Some snippets from the advance paper on global leadership, "We Have A Problem! - But There Is Hope! - Results of a Survey of 1,000 Christian Leaders from Across the Globe"+ 1031 senior global christian leaders across 7 continents surveyed.
+ Big boss leadership is a prevalent issue.
+ Christ-centered leadership is challenging because it's counter cultural at its essence.
+ Christ-centered leadership: Integrity, authenticity, excellent character, servant's heart, humble, spiritually mature, hears God's voice, holy and prayerful, excellent people management skills and ability to discern and develop the gifts of others, Biblical knowledge, theologically sound, compassionate, good listener, more oriented to people than accomplishing the task.
+ When 1,000 leaders were asked the question, "If you had the opportunity to take classes in leadership development right now, what subjects would be of most interest to you?" their top prioritized choices included: Mentoring/Coaching, Prayer and the Personal Life of a Leader, People Management, Conflict Resolution, Strategic Planning.
+ What would you say is the most frequent cause of failure in Christian leaders to 'finish well' as a Christ-centered leader in the nation where you are currently living? Respondents could pick three answers. The top five included: Burn-out, Abuse of power, Inappropriate use of finances, Inordinate Pride, Lack of growth in their Spiritual Life
+ "Which of five answers comes the closest to explaining why there is such a shortage of Christ-centered leaders?" Their overwhelming response was: So-called 'leadership training programs' do not really prepare people to lead in the real world. People have credentials but they can't lead. A somewhat close second was the answer: The current leader won't allow the new ones to develop.
A few points of commentary:
+ Notice that even across cultures, the identified leadership issues are common. Leadership should certainly keep in mind context and culture but the common challenges span contexts.
+ There is a systemic gap in the way people view leaders. Reason 1 for the shortage in Christian leaders [last bullet] : "Leadership training programs don’t really prepare people to lead in the real world." Leaders learn in crisis, failing fast, in experiment mode. Not many of our ministries are prepared to handle that kind of chaos for the cause of 'leadership development.'
+ Reason 2 for the shortage : "The current leader won’t allow the new ones to develop." We have to stop using the word leader for anyone and everyone that we think might have influence. A person that isn’t allowing others to grow is a chaperone at best, but not a 'leader.' If the person in charge is not identifying and investing in emerging people of influence, let's stop using the description 'leader' for them.
+ If you are a student, one of the best things you can do to learn about some of the topics above is to start or run a volunteer organization.
This post is part of a series of posts about Cape Town 2010 highlighting what I think are some important concepts that students interested in missions should be aware of.
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