Few evangelicals have wrestled with biblical leadership and leadership development more than Bobby Clinton. His book, The Making of a Leader,has one of the first places on the critical classicsarea of my leadership bookshelves. Few books have captured the progress of a leader’s development better.
Clinton’s paper on seven major leadership lessons captures the results of a comparative study of over 1200 leader cases studies. I’ve been reading thru this paper over the last few days and have summarized its wisdom below in my own words. I’ve tried to stay true to Clinton’s thinking, but have reworded his thoughts into perhaps a more retainable prose. Paraphrases always involve choices so be sure to read the original as well. You’ll find it here.
1. Effective leaders have a lifetime perspective. They embrace the lifelong process of God’s shaping activity in their lives. They realize that God is moving them toward Christlikeness and that present circumstances are part of God’s effort to forge them into men and women who reflect Christ in every area of their lives.
2. Effective leaders are continuous learners. They remain active learners all their lives– realizing that God is sovereignly bringing into their lives necessary information and wisdom to meet the leadership situations they face. They are always leaning in the direction of learning.
3. Effective leaders realize that their influence arises from their spiritual maturity. Their power arises not from position or privilege, but from the Christlike character that God has built into them. Spiritual maturity and humility lead to authority.
4. Effective leaders develop a set of core values and lead out of those core values. As leaders develop, they knowingly embrace a value-driven philosophy of ministry continually refining those values over their lifetime. In other words, they are guided by values to which they are committed, but remain teachable to “how those values should be adapted or replaced. If you asked them what values drive their philosophy of leadership and ministry, they could tell you.
5. Effective leaders produce other effective leaders. They naturally recognize leadership potential and then proactively select and develop the next generation of leaders. They view themselves as partnering with God in the process of recognizing, selecting and developing emerging leaders. They intuitively give ministry and leadership away to others around them.
6. Effective leaders value close personal relationships with others. They seek close and accountable relationships both with other leaders and with those who follow them. They work consciously to develop relational skills that will help them enjoy others, learn from others and serve others. They realize the power of “relationships first.
7. Effective leaders sense the hand of God on them. Over time, they grow increasingly convinced that God has his hand on them in special ways and for special purposes. This growing awareness doesn’t lead to pride, but to a greater sense of God’s calling on them and of their need to partner with God toward His Kingdom ends.
Clinton warns that only a few of the leaders he studied actually exemplified all seven characteristics. Nevertheless, he said, whether these lessons reflect a by-product of effective leadership or represent the causes behind effective leadership, we can improve our own effectiveness as movement building leaders by applying them to our lives.
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