romantic and a fool, but here it goes. I think that if you are
moral and you're right and you have the right ethics, that
eventually somewhere down the line you're going to end up being
successful.
In our business, anyway, you're always going up and down, and at
some point you're going to find yourself down. You're going to
need somebody to say, "Hey, I remember you. You're the one
that treated me right, and I'm going to lend a hand out to you
..." It's your responsibility to conduct yourself ethically
throughout the process — always ethics first — so that
somewhere down the line, somebody's going to let you live up to
your own potential.
Women.com: Do you live your life that way as well?
Foster: Yeah, I really do. I mean, I think I try to be the best
person I can. Lord knows I make big mistakes. I make big mistakes
all the time. But I try to be as honest and direct as I can.
In
this Age of Self, the language is filled with phrases that glorify
personal choice above all other values: self-determination,
self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-help even do-it-yourself. In
this climate, no doctrine is safe, no dictate accepted without
scrutiny....The touchstone of belief today is the individual, not
the institution. Priests., like precinct captains, have lost
authority. The same voters who talk back to their political
leaders on call-in shows and town meetings are talking back to
their religious leaders at parish council meetings and Communion
breakfasts. While 85 percent of American Catholics look up to the
pope as a moral leader, 4 out of 5 say they follow their own
conscience, rather than papal authority, on moral questions...The
phrase "cafeteria Catholics" describes those who pick
and choose among church teachings. But in religion, as in
politics, the more appropriate analogy for modern mores is to fast
food rather than to cafeterias; as the slogan for one hamburger
chain puts it: "Have it your way."...How do leaders lead
when followers don't want to be led?
In
order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have
followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme
quality of a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no
real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section
gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man's
associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he
lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and
actions must square with each other. The first great need,
therefore, is integrity and high purpose.
From
the world of business, Robert J. Kriegel offers an observation
about being proactive that applies to churches, "Research
shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans (85 percent) are
reactive and static, not action- or dynamic- or instinct-oriented.
They wait and meet, meet and wait. With a ready arsenal of
conservative, conventional wisdom at their disposal, they try to
control outcomes in an out-of-control world."
Peter
Drucker offers insightful guidance to the church when he calls
leadership a peak performance by one who is "the trumpet that
sounds a clear sound of the organizations' goals." His five
requirements for this task are amazingly reliable and useful for
those who dare to lead churches:
(1)
a leader works;
(2)
a leader sees his assignment as responsibility rather than rank or
privilege;
(3)
a leader wants strong, capable, self-assured, independent
associates;
(4)
a leader creates human energies and vision;
(5)
a leader develops followers' trust by his own consistency and
integrity.
Few
of our nations' chief executives could match Herbert Hoover's
executive competence, intellect or energy. With a handful of
assistants, he put together a series of relief operations that
saved millions of lives during and after World War I. He was
familiar with Latin and proficient in the principles of mining and
metallurgy. Yet his Presidency was a failure. Poor judgment (high
tariffs and taxes) did him in.
Franklin
Roosevelt's managerial style was the antithesis of Hoover's. He
often put off making decisions. He didn't respect lines of
authority. He would deliberately give different aides similar
assignments. He incessantly played members of his official family
against one another. Internal battles were constant and bitter.
FDR was devious. He was never confrontational, using indirect
methods to get this way. You rarely learned where you stood by
having a face-to-face meeting; the President was usually congenial
and unspecific.
Many
thought FDR's methods were inefficient and chaotic, but most
political scientists have concluded there was method in his
seeming madness. The chaos enable him to prevent anyone from
accumulating too much power or blocking him from information. He
was incontestably the master of his government and the dominant
figure of 20th-century American politics.
When
the board of directors of a large food company was considering the
selection of a new president, one of the directors worked out this
questionnaire:
1.
Who of the possible candidates is the best known as a personality
to the most company people?
2.
Who is the most liked and trusted by them?
3.
Who is held in the highest regard outside the organization...in
public life and "in the trade"?
4.
Who is the most warmly human in his dealings with people?
5.
Who has demonstrated the best capacity for selecting able people,
and the greatest willingness to delegate authority and
responsibility?
6.
Who will be apt to do the best job of keeping his desk and mind
clear of day-to-day operating problems, so he will have time to
think in broader terms of tomorrow and next year?
7.
Who does the boldest -- yet soundest -- thinking?
8.
Who is most open-mined and willing to revise decisions when
important new facts come to light?
9.
Who inspires the best cooperation and exercises the best control
and coordination, without "trespassing" on
responsibility once delegated?
10.
Who is most self-possessed in all situations, best able to adjust
to personalities and circumstances and tact and understanding?
11.
Who can be depended upon to make the most of a promising new plan
or idea?
12.
Who can "take it" the best under a heavy load of
responsibility?
13.
Who is the best builder of the people under him?
14.
Who is most likely, in good times and bad, to remember that the
basic job of the president is to operate the business at a profit?
Do
not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no
path and leave a trail.
Myron
Rush identifies tough issues facing every Christian leader in The
New Leader. We are wise to ponder them slowly.
-
You must be willing to stand alone.
-
You must be willing to go against public opinion in order to
promote what you believe.
-
You must be willing to risk failure.
-
You must become master of your emotions.
-
You must strive to remain above reproach.
-
You must be willing to make decisions others don't want to make.
-
You must be willing to say no at times, even when you'd like to
say yes.
-
You must sometimes be willing to sacrifice personal interests for
the good of the group.
-
You must never be content with the average; you must always strive
for the best.
-
People must be more important to you than possessions.
-
You will have to work harder to keep your life in balance than
people do who are not leaders.
The
world needs leaders...
who
cannot be bought;
whose
word is their promise;
who
put character above wealth;
who
possess opinions and a will;
who
are larger than their vocations;
who
do not hesitate to take chances;
who
will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
who
will be honest in small things as well as in great things;
who
will make no compromise with wrong;
whose
ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
who
will not say they do it "because everybody else does
it";
who
are true to their friends through good report and
evil
report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
who
do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and
hardheadedness
are the best qualities for winning success;
who
are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth
when
it is unpopular, who can say no with emphasis,
although
the rest of the world says yes.
Paul
Borthwick, Leading the Way, Navpress, 1989, pp. 19-20.
Actually,
a manager needs the ability not only to make good decisions
himself, but also to lead others to make good decisions. Charles
Moore, after four years of research at the United Parcel Service
reached the following conclusions:
1.
Good decisions take a lot of time.
2.
Good decisions combine the efforts of a number of people.
3.
Good decisions give individuals the freedom to dissent.
4.
Good decisions are reached without any pressure from the top to
reach an artificial consensus.
5.
Good decisions are based on the participation of those responsible
for implementing them.*
What
kind of person is best able to involve others and himself in good
decision making? J. Keith Louden lists seven qualities:
1.
The ability to look ahead and see what's coming -- foresight.
2.
Steadiness, with patience and persistence and courage.
3.
A buoyant spirit that in spite of cares generates confidence.
4.
Ingeniousness, the ability to solve problems soundly yet
creatively.
5.
The ability to help others.
6.
Righteousness, the willingness to do the right thing and speak the
truth.
7.
Personal morality of a quality that commands the respect of
others.**
This
concept of authority as something that causes another person to
"do what you want him to do" is reflected in most
definitions. For instance, the Random House Dictionary of the
English Language speaks of authority as "a power or right to
direct the actions or thoughts of others. Authority is a power or
right, usually because of rank or office, to issue commands and to
punish for violations." Again the root idea seems to be
control or direction of the actions of others.
We
see this same idea even in sophisticated examinations of
authority. For instance, William Oncken, Jr., in a 1970 Colorado
Institute of Technology Journal, gives an analysis of authority
that suggests it is comprised of four elements:
1.
The Authority of Competence: the more competent the other fellow
knows you are, the more confident he will be that you know what
you are talking about and the more likely he will be to follow
your orders, requests, or suggestions. He will think of you as an
authority in the matter under consideration and will feel it risky
to ignore your wishes.
2.
The Authority of Position: This component gives you the right to
tell someone, "Do it or else." It has teeth. "The
boss wants it" is a bugle call that can snap many an office
or shop into action.
3.
The Authority of Personality: The easier it is for the other
fellow to talk to you, to listen to you, or to work with you, the
easier he will find it to respond to your wishes.
4.
The Authority of Character: This component is your "credit
rating" with other people as to your integrity, reliability,
honesty, loyalty, sincerity, personal morals, and ethics.
Obviously you will get more and better from a man who has respect
for your character than from one who hasn't.
A
study was recently completed on corporate managers. In it they
were asked if they voiced positions that 1. focused on the good of
the company, rather than personal benefit and 2. jeopardized their
own careers. Emerging from this study were the four leader-types
which are found in all organizations.
Type
#1 -- courageous. These people expressed ideas to help the company
improve, in spite of personal risk or opposition.
Type
#2 -- confronting. These people spoke up, but only because of a
personal vendetta against the company.
Type
#3 -- calloused. These people didn't know, or care, whether they
could do anything for the company; they felt helpless and
hopeless, so they kept quiet.
Type
#4 -- conforming. These people also remained quiet, but only
because they loathed confrontation and loved approval.
The
researchers discovered that the courageous managers accomplished
the most, reported the highest job satisfaction, and eventually
were commended by superiors. Their commitment had certainly
improved the quality of their lives.
During
World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful
choice. The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and
informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry.
He had two alternatives: (1) evacuate the citizens and save
hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that
the code was broken; or (2) take no action, which would kill
hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly same many
more lives. Churchill had to choose and followed the second
course.
The
trouble with being a leader today is that you can't be sure
whether people are following you or chasing you.
Max
DePree gets to the heart of things with this succinct formulation:
"The first responsibility of a leader is to define
reality." Leaders need to have a good picture of what is
really going on around them. And they need to help others take an
honest look at this reality."
Leadership
is the ability to put the plans into practice, and to accomplish
the specified objectives through the skillful management of
people, time, and tangible resources. A good leader is one who is
able to motivate people; one who is capable of making good
decisions, even under pressure or in conditions of uncertainty;
one who can guide people through actions as well as words.
One
of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem
before it becomes an emergency.
Submit
to pressure from peers and you move down to their level.
Speak
up for your own beliefs and you invite them up to your level.
If
you move with the crowd, you'll get no further than the crowd.
When
40 million people believe in a dumb idea, it's still a dumb idea.
Simply
swimming with the tide leaves you nowhere.
So
if you believe in something that's good, honest and bright- stand
up for it. Maybe your peers will get smart and drift your way.
In
typical fashion, when George Allen moved to Washington, D.C., as
head coach of the Redskins, he promised the nation's capital the
moon. He told them it would be just a few seasons before he would
develop the Redskins into a championship football team. He
promised them the Super Bowl by the second season. The team had a
brilliant preseason that first year. Then, early in the regular
season, they won several amazing victories. It appeared the
Redskins were to be lifted from their common role of loser to the
uncommon role of winner. As time passed, however, the inevitable
occurred. They began to lose and lose and lose. The blame fell, at
least in part, not on Coach George Allen, but on a quarterback
named Sonny Jurgenson, in my opinion one of the most gifted and
effective quarterbacks to ever play the game. Jurgenson possesses
a quality I deeply admire: personal security. It seems as though
no one can intimidate Sonny Jurgenson.
One
day after another defeat, Sonny was getting ready to take a shower
and go home. A sportswriter leaned over to him in the locker room
and said, "Say, Sonny, be honest now. Don't all these
off-the-wall remarks we write and all this public flack disturb
you? Doesn't it make you want to quit when people throw things at
you from the stands and when you get those dirty letters?"
Sonny
just leaned back, gave a big, toothless grin, and sighed,
"No, not really, I don't want to quit. I've been in this game
long enough to know that every quarterback, every week of the
season, spends his time either in the penthouse or in the
outhouse."
Sonny's
comment points out an important fact. It is true that if you are a
leader, you spend your time either on the top or on the bottom.
You seldom know what it's like to be in between. You are either
the hero or the villain. You are respected or you are virtually
hated. People in leadership must live on the yo-yo of public
opinion, under the gun of verbal jabs as well as on the crest of
great admiration. Being "in the outhouse" is a lot more
difficult than those choice times "in the penthouse."
It's when we are under verbal attack of the intimidating public
that we show our colors.
I
have discovered, after a number of years in the ministry, that
this is true even in the spiritual realm. You commit yourself to a
life of faith, you declare before God and man that you are going
to walk with Him regardless, and suddenly, it happens! The enemy
turns every gun he can upon you to blast you out of the saddle, to
make you finish your season in defeat, to have you think that it's
really not worth it after all.
Don't
take a position of leadership in church unless you are prepared to
be honest, pure, and loving in your lifestyle. Leadership is a
privilege, and with privilege comes responsibility. God holds
teachers of His truth doubly responsible because we who lead are
in a position where we can either draw people toward Christ or
drive them away from Him. This is illustrated in the life of the
famous author Mark Twain.
Church
leaders were largely to blame for his becoming hostile to the
Bible and the Christian faith. As he grew up, he knew elders and
deacons who owned slaves and abused them. He heard men using foul
language and saw them practice dishonesty during the week after
speaking piously in church on Sunday. He listened to ministers use
the Bible to justify slavery. Although he saw genuine love for the
Lord Jesus in some people, including his mother and his wife, he
was so disturbed by the bad teaching and poor example of church
leaders that he became bitter toward the things of God.
Indeed,
it is a privilege to be an elder, a deacon, a Sunday school
teacher, or a Bible club leader. But it is also an awesome
responsibility. Let's make sure we attract people to the Savior
rather than turn them away.
At
one time Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man in America. He
came to America from his native Scotland when he was a small boy,
did a variety of odd jobs, and eventually ended up as the largest
steel manufacturer in the United States. At one time he had
forty-three millionaires working for him. In those days a
millionaire was a rare person; conservatively speaking, a million
dollars in his day would be equivalent to at least twenty million
dollars today.
A
reporter asked Carnegie how he had hired forty-three millionaires.
Carnegie responded that those men had not been millionaires when
they started working for him but had become millionaires as a
result.
The
reporter's next question was, "How did you develop these men
to becomes so valuable to you that you have paid them this much
money?" Carnegie replied that men are developed the same way
gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be
moved to get an ounce of gold; but one doesn't go into the mine
looking for dirt - one goes in looking for the gold.
That's
exactly the way we pastors need to view our people. Don't look for
the flaws, warts, and blemishes. Look for the gold, not for the
dirt; the good, not the bad. Look for the positive aspects of
life. Like everything else, the more good qualities we look for in
our people, the more good qualities we are going to find.
Last
October the Prince and Princess of Wales allowed TV cameras into
their home to film them as a normal couple with their two
children.
During
the interview Prince Charles described his job in these terms:
"It, more than anything else, is a way of life. It's more
than a job. It's a complete, 24-hour-a-day business, really."
Leadership
in any organization - whether in the local church or in some other
Christian activity - is never just a job. It is always a way of
life, demanding from those who would be leaders a 24-hour-a-day
commitment. The leader, in a sense, must always be on the job,
deciding, directing and developing the work that has been
entrusted to him while at the same time encouraging those
in the work. A leader is
one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.
Matthew
Henry went to London, met a young lady of the nobility, who was
also wealthy, and they fell in love. She went to ask her father if
she could marry him and he said, "He's got no background, you
don't know where he's come from." She said, "Yes, I
know, but I know where he's going and I want to go with him."
In
1789 an uncertain George Washington is urged to seek the
presidency by Governor Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate to the
Constitutional Convention. Morris writes Washington: "No
constitution is the same on paper and in life. The exercise of
authority depends upon personal character. Your cool steady temper
is indispensably necessary to give a firm and manly tone to the
new government."
A
leader is a person with a magnet in his heart and a compass in his
head.
Leadership
in the local church should be determined by spirituality, not
notoriety.
George
Bernard Shaw's statement frequently flashes through my mind:
"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread
it." In a day of passing the buck with merely a shrug, those
words bite and sting. It's one thing to sing and dance to
liberty's tunes, but it's something else entirely to bear the
responsibility for paying the band.
There
are numerous examples of this. Being in leadership carries with it
a few privileges and perks, but living with the responsibility of
that task makes a reserved parking space and your
own bathroom pale into
insignificance. Conceiving children is a moment of sheer ecstasy,
but rearing them as a loving and caring parent represents years of
thankless responsibility. Enjoying a great conference is both
delightful and memorable, but behind the scenes - count on it -
are unseen hours of creative thinking, disciplined planning, and
responsible arranging. Running an organization that gets a job
done, leaving those involved feeling fulfilled and appreciated,
can be exciting, fun, and stretching, but it's a nightmare unless
the details of responsibility are clearly set forth and
maintained.
John
W. Gardner, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, who is now directing a leadership study
project in Washington, D.C., has pinpointed five characteristics
that set "leader" managers apart from run-of-the- mill
managers:
They
are long-term thinkers who see beyond the day's crisis and the
quarterly report.
Their
interest in the company does not stop with the unit they are
heading. They want to know how all of the company's departments
affect one another, and they are constantly reaching beyond their
specific area of influence.
They
put heavy emphasis on vision, values, and motivation.
They
have strong people skills.
They
don't accept the status quo.
Bruce
Larson, in his book Wind and Fire, points out some interesting
facts about sandhill cranes:
"These
large birds, who fly great distances across continents, have three
remarkable qualities. First, they rotate leadership. No one bird
stays out in front all the time. Second, they choose leaders who
can handle turbulence. And then, all during the time one bird is
leading, the rest are honking their affirmation.
That's
not a bad model for the church. Certainly we need leaders who can
handle turbulence and who are aware that leadership ought to be
shared. But most of all, we need a church where we
are all honking
encouragement."
Cal
Thomas found himself called a "Christian leader" by a
leading Christian magazine and he wondered what that meant. More
speaking engagements? Perhaps an appearance on a Christian talk
show?
"It
would certainly give me the right to start putting Scripture
references under my signed name in books I have written. I would
surely sign more Bibles, which I find a curious practice since I
didn't write that Book."
Thomas
wonders if we have reversed things. God's strength is made perfect
in weakness. "In a church I once attended, there was a man of
tremendous faith. His wife is an alcoholic, His daughter has
psychological problems. He was often poor in health. Yet, week
after week, he never complained. He always smiled and asked me how
I was doing. He faithfully brought to church a young blind man who
had no transportation. He always sat with the blind man, helping
him sing the hymns by saying the words into his ear. That man was
a `Christian leader' if ever there was one."
There
is a new leader for Atlanta's Roman Catholic community, Bishop
James Lyke, and he is calling for a renewal and revival of the
church which locally has been rocked by a sex scandal. More than a
third of Roman Catholic Priests in the United States are sexually
active. The American Psychological Association meeting in Boston
hears of Johns Hopkins' research indicating that 20 percent of
priests are heterosexual, 10-13 percent homosexual, and 6 percent
involved sexually with minors. This 25 year study, by the way, was
conducted by Richard Sight, who left the priesthood to marry.
Catholic officials say that his study is not scientific.
Advice
from Ross Perot about how to treat your people:
"Never
ask anyone to do what you haven't done before and wouldn't do
again. That's a pretty fundamental rule in leadership...treat them
like you treat yourself. Things you don't like, they don't like.
You don't like to be jerked around, they don't either. You don't
like to be talked down to, and they don't either. You would rather
work with somebody than for somebody. So would they. You hate
people who pound on your head after you gave everything you had
and failed...It's that simple."
As
a train was about to leave a large railroad station, the conductor
began to take tickets. Looking at the ticket of the first
passenger he remarked, "Friend, I think you're on the wrong
train!" "But," replied the man, "the ticket
agent told me this was my train." After a little discussion,
the conductor decided to check with the ticket agent. Before long,
it became clear that the conductor was on the wrong train! When
the leader is lost, how can the followers be going on the right
track?
The
hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which
to burn.
I've
met a lot of leaders in the Army who were very competent -- but
they didn't have character. And for every job they did well, they
sought reward in the form of promotions, in the form of awards and
decorations, in the form of getting ahead at the expense of
someone else, in the form of another piece of paper that awarded
them another degree -- a sure road to the top.
You
see, these were competent people, but they lacked character. I've
also met a lot of leaders who had superb character but who lacked
competence. They weren't willing to pay the price of leadership,
to go the extra mile because that's what it took to be a great
leader.
And
that's sort of what it's all about. To lead in the 21st century --
to take soldiers, sailors, airmen into battle -- you will be
required to have both character and competence.
Franklin
Roosevelt had to work hard to persuade Harry Truman to be his
running mate in the 1944 presidential election. Truman wanted to
go to the Senate, but incumbent vice-president Henry Wallace was
unpopular with many Democratic leaders. So Truman was approached,
and accepted the job with extreme reluctance. On April 12, 1945 he
was summoned to the White House. There he was shown into Eleanor
Roosevelt's sitting room, where she told him that President
Roosevelt was dead. After a moment of stunned silence Truman asked
her, "Is there anything I can do for you?"
She
shook her head. "Is there anything we can do for you?"
she said. "For you're the one in trouble now."
As
Vice President, Richard Nixon came upon President Eisenhower one
day signing an immense stack of mail in his office. Mr. Nixon
watched quietly for a moment and then asked the General how, with
all that mail, he ever found time to think about the big problems
of the country.
Ike
replied: "Dick, I really haven't spent that much time on
these letters. In fact, in some instances they probably don't even
say exactly what I want them to. But you've got to learn that, if
you get bogged down in all the fine print and little detail you'll
never get anything accomplished as President.
Caution
to newly promoted executives -- remember what the mamma whale told
the baby whale: "When you get to the top and start letting
off steam, that's the time you're most apt to be harpooned."
A
football coach gave this advice on how to deal with failures.
"When you're about to be run out of town, get out in front
and make it look like you're heading a parade."
Wherever
anything is to be done, either in the Church or in the world, you
may depend upon it, it is done by one man. The whole history of
the Church, from the earliest ages, teaches the same lesson. A
Moses, a Gideon, an Isaiah, and a Paul are from time to time
raised up to do an appointed work; and when they pass away, their
work appears to cease. Nor is it given to everyone, as it was to
Moses, to see the Joshua who is destined to carry on his work to
completion. God can raise up a successor to each man, but the man
himself is not to worry about that matter, or he may do harm. One
great object of every religious teacher should be to prevent the
creation of external appliances to make his teaching appear to
live when it is dead.
During
the Nazi occupation of his country in WWII, King Christian X of
Denmark noticed a Nazi flag flying over a Danish public building.
He immediately called the German commandant, demanding that the
flag be taken down at once. The commandant refused. "Then a
soldier will go and take it down." said the king. "He
will be shot," threatened the commandant. "I think
not," replied the king, "for I shall be the
soldier." Within minutes the flag was taken down.
S.
I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of
a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when
she read the question on the application blank that asked,
"Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious,
she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting
the worst.
To
her surprise, she received this letter from the college:
"Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals
that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are
accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at
least one follower."
Dwight
Eisenhower described leadership as "The act of getting
somebody else to do what you want done because he wants to do
it."
Give
your decision, never your reasons; your decisions may be right,
your reasons are sure to be wrong.
Writer
and Jazz enthusaist Nat Hentoff, on Duke Ellington:
"Ellington
talked to me about his music. He composed with each musician in
the band particularly in mind. 'You keep their weaknesses in your
head as you write,' he said, 'and that way you astonish them with
their strengths."
When
a general gets too far ahead of his troops, he's often mistaken
for the enemy.
It's
those stately geese I find especially impressive. Winging their
way to a warmer climate, they often cover thousands of miles
before reaching their destination. Have you ever studied why they
fly as they do? It is fascinating to read what has been discovered
about their flight pattern as well
as their in-flight
habits. Four come to mind.
1.
Those in front rotate their leadership. When one lead goose gets
tired, it changes places with one in the wing of the V-formation
and another flies point.
2.
By flying as they do, the members of the flock create an upward
air current for one another. Each flap of the wings literally
creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. One author
states that by flying in a V-formation, the whole flock gets 71
percent greater flying range than if each goose flew on its own.
3.
When one goose gets sick or wounded, two fall out of formation
with it and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with
the struggler until it's able to fly again.
4.
The geese in the rear of the formation are the ones who do the
honking. I suppose it's their way of announcing that they're
following and that all is well. For sure, the repeated honks
encourage those in front to stay at it.
As
I think about all this, one lesson stands out above all others: it
is the natural instinct of geese to work together. Whether it's
rotating, flapping, helping, or simply honking, the flock is in it
together...which enables them to accomplish what they set out to
do.
Perhaps
you have heard the geese honking as they fly northward in a
"V" formation. They head toward the grain fields of
Canada and Alaska to spend the summer. Two engineers calibrated in
a wind tunnel why geese fly in formation. Each goose, flapping its
wings, creates an uplift for the goose that follows. The whole
flock gains 71% greater flying range than if they journeyed alone.
That's why the leader of the "V" formation falls back
periodically to let another leader take the point, and why the
rest stay in line. It is rough to be a leader. Even in a flock of
geese, leadership is a shared responsibility. Every disciple, at
one time or another, is called to "take the point."
In
Everyday Discipleship for Ordinary People, Stuart Briscoe
wrote" "One of my young colleagues was officiating at
the funeral of a war veteran. The dead man's military friends
wished to have a
part in the service at the funeral home, so they requested the
pastor to lead them down to the casket, stand with them for a
solemn moment of remembrance, and then lead them out through the
side door. This he proceeded to do, but unfortunately the effect
was somewhat marred when he picked the wrong door. The result was
that they marched with military precision into a broom closet, in
full view of the mourners, and had to beat a hasty retreat covered
with confusion.
"This
true story illustrates a cardinal rule or two. First, if you're
going to lead, make sure you know where you're going. Second, if
you're going to follow, make sure that you are following someone
who knows what he is doing!"
Today's
business people can learn a lot about good leadership from
orchestra conductors, says the Harvard Business Review. The first
thing a good conductor does is put together a first-rate group of
musicians. Toscanini, for example, could not have gotten great
music out of a high school band. The next thing the conductor does
is make sure that his musicians share his satisfaction with the
quality of the music. If they don't all feel an equal sense of
accomplishment the conductor's leadership has failed and he will
not make great music.
When
my father's company hired a consultant to improve efficiency, he
immediately called a meeting of all shop personnel. In stressing
the importance of following a set plan of engineering procedures,
he gave this analogy: "You are on the Titanic, and it's
sinking. You find yourself on a lifeboat. It's dark and hazy.
Which direction would you row? Now, you're in the same situation,
but you have the ship's navigator with you. Which way would you
row? You'd row the way the navigator told you to, right?"
In
the crowd there were murmurs of agreement until one man in the
back piped up. "Well, I don't know," he said. "He
already hit one iceberg!"
Leadership
is not magnetic personality. That can just as well be a glib
tongue. It is not making
friends and influencing
people; that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision
to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to higher
standards, the building of a personality beyond its normal
limitations.
There
is a very strong tendency on the part of Americans, whether in
government or business, that you really have to establish some
achievement of your own. In Japan, there is emphasis on
continuity. Unless there is something wrong, I build on what my
predecessor has built. In the U.S., the new man comes in and very
often the value of that man is judged by the things he does
differently from his predecessor. This is very destabilizing-- you
start from scratch. In manufacturing, there is a great deal that
can be achieved by continuity.
When
in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. When in
charge, ponder. When in trouble, delegate. When in doubt, mumble.
