WHAT DO LEADERS DO?

I am often asked: What do leaders do?  What are their tasks?  Here are some tasks for the leader to consider:

• To act with integrity at all times [consistency NOT perfection is the goal]
• To be vulnerable and to model being vulnerable [i.e. to be transparent – this is who I am; to take risks – to model ‘failure’ if you will – to invite the uninvited; to carry the wound gracefully – root meaning of vulnerable comes from the Latin, ‘vulnus’ which means ‘to carry the wound gracefully – as a leader you will be wounded (some of these will be self-inflicted for we do violence to ourselves)
• To develop your capacity for discernment [discernment = that which imparts wisdom and good judgment].  Leaders are called to discern many things, two of these are: (1) nuance and (2) shifting or changing or transforming realities
• To be awake and aware – to be disturbed by what you ‘see’ (or hear or feel or experience); to be aware of the human spirit (seeking to first understand the cares, yearnings, and struggles of the human spirit – to be empathetic!); ‘person skills’ proceed and trump ‘professional skills’ for the leader (whether servant-first or leader-first leader)
• To have courage (from the Latin, ‘cour’ which means heart); those led expect a leader: to face up to tough decisions (e.g., when to decide for the person and when to decide for the institution; when to engage problems, paradoxes and dilemmas); to face up to conflict, especially conflicts of values and needs; to face up to promises made – and to make promises; to live the covenant they have with the led – both the explicit and implicit covenants (a covenant is a binding agreement; a moral contract)
• To have a sense of humor – this is essential to living with ambiguity and essential if one is to live with the diversity and the vagaries of the human condition
• To be curious – What can you learn from those who choose to follow you?   Life, as we know, is becoming more and more complex and so it is crucial for a leader to be curious of ALL of those who choose to follow and to be curious of what they have to offer (i.e. their potential and their ‘actual’) – learning is communal, we must learn to learn together.
• Engaging the Present while learning from the Past while planning for and anticipating the Future
• Being predictable when it comes to your core values [a ‘core’ value is a value that to the best of your ability you will never compromise], your vision and your mission
• Learning to be comfortable with ambiguity – followers will then be more comfortable with ambiguity
• Being ‘Present’ – a leader stops to ask questions, a leader then listens receptively and attentively; a leader demonstrates patience; a leader seeks out nuance; a leader is more in the ‘now’ than he/she is in the ‘know’
• Balancing being effective with being faithful