Friday, February 20, 2009
Leading in Hope
Alan Nelson, writing at MMI, discusses "leadership" in the current economy:
Firstly, this is makes good economic sense too. Hope, in a real sense drives our economy. I invest because I hope to make more money doing so. Investment, whether in the stock market, a new business, or a new home, is what drives our economy. Hope gives us confidence and confidence allows risk and risk makes for investment. We were too confident and some people made some investments that were way too risky. But right now we seem to have so little hope that people won't make any investments. We need hope economically speaking.
But more importantly, I come to church for hope. Hope in eternity, but most importantly hope in the now. Hope that I can be the person God created me to be - not mired in the muck that is "normal" life. Sometimes I think the church is really good at dispensing hope for eternity, but really lousy at dispensing hope for today. When things get "practical" it just so often seems like I cannot separate what comes from the church from what comes from so many other secular sources.
And yet Christ came that I might have life more abundantly - NOW!
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To paraphrase John F. Kennedy (who paraphrased someone else), managers look at things as they are and ask “Why?” but leaders look at things as they might be an declare, “Why not?”I agree with this on all sorts of levels. Two brief comments.
Leadership shines brightest when things are darkest. It differentiates those who manage from those who really lead. Napoleon said, “Leaders are vendors of hope.” People need hope.
[...]
Although pastors like to spiritualize a lot of things, hope as a leader probably has more to do with psychology then theology. People are looking to you for cues to know how they should respond, not just doctrinally correct teaching. Are you a thermostat or a thermometer? It’s a well worn metaphor, but worth a reminder. Thermometers measure the temperature, but thermostats set the temperature. Leaders are thermostats, not thermometers. I imagine you already knew that, but some of the best lessons in life aren’t new, they just remind us of what we already knew.
So as the New Year breaks, one of my resolutions is to lead by verbalizing the positive. It’s good theology (Phil. 4:8) and good psychology that result in good leading.
Firstly, this is makes good economic sense too. Hope, in a real sense drives our economy. I invest because I hope to make more money doing so. Investment, whether in the stock market, a new business, or a new home, is what drives our economy. Hope gives us confidence and confidence allows risk and risk makes for investment. We were too confident and some people made some investments that were way too risky. But right now we seem to have so little hope that people won't make any investments. We need hope economically speaking.
But more importantly, I come to church for hope. Hope in eternity, but most importantly hope in the now. Hope that I can be the person God created me to be - not mired in the muck that is "normal" life. Sometimes I think the church is really good at dispensing hope for eternity, but really lousy at dispensing hope for today. When things get "practical" it just so often seems like I cannot separate what comes from the church from what comes from so many other secular sources.
And yet Christ came that I might have life more abundantly - NOW!
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