Rant Warning:
I believe we currently find ourselves in a culture of leadership-hungry folks.
Don't tune me out. I'm not about to get terribly political or jump into a diatribe against Wall Street or even rail on the Church (Big C). Although, I think those areas obviously have leaders and suffer from the same leader/power hunger issues that I am about to tackle. My thought today is simply on the people around us in our everyday circles vying for places of power or influence.
This doesn't seem like it should be a problem. Leaders are great. At their best they offer vision, wisdom, guidance, encouragement, means, etc.
However, a GOOD leader is hard to find and being surrounded by a number of folks vying to be the "winner" of whatever invisible power struggle they are participating in can be downright exhausting, infuriating, and most often disheartening.
Yes, good leaders are hard to find and bad "leaders" are like leeches...a constant nuisance sucking the very life blood of those around them - they eventually just wear you down.
I don't know how this whole situation came to be - leaders come to be leaders through experience, expertise, vision, passion. But lots of people today just think that they SHOULD be leaders. An inflated since of self-importance and an overestimation of their own knowledge - a self aggrandizement that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of well, most people they come into contact with.
It's like taking a selfie...one assumes that others WANT to see that mess and most of the time...no.
We. Don't. Want. It.
There are things people offer advice on (or areas people want to lead in) and I just don't get it - I can't...
It's hard for me to take someone's advice on being a stay-at-home mother if they have live-in-help.
It's hard for me to take someone's advice on being a wife if they've been divorced. {Although, hindsight is 20/20 and lots of wisdom can come from looking back}
It's hard for me to take someone's advice on finances if they are not smart with money.
It's hard for me to take someone's advice on being a Godly woman if they in no way look like one to me.
I think the best leaders are those who live life in such a way as to be well respected and informed, who humbly learn from those around them, who listen more and talk less, and who don't seek to be "leaders."
The desire to be a leader, does not a leader make.
I think the problem is coming from the idea that people "should" be leaders. It's as if leadership is the same thing honesty, kindness, etc. So people want to be and feel the need to be leaders because then their accomplishing what they're "supposed" to. The unfortunate fall out is that we end up with a lot of folks leading who aren't actually good at leading and we end up with a mentality that following is less than or second best to leading. This is a dangerous lie that can negatively impact the family, church, Church, community, etc. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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