Character Based Leadership

He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk.

John Maxwell

In his book Developing the Leader Within You, John Maxwell identifies five levels of leadership and the way in which influence is exercised within each level.  At the lowest level, Positional leadership, people follow you because they have to.  Your influence does not extend beyond the lines of your job description.  He extends the leadership ladder through Permission (people follow you because they want to), Production (people follow you because of what you have done for the organization), People Development (people follow you because of what you have done for them) and concludes with the highest level of leadership, Personhood.  At this level people follow you because of who are are.

As I read this, I reflected on the leadership style of Christ.  Certainly some people followed Christ because of what he had done for them; he was clearly interested in People Development.  But ultimately, he is the perfect example of Personhood leadership.  His disciples followed him because of who he was.  Think of Peter's words in John 6.  Jesus had identified himself as the Bread of Life, alluding to his death for man's sins.  This was clearly not a People Development leadership; in fact this message drove some away.  But when Jesus asked his disciples, "Will you also go away?", Peter responded, "To whom shall we go? ... We have come to know that you are the Holy One of God."  Peter was affirming his personhood ... the disciples were following him because of who he was.

Personhood leadership is, at its core, character-based leadership.  It is based upon the respect the followers have for the leader based upon the character they see in his/her life.  It is those kinds of leaders we are striving to develop at Heritage Christian Academy.  Our Student Outcomes state that we "seek to develop Christ-like behavior in the lives of all student" so that they can "display biblical leadership concepts in church, civic, political, or social organizations.  Toward this end, we have a special school-wide emphasis this year on developing the specific character qualities identified in our Student Outcomes throughout our student body - commitment to Christ, respect of all people, courteous and socially competent, responsive to authority, trustworthy and honest, optimistic and encouraging, responsible, diligent and persevering, thoughtful and discerning, and compassionate toward others.

To quote Maxwell again: The best investment in the future is a proper influence today.