Lessons in Leadership Two and Three by Kim Checkeye

Last week, I posted a blog about lessons in leadership from the John C. Maxwell leadership Bible. In the Introduction of Deuteronomy, he lists eight lessons in leadership. We discussed the first lesson: Develop your core values and beliefs before taking new territory.

What I love about these eight lessons is that each one of them builds off each other. As you develop your core values and beliefs before you take new territory, you begin to build the foundation for the remaining seven lessons in leadership.

Lesson two: Leadership must be proactive, not reactive.

Definition of reactive is tending to be responsive or to react to a stimulus.

Definition of stimulus: An agent, an action, or a condition that elicits or accelerates a physiological or psychological activity or response.

Definition of proactive: Acting in advance to deal with an expected difficulty.

Now I don’t know about you, but as a woman who has emotions, there are many different things that can stimulate me which cause me to react!

However, as a leader, we must learn not to react on these emotions because if we do, we can respond in a manner that is not appropriate. No matter who we are leading, we need to make sure that we are not reacting to situations out of emotions or something that has gotten under our skin. This is whether we are leading our children, in the job force, in ministry, in church etc.

There are many leaders out there leading by reacting to what is coming at them rather than going on the proactive side and begin to act in advance to deal with the expected difficulty.

We all have those times when things come at us that we don’t foresee or have any clue what is around the corner. As a leader, these are the most critical times for us to learn how to be proactive rather than reactive. Will things come along that will attempt to distract us or throw us off track? You bet. But as we grow in leadership, we can begin to grow in how we respond and making sure that we are not losing sight of the goal.

Lesson three: Activity does not equal accomplishment.

WOW! Now this one could be a touchy subject. Have you ever met someone who has their hands in so many different places that they are so busy that they are ineffective? They have many wonderful ideas but because they have themselves stretched so thin, none of the areas they are leading is effective? How does this happen? We get caught up in activities or these “good” things that they distract us from what God is asking us to do.

In leadership, we have a job to do. For each one of us, that goal is different. The focus is different. But we must be like a trained solider who has been given a mission and task to complete. No matter what comes at him, he must complete the goal. Many things may come to distract him or make him busy but nothing can take his focus off the goal. Why? Because it puts him in danger along with everyone else around him. Plus, it takes his focus off the goal.

I encourage you today to not let your emotions get the best of you so you react to things but that you take a proactive stance to focus on the goals ahead and not allow yourself to be distracted.

Lessons in Leadership by Kim Checkeye

A friend of mine bought me a John Maxwell Leadership Bible for Christmas and I love it. I love to read about Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Peter etc. and hear how they were leaders and how God grew their leadership abilities.

As many of you know, Truth for Women is opening The Women’s Center Lehigh Valley on September 11th. The ministry is about to go down a road that we have never been before. I have been reading about the Israelites on their journey to the Promise Land and I have seen it in a whole new light comparing it to Truth for Women embarking on the promise of The Women’s Center.

I am about to go into Deuteronomy and in the introduction, John Maxwell gives eight lessons in leadership that I would like to share with you. Each one is so powerful and is a huge teaching moment. Each one is something to chew on and learn from. I will take them one at a time and continue to post them every couple of days in this blog.

The first lesson in leadership is: Develop your core values and beliefs before taking new territory.

For any leader, this is something that is very important on a daily basis but when God is about to take you into new territory, it is a must. I know for TFW, as we are about to enter into the new territory of The Women’s Center, it is critical for us to establish “filters” for every area of the ministry. We have a new board member and she is graciously teaching us how to do this and how to set the standards.

It is important as leaders that when we are about to embark on new territory that we set these filters in place so that every person, every thought, every task, every assignment, every program gets funneled through these filters.

Whether you realize it or not, each one of you is a leader. Maybe it is your family, work place, church, support groups, friends etc. but each one of you led someone. In all reality, you led more people than you think.

As God opens doors for you to embark on new territory, maybe a job, a new friendship, a new program at church, a new ministry, heading up something at school, whatever it may be, make sure you have your core values and beliefs set before you take that territory. Why? Because those are the areas that are going to be shaken. Those are the areas that are going to be tested. Those are the areas that are going to be your filters for everything that you do.

I have seen time and time again, leaders fall into the game of pride. Why? Because they enter into new territory, they get puffed up and they begin to forget and hold onto those core values and beliefs. Somehow the core values and beliefs get pushed aside and the focus begins to be “it’s all about me” rather than focusing on the goal.

As God opens the doors, before you walk in, get your heart and mind set on the things of God so you will not be shaken. Get your core values and beliefs set so you can take the new territory and excel.