LEADERSHIP Series: Thinking Clearly

Being good and doing what’s right. Christian leaders are called to these attributes.

What is right? It is anything that we do for others that encourages them, builds them up and moves them away from bondage to freedom. That ethic is derived from the Ten Commandants that begins with God then moves to some common sense principles dealing with others. Servant-leadership principles have their source in these ten simple, but profound, commandments (not guidelines or suggestions).

Proverbs 3: 21a (MSG) Dear friend, guard Clear Thinking and Common Sense with your life; don't for a minute lose sight of them.

Clear thinking about “being good and doing right” has it source in a willingness to honor God in everything and as the source of everything, and then respects Him in such a way that we seek to emulate how He walked on earth as a human with integrity. Integration of the sacred with the secular drives clear thinking, especially for leaders who would want to impact their world with a powerful conceptualization of the future that yields the building of true community at work, at home or in a nation. Piecemeal thinking produces partial answers and may prompt polluted processes of leading and managing.

Common sense (sound judgment) drives the principles involved in treating others as we wish to be treated. Remember, leadership isn’t a solo adventure; after all, a leader must have followers. Neither is it rocket science: it is a combination of skills, learned attitudes and observable behaviors that can be learned. Although leaders encourage innovation (born, not from common but from uncommon sense), it takes sound judgment to encourage, build-up, empower, listen to and support those who want to make a positive difference in the world.

Are you driven by sound judgment and discernment?

Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell