Leadership (9)
Years ago I heard the story of an old preacher who told a group of younger preachers to remember that they would die. "They are going to put you in a box," he said, "and put the box in the ground, and throw dirt on your face, and then go back to the church and eat potato salad." That says it perfectly. Life goes on. If we transfer the convictions successfully, all will be well. If not, our stewardship is in danger . . . or in vain.
Albert Mohler
The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (p. 200)2.5K
You can divide all leaders into those who merely hold an office or position and those who hold great convictions. Life is too short to give much attention to leaders who stand for little or nothing, leaders who are looking for the next program or riding the latest leadership fad, trying on idea after idea but driven by no deep convictions.The Conviction to Lead, 25
Though the king was not present for each and every military engagement fought by the Wessex troops, Alfred, until his death, regularly took his sword, shield, and spear into battle, standing shoulder to shoulder in the shieldwall with his countrymen. In the Anglo-Saxon world, combat was the duty of the ruling class; and the king, his thegns, the noblemen, and other rulers of the English people always filled the ranks of the Wessex shieldwall.White Horse King, 154
We want character but without unyielding conviction; we want strong morality, but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame; we want virtue but without particular moral justifications that invariably offend; we want good without having to name evil; we want decency without the moral authority to insist upon it; we want moral community without any limitations to personal freedom. In short, we want what we cannot have on the terms that we want it.
hire on the basis of conviction. This is essential, and yet this is where many leaders subvert their own leadership. We are all easily (and often rightly) impressed with expertise and ability, but these cannot compensate for a lack of conviction. When it comes to hiring leaders who will have a role in directing the work, conviction is nonnegotiable. You cannot possibly lead with conviction if you entrust the future of your organization to people who do not share those convictions. This is how great movements die - they begin with clarity and end with confusion, or worse.The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (p. 203-204)
If you look at some of the most historic portraits in the Christian tradition, you will see a skull within the painting. This was known as memento mori, the memory of death, which was intended to motivate the subject of the painting to make the most of the time given to him. That skull on my desk is not a morbid decoration or a macabre ornament from a dark holiday. It is a constant reminder of mortality as essential to the human condition, and an impetus to be aware that every passing day removes one tick from the column marked Future and adds one to the column marked Past. The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (p. 200)
Awareness of our mortality changes everything. We know that our leadership, no matter our age, is a temporary stewardship. We are creatures made for a specific time and a specific opportunity and a unique stewardship of influence, life, and energy. This knowledge limits our pride and temptation to hubris, for we live with the constant awareness that everything we have built can be undone when we are gone. We have a limited opportunity to make a difference, and to make it last. Leadership, in other words, is perishable.The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (p. 200)
We know that character matters when we hire a baby-sitter. How can it not matter when we are calling a leader?The Conviction to Lead (p. 82).
Spiritual authority depends more on care given than on power wielded.
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