I know what you're thinking: what is the "L-word" you have a beef with?? While I could think of a good handful of words that start with L that I don't particularly like, the one that I'm speaking of may come as a shock to many. Did you guess LOVE?? If you did, congratulations!! You are wrong.
The the word I speak of is LEADER. Throughout my life, I have went through countless hours of "leadership training" and so often we are asked the question: what is a leader? Many have mentioned a person with integrity, confidence, ambition, power, control, compassion, superb personal skills, relationality, and the list goes on endlessly. I've sat through hours of motivational speakers tell me that a leader is someone is gifted or endowed with the ability to inspire the masses to action or someone who rises to the top of the crowd through merit/ability.
I ask you, look at the definition:
lea•der |ˈlēdər| noun1 the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country:2 the principal player in a music group.3 Brit. a leading article or editorial in a newspaper.4 a short strip of nonfunctioning material at each end of a reel of film or recording tape for connection to the spool.5 a shoot of a plant at the apex of a stem or main branch.As you can see, a leader is simply someone who leads. STOP READING INTO IT!!! But I'm mostly kidding. We just tend to overinflate the definition of leader when it is such a simple action and definition.
So why do I have a beef with the word leader? Well...I have more of a problem with the risk we run with the idea behind leadership training. Leaders are super great but we run into a bit of a "trophy culture" with the concept these days. Let me try to explain.
You've heard it said that we are ruining our children by giving trophies to everyone as toddlers in sports. We tell everyone that they are a winner, which on some level is true but could lead to the end of competition as we know it! I've always sucked at sports, so I don't have a trophy to my name but I'm pretty sure that I never deserved one for my athletic performance. I would hope that if I ever did get a participation trophy that my dad would grab it, throw it to the ground, and smash it into unrecognizable pieces.
Naturally you'll ask yourself, do you think this because you're bitter about this? NO!! Growing up, my brother was a star athlete and had a room filled with championship and MVP trophies from the three sports he played. As a child, I'll admit there may have been a time when I was jealous of this but it was more of a motivation to prove myself. I may not have athletic prowess but I must have been good at something!! I eventually found things I was good at but I'm straying from my point a little...now back on track!
Much like this "everyone gets a trophy" business, I find myself in a room with ordinary people being told they are the "cream of the crop" or "the select few" or something to that effect. While that may be true for some, it most definitely is not true for all. In fact, if given the option, I have a feeling many of the people in those rooms would prefer to follow another than withstand the pressure and responsibility of being in charge!!
Just like the trophies, not everyone can be a leader. For if everyone were leaders, who is left to do the following? Creative solutions say that leaders do the following while leading in their own respect but my question is this: why is it that the identity as a leader trumps the identity as a follower? One possible explanation is that being a follower has a connotation that you are inferior. Fair enough, but as I've seen in these seminars on leadership which I've attended, there is a fine line between humility and egotism when messing with the power of leadership.
I know that you're probably dying to know what the "F-word" could be. If you guessed follower, you are correct!! After my little rant on leaders and leadership, I just seek to give more credit to followers. So often we push followers to the wayside and focus on honing leadership skills so we can excel in life and receive everything we ever dreamt of. For most of my life I did this very act of emphasizing leadership in my life and guess what? I received a lot of what I dreamt of but in the end, I missed something.
This wouldn't be a B. I. S. C. Miranda original post without a mention of God, right?!? Anyway, when it came down to it, how would I want to be defined? I obtained several positions of leadership throughout my years and I've received my reward but when all things fade, I want to be defined as a follower. That is, a follower of Christ!!
This identity as a follower became my most important descriptor and I am glad it did. Jesus is a leader I can get behind and I'm more than happy to follow!! But the reason I even wrote this article is to stress how important it is that we do not lose sight at the big picture.
In a culture where we exalt the leader, we must foster within ourselves and in the hearts of those to come the importance of being a righteous follower. Life isn't always about leading and when it is, one should not abuse the authority gifted to them. The true leader is the one who acknowledges that they are not the ultimate authority. A true leader guides their people on the path of shared righteousness for the purpose of forming men and women to take the reins of authentic leadership as well.
I look at great spiritual leaders and without exception I see a people who empty themselves to wholly follow Christ and ablaze the world with faith. Contrary to everything I've ever been taught in those seminars, exalted are those who follow justly for they will experience true happiness and will lead others on the right path by their example. I'm not saying to avoid taking up leadership because we need strong leaders!! What I am saying is that once you have the reins of leadership, never forget that being a follower of the truth is what makes us authentic, fruitful and honest leaders.
