Spirit of Leadership

THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT another. So you have a homemaker, who may not even know that she is a leader, naturally wanting to manage her chil dren, her budget, the environment of the house, and so on. That desire comes from the leadership nature within her. Even though people may ignore their inherent nature or may be denied the full exercise of it, the desire to control and manage one’s own destiny still resides deep in the heart of the human spirit. It is our natural desire to lead. Exerter of Influence It is also the nature of leadership to influence. All people naturally want to influence the world around them. When you think about it, everyone is in the influence game—whether it’s a salesperson trying to influence a prospective client, a child trying to influence a parent, or a young man trying to influ ence a young woman. Everyone desires to influence because we naturally want to be in control. Yet we’ve confused influ ence with domination. According to the original design, we’re not supposed to dominate other people but to have dominion over the earth and its resources. When we don’t understand this distinction, we manipulate and abuse others and frustrate the expression of their own God-given leadership nature. Exerting proper influence means inspiring others through the leadership gift that we have been given. The true nature of leadership is the attraction of others to our gifts, which are deployed in their service. Comfortable with Power Another aspect of the leadership spirit is that it is com fortable with power. Power, in itself, is natural for the human spirit. Again, problems arise when we distort our natural gifts.

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