The Purpose of a Great Leader

Leadership is not exercised simply by implementing techniques or methods, by using one’s skills, or by exhibiting a particular management style. It is the expression of a mind-set resulting from the Knowledge of who you were born to be.  

We live our lives based on who we think we are and why we think we exist.  Therefore, our leadership development to this point has been influenced by our sense of the significance of life and our relationship to it.

Discovering Your Inherent Purpose
A true leader recognizes that he has a special purpose for being in the world. That purpose determines the area of leadership in which he is to serve. His recognition of his particular purpose is not an indication of undue pride. Rather, it is a realistic assessment of his gift and strengths.

Every person on earth is meant to exercise leadership in a particular area of gifting .one of the gift we can contribute to the world and/or the problem we were born to solve.

This process involves asking ourselves question such as these:

• What are my talents?
• What would I like to do with my life?
• What do I most enjoy doing?
• What has been my lifelong dream?
• What idea  do I have  that refuses to go away or keeps recurring in my mind
• What have I always wanted to do but never thought I would be able to?
• What injustices make me so angry that I must do something to alleviate them?

King Solomon, the wisest and the richest man of his day, said, “Aman’s gift makes room for him. Your unique gift will make room for you in the world, opening doors of opportunity, While drawing the help and resource you need to fulfill your purpose. 

Internally Motivated

Perhaps you have been using your gift to some extent but haven’t really applied it with a sense of personal purpose.  Or, maybe you have been burying your dream, settling for a lesser existence. You may already be very accomplished in a certain field but secretly wish you were doing something different with your life.

If you pursue your true purpose, you will be internally motivated to exercise your inherent gift. In contrast, if you do something you were not born to do, you will have to make an effort to perform it. Maintaining your leader position or your job will become a burden and drain on you. 

When someone is in the wrong place, he sometimes has to prop himself up with a surplus of support people and resource. But when he finds the place for which he was born, his life begins to flow naturally. He no longer needs to manufacture motivation, because he can’t wait to start each day and initiate the next step that will bring him closer to seeing his purpose fulfilled. He’s found what he has been looking for in life. He’s not even motivated by a paycheck, because a true leader has a need to fulfill his purpose, whether or not he receives compensation. Even so he discovered that provision comes when he focuses on serving his gift to the world.

If you hate Monday mornings, if you can’t wait for the weekend to come, then you are a “jet.” But if, after a weekend you are eager to get back to your work (your corporation, artistic endeavors, volunteer activities, and so forth), you are a “bird”­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­- and not just any but an eagle. 

Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls
It can be much more difficult to exercise character in leadership if you are in the wrong field, or position in life. This is because if you have become frustrated and uncertain in your leadership, you may say and do things that are not honest or forthright, for the purpose of protecting your position or keeping your insecurities from being exposed. If you are motivated not by your inherent purpose but by other impulses __a desire for fame, money, and the like __ you will want  to do  whatever it takes to achieve those ends, and characters will take a backseat.

There is vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest ….. Let no young man, choosing the law for a calling, for a moment yield to this popular belief. Resolve to be honest at all events; and if, in your own judgment, you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.

The same principle applies to any arena of endeavor. If you know you cannot have good character while pursuing a certain goal or working in a certain field, then you should cease pursuing that goal or vocation and find your true purpose. You should pursue something that you can do with honesty and integrity. Even when we are functioning according to our purpose, we still have to build and maintain our character, but we can avoid some of the ethical pitfalls that spring from wrong motivations, boredom or apathy, and the fear that others will learn our weaknesses.

When you are settled into your purpose, insecurities will begin to melt away. You wear yourself out trying to please other people; you won’t are doing. You will like yourself because you will experience your own inner approval as you fulfill what you were born to do. You will also be freer in opening up to other people as you work together to fulfill mutual purposes.

The primary focus of your leadership, therefore, should not be to lead people –which result will develop naturally. Rather, it should be to discern your true self and to pursue your purpose. By exercising your unique gift, you will discover you’re your leadership and find meaning, fulfillment, and contentment in your work. And the character it takes to sustain your gift and your leadership is what this book is all about.

You were meant to accomplish something that no one else can accomplish. You were born to do something that the world will not be able to ignore. So, diligently seek your gift, purpose, identity, potential and destiny.