Leadership, Competency and an Enlightened Vision

In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato makes some significant points about leadership, which intended for application to government officials, provides helpful insights into what makes a leader effective. He argues that a leader must be enlightened. In other words he must be able to see clearly and understand reality rightly.

Plato describes a situation in which humanity is imprisoned in a cave where all they can see are the shadows of reality. Their eyes are accustomed to darkness and when they are shown reality they pass it off as an imposter for the shadows, which for the people are more real than the real.
A leader is one who has faced the pain of having his vision improved by the light. He has moved from the dark cave into the light of day, and as his eyes painfully adjusted to the light, he did not turn from that adjustment and hence began to see the greater beauty of reality that the shadows just could not show him.

But a leader is more than one who has transcended into a state of wisdom where he sees reality clearly. A leader, according to Plato, is one who, when he see the prisoner of the darkness rejecting reality for shadows, doesn’t laugh at him but pities him. But more than pities, he returns to the same prison, joins with the prisoner in his toil and because he now sees the shadows more clearly, he sees them better than the prisoner and is better equipped to lead the prisoner to happiness and freedom.

Competent leaders do not exist among us who do not understand and appreciate those that they would lead. Competent leaders must strive to understand reality, must look deep into the painful truths of their world, have their eyes adjusted to the potential around them, and then they must return and join in the labor of those they would lead, not to lead them, but to care for them.
That seems to be the missing link in leadership today: care for those we lead. Plato said of leaders “they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the cave, and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having or not.” If we aspire to be great leaders, we must know those whom we seek to lead, we must work beside them and we must care for their happiness. Only then will we be great leaders.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII of “The Republic” by Plato.

Wiener Dog Blues

This is a fun song sung by a friend of mine named Ray - He actually calls himself RaytheotherRay. A friend of his is playing the song, but I guess he wrote it when he was inspired by a true story about a man whose dog got eaten by two Dobermans

Hope you enjoy - he wants you to pass it on!

Weiner Dog Blues

Authority & Church Leadership

I've been thinking a lot about authority this week. In particular, I've been thinking about Church leadership and authority. Mark Dever has a little book about Church leadership in which he shows that Christ, as the head of the Church and thereby the ultimate authority over the Church gave a certain degree of Authority to the overseers of the church. I have been wondering about what this means and the first thought is that it seems that it means that Church leaders have a very high degree of responsibility.

We talked some about this in a meeting at church this morning and we were reminded of Hebrews 13 where the Church is told "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account." This verse tells me three things: there are people in the church who have authority to rule over others, those who are under their authority have an obligation to be obedient and submissive to their leaders, and those who have been given the responsibility for leadership actually have the responsibility for the souls of others and must give an account to God one day for those souls under their care.

My conclusion then for myself and any other leader in the church (and I think this is particular for elders - including pastors - and deacons) is that we need to understand the position of authority that God has placed us in and start acting with that authority because even if we don't realize our responsibility I don't think we will be allowed to plead ignorance before our heavenly Father.

A final note: Authority does not just entail telling others what to do. Authority in it's large detail entails making disciples, training, teaching, shepherding, and a host of other things that affect the soul of the person you lead. In short, leadership is influence infected with love and compassion or a desire for the welfare of the one you lead.

What a weighty responsibility!

Saddleback Civil Forum

I want to post this link so that if anyone hasn't had an opportunity to watch the Saddleback Civil Forum where Pastor Rick Warren interviews Barrack Obama and John McCain they would have the opportunity now. This is a very helpful forum in that it provides a very good point of clarification for Christians on the positions of these two men. I know many Christians are confused about how to cast their vote in this election and I think this forum might help make that decision easier. Enjoy

http://trevinwax.com/2008/08/17/obama-mccain-with-rick-warren-at-saddleback-forum-video/

The Church's Response to Gay Marriage

This week Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill to repeal a 1913 law, which up until now protected the sovereignty of other states to determine what constituted a legal marriage. With this bill Mass. has opened the door for gay couples from any state to come to their state to be legally married.

Several problems present themselves to me as a result of this decision. First and most practically is the question of what do states do with couples who return from Massachusetts with legal marriage certificates looking for the rights any other married couple in that state? A great dilemma will be faced by many states. I can only imagine the legal expenses that will be supported by tax payers all over America when states have to debate these issues and defend their findings.

Second, and more pressing for the Church is the question of how to respond. I fear we will simply ignore the problem as we have already ignored the problem presented by insurance companies and corporations that choose to recognize same sex couples as equally deserving of coverage as married couples.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a proponent of using the Church as a political platform. I’m not really all too excited about the Church being directly involved in social activism. I’m certainly not one to encourage Christians to make fools of themselves in the work place or on public stage.

With that said, while I’m not opposed to Christian organizations and individuals representing Christian standards in the corporate and political world I believe the Church’s response should be focused in a different direction, i.e. it’s teaching. The Church needs to remember that it’s job is not to change social policy but to change hearts, and the only effective change in hearts that the Church should ever focus on is one where the heart is changed in it’s disposition toward God and sin. Only when people’s hearts have gone from hating God and loving sin to loving God and hating sin will the Church have an eternal impact on such issues as we are faced with in Massachusetts. And this brings us back to her teaching. Her teaching must be routed in the gospel teaching about the grace of God that comes to us through the death of Jesus Christ. She should address the moral issues of the day, but only in so far as they serve to point people to their need for Christ and to God’s sovereign authority over all creatures.

To some this may sound simplistic and even naïve. However, it is my opinion that the gospel is more effective in changing people’s minds than any theory, argument or political position and thus the Church should focus her attention on proclaiming the gospel to the heart’s of God’s children.

Leading Our Peers

In my life I have found a common thread that seems to bond people together and that bond is not healthy. The bond that I am thinking about is dislike or criticism of others. For some reason many people gravitate toward those people in their lives that they can comfortably voice their criticisms of others with and even gain a sense of moral superiority from that person’s validation of those criticisms. I have also found that relationships held in place by those un-healthy feelings tend to wear us down and spread an overall feeling of cynicism and distrust.

There is nothing so disruptive to success in any organization than distrust and cynicism. Whether it is found in the home, the community, or the work place it pits people against one another and destroys any hope of common effort in reaching goals and winning. While it seems to be one of the natural tendencies of humankind, it is also one of our most self-destructive traits, because if the organizations to which we belong are not successful then we will ultimately fail.

I have also found that some of my most valued relationships are with those people with whom I feel compelled to be positive, to look for the good in others, to rejoice in the success of others, and to desire the best for others. I have found greater happiness when I surround myself with people who won’t listen to my negative words. They find them sophomoric and me immature for engaging in that behavior, so I don’t speak poorly of people around them. The odd thing is that somehow that effort translates itself into my actual feelings for that person, and I find myself actually liking them, wanting to help them, wanting to see them succeed. Before, I would take pleasure in seeing them fail, but now I desire to help them avoid failure.

If a key to success in any area of life is valuing people and desiring to see them succeed then I suggest that our success may begin when we start talking like successful people and stop talking like children who are consumed with selfishness.

Using Time Effectively

In a recent CCL (Center for Creative Leadership) newletter I read the following two statments.

1. The process of slowing down and taking time out for learning and reflection will often improve decision making, foster efficiency and foster change in the culture.
2. Am I confusing activity with meaningful action?

As a leader I desire and have an obligation to impact the culture around me, whether that culture is my workplace, home or community. Often I find that my efforts to impact the culture are centered on activity without much thought put into the purpose of the activity. I just move forward without having really thought about where I'm going and why I'm going there.

I find that when I do take time to slow down, reflect, and learn I usually gain a vision that will inform my future activity and the activity that I engage in is consequently beneficial to my surrounding culture.

I do think that the wise person will learn to ask herself/himself "Am I confusing activity and meaningful action" and will understand that meaningful action is born out of thoughful reflection and purpose seeking. The wise person will understand that being active isn't always the best use of one's time and that often we should slow ourselves down and just think!