What is Christian leadership?

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Question: "What is Christian leadership?"

Answer: What is Christian leadership? What should a Christian leader be like? There is no finer example for Christian leadership than our Lord Jesus Christ. He declared, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). It is within this verse that we see the perfect description of a Christian leader. He is one who acts as a shepherd to those “sheep” in his care.

When Jesus referred to us as “sheep,” He was not speaking in affectionate terms. In truth, sheep rank among the dumbest animals in creation. A stray sheep, still within earshot of the herd, becomes disoriented, confused, frightened, and incapable of finding its way back to the flock. Unable to ward off hungry predators, the stray is perhaps the most helpless of all creatures. Entire herds of sheep are known to have drowned during times of flash flooding even in sight of easily accessible higher ground. Like it or not, when Jesus called us His sheep, He was saying that without a shepherd, we are helpless.

The shepherd is one who has several roles in regard to his sheep. He leads, feeds, nurtures, comforts, corrects and protects. The shepherd of the Lord’s flock leads by modeling godliness and righteousness in his own life and encouraging others to follow his example. Of course, our ultimate example—and the One we should follow—is Christ Himself. The Apostle Paul understood this: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The Christian leader is one who follows Christ and inspires others to follow Him as well.

The Christian leader is also a feeder and a nourisher of the sheep and the ultimate “sheep food” is the Word of God. Just as the shepherd leads his flock to the lushest pasture so they will grow and flourish, so the Christian leader nourishes his flock with the only food which will produce strong, vibrant Christians. The Bible—not psychology or the world’s wisdom—is the only diet that can produce healthy Christians. “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

The Christian leader also comforts the sheep, binding up their wounds and applying the balm of compassion and love. As the great Shepherd of Israel, the Lord Himself promised to “bind up the injured and strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34:16). As Christians in the world today, we suffer many injuries to our spirits, and we need compassionate leaders who will bear our burdens with us, sympathize with our circumstances, exhibit patience toward us, encourage us in the Word, and bring our concerns before the Father’s throne.

Just as the shepherd used his crook to pull a wandering sheep back into the fold, so the Christian leader corrects and disciplines those in his care when they go astray. Without rancor or an overbearing spirit, but with a “spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:2), those in leadership must correct according to scriptural principles. Correction or discipline is never a pleasant experience for either party, but the Christian leader who fails in this area is not exhibiting love for those in his care. “The LORD disciplines those he loves” (Proverbs 3:12), and the Christian leader must follow His example.

The final role of the Christian leader is that of protector. The shepherd who was lax in this area soon found that he regularly lost sheep to the predators who prowled around—and sometimes among—his flock. The predators today are those who try to lure the sheep away with false doctrine, dismissing the Bible as quaint and old fashioned, insufficient, unclear, or unknowable. These lies are spread by those against whom Jesus warned us: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Our leaders must protect us from the false teachings of those who would lead us astray from the truth of the Scripture and the fact that Christ alone is the way of salvation: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

A final word on Christian leaders comes from the article “Wanted: A Few Good Shepherds (Must Know How to Wash Feet)” by John MacArthur:

“Under the plan God has ordained for the church, leadership is a position of humble, loving service. Church leadership is ministry, not management. Those whom God designates as leaders are called not to be governing monarchs, but humble slaves; not slick celebrities, but laboring servants. Those who would lead God's people must above all exemplify sacrifice, devotion, submission, and lowliness. Jesus Himself gave us the pattern when He stooped to wash His disciples' feet, a task that was customarily done by the lowest of slaves (John 13). If the Lord of the universe would do that, no church leader has a right to think of himself as a bigwig.”

The 6 Myths Of Creativity
A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who's really creative in your company.

Creativity.

These days, there's hardly a mission statement that doesn't herald it, or a CEO who doesn't laud it. And yet despite all of the attention that business creativity has won over the past few years, maddeningly little is known about day-to-day innovation in the workplace. Where do breakthrough ideas come from? What kind of work environment allows them to flourish? What can leaders do to sustain the stimulants to creativity -- and break through the barriers?

Teresa Amabile has been grappling with those questions for nearly 30 years. Amabile, who heads the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School and is the only tenured professor at a top B-school to devote her entire research program to the study of creativity, is one of the country's foremost explorers of business innovation.

Eight years ago, Amabile took her research to a daring new level. Working with a team of PhDs, graduate students, and managers from various companies, she collected nearly 12,000 daily journal entries from 238 people working on creative projects in seven companies in the consumer products, high-tech, and chemical industries. She didn't tell the study participants that she was focusing on creativity. She simply asked them, in a daily email, about their work and their work environment as they experienced it that day. She then coded the emails for creativity by looking for moments when people struggled with a problem or came up with a new idea.

"The diary study was designed to look at creativity in the wild," she says. "We wanted to crawl inside people's heads and understand the features of their work environment as well as the experiences and thought processes that lead to creative breakthroughs."

Amabile and her team are still combing through the results. But this groundbreaking study is already overturning some long-held beliefs about innovation in the workplace. In an interview with Fast Company, she busted six cherished myths about creativity. (If you want to quash creativity in your organization, just continue to embrace them.) Here they are, in her own words.

1. Creativity Comes From Creative Types
When I give talks to managers, I often start by asking, Where in your organization do you most want creativity? Typically, they'll say R&D, marketing, and advertising. When I ask, Where do you not want creativity? someone will inevitably answer, "accounting." That always gets a laugh because of the negative connotations of creative accounting. But there's this common perception among managers that some people are creative, and most aren't. That's just not true. As a leader, you don't want to ghettoize creativity; you want everyone in your organization producing novel and useful ideas, including your financial people. Over the past couple of decades, there have been innovations in financial accounting that are extremely profound and entirely ethical, such as activity-based costing.

The fact is, almost all of the research in this field shows that anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work. Creativity depends on a number of things: experience, including knowledge and technical skills; talent; an ability to think in new ways; and the capacity to push through uncreative dry spells. Intrinsic motivation -- people who are turned on by their work often work creatively -- is especially critical. Over the past five years, organizations have paid more attention to creativity and innovation than at any other time in my career. But I believe most people aren't anywhere near to realizing their creative potential, in part because they're laboring in environments that impede intrinsic motivation. The anecdotal evidence suggests many companies still have a long way to go to remove the barriers to creativity.

2. Money Is a Creativity Motivator
The experimental research that has been done on creativity suggests that money isn't everything. In the diary study, we asked people, "To what extent were you motivated by rewards today?" Quite often they'd say that the question isn't relevant -- that they don't think about pay on a day-to-day basis. And the handful of people who were spending a lot of time wondering about their bonuses were doing very little creative thinking.

Bonuses and pay-for-performance plans can even be problematic when people believe that every move they make is going to affect their compensation. In those situations, people tend to get risk averse. Of course, people need to feel that they're being compensated fairly. But our research shows that people put far more value on a work environment where creativity is supported, valued, and recognized. People want the opportunity to deeply engage in their work and make real progress. So it's critical for leaders to match people to projects not only on the basis of their experience but also in terms of where their interests lie. People are most creative when they care about their work and they're stretching their skills. If the challenge is far beyond their skill level, they tend to get frustrated; if it's far below their skill level, they tend to get bored. Leaders need to strike the right balance.

Understanding the Power, Responsibility, Leadership and Learning Links:
Power
But what is power?
"If we are to understand organizations we must understand the nature of power and influence for they are the means by which the people of the organization are linked to its purpose"(1).
And "The study of influence and power has proved to be for social scientists 'a bottomless swamp"(2).
"Power is 'the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out their own will despite resistance ..."(3).
"A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do."(4).
How often do we find quotes such as:
"He seems to be in love with power. Not just political power for the sake of getting things done or for promoting private interests, but power as status."(5).
"....they will say anything and do almost anything to hang on to power."(6)
"Power is a powerful narcotic -- animating, life-sustaining, addictive. The people who have it generally worked hard to obtain it and are not overkeen to let it go. This addiction poses a completely different set of power-related problems for the individual and the organization." ... "For leaders, the relinquishing of power is especially difficult."(7)
The issues associated with giving up power are discussed in more detail later.
These definitions and comments on power are typical of the management literature and they reinforce prevailing concept of power as illegitimate behaviour designed to benefit self-interest rather than organizational goals.
Occasionally it is recognised that: "The responsible use of power is a concern to all sectors of society. Somehow we need to marry the understanding and use of power with an appreciation of its consequences on those on the receiving end of it .... to find new ways to understand and act on the power structures of which we are all an inevitable part."(8)
It is not surprising that power has been, and still is, a highly negative force in many organisations. Employees feel intimidated because they have little recourse to what they consider to be essentially arbitrary and potentially painful decisions.
Whether power takes a constructive, or destructive, course depends primarily on whether it occurs in a cooperative or competitive situation. When people feel united in a common effort and that they are in this together, they build up each other's power and use it to help them achieve their common goals. When they feel competitive, they try to undermine each other's confidence and power. Unfortunately, it is often assumed that power inevitably involves a win-lose struggle. It should not be surprising to find that severe alienation can easily lead to the generation of conditions for radical or revolutionary, ways redistributing power, in an attempt to minimise what is considered to be its abuse.
This analysis can lead us to the initial conclusion that power has traditionally been pre-occupied with the ability to make things happen, which is essentially self focused, or ego driven; it is usually has a short term focus and it will almost inevitably be abused, corrupt, corrupting, or corrupted. On the other hand power that is concerned with accepting a wider sense of responsibility (ie: it is essentially others focused) is more likely to have a longer term focus and to incorporate a broader consideration of stakeholder interests in any decision making process. In the end power is about the ability to make choices, and that requires a stakeholder analysis of the potential impact of decisions on all those involved.
Responsibility
A responsibility approach has as its starting point: 'in whose interests are the changes being made.' How often is power defined as "the opportunity to exercise responsibility"? The effective exercise of power requires an answer to the question:What is in the long term interests of the organisation for whom I am acting? (Or society, if broader issues are involved?) As opposed to just: "What is in my own short term interest?"
How rare it is to find:
"The price of greatness is responsibility". (9)
As a result to be effective, particularly over the longer term, leadership needs to be more concerned with issues associated with responsibility, rather than power, and this link will be discussed later in this paper. However, before that point is reached it is useful to consider some of the issues associated with the concept of responsibility.
But there are those who argue: "The flight from personal responsibility is probably the central moral phenomenon of the late-20th century."(10)
However, a considerable amount of management literature has a strong responsibility focus:
"Corporate responsibility continues to mean many things to us. It is the fair and equitable treatment of all our stakeholders including associates, shareholders, customers and suppliers. It is our sense of concern for all the well-being of the public at large and for our environment. And it is the time and money that we contribute toward strengthening the communities where we do business." (11)
And the link between power and responsibility is reflected in:
"The boards of public corporations have less power than many external commentators attribute to them, but more than most board members themselves realize. They have, therefore, a special responsibility to understand the real impact of their decisions on those most affected by them, particularly as they will nearly always involve people. In reality, boards only have two effective levers of power available to them. They are: first, about people (ie: their recruitment, training, promotion, motivation and dismissal) and second, about the allocation of corporate resources (ie capital or revenue)." (12)
A relatively rare example of a mission, or values, statement that is specifically responsibility driven is that of Johnson & Johnson (13):
• We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services
• We are responsible to our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world. Everyone must be considered as an individual
• We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work, and to the world community as well...
• Our final responsibility is to our stockholders
The link between rights and responsibilities are emphasised by some writers for example:
"When we speak of human rights, we should also speak of human responsibilities ... It is no use clamouring for human rights if we are not prepared to accept our human duties."(14)
These arguments can be extended to cover the key area on how we learn about responsibility.
"Chinese contract: In my culture a good agreement is self-enforcing because both parties go away smiling and are happy to see that each of us is smiling. If one smiles and the other scowls, the agreement will not stick, lawyers or no lawyers." And ... "we must accept our responsibilities to our fellows and earn the confidence which will allow the freedoms. That is the kind of thing one learns from parents as much as from teachers, but, then, the messages implicit in subsidiarity are a good guide to parenthood. Give a child as much responsibility as she or he can handle and then help them to live up to it. (15)
Companies cannot expect to operate a responsibility driven policy unless top management pursues, sets an example, and is seen to set an example, (reflecting two key elements of leadership: good practice and the ability to effectively communicate that good practice ) that is responsibility driven: "Companies are part of society and have to behave responsibly. They have to take account of the views and contributions of their employees and customers."(16)
There are, however, those who argue that a market economy is essentially a power (and self) driven vehicle. In this context, it is important to remember that Adam Smith, its initial exponent, was a Professor of moral philosophy not of economics, and he built his theories on the basis of a moral community. Before he wrote A Theory of the Wealth of Nations he had written his definitive work - A Theory of Moral Sentiments - arguing that a stable society was based on 'sympathy', a moral duty to have regard for your fellow human beings. The market was, and is, a mechanism for sorting the efficient from the inefficient, it was not a substitute for responsibility.
The key point about a market economy is not that the market economy and the profit motive is of itself a 'good' or 'bad' thing; it can be, and is, a very valuable resource allocation technique (essentially one that is decentralised on the grounds that minimises the opportunities for the abuse of power) but, in the long term, the success of any system that operates these techniques will be critically dependent on both how these profits are made, and what they are used for. If a long term view is taken, it implies the full and effective consideration of, and some responsibility for, the interests of all the stakeholders. Any short term pursuit of the interests of one stakeholders interests, at the expense of the others, is likely to result in instability over the longer term.
Despite the strength of the arguments there are still skeptics who argue that corporate management should be responsible to shareholders alone(17). Those who put forward this argument miss the critical point. It is entirely reasonable to argue that the ultimate responsibility of management is to the shareholders at the same time as argue that a responsible attitude to relationships with all the stakeholders is in the long term interests of the shareholders. In parallel with that conclusion it needs to be emphasised that structural changes of themselves, such as the existence of supervisory boards, will make little difference to the performance of the organisation if they are simply another vehicle within which to conduct underlying power struggles.
However, in major Royal Society of Arts report on Tomorrow's Company (18), one leading industrialist maintained: "Increasingly, business people are recognising that their prosperity is directly linked to the prosperity of the whole community. The community is the source of their customers, employees, their suppliers and, with the wider spread of share ownership, their investors." George Bull, Group Chief Executive of Grand Metropolitan. The report itself emphasised the importance of a stakeholder approach. The central idea of the 'inclusive' company which values all its stakeholders. The report concluded: "There is clear evidence that companies which put shareholders first do less well for them in the long run than those that recognise the claims of all their stakeholders." In fact it can be argued that: "A failure to give due weight to important stakeholder relationships could thus constitute a failure by the directors to discharge their duty properly."(19)
Many of these issues concerning responsibility are not new to the management literature: "A society driven by responsibilities is oriented toward service, acknowledging other points of view, compromise, and progress -- whereas a society driven by rights is orientated toward acquisition, confrontation, and advocacy.
Also: "Their religion (in Victorian Britain) emphasised the responsibilities associated with wealth and success. Many of these responsibilities were personal: prudence, thrift, enterprise and abstinence." Or in the context of managing the Corporate Responsibility Function: "Part of the contract between the manager, the corporation and the community is an acceptance that neither office nor position give immunity from responsibility ... The global nature of the business environment means that these responsibilities exist in those regions where businesses operate or seek to operate. This is a global responsibility which lies at the heart of the business contract. The economic function of business and its wider responsibilities are integral features of this contract."(20).
This position is reinforced by: "I believe the time has come for us to recognise that the only sustainable form of good management is that which takes into account the full range of responsibilities that underpin organisational success. These responsibilities can be broadly divided into four categories:
• personal responsibility
• responsibility to co-workers
• responsibility to financial stakeholders
• community responsibility"
Personal responsibility begins with self understanding, which is necessary if we are really to manage our weaknesses and develop our strengths. We all need to recognise and accept our obligations which go with our organisational roles, and learn to resist any temptation to abuse our positions of trust or power"(21). This quotation could also add a responsibility to customers and suppliers and hence provide the basis of the stakeholder analysis mentioned earlier.
Yet, as Firestone CEO John Nevin put it: 'If you want to drive a person crazy, the easiest way to do it is to give them a deep sense of responsibility and no authority.' (22)
The conclusion at this stage is that the most effective concept of power over the longer term is that which is responsibility driven, and the connection between the two can be made by ensuring that a thorough stakeholder analysis is undertaken within the decision-making process. The next step is to integrate these arguments on power and responsibility into: "What do we mean by leadership?"
Leadership
Some power driven individuals (and organisations) can, perhaps, be defined as successful in the short term, but experience suggests to be the case that power driven individuals 'contain the seeds of their own destruction' (and this is usually includes any organisations they are associated with) -- based on an apparently infinite need to prove themselves (or feed their ego?). Robert Maxwell being a classic example of this approach. Both leadership and power are best seen as a form of trusteeship -- and unless those who have power use it responsibly (and are seen to use it responsibly) they will find that it is taken away from them in one way or another, sooner or later. Unfortunately: "The capacity to be ruthless, driving and immoral, if also combined with intelligence and imagination can be a winning combination in politics as well as commerce ... Sociopathic and paranoid personality traits that are most dangerous in people in power are precisely those characteristics most suitable for the attainment of power in a competitive culture such as ours"(23). That comment provides a firm warning that the path outlined is far from easy.
Many of the traditional leadership views of power are revealed in: "The concept of power is a preoccupation for many leaders. For some it is a drug and of others it is a source of fascination. In earlier chapters I examined the sources of a leader's power and so it may seem strange that the central focus of this chapter is 'giving it away'. However, the concept of giving away one's power is both a demand made on us if we are leaders in the work situation and a choice that is a open to us. We invent most of the constraints ... So it is with leadership. The leader who clings to power, who is afraid to give it to others, will in fact cease to be a leader. In business, this person will increasingly become ineffective and in the end will be ousted, while in politics it is the leader's relationship to power that makes the difference between a legitimate leader and a tyrant."(24)
In essence the servant-leadership approach defines leadership as: "The use of gifts and talents on behalf of all of us in a way that models what we can be and empowers us to try." It is an echo of Robert Greenleaf's statement: "Do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants."(25)
And the link with power is made in: "Those leaders who are able to combine action with reflection, who have sufficient self-knowledge to recognize the vicissitudes of power, and who will not be tempted away when the psychological sirens that accompany power are beckoning will in the end be the most powerful. They will be the ones who are remembered with respect and affection. They will also be the ones truly able to manage the ambiguities of power and lead a creative and productive life."(26)
From these views it is not difficult to see the link with Learning Organisation concepts: "Effective organizations hold leaders accountable for the development of all subordinates." With: "Empowerment is defined as the process of enabling and motivating subordinates by increasing their personal efficacy ... Thus it becomes the leader's responsibility to help each other subordinate reach his or her full potential."(27)
However, it is valuable to recognise that: "The ultimate judgment of leaders is often not about how they acquire and use power, but they relinquish it."(28) Which is one reason we find: "We are all aware of Enoch Powell's dismal view, at the end of his biography of Joseph Chamberlain, that all political lives end in failure"(29). Ultimately this issue reflects how politicians have interpreted their view of power.
Occasionally the pressures for basic survival can result in there being no alternative but to take the risk of apparently pursuing the interests of one stakeholder at the expense of others in the short term. For example: "Mr Lou Gerstner, IBM's new chairman, is undoubtedly right to be wielding his hatchet. But this is not a sustainable way to run a company over time. Academic research has shown consistently that, while fear may motivate in the short term, prolonged uncertainty creates a fall in employee morale and productivity which is hard to halt, let alone reverse. Many of the best employees leave, while the rest are inclined to put their heads down and cease to give their all."(30)
Unfortunately some still believe that: "The highest form of political leadership is persuading people that you are really going to change something."(31) The alternative approach, argued here, is to view the highest form of political leadership as: 'The ability to pursue policies that are genuinely in the long term interests of all their constituents.' Not all change is progress and until this critical point is recognised and combined with the use of effective criteria to measure what is meant by progress, there will be little cause for optimism in our fragile world.
In the end leadership is concerned with the effective and efficient management of all the stakeholder interests and interfaces in the long term interests of the organisation as a whole. Or it can be defined as the ability to act effectively and responsibly in the interests of those who are being lead. Essentially this reflects the Servant/Trusteeship approach.
Learning
Within this context it is necessary to recognise the importance of learning and to emphasise the increasing role of the 'Learning Organisation' approach: "Learning is the new form of labour. It is no longer a separate activity that occurs either before one enters the workplace or in remote classroom settings ... learning is the heart of productive activity."(32) The more change that is going on, the greater the need to get learning attitudes and structures right. And, if the rate of change is greater than the rate of effective learning there is little chance of progress. With the amount of change going on in the world today, getting the learning process right is a critical challenge for us all, individually and organisationally.
It is now widely recognised that continuous improvement means recognising the need for new ideas, identifying those that are relevant to the future organisation, taking them on board and implementing them effectively. In order to do this an organisation must be able to learn. The great advantage of humility is that it is the most effective foundation for learning and complacency is the most powerful barrier to learning. ("If you asked me what was the biggest problem in modern thinking, I would say, complacency ..."(33)) One, perhaps paradoxical, challenge for today's wise leader is how to avoid being complacent about one's humility.
Organisational knowledge being defined as: "The capability of a company as a whole to create new knowledge, disseminate it throughout the organization, and embody it in products, services, and systems."(34)
This emphasises the importance of the view that: "The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization."(35)
This view reinforces: "In the long term, the only sustainable competitive advantage over the long term is the ability to learn faster and more effectively than your competitors -- and that applies to both organisations and nations, as well as individuals."(36)
The Learning Company goes beyond the idea of excellence to make learning the central process. Peters and Waterman(37), among others, were very concerned with adaptability, responsibility and learning: "The excellent companies are learning organizations" ... experimenting and learning from mistakes are at the heart of the Peters &Waterman vision; but, the structures and strategies of a learning organisation were not articulated until later.(38)
It therefore follows that: "If managers see their responsibility in terms of the improvement of subordinates' work, if they are capable of managing this key role, and if they achieve it, many of the elements of the learning organization will be achieved. This view supports that of Mumford: "The learning organization depends absolutely on the skills, approaches and commitment of individuals, to their own learning."(39)
If there is a responsibility and learning focus there is a natural sympathy for processes such as upward appraisal; in contrast a power culture which usually applies the traditional appraisal systems bureaucratically in the context of attempting to exert more control.
The link between power and learning is well summarised by: "The distribution of power and the way in which it is used provide very important boundaries around the group learning process from which new strategic directions emerge. The application of power in particular forms has fairly predictable consequences for group dynamics. Where power is applied as force and consented to out of fear, the group dynamic will be one of submission, or where such power is not consented to, the group dynamic will be one of rebellion, either covert or overt. Power may be applied as authority and the predictable group dynamic here is one in which members of the group suspend their critical faculties and accept instructions from those above them. Groups in states of submission, rebellion or conformity are incapable of complex learning; that is, the development of new perspectives and new mental models."(40)
The importance of early learning cannot be over-emphasised: "We have given children no framework within which to learn civic virtue and responsibility. We must devise ways by which service to the community becomes part of every child's experience of the growth to adulthood. Morality is taught by being lived. It is learned by doing."(41)
A power driven approach tends to be pre-occupied with the short term, while a responsibility approach is more concerned with long term issues. As a result a responsibility driven approach is likely to produce a more effective balance of the respective interests of all the various stakeholders so essential for the long-term success of any organisation. Responsibilities should not be seen as a burden; they are the umbilical cord that gives life meaning and purpose. It also helps to provide a climate where innovation is encouraged and failure is an opportunity for learning, rather than an excuse for punishment. In fact responsibilities will only be rewarding and positive if they are supported by an overall learning approach to all aspects of life and work. Unfortunately, taking responsibility, being able to live with it, and knowing how to use and develop it in others, is much rarer than it ought to be.
Power cultures may well stem directly from the encouragement of competition, externally with competitors, and internally with colleagues; with information seen as power and people in these organisations tending to focus on building up themselves as unique marketable resources by keeping information to themselves, rather than sharing it through building a team approach that is committed to serving their internal and external customers.
"Power in organizations is based on what and who people know. Access to information is vital to those responsible for managing business operations. Electronic systems make it possible to distribute that information widely, cheaply and quickly"(42). This reflects a theme taken form Francis Bacon a few centuries ago that: "Knowledge itself is Power". Hence what is done with knowledge, whether it is kept or spread, can be a valuable indicator of whether the organisation or individual is power or responsibility driven. "An individual without information cannot take responsibility; an individual who is given information cannot help but take responsibility."(43). Both new technology, and more effective management approaches, will require attitudes to power and responsibility to change radically in future.
The conclusion here is that the ability to change is directly related to its ability to learn, and the ability to learn, both individually or organisationally, is directly related to the ability to operate a responsibility driven culture. The final link with knowledge management is simply that an effective learning culture assumes effective knowledge management as the vehicle for ensuring that the right things are being learned in the first place.
A responsible approach to learning, combined with learning to manage responsibility, are essential prerequisites for any effective learning organisation or learning environment. A learning environment is about passing on what you know; it is about empowering others, rather than being possessive about knowledge on the grounds that 'knowledge is power'. A Learning Organisation approach cannot be expected to work without a genuine concern for others. Hence neither effective 'Learning Organisations' or "Knowledge Management' can be expected to operate effectively within a power driven culture. Similar points can be made about effort to introduce many other management techniques.
Finally if we want to improve the quality of life in the 21st century, one thing that we have to do NOW.... TODAY, is improve the quality of our learning, together with emphasising its importance.
How we Learn? Why we Learn? What we Learn? and then What do we do with that Learning? The final point should not be too much of a problem if the first three are right. Also the whole question of 'What we Learn?' is critically dependent on effective Knowledge Management. This conclusion, and the inter-relationship of the issues discussed, should also be a particular focus for policy issues related to the learning development of the next generation. If we wish to make real progress in this critical area, it is essential that we move away from the traditional pre-occupation with power; towards an approach to decision-making and change that is much more responsibility driven. Such changes should be of enormous benefit organisations, individuals and society as a whole. In fact, unless the relationship between Power, Responsibility, Leadership, Learning and Knowledge Management, is understood and effectively managed, it will be very unlikely that we will be able to see any meaningful relationship between change and progress.



Leadership Development - Leadership Styles and Training
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Leadership Development - Leadership Styles and Training
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What makes a good leader?
leadership development
leadership training
leadership style
leadership theory
leadership skills
leadership quality
leadership management
development training
management training
leadership courses


leadership development
Ever since we started Impact Factory, lo these many years ago, we have struggled with the whole notion of leadership development or leadership training. Indeed, we have resisted writing about it in much detail because the subject is so subjective.

Are leaders born or made? Can you use management leadership training to give leadership skills to someone who isn't leadership material? How is it done?

Given that we're being asked to create a lot more leadership programmes of late, we decided we'd take a hard look at just what makes a good leader.

Even of you don't think of yourself as a leader, you will have areas in your life where other people look to you for leadership. So here are some essentials qualities and skills you need to be a good leader in whatever leadership arena you're in.


leadership training
Training is a misnomer when applied to leadership. Any leadership development programme has to include at least a passing reference to the following

Introduction to the concept of leadership behaviours
Discussion and debate about leadership
A widening of the definition beyond traditional leadership stereotypes
Personal understanding of individual leadership qualities and strengths
The difference between leadership and management
A look at how people perceive, their perception is their reality
Assumptions and their effect on how people see the world
What are your terms of reference and seeing the bigger picture
Personal patterns and beliefs
A look at the elements that have influenced and shaped the participants
Establishing ownership of individual's leadership behaviours

A programme needs to be designed around the development of the individuals involved rather than towards competencies identified as required by the organisation.

leadership style
What does a leader look like?

No cookie cutter models here. Everyone can develop their capacity to lead, from church committees to local pressure groups to business teams to political parties. When someone is committed to, and practises using their leadership capabilities at all levels in their life, then they can and will develop their own potential as a leader.

There is a tendency, in our Western culture, to see Leadership as synonymous with white, middle class, male, in charge. There's a kind of unspoken template of what leadership is supposed to look like. Now we know that isn't true. Leadership can and does come in many different shapes and forms.

Good leaders don't conform to a template. Indeed, leaders are people who don't usually follow the party line. They have an edge to them, they get up people's noses sometimes, they make decisions - lots of them - that often others don't like. They say the things that need saying in a way that others understand.

Don't let the picture get in the way

However, it is important to acknowledge that people developing their leadership skills are often hampered by their picture (or other people's picture) of what a leader is supposed to 'look' like.

This is when it's important to understand that the role of leader is not only completely individual (remember, they don’t fit a mould!) but also has to be worked at with belief and will and determination by the person occupying it.

It's different for everyone

Not only that, leaders will be experienced differently by the individual people they lead. One getting encouragement, another understanding. That, of course, will be due to the leader's ability to see what each person needs (more on this later).

In addition, not every leader is going to be a great leader in the sense that the world around them acknowledges their leader status. Many leaders get no 'public' recognition, only their personal satisfaction of a job well done.


leadership theory
Seeing the Big Picture Vision

When the 'vision' word is used it usually means that someone has an idea of what the future could look like and a plan to get there. No point painting rosy, pie in the sky pictures ('we'll double our turnover in a year; we'll create international markets; we'll be number one in the UK', etc.) if pie in the sky is all they are.

More like, 'we could double our turnover in a year, this is how we could get there, this is what I expect from everyone in the organisation to help us get there and any new ideas are welcome'.

The ability to see

There is one essential quality for anyone in any position of leadership: the ability to see what is going on. Seeing is clarity. Seeing in the 'wood for the trees' kind of way.

We've heard the following phrase from a number of people throughout the years and it's a good one - get your attention off yourself and on to whatever is going on.

What you'll see

Here's what you'll be able to see if you do that: you'll be able to see things from other people's points of view; you'll be able to understand what's going on for them. You'll be able to see what other people are capable of and how to help them achieve it. Most importantly, you'll be able to see the whole picture not just your little bit of it.


leadership skills
What makes you tick?

Know thyself. To be able to see you need a clear understanding of what has made you the way you are and what has shaped and influenced your life. The clearer you are about what motivates and affects your behaviour, the clearer you will be able to see what is going on with other people.

You didn't spring fully formed from Zeus's head - many things have affected you over the years. A good leader is proud to acknowledge role models, people, places, things, etc, which have inspired them.

You can't do it alone

Any good leader worth their salt should be able to name 100 people, places, things, right off the bat. Why? Because they know themselves well enough to acknowledge who has supported and inspired them along the way, and what support they still need to get things done.

leadership quality
Qualities

Think about what qualities your role models have that are attractive to you, that make them inspiring. Now, putting aside modesty, false or otherwise, think about what qualities they have that you also have. You have to know who you are and accept that you have outstanding qualities - leaders are able to do that.

Beliefs, rules and patterns

How well do you understand the rules, beliefs and patterns you have created in your life so far? Everyone's got 'em.

They can be the simple kind of rule - you should brush your teeth twice a day. They can be the more complex kind - you should treat everyone the way you expect to be treated. Beliefs can be things like - I believe everyone should be fair. And patterns can be as simple as going to and from work the same way every day.

When identifying your rules, patterns and beliefs see if you can avoid putting a value judgement on whether they are good or bad; this is far more about seeing just how well you understand your own behaviour.


leadership management
Moving things forward Innovative thinking

Leadership requires innovative thinking; it requires people making positive and inspiring impacts; and it requires them to be able to motivate others. What is needed is an ability to think and act 'out of the box'; out of the accepted or 'right' ways of doing things.

The culture of tomorrow will be one where change and innovation are the order of the day. Out of the box thinking and identifying future needs go hand in hand.

There's no such thing as 'can't do'

'Can’t do' is an alien concept to a real leader. Leaders get things done. They have commitment, persistence, determination and resilience. Couple all of that with creative problem-solving and you have a person things happen around.

What we mean, is that no matter what their personality, there will be a kind of buzz around them; things change when they're around; indeed, things might even get shaken up when they're around. It isn’t always comfortable being around leaders.

You can't stay stuck

Along with a 'can do' attitude, is an ability to move things forward. When others get bogged down, good leaders know how to motivate and inspire the people around them. They are willing to take risks and stand up for what they believe. They want to get things done and bring people along with them.


development training

Can training develop leadership skills?

In our view, you cannot 'send' someone on a leadership programme who doesn't want to be there and expect them to become a leader. It's not like the reluctant presenter who gets sent along to a course and finds out that it's not so bad after all. If your prospective leader isn't fully engaged in the process, sending them along to be 'taught' leadership skills will be a waste of time and money.

If you fall into that category, then no amount of leadership training is going to develop your skills.

However, if you have to step into a new leadership role, or there are greater expectations of how you manage people, or you've become a project leader, and you have a willingness to develop and take on new skills, then it's really possible to give yourself a leadership boost. Everyone can develop their capacity to lead, from church committees to local pressure groups to business teams to political parties. When you are committed to, and practise using your leadership capabilities at all levels in your life, then you can and will develop your own potential as a leader.


management training

We believe there is a real difference between management and leadership. You don't need to be a leader to be able to manage other people. However, to be an outstanding manager, you do have to have some of those essential skills and qualities that are necessary in developing as a leader.

Even if you are a manager with no major aspirations of leadership, there will be people who will turn to you for leadership, whether you like it or not. Therefore, when looking for training to develop your skills, it might be a very good idea to look at leadership courses as well as management courses.



leadership courses

There are scores of courses available calling themselves Leadership Training, Leadership Development, Leadership Skills, etc. We cannot judge just how good they are, but if you think about everything you've read so far and feel in synch with our sentiments, then that's what you need to look for: courses that incorporate a clear approach to developing leadership skills.

Earlier in this document we outlined some of the things to look for in a Leadership Training Programme. Add to that list a few more essentials:

How to initiate leadership behaviours
Understanding how commitment works
Leading by example
Influencing skills
Empowering and motivating others
Thinking on your feet
Handling yours and others' stress

In our view, really good leadership courses need to incorporate all of these elements to be truly effective. Equally important, a programme needs to be relevant to your specific leadership needs and not something off the peg.

This is why Impact Factory only delivers tailored leadership training; so that each and every course fits the organisation to a 'T'.


In conclusion:

Expect the unusual, the quirky, the non-conformist, the doer, the inspirer and you've got yourself a leader. To become one or to develop your leadership skills you have to be fully engaged in the process of development and just like everyone else, you have to practise, practise, practise.


Key Learning Points:

The power of aligning personal motivation and business objectives
The capacity of strong well expressed beliefs to motivate others
Communication is far more than just words
Leadership is not just about getting people to do what you ask
It is far more about seeing what is needed and carrying people forward with your vision
Being able to create the impact you want
Expanding your spheres of influence
Being able to talk to people in terms they understand
Using appropriate language
The relevance, development and use of personal style
Putting across concepts and ideas with ease and flair
The value of creative risk-taking and "out of the box" thinking
Making sure projects move forward without having to do all the work yourself.
Find the next available Open Leadership Development Course

Leadership Development - Leadership Styles and Training



UNDERSTANDING CREATIVITY
Thinking creatively helps you find ways to deal with challenges and form opportunities. Understand how creativity can help you become more successful in all areas of your life.

What is Creativity?
Creativity is the process of challenging accepted ideas and ways of doing things in order to find new solutions or concepts. Be aware of the obstacles that stand in the way of the creative impulse and understand the benefits that creative thinking can bring you.

1. Recognize that everyone has the ability to be Creative.
2. Change your current patterns of thinking.
3. Remember that change begins with questioning.
4. Understand logical and creative thinking are critical to each other.
5. Use your past experiences to find solutions.
6. Think creatively to increase your opportunities.
7. Explore possible options before making decisions.
8. Think of possible solutions to a problem and then evaluate them using logical thinking.
9. Use your imagination to find different solutions.
10. Understand how conditioning forces you to think in a prescribed way and limits your potential.
11. Aim to look at information in more productive, insightful ways.
12. Recognize that creativity is driven by the desire to improve processes.
13. Bypass your assumptions and think creatively.
14. Believe that you can think of solutions.
15. Try not to be constrained by rules.
16. Accept that problems are the food of creativity.
17. Understand your thinking processes so that you are able to adapt them.
18. Identify the side of the brain that you are naturally influenced by.
19. Notice how you approach problems, and think about whether you are naturally creative.
20. Recognize the advantages and pitfalls of different thinking patterns.
21. Structure your time so that it is more productive.
22. Generate lots of ideas before making decision.
23. Remember that there are many ways of looking at things.
24. Be ready to question the accepted.
25. View problems as an impetus to change.
26. Ask questions, even if they seem ridiculous.
27. Think about the change you would like to make and how you could initiate it.
28. Recognize that developing creativity takes time and practice.
29. Remove your self – imposed mental roadblocks by carrying out creative exercises.
30. Use coaching to help you change your current thinking pattern.
31. Ask a colleague you admire for advice on how to improve your creative skills.
32. Set a fixed amount of time for a coaching session.
33. Form clear goals to work towards during a coaching session.
34. Recognize that coaching is an effective means of changing your current patterns of behavior.
35. Pinpoint what you want, so that you can set about achieving it.
36. Think in terms of the results you want to achieve.
37. Focus on questions rather than predicting answers.
38. Learn to cross the natural barriers in your mind.
39. Ask yourself why you perceive an issue as a problem
40. Remember that problems are opportunities for change.
41. Questions and challenge ideas, rather than just accepting them.
42. Let your subconscious mind find solutions.
43. Invest time in learning to do things differently, so that you can identify new opportunities.
44. Tackle open – ended problems with creative thinking.
45. Consider whether a problem requires creative thinking or whether a solution is clear – cut.
46. Identify your desired outcomes, so that you can work towards achieving it.
47. Use creative tools to help you think in more productive ways.
48. Learn how to select the right tool to achieve the best results.
49. Believe there is a better way to do things and then find out what it is.
50. Write down your ideas and start to evaluate them.
51. Think about what you would like in an ideal world.
52. Be clear about your goals and ideas when you explain them to others.
53. Recognize that ideas that are left unimplemented have no value.
54. Write out your action plan, so that you can begin to put your ideas into practice.
55. Make sure that all your team members are clear about the goals of the project.
56. See how action plan help you work with others.
57. Manage creative people by being open – minded and flexible.
58. Evaluate creative ideas before your judge them.
59. Avoid rejecting ideas without considering them.
60. Always involve positive people in your decisions, as they often produce the best ideas.
61. Remember that collective thinking can reap many successful ideas.
62. Acknowledge that everyone has something to offer.
63. Learn how to use the necessary creative tools.
64. Aim to develop a team’s creative potential.
65. Notice how a team environment gives people confidence.
66. Share ideas so that you can fine tune them.
67. Remember that open debate produces consensus.
68. Make sure the composition of the team is appropriate for the problem.
69. Ensure the team understands the aim of the creative meeting.
70. Make sure that you prepare your meeting well.
71. Listen carefully, and make notes you can refer to.
72. Just call ideas out, rather than thinking about them first.
73. Suspend judgment, encourage the generation of ideas, and let other people’s thoughts inspire you.
74. Remember that data only becomes information after it is categorized.
75. Pinpoint the ideas that are obviously instant winners.
76. Choose to implement initially.
77. Choose categories that will help you manage the data.
78. Judge ideas on achievability and their value, and rate them on a scale of one to ten.
79. Try changing the way that you look at a problem.
80. Empower people to generate solutions.
81. Set a good example to your team by being proactive.
82. use questions that challenge acceptable thoughts.
83. Use closed questions to access information.
84. Be polite when you ask people questions.
85. Use closed questions to start a discussion, and then develop it by asking open questions.
86. Be sensitive when asking questions – avoid making people feel as if they are being interrogated.
87. Challenge ideas in order to fully understand what they represent.
88. Decide whether you are a dreamer, a realist, or a critic.
89. Notice what roles people in your team tend to play.
90. Make sure that everyone has the chance to speak.
91. Keep reviewing and questioning to stay ahead of the game.
92. Analyze your procedures to see how they can be improved.
93. Inspire people to accept any changes that you oppose.
94. Recognize that poor presentation skills kill ideas.
95. Ask your team to offer ideas on how processes can be improved.
96. Review the implications of your decisions.
97. Consider your ideas from every possible angle.
98. Be convincing when you present your ideas.
99. Remember that a team is only as strong as its leader.
100. Use feedback to help you improve your skills.
101. Avoid taking criticisms personally.

CHARACTER BUILDING THOUGHT POWER
By Ralph Waldo Trine
UNCONSCIOUSLY we are forming habits every moment of our lives. Some are habits of a desirable nature; some are those of a most undesirable nature. Some, though not so bad in themselves, are exceedingly bad in their cumulative effects, and cause us at times much loss, much pain and anguish, while their opposites would, on the contrary, bring as much peace and joy, as well as a continually increasing power. Have we it within our power to determine at all times what types of habits shall take form in our Iives? In other words, is habit-forming, character-building, a matter of mere chance, or have we it within our own control? We have, entirely and absolutely. "I will be what I will to be," can be said and should be said by every human soul.
After this has been bravely and determinedly said, and not only said, but fully inwardly realized, something yet remains. Something remains to be said regarding the great law underlying habit-forming, character-building; for there is a simple, natural, and thoroughly scientific method that all should know. A method whereby old, undesirable, earth-binding habits can be broken, and new, desirable, heaven lifting habits can be acquired, a method whereby life in part or in its totality can be changed, provided one is sufficiently in earnest to know and, knowing it, to apply the law.
Thought is the force underlying all. And what do we mean by this? Simply this: Your every act - every conscious act - is preceded by a thought. Your dominating thoughts determine your dominating actions. The acts repeated our own hands to determine exactly what thoughts we entertain. In the realm of our own minds we have absolute control, or we should have, and if at any time we have not, then there is a method by which we can gain control, and in the realm of the mind become thorough masters. In order to get to the very foundation of the matter, let us look to this for a moment. For if thought is always parent to our acts, habits, character, life, then it is first necessary that we know fully how to control our thoughts.
Here let us refer to that law of the mind which is the same as is the law in Connection with the reflex nerve system of the body, the law which says that whenever one does a certain thing in a certain way it is easier to do the same thing in the same way the next time, and still easier the next, and the next, and the next, until in time it comes to pass that no effort is required, or no effort worth speaking of; but on the opposite would require the effort. The mind carries with it the power that perpetuates its own type of thought, the same as the body carries with it through the reflex nerve system the power which perpetuates and makes continually easier its own particular acts. Thus a simple effort to control one's thoughts, a simple setting about it, even if at first failure is the result, and even if for a time failure seems to be about the only result, will in time, sooner or later, bring him to the point of easy, full, and complete control. Each one, then, can grow the power of determining, controlling his thought, the power of determining what types of thought he shall and what types he shall not entertain. For let us never part in mind with this fact, that every earnest effort along any line makes the end aimed at just a little easier for each succeeding effort, even if, as has been said, apparent failure is the result of the earlier efforts. This is a case where even failure is success, for the failure is not in the effort, and every earnest effort adds an increment of power that will eventually accomplish the end aimed at. We can, then, gain the full and complete power of determining what character, what type of thoughts we entertain.
Shall we now give attention to some two or three concrete cases? Here is a man, the cashier of a large mercantile establishment, or cashier of a bank. In his morning paper he reads of a man who has become suddenly rich, has made a fortune of half a million or a million dollars in a few hours through speculation on the stock market. Perhaps he has seen an account of another mad who has done practically the same thing lately. He is not quite wise enough, however, to comprehend the fact that when he reads of one or two cases of this kind he could find, were he to look into the matter carefully, one or two hundred cases of men who have lost all they had in the same way. He thinks, however, that he will be one of the fortunate ones. He does not fully realize that there are no short cuts to wealth honestly made. He takes a part of his savings, and as is true in practically all cases of this kind, he loses all that he has put in, Thinking now that he sees why he lost, and that had he more money he would be able to get back what he has lost, and perhaps make a handsome sum in addition, and make it quickly, the thought comes to him to use some of the funds he has charge of. In nine cases out of ten, if not ten cases in every ten, the results that inevitably follow this are known sufficiently well to make it unnecessary to follow him farther. Where is the man's safety in the light of what we have been considering? Simply this: the moment the thought of using for his own purpose funds belonging to others enters his mind, if he is wise he will instantly put the thought from his mind. If he is a foot he will entertain it. In the degree in which he entertains it, it will grow upon him; it will become the absorbing thought in his mind; it will finally become master of his will power, and through rapidly succeeding steps, dishonour, shame, degradation, penitentiary, remorse will be his. It is easy for him to put the thought from his mind when it first enters; but as he entertains it, it grows into such proportions that it becomes more and more difficult for him to put it from his mind; and by and by it becomes practically impossible for him to do it. The light of the match, which but a little effort of the breath would have extinguished at first, has imparted a flame that is raging through the entire building, and now it is almost if not quite impossible to conquer it. Shall we notice another concrete case? A trite case, perhaps, but one in which we can see how habit is formed, and also how the same habit can be unformed. Here is a young man, he may be the son of poor parents, or he may be the son of rich parents; one in the ordinary ranks of life, or one of high social standing, whatever that means. He is good hearted, one of good impulses generally speaking, a good fellow. He is out with some companions, companions of the same general type. They are out for a pleasant evening, out for a good time. They are apt at times to be thoughtless, even careless. The suggestion is made by one of the company, not that they get drunk, no, not at all; but merely that they go and have something to drink together. The young man whom we first mentioned, wanting to be genial, scarcely listens to the suggestion that comes into his inner consciousness that it will be better for him not to fall in with the others in this. He does not stop long enough to realise the fact that the greatest strength and nobility of character lies always in taking a firm stand on the aide of the right, and allow himself to be influenced by nothing that will weaken this stand. He goes, therefore, with his companions to the drinking place. With the same or with other companions this is repeated now and then; and each time it is repeated his power of saying "No" is gradually decreasing. In this way he has grown a little liking for intoxicants, and takes them perhaps now and then by himself. He does not dream, or in the slightest degree realize, what way be is tending, until there comes a day when he awakens to the consciousness of the fact that he hasn’t the power nor even the impulse to resist the taste which has gradually grown into a minor form of craving for intoxicants. Thinking, however, that he will be able to stop when he is really in danger of getting into the drink habit, he goes thoughtlessly and carelessly on. We will pass over the various intervening steps and come to the time when we find him a confirmed drunkard. It is simply the same old story told a thousand or even a million times over.
He finally awakens to his true condition; and through the shame, the anguish, the degradation, and the want that comes upon him he longs for a return of the days when he was a free man. But hope has almost gone from his life. It would have been easier for him never to have begun, and easier for him to have stopped before he reached his present condition; but even in his present condition, be it the lowest and the most helpless and hopeless that can be imagined, he has the power to get out of it and be a free man once again. Let us see. The desire for drink comes upon him again. If he entertain the thought, the desire, he is lost again. His only hope, his only means of escape is this: the moment, aye, the very instant the thought comes to him, if he will put it out of his mind he will thereby put out the little flame of the match. If he entertain the thought the little flame will communicate itself until almost before he is aware of it a consuming fire is raging, and then effort is almost useless. The thought must be banished from the mind the instant it enters; dalliance with it means failure and defeat, or a fight that will be indescribably fiercer than it would be if the thought is ejected at the beginning.
And here we must say a word regarding a certain great law that we may call the "law of indirectness." A thought can be put out of the mind easier and more successfully, not by dwelling upon it, not by, attempting to put it out directly, but by throwing the mind on to some other object by putting some other object of thought into the mind. This may be, for example, the ideal of full and perfect self mastery, or it may be something of a nature entirely distinct from the thought which presents itself, something to which the mind goes easily and naturally. This will in time become the absorbing thought in the mind, and the danger is past. This same course of action repeated will gradually grow the power of putting more readily out of mind the thought of drink as it presents itself, and will gradually grow the power of putting into the mind those objects of thought one most desires. The result will be that as time passes the thought of drink will present itself less and less, and when it does present itself it can be put out of the mind more easily each succeeding time, until the time comes when it can be put out without difficulty, and eventually the time will come when the thought will enter the mind no more at all.
Still another case. You may be more or less of an irritable nature-naturally, perhaps, provoked easily to anger. Someone says something or does something that you dislike, and your first impulse is to show resentment and possibly to give way to anger. In the degree that you allow this resentment to display itself, that you allow yourself to give way to anger, in that degree will it become easier to do the same thing when any cause, even a very slight cause, presents itself. It will, moreover, become continually harder for you to refrain from it, until resentment, anger, and possibly even hatred and revenge become characteristics of your nature, robbing it of its sunniness, its charm, and its brightness for all with whom you come in contact. If, however, the instant the impulse to resentment and anger arises, you check it then and there, and throw the mind on to some other object of thought, the power will gradually grow itself of doing this same thing more readily, more easily, as succeeding like causes present themselves, until by and by the time will come when there will be scarcely anything that can irritate you, and nothing that can impel you to anger; until by and by a matchless brightness and charm of nature and disposition will become habitually yours, a brightness and charm you would scarcely think possible today. And so we might take up case after case, characteristic after characteristic, habit after habit. The habit of fault-finding and its opposite are grown in identically the same way; the characteristic of jealousy and its opposite; the characteristic of fear and its opposite. In this same way we grow either love or hatred; in this way we come to take a gloomy, pessimistic view of life, which objectifies itself in a nature, a disposition of this type, or we grow that sunny, hopeful, cheerful, buoyant nature that brings with it so much joy and beauty and power for ourselves, as well as so much hope and inspiration and joy for all the world.
There is nothing more true in connection with human life than that we grow into the likeness of those things we contemplate. Literally and scientifically and necessarily true is it that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The "is" part is his character. His character is the sum total of his habits. His habits have been formed by• his conscious acts; but every conscious act is, as we have found, preceded by a thought. And so we have it - thought on the one hand, character, life, destiny on the other. And simple it becomes when we bear in mind that it is simply the thought of the present moment, and the next moment when it is upon us, and then the next, and so on through all time.
One can in this way attain to whatever ideals he would attain to. Two steps are necessary: first, as the days pass, to form one's ideals; and second, to follow them continually, whatever may arise, wherever they may lead him. Always remember that the great and strong character is the one who is ever. ready to sacrifice the present pleasure for the future good. He who will thus follow his highest ideals as they present themselves to him day after day, year after year, will find that as Dante, following his beloved from world to world, finally found her at the gates of Paradise, so he will find himself eventually at the same gates. Life is not, we may say, for mere passing pleasure, but for the highest unfoldment that one can attain to, the noblest character that one can grow, and for the greatest service that one can render to all mankind. In this, however, we will find the highest pleasure, for in this the only real pleasure lies. He who would find it by any short cuts, or by entering upon any other paths, will inevitably find that his last state is always worse than his first; and if he proceed upon paths other than these he will find that he will never find real and lasting pleasure at all.
The question is not, "What are the conditions in our lives?" but, "How do we meet the conditions that we find there?" And whatever the conditions are, it is unwise and profitless to look upon them, even if they are conditions that we would have otherwise, in the attitude of complaint, for complaint will bring depression, and depression will weaken and possibly even kill the spirit that would engender the power that would enable us to bring into our lives an entirely new set of conditions.
In order to be concrete, even at the risk of being personal, I will say that in my own experience there have come at various times into my life circumstances and conditions that I gladly would have run from at the time—conditions that caused at the time humiliation and shame and anguish of spirit. But invariably, as sufficient time has passed, I have been able to look back and see clearly the part which every experience of the type just mentioned had to play in my life. I have seen the lessons it was essential for me to learn; and the result is that now I would not drop a single one of these experiences from my life, humiliating and hard to bear as they were at the time; no, not for the world. And here is also a lesson I have learned: whatever conditions are in my life today that are not the easiest and most agreeable, and whatever conditions of this type all coming time may bring, I will take them just as they come, without complaint, without depression, and meet them in the wisest possible way; knowing that they are the best possible conditions that could be in my life at the time, or otherwise they would not be there; realizing the fact that, although I may not at the time see why they are in my life, although I may not see just what part they have to play, the time will come, and when it comes I will see it all, and thank God for every condition just as it came.
Each one is so apt to think that his own conditions, his own trials or troubles or sorrows, or his own struggles, as the case may be, are greater than those of the great mass of mankind, or possibly greater than those of any one else in the world. He forgets that each one has his own peculiar trials or troubles or sorrows to bear, or struggles in habits to overcome, and that his is but the common lot of all the human race. We are apt to make the mistake in this — in that we see and feel keenly our own trials, or adverse conditions, or characteristics to be overcome, while those of others we do not see so clearly, and hence we are apt to think that they are not at all equal to our own. Each has his own problems to work out. Each must work out his own problems. Each must grow the insight that will enable him to see what the causes are that have brought the unfavorable conditions into his life; each must grow the strength that will enable him to face these conditions, and to set into operation forces that will bring about a different set of conditions. We may be of aid to one another by way of suggestion, by way of bringing to one another a knowledge of certain higher laws and forces — laws and forces that will make it easier to do that which we would do. The doing, however, must be done by each one for himself. And so the way to get out of any conditioning we have got into, either knowingly or inadvertently, either intentionally or unintentionally, is to take time to look the conditions squarely in the face, and to find the law whereby they have come about. And when we have discovered the law, the thing to do is not to rebel against it, not to resist it, but to go with it by working in harmony with it. If we work in harmony with it, it will work for our highest good, and will take us wheresoever we desire. If we oppose it, if we resist it, if we fail to work in harmony with it, it will eventually break us to pieces. The law is immutable in its workings. Go with it, and it brings all things our way; resist it, and it brings suffering, pain, loss, and desolation.
But a few days ago I was talking with a lady, a most estimable lady living on a little New England farm of some five or six acres. Her husband died a few years ago, a good-hearted, industrious man, but one who spent practically all of his earnings in drink. When he died the little farm was unpaid for, and the wife found herself without any visible means of support, with a family of several to care for. Instead of being discouraged with what many would have called her hard lot, instead of rebelling against the circumstances in which she found herself, she faced the matter bravely, firmly believing that there were ways by which she could manage, though she could not see them clearly at the time. She took up her burden where she found it, and went bravely forward. For several years she has been taking care of summer boarders who come to that part of the country, getting up regularly, she told me, at from half-past three to four o'clock in the morning, and working until ten o'clock each night. In the winter time, when this means of revenue is cut off, she has gone out to do nursing in the country round about. In this way the little farm is now almost paid for; her children have been kept in school, and they are now able to aid her to a greater or less extent. Through it all she has entertained no fears nor forebodings; she has shown no rebellion of any kind. She has not kicked against the circumstances which brought about the conditions in which she found herself, but she has put herself into harmony with the law that would bring her into another set of conditions. And through it all, she told me, she has been continually grateful that she has been able to work, and that whatever her own circumstances have been, she has never yet failed to find some one whose circumstances were still a little worse than hers, and for whom it was possible for her to render some little service.
Most heartily she appreciates the fact, and most grateful is she for it, that the little home is now almost paid for, and soon no more of her earnings will have to go out in that channel. The dear little home, she said, would be all the more precious to her by virtue of the fact that it was finally hers through her own efforts. The strength and nobility of character that have come to her during these years, the sweetness of disposition, the sympathy and care for others, her faith in the final triumph of all that is honest and true and pure and good, are qualities that thousands and hundreds of thousands of women, yes, of both men and women, who are apparently in better circumstances in life, can justly envy. And should the little farm home be taken away tomorrow, she has gained something that a farm of a thousand acres could not buy. By going about her work in the way she has gone about it the burden of it all has been lightened, and her work has been made truly enjoyable.
Let us take a moment to see how these same conditions would have been met by a person of less wisdom, one not so far-sighted as this dear, good woman has been. For a time possibly her
spirit would have been crushed. Fears and forebodings of all kinds would probably have taken hold of her, and she would have felt that nothing that she could do would be of any avail. Or she might have rebelled against the agencies, against the law which brought about the conditions in which she found herself, and she might have become embittered against the world, and gradually also against the various people with whom she came in contact. Or again, she might have thought that her efforts would be unable to meet the circumstances, and that it was the duty of someone to lift her out of her difficulties. In this way no progress at all would have been made towards the accomplishment of the desired results, and continually she would have felt more keenly the circumstances in which she found herself, because there was nothing else to occupy her mind. In this way the little farm would not have become hers, she would not have been able to do anything for others, and her nature would have become embittered against everything and everybody.
True it is, then, not, "What are the conditions in one's life?" but, "How does he meet the conditions that he finds there?" This will determine all. And if at any time we are apt to think that our own lot is about the hardest there is, and if we are able at any time to persuade ourselves that we can find no one whose lot is just a little harder than ours, let us then study for a little while the character Pompilia, in Browning's poem and after studying it, thank God that the conditions in our life are so favorable; and then set about with a trusting and intrepid spirit to actualize the conditions that we most desire.
Thought is at the bottom of all progress or retrogression, of all success or failure, of all that is desirable or undesirable in human life. The type of thought we entertain both creates and draws conditions that crystallize about it, conditions exactly the same in nature as is the thought that gives them form. Thoughts are forces, and each creates of its kind, whether we realize it or not. The great law of the drawing power of the mind, which says that like creates like, and that like attracts like, is continually working in every human life, for it is one of the great immutable laws of the universe. For one to take time to see clearly the things he would attain to, and then to hold that ideal steadily and continually before his mind, never allowing faith — his positive thought-forces — to give way to or to be neutralized by doubts and fears, and then to set about doing each day what his hands find to do, never complaining, but spending the time that he would otherwise spend in complaint in focusing his thought-forces upon the ideal that his mind has built, will sooner or later bring about the full materialization of that for which he sets out. There are those who, when they begin to grasp the fact that there is what we may term a "science of thought," who, when they begin to realize that through the instrumentality of our interior, spiritual, thought-forces we have the power of gradually moulding the every-day conditions of life as we would have them, in their early enthusiasm are not able to see results as quickly as they expect and are apt to think, therefore, that after all there is not very much in that which has but newly come to their knowledge. They must remember, however, that in endeavoring to overcome an old or to grow a new habit, everything cannot be done all at once.
In the degree that we attempt to use the thought-forces do we continually become able to use them more effectively. Progress is slow at first, more rapid as we proceed. Power grows by using, or, in other words, using brings a continually increasing power. This is governed by law the same as are all things in our lives, and all things in the universe about us. Every act and advancement made by the musician is in full accordance with law. No one commencing the study of music can, for example, sit down to the piano and play the piece of a master at the first effort. He must not conclude, however, nor does he conclude, that the piece of the master cannot be played by him, or, for that matter, by any one. He begins to practise the piece. The law of the mind that we have already noticed comes to his aid, whereby his mind follows the music more readily, more rapidly, and more surely each succeeding time, and there also comes into operation and to his aid the law underlying the action of the reflex nerve system of the body, which we have also noticed, whereby his fingers co-ordinate their movements with the movements of his mind more readily, more rapidly, and more accurately each succeeding time; until by and by the time comes when that which he stumbles through at first, that in which there is no harmony, nothing but discord, finally reveals itself as the music of the master, the music that thrills and moves masses of men and women. So it is in the use of the thought-forces. It is the reiteration, the constant reiteration of the thought that grows the power of continually stronger thought-focusing, and that finally brings manifestation.
There is character building not only for the young but for the old as well. And what a difference there is in elderly people! how many grow old gracefully, and how many grow old in ways of quite a different nature. There is a sweetness and charm that combine for attractiveness in old age the same as there is something that cannot be described by these words. Some grow continually more dear to their friends and to the members of their immediate households, while others become possessed of the idea that their friends and the members of their households have less of a regard for them than they formerly had, and many times they are not far wrong. The one continually sees more in life to enjoy, the other sees continually less. The one becomes more dear and attractive to others, the other less so. And why is this? Through chance? By no means. Personally I do not believe there is any such thing as chance in the whole of human life, nor even in the world or the great universe in which we live. The one great law of cause and effect is absolute; and effect is always kindred to its own peculiar cause, although we may have at times to go back considerably farther than we are accustomed to in order to find the cause, the parent of this or that effect, or actualized, though not necessarily permanently actualized, condition.
Why, then, the vast difference in the two types of elderly people? The one keeps from worryings, and fearings, and frettings, and foundationless imaginings, while the other seems especially to cultivate these, to give himself or herself especially to them. And why is this? At a certain time in life, differing somewhat in different people, life-long mental states, habits, and characteristics begin to focus themselves and come to the surface, so to speak. Predominating thoughts and mental states begin to show themselves in actualized qualities and characteristics as never before, and no one is immune.
In the lane leading to the orchard is a tree. For years it has been growing only "natural fruit." Not long since it was grafted upon. The spring has come and gone. One-half of the tree was in bloom and the other half also. The blossoms on each part could not be distinguished by the casual observer. The blossoms have been followed by young fruit which hangs abundantly on the entire tree. There is but a slight difference in it now; but a few weeks later the difference in form, in size, in color, in flavor, in keeping qualities, will be so marked that no one can fail to tell them apart or have difficulty in choosing between them. The one will be a small, somewhat hard and gnarled, tart, yellowish-green apple, and will keep but a few weeks into the fall of the year. The other will be a large, delicately flavored apple, mellow, deep red in color, and will keep until the tree which bore it is in bloom again.
But why this incident from nature's garden? This. Up to a certain period in the fruit's growth, although the interior, forming qualities of the apples were slightly different from the beginning, there was but little to distinguish them. At a certain period in their growth, however, their differing interior qualities began to externalize themselves so rapidly and so markedly that the two fruits became of such a vastly different type that, as we have seen, no one could hesitate in choosing between them. And knowing once the soul, the forming, the determining qualities of each, we can thereafter tell beforehand with a certainty that is quite absolute what it, the externalized product of each portion of the tree, will be.
And it is quite the same in human life. If one would have a beautiful and attractive old age, he must begin it in youth and in middle life. If, however, he has neglected or failed in this, he can then wisely adapt himself to circumstances and give himself zealously to putting into operation all necessary counter-balancing forces and influences. Where there is life nothing is ever irretrievably lost, though the enjoyment of the higher good may be long delayed. But if one would have an especially beautiful and attractive old age he must begin it in early and in middle life, for there comes by and by a sort of "rounding-up" process when long-lived-in habits of thought begin to take unto themselves a strongly dominating power, and the thought habits of a lifetime begin to come to the surface.
Fear and worry, selfishness, a hard-fisted, grabbing, holding disposition, a carping, fault-finding, nagging tendency, a slavery of thought and action to the thinking or to the opinions of others, a lacking of consideration, thought, and sympathy for others, a lack of charity for the thoughts, the motives, and the acts of others, a lack of knowledge of the powerful and inevitable building qualities of thought, as well as a lack of faith in the eternal goodness and love and power of the Source of our being, all combine in time to make the old age of those in whom they find life, that barren, cheerless, unwelcome something, unattractive or even repellent to itself as well as to others, that we not infrequently find, while their opposites, on the contrary, combine, and seem to be helped on by heavenly agencies, to bring about that cheerful, hopeful, helpful, beautified, and hallowed old age that is so welcome and so attractive both to itself and to all with whom it comes in contact. Both types of thoughts, qualities, and dispositions, moreover, externalize themselves in the voice, in the peculiarly different ways in which they mark the face, in the stoop or lack of stoop in the form, as also in the healthy or unhealthy conditions of the mind and body, and their susceptibility to disorders and weaknesses of various kinds.
It is not a bad thing for each one early to get a little "philosophy" into his life. It will be of much aid as he advances in life; it will many times be a source of great comfort, as well as of strength, in trying times and in later life. We may even, though gently perhaps, make sport of the one who has his little philosophy, but unless we have something similar the time will come when the very lack of it will deride us. It may be at times, though not necessarily, that the one who has it is not always so successful in affairs when it comes to a purely money or business success, but it supplies many times a very real something in life that the one of money or business success only is starving for, though he doesn't know what the real lack is, and although he hasn't money enough in all the world to buy it did he know.
It is well to find our centre early, and if not early then late; but, late or early, the thing to do is to find it. While we are in life the one essential thing is to play our part bravely and well and to keep our active interest in all its varying phases, the same as it is well to be able to adapt ourselves always to changing conditions. It is by the winds of heaven blowing over it continually and keeping it in constant motion, or by its continual onward movement, that the water in pool or stream is kept sweet and clear, for otherwise it would become stagnant and covered with slime. If we are attractive or unattractive to ourselves and to others the cause lies in ourselves; this is true of all ages, and it is well for us, young or old, to recognize it. It is well, other things being equal, to adapt ourselves to those about us, but it is hardly fair for the old to think that all the adapting should be on the part of the young, with no kindred duty on their part. Many times-old age loses' much of its attractiveness on account of a peculiar notion of this kind. The principle of reciprocity must hold in all ages in life, and whatever the age, if we fail to observe it, it results always sooner or later in our own undoing.
We are all in Life's great play— comedy and tragedy, smiles and tears, sunshine and shadow, summer and winter, and in time we take all parts. We must take our part, whatever it may be, at any given time, always bravely and with a keen appreciation of every opportunity, and a keen alertness at every turn as the play progresses. A good "entrance" and a good "exit" contribute strongly to the playing of a deservedly worthy role. We are not always able perhaps to choose just as we would the details of our entrance, but the manner of our playing and the manner of our exit we can all determine, and this no man, no power can deny us; this in every human life can be made indeed most glorious, however humble it may begin, or however humble it may remain or exalted it may become, according to conventional standards of judgement.
To me we are here for divine self-realization through experience. We progress in the degree that we manipulate wisely all things that enter into our lives, and that make the sum total of each one's life experience. Let us be brave and strong in the presence of each problem as it presents itself and make the best of all. Let us help the things we can help, and let us be not bothered or crippled by the things we cannot help. The great God of all is watching and manipulating these things most wisely and we need not fear or even have concern regarding them.
To live to our highest in ail things that pertain to us, to lend a hand as best we can to all others for this same end, to aid in righting the wrongs that cross our path by means of pointing the wrongdoer to a better way, and thus aiding him in becoming a power for good, to remain in nature always sweet and simple and humble, and therefore strong, to open ourselves fully and to keep ourselves as fit channels for the Divine Power to work through us, to open ourselves, and to keep our faces always to the light, to love all things and to stand in awe or fear of nothing save our own wrong-doing, to recognize the good lying at the heart of all things, waiting for expression all in its own good way and time—this will make our part in life's great and as yet not fully understood play truly glorious, and we need then stand in fear of nothing, life nor death, for death is life. Or rather, it is the quick transition to life in another form; the putting off of the old coat and the putting on of a new; the falling away of the material body and the taking of the soul to itself a new and finer body, better adapted to its needs and surroundings in another world of experience and growth and still greater divine self-realization; a going out with all that it has gained of this nature in this world, but with no possessions material; a passing not from light to darkness, but from light to light; a taking up of life in another from just where we leave it off here; an experience not to be shunned or dreaded or feared, but to be welcomed when it comes in its own good way and time.
All life is from within out. This is something that cannot be reiterated too often. The springs of life are all from within. This being true, it would be well for us to give more time to the inner life than we are accustomed to give to it, especially in this Western world.
There is nothing that will bring us such abundant returns as to take a little time in the quiet each day of our lives. We need this to get the kinks out of our minds, and hence out of our lives. We need this to form better the higher ideals of life. We need this in order to see clearly in mind the things upon which we would concentrate and focus the thought-forces. We need this in order to make continually anew and to keep our conscious connection with the Infinite. We need this in order that the rush and hurry of our everyday life does not keep us away from the conscious realization of the fact that the spirit of Infinite life and power that is back of all, working in and through all, the life of all, is the life of our life, and the source of our power; and that outside of this we have no life and we have no power. To realize this fact fully, and to live in it consciously at all times, is to find the kingdom of God, which is essentially an inner kingdom, and can never be anything else. The kingdom of heaven is to be found only within, and this is done once for all, and in a manner in which it cannot otherwise be done, when we come into the conscious, living realization of the fact that in our real selves we are essentially one with the Divine life, and open ourselves continually so that this Divine life can speak to and manifest through us. In this way we come into the condition where we are continually walking with God. In this way the consciousness of God becomes a living reality in our lives; and in the degree in which it becomes a reality does it bring us into the realization of continually increasing wisdom, insight, and power. This consciousness of God in the soul of man is the essence, indeed, the sum and substance, of all religion. This identifies religion with every act and every moment of every-day life. That which does not identify itself with every moment of every day and with every act of life is religion in name only and not in reality. This consciousness of God in the soul of man is the one thing uniformly taught by all the prophets, by all the inspired ones, by all the seers and mystics in the world's history, whatever the time, wherever the country, whatever the religion, whatever minor differences we may find in their lives and teachings. In regard to this they all agree; indeed, this is the essence of their teaching, as it has also been the secret of their power and the secret of their lasting influence.
It is the attitude of the child that is necessary before we can enter into the kingdom of heaven. As it was said, "Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." For we then realize that of ourselves we can do nothing, but that it is only as we realize that it is the Divine life and power working within us, and it is only as we open ourselves that it may work through us, that we are or can do anything. It is thus that the simple life, which is essentially the life of the greatest enjoyment and the greatest attainment, is entered upon.
In the Orient the people as a class take far more time in the quiet, in the silence, than we take. Some of them carry this possibly to as great an extreme as we carry the opposite, with the result that they do not actualize and objectify in the outer life the things they dream in the inner life. We give so much time to the activities of the outer life that we do not take sufficient time in the quiet to form in the inner, spiritual, thought-life the ideals and the conditions that we would have actualized and manifested in the outer life. The result is that we take life in a kind of haphazard way, taking it as it comes, thinking not very much about it until, perhaps, pushed by some bitter experiences, instead of moulding it, through the agency of the inner forces, exactly as we would have it. We need to strike the happy balance between the custom in this respect of the Eastern and Western worlds, and go to the extreme of neither the one nor the other. This alone will give the ideal life; and it is the ideal life only that is the thoroughly satisfactory life. In the Orient there are many who are day after day sitting in the quiet, meditating, contemplating, idealizing, with their eyes focused on their stomachs in spiritual revery, while through lack of outer activities, in their stomachs, they are actually starving. In this Western world, men and women, in the rush and activity of our accustomed life, are running hither and thither, with no centre, no foundation upon which to stand, nothing to which they can anchor their lives, because they do not take sufficient time to come into the realization of what the centre, of what the reality of their lives is.
If the Oriental would do his contemplating, and then get up and do his work, he would be in a better condition; he would be living a more normal and satisfactory life. If we in the Occident would take more time from the rush and activity of life for contemplation, for meditation, for idealization, for becoming acquainted with our real selves, and then go about our work manifesting the powers of our real selves, we would be far better off, because we would be living a more natural, a more normal life. To find one's centre, to become centred in the Infinite, is the first great essential of every satisfactory life; and then to go out, thinking, speaking, working, loving, living, from this centre.
In the highest character-building, such as we have been considering, there are those who feel they are handicapped by what we term heredity. In a sense they are right; in another sense they are totally wrong. It is along the same lines as the thought which many before us had inculcated in them through the couplet in the New England Primer: "In Adam's fall, we sinned all." Now, in the first place, it is rather hard to understand the justice of this if it is true. In the second place, it is rather hard to understand why it is true. And in the third place there is no truth in it at all. We are now dealing with the real essential self, and, however old Adam is, God is eternal. This means you; it means me; it means every human soul. When we fully realize this fact we see that heredity is a reed that is easily broken. The life of every one is in his own hands and he can make it in character, in attainment, in power, in divine self-realization, and hence in influence, exactly what he wills to make it. All things that he most fondly dreams of are his, or may become so if he is truly in earnest; and as he rises more and more to his ideal, and grows in the strength and influence of his character, he becomes an example and an inspiration to all with whom he comes in contact; so that through him the weak and faltering are encouraged and strengthened; so that those of low ideals and of a low type of life instinctively and inevitably have their ideals raised, and the ideals of no one can be raised without its showing forth in his outer life. As he advances in his grasp upon and understanding of the power and potency of the thought-forces, he finds that many times through the process of mental suggestion he can be of tremendous aid to one who is weak and struggling, by sending him now and then, and by continually holding him in, the highest thought, in the thought of the highest strength, wisdom and love. The power of "suggestion," mental suggestion, is one that has tremendous possibilities for good if we will but study into it carefully, understand it fully, and use it rightly.
The one who takes sufficient time in the quiet mentally to form his ideals, sufficient time to make and to keep continually his conscious connection with the Infinite, with the Divine life and forces, is the one who is best adapted to the strenuous life. He it is who can go out and deal, with sagacity and power, with whatever issues may arise in the affairs of everyday life. He it is who is building not for the years but for the centuries; not for time, but for the eternities. And he can go out knowing not whither he goes, knowing that the Divine life within him will never fail him, but will lead him on until he beholds the Father face to face.
He is building for the centuries because only that which is the highest, the truest, the noblest, and best will abide the test of the centuries. He is building for eternity because when the transition we call death takes place, life, character, self-mastery, divine self-realization — the only things that the soul when stripped of everything else takes with it — he has in abundance, in life, or when the time of the transition to another form of life comes, he is never afraid, never fearful, because he knows and realizes that behind him, within him, beyond him, is the Infinite wisdom and love; and in this he is eternally centered, and from it he can never be separated. With Whittier he sings:
"I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care."

Ralph Waldo Trine 1899


UNDERSTANDING THE COVENANT OF PRAYERS
Prayer is a form of spiritual labour.

Colossians 4:12

Ecclesiastes 10:15

Prayer can be wearisome if you don’t know how to go about it.

What you don’t learn, you are not qualified to know.

Wisdom is the principal thing in everything.

Asking must be according to the will of God.

James 4:1-3

1 John 5:14

Most prayers are not answered because they are never heard!

Prayer is to be taught for it to maximally produce in your life.

Luke 11: 1-4

ELEMENTS OF PRAYER

• Prayer begins with worship
• Prayer must have a kingdom focus and desire.
• Prayer must be according to His will.
• Prayer delivers your daily bread.
• Prayer qualifies you for forgiveness.
• Prayer qualifies you for leadership.
• Prayer qualifies you for deliverance.
• Prayer ends with worship.

Prayer is a means wherewith our spiritual needs are been met.

The meeting of our spiritual needs help meet our other needs.

A kingdom first mentality qualifies you for answers in prayers.

You can’t be concerned about people and not become a friend of God.

Prayer requires kingdom priority perspective.
Any unsaved person is a risk in your family.

A company of people that connect with answers before they ask.

Isaiah 65:24

Manifestation is a product of obedience of faith.

When you become too big to learn at His feet, you become too small to overcome your battles.

Prayer becomes a burden when you lack the know – how!

What is prayer designed for?

Prayer is essentially for meeting our spiritual needs.

Prayer is all about seeking first the kingdom of God and all of His righteousness to qualify to have all your material needs met.

What is a covenant?

A covenant is a deal of committer.

Be committed to your part while God gets committed to His part.

“Only 10% think, 25% think that they think, while 65% would rather die than think.”

James 5:17 – 19
1 Kings 19:10

Who is Elijah?

Elijah was a man jealous for God and His kingdom.

He has an un-checkered passion for the kingdom of God.

Jesus recommended soul gathering prayers!

There are 4200 places in scriptures where “People” are been mentioned.

When you are committed to what God is committed to, he will be committed to your needs.

You compel people in prayers to come to God.
FIVE PRAYER COVENANT

1. Kingdom Priority – soul winning, evangelism, etc
2. Spiritual Empowerment
– This makes you rule in the midst of your enemies. The place of prayer is the place of power.
3. Spiritual Establishment
- This is living a life of sanctification.
4. Spiritual Revelation
5. Material Needs
- You can’t have your spiritual needs met and remain a needy.

FAITH

Faith gives substance to hope!

Faith is the husband of Hope.

Hope gets pregnant by faith.

Expectation is the pregnancy of hope.

Fishes don’t get drown in water.

Birds don’t drop from the air due to gravity.

Believers don’t faith by reason of life’s challenges.

You are born to win.

“I am born to win; I am born to reign in life. I am no ordinary person, I am destined for greatness.”

Flight is made for personalities and individuals.

John5: 4
Habakkuk 2:4

Faith is a personal race that guarantees victory.

Winning is guaranteed in prayers.

Acts 3:1
Matt 6:5-7


There is need for a prayer schedule.

Psalm 55:16 – 18

A prayer schedule is a must if you must make a must of your Christian life.

Prayer is not to have your needs met but to gain command over your needs.

Proverbs 24:10

You gain command over your needs when you get committed to a prayer schedule.

Prayer is a means of staying on top of things as they arise.

The altar of prayer is the altar of empowerment.

• Every war is winnable
• Every battle is conquerable
• Every barrier is overcomable.

John 16:33
Psalm 34:19
1 John 5:4

Birds can’t fail in the air.
Fishes can’t fail in the sea.
Lions can’t fail in the jungle.
The child of God can’t fail in life.

Prayer is a “when” issue.

Be committed to at least three season of prayer per day.

A prayer schedule is what makes a first class Christian.

Without a prayer schedule, you cannot emerge a spiritual star.

You always go up with prayers.







Why do I need a prayer schedule?

1. Prayer is the altar of empowerment for all saints across all nations.
a. It takes an empowered sheep to escape the devastation of wolves.
b. To escape the wickedness of the wicked, you need to be empowered.
c. To subdue your enemies, you need to be empowered.

Psalm 66:3
Psalm 110:1-3

d. To survive in a world networked by wickedness, you need to be empowered.
e. Prayer takes you to a place of power emission.
f. We pray to stay on top of things and for things.
g. To be prayer less is to be powerless. Luke 11:13
h. You can’t fulfill your mission without empowerment.
i. Your mission is un-fulfill able without power.
j. Kingdom come simply means – power comes.

2. A spiritual platform for receiving direction.
a. You need to be divinely guided John5:30, Psalm 23:1, 2 Sam 5:18:25

3. A prayer schedule is needed for revelation. Psalm 119:18
a. Revelation equals spiritual illumination.
b. Spiritual edification is the core of the prayer covenant.

4. A prayer schedule is needed for consecration.
a. It is for personal sanctification
b. The altar of prayer is the altar of transfiguration change of raiment.

5. To enforce the fulfillment of prophesies directed at you.

1 Timothy 1:18
Deut 2:24
Heb 12:1-2
1 Corinthian 9:24 – 26








• You are a spiritual sportsman
o Sportsmanship requires preparation behind the scene to emerge a sport champion.

• You are spiritual Athletes.
• You are Spiritual Pilots. Isaiah 60:8
• You are Spiritual wrestlers Ephesians 6:10 – 12
• You are Spiritual Boxers. Proverbs 24:10, Rev 5:8

Prayers are stored for your rating. 1 Timothy 4:8

• Spiritual exercises are profitable unto all things.
• It takes a schedule to end up a star.
• You are spiritual Soldiers. 2 Timothy 2:3
o You must remain battle ready, and on alert.
o You need spiritual discipline. Luke 17:31

• There are three levels of kingdom in prayers.
o Kingdom from above
o Kingdom within us
o Kingdom around us.

• A prayer schedule is needed to sow both into the kingdom and others needing one form of attention.
• A prayer schedule is needed to invest in the lives of those occupying positions of authority. 1 Timothy 2:1 – 2, Matt 26:40


The Vision Statement - Dare to Dream By Bob Mason

In a previous article I discussed the difference between a Vision Statement and a Mission Statement. These two statements are critical to a good strategic plan, so in the next two articles I'll go into more depth about how to create these statements. There are many sources available to instruct you on the components of a strategic plan and they all have good points; however, many of them do not include both vision and mission statements, or they combine the two. Experience has taught me that these must be separate statements and they are both vitally, and equally, important.

In my article on Vision Statements, I cited Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream..." speech. I mention it again because it is one of the most outstanding examples of vision in American history. King saw what needed to be done and his speech clearly illustrated that vision. He knew what the mission was, but so did many others. What set him apart as a major leader in the civil rights movement was his vision of what should be. He had a dream, he was passionate about that dream, and he was able to articulate his dream to the masses.

That's what separates great leaders from the rest -- the ability to dream, to have a vision of what can be.

The Vision Statement is the sole property of the leader. He or she has ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of the organization and may even have a significant financial stake in that success. Many in the organization may have a vision, but it is the leader's vision that sets the tone and is the basis for everything else. If you are the leader, the Vision Statement is yours alone and you must give serious thought to what the statement will say; it will provide overarching guidance for everything that happens in the organization.

A Vision Statement clearly states the senior leader's vision for where he or she wants the organization to go. There is no set formula for a Vision Statement but it should be short and succinct. It expresses the leader's desire to not only be successful in the specific enterprise, but also to lead the organization in a specific way. One of the best examples of a Vision Statement was President John F. Kennedy's statement during the 1961 State of the Union address when he said, "First I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." Though space exploration no longer garners the headlines of that day, the very thought of a manned mission to the moon and back in 1961 was fantastic. That was a vision!

To create your vision statement, start by answering these questions:

1. When you moved to this level of leadership, what did you want to do? Did you say, "Hey, now I can...?"

2. What aspects of your organization and your position in it are vitally important to you?

3. What do you want your organization to do? Don't get confused with the mission statement to come later. State your dream. If there was nothing in your way, what would your organization be doing?

4. Is there something in particular that excites your core beliefs that you want to consider when making decisions; something you're passionate about? For example, perhaps you strongly believe your organization can become more energy efficient to reduce use of petroleum energy sources.

All these things together make up your vision statement. Give this some serious thought and don't accept the first thing you write down! Does your Vision Statement sound slightly fantastic? If not, try again. When you present your leadership team with a Vision Statement that makes them say, "Wow!" you have set the correct tone. You want your team to understand that you're reaching for the stars and you want them to reach with you. You're on the way to a great strategic plan.

When you have created your vision statement, don't keep it a secret! Let everyone know your vision. You won't get there by yourself but others can't help you accomplish what they don't know you're striving for.

So what is your vision? Your dream? Does your organization know?
Bob Mason is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and president of RLM Planning and Leadership, a consulting firm dedicated to helping businesses meld smart strategic planning with leadership excellence. His book, Planning to Excel; Strategic Planning that Works, due to be released this spring will have a more detailed description of vision statements and their relation to the strategic planning process. To learn more visit http://www.planleadexcel.com and download the first chapter of his book.

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