Rethinking Great Leadership

In the book, The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch writes:
"In Australia we have an amazingly large spreading tree called the Morton Bay fig. It is a beautiful, very imposing tree. The problem is that nothing grows underneath it, because it casts such a wide shadow. A top-down, more autocratic leadership style can be likened to the Morton Bay fig. It can be magnificent, but it casts such a shadow that no other leadership develops in its shade."
Here are four wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee questions for you to wrestle...

1. How can someone's leadership be so "magnificent" than nothing else can grow under it? Explain.

2. What do you see under your leadership tree? Be specific.

3. What do you see under Jesus' leadership tree? Be specific.

4. How are your answers to question #2 and #3 different? Similar?

Bottom line: If you're such a great leader that everyone around you is afraid to lead—or can't lead because of your intimidating shadow, then you're really not that great of a leader.

Think about it.

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