You ARE A Leader

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds y'all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! This one right here is gonna be a great one...I can feel it! :) We have such an incredible opportunity in front of us - this untouched day! It is so full of potential - let's empty it of every ounce so that when we lay our heads on the pillow tonight we know to the depths of our souls that we have given everything we have to give to this day!

You ARE a leader! Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you do vocationally, whatever your title(s)...you ARE a leader.

The following is an excerpt from an article posted at forbes.com on October 16, 2017. It is titled, What Is Your Impact? and it was written by Erin Urban.

"Does impact exist?

I can assure you, most emphatically, that you have more impact than you realize. We all do. Tim Elmore says: "Sociologists tell us the most introverted of people will influence 10,000 others in an average lifetime." Imagine how many people you have knowingly and unknowingly influenced in your life so far.

Every person you come in contact with is impacted in some way. For example, if you hold the door open for someone, that has an impact. Whether or not they say "thank you" impacts you. You feel satisfaction if they acknowledge you and disgruntlement if they don't. If you compliment a co-worker on their performance, you have an impact on that person. If you criticize another person, you have also impacted them.

How you have conducted yourself during these interchanges will shape how you influenced that person's response. As you can see, impact can go in two different directions: negative or positive."

Erin uses the word "impact"...leadership expert John C. Maxwell uses the word "influence" defining leadership this way, "Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less." Either way, you ARE a leader, you simply have to decide what your impact/influence will be.

A couple of quick points before we go on:

1. The article states that the most introverted person will influence 10,000 others in an average lifetime. That is the most introverted person. Did you know that other research has shown that the average person will influence 80,000 people during their lifetime? Please let the weight of these numbers sink in. If you are the most introverted person your influence has quickly spread to tens of thousands, perhaps millions, in very short order. You ARE a leader.

2. A great young Tender Warrior that I work with shared some thoughts from a devotional with our team last week. He shared a quote with us, "The most influential person in your life is you." Read that again, please. Say you are not the most introverted person but rather a hermit. You live alone, not interacting with anyone, ever! You are still influencing you with your thoughts and words. You ARE a leader.

So the challenge, Friends, is what are we doing with our leadership? Are we being intentional or are we leaving it to chance? Are we trying to learn, grow, and become all we are capable of becoming or are we simply drifting through life? Is our leadership positive or negative? You ARE a leader...what is your leadership producing? Are people better for having interacted with you or are they worse? 

This morning I want to encourage us all to take our leadership seriously and, as with every potential we have within us, work tirelessly to become all that we are capable of becoming in our leadership. Please don't compare yourself to others - their journey is not yours and yours is not theirs. Please simply work every day to become all that you were created to become. Do whatever works for you to learn, to grow - read a book, listen to a podcast, find a mentor. It doesn't matter how you learn best, it simply matters that you learn. It is so critically important, Friends...you ARE a leader and 10's of thousands will be influenced by your leadership.

To encourage, and hopefully empower you, on this journey, I want to share a few notes I took when listening to a podcast by Chad Veach. The podcast is titled, Leadership Lean In with Chad Veach and this particular podcast was titled Requirements for Leadership: what it takes to be a leader and how to step into your full potential. 

"When the leader gets better, everyone gets better."

"The more responsibility I have the less rights I have"

He then listed what he refers to as the 6 requirements of leadership. I will list them and the notes I took with each.

1. Reproach - you must be above reproach. You can't be sketchy. You must have impeccable character and integrity.

2. Respected - put some respect on your name. If you want respect, respect others. Live a life worthy of respect.

3. Responsible with money. Money is a reflection of stewardship. Every leader should be good at earning, saving, and giving money.

4. Really great at home. Lead your heart first, your home second and your performance third. You can't have your home in chaos and your life in order. Serving God in Africa is not a hard mission trip; serving God in your home is a hard mission trip.

5. Recommended by others because of your proven character. Your name either opens or closes doors for you. Nobody creates the narrative of your reputation more than you.

6. Repentful - ability to show remorse or sorrow for the mistakes you make. Great leaders own their mistakes. You are not great because you never make a mistake, you are great because you own the mistakes you make.

Now, clearly he created this list for those in "formal" leadership positions however there is so much good we can glean for our leadership in whatever walk of life we are in. Regardless, the point is to intentionally learn. You ARE a leader!

Knowing that somewhere between 10 - 80,000 people are counting on you and me - go ahead, take a deep breath and read that again! - I want to share a few quotes to help us learn and thrive:

"Great leadership usually starts with a willing heart, a positive attitude, and a desire to make a difference." - Mac Anderson

"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly." - Jim Rohn

"Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration - of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the heart of others. It is an attitude, not a routine." - Lance Secretan

Bottom line Friends; You ARE a leader! What Will Your Influence Be...?

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! 

Kev