Have you noticed the obsession with leadership that we seem to have in the church? It reflects the dual impression that leadership is critically important and that it is sorely lacking. Every consultant, trainer, author, and critic has something to say about leadership. I am no exception.

There are three prevailing views that — I believe — are erroneous and simply act to cloud the issue. These are:

1. Leadership is fundamentally different today than it has been in the past.
2. We will never again see the kind of leaders (heroes) we have seen in the past.
3. Anyone can be a leader.

Leadership is Different Today

It is not leadership that has changed, but our perception of leadership. Gravity did not begin the day Newton got hit on the head. The planets did not suddenly reorient themselves around the sun when Copernicus gained his insight. The kind of leadership that we most value and prize today is not new. Collegial, team-based leadership is evidenced time after time throughout history. So many current "leadership gurus" have no historical perspective on our current situation. We are not facing something new and different. We are merely seeing through a different set of lenses. The error comes from attempting to define leadership as though it were one simple principle. There has never been one kind of leadership, but a multiplicity of "leaderships."

We Will Never See Hero Leaders Again

Contemporary authors — Christian and secular — speak nostalgically of the passing of the "hero" leader. They lament that we may never see Nelson Mandela, a Billy Graham, or a Mother Theresa again. They challenge us to point to living examples of those who will rise to fill these leaders' giant shoes. Finding no clear successors, they cluck their tongues and say, "We will never see their kind again." Once more, this shows a lack of historical perspective. Often, time and context define leaders. Few people looked at the adolescent Graham or Mandela and said, "There is a great leader!"

In 1871 and again in 1916, columnists for the New York Times and Washington Post wrote articles lamenting the passing of the great "hero" leaders. Each generation looks to its own role models and asks, "Who will lead after they are gone?" Their fear is that the answer will be "No one," but history reveals otherwise. In each new generation, hero leaders emerge. The current generation will be no exception.

Anyone Can Be a Leader

At the risk of mincing words, I offer this alternative: "Not everyone is a leader, though everyone fulfills leadership roles at one time or another." Anyone who studies the history of the church and the discipline of spiritual gifts knows that leadership is one gift among many. Throughout history, there has been a clear differentiation between leadership as identity and leadership as functional role. Just because pastors fill the leadership role in a local congregation doesn't mean they are gifted leaders. Conversely, simply because someone does not hold a leadership position does not imply that he or she is not a leader. The gift of leadership and the role of leadership are often — sadly — mutually exclusive.

An illustration of what I mean is Peg Staling and Jennifer Mott. Peg owns and runs her own real estate firm. She chairs her town council. She is lay leader of her church. She co-leads her daughter's soccer team. She moves from one role to another effortlessly. Instead of being worn down by so many activities, she is actually energized by the work she performs. Peg is a leader. Jennifer runs a household, serves on committees at her church, has never attended a town council meeting, and co-leads the soccer team with Peg. On the soccer field, there are two competent, effective leaders. Jennifer rises to the occasion and provides excellent leadership in that context. Jennifer is the first to admit that she is not a leader, although she can provide leadership from time to time.

This is not mere equivocating. This is an important distinction. Not everyone is gifted and equipped to lead, and not everyone should lead. We dishonor people who are gifted helpers and followers when we place a burden on them that they should become leaders. God gifts people differently. Who are we to say that all people should be one thing or another?

We need to create environments where both good leaders and effective leadership can emerge. We need to create corporate cultures for "leaderships".

There are a wide variety of "leaderships." I want to offer ten examples to get the conversation started. Each of these styles has positive and negative elements — none is fundamentally good or bad. Each is appropriate in certain contexts. Reflect on these ten styles, talk about them with others — both leaders and people providing functional leadership — and add your own categories to the list. As you see other "leaderships" emerge, please share them with us at the General Board of Discipleship ddick@gbod.org).

1. Dictator — A dictator leadership style assumes the role of unlimited power, authority, expertise, and control. A single individual makes decisions, issues orders, sets rules, and defines standards of behavior. The dictator is the undisputed person in charge. Questioning the leadership of the dictator is not an option. Dave Campbell, surgeon and Red Cross lifeguard instructor, tells his students that on the beach or at the pool, they have absolute power. Theirs, literally, is the power of life and death.
2. General — The general’s leadership style exists when an individual stands in the best position to see the whole picture and is making decisions based upon the broadest base of information and knowledge. When strategic decision making falls to an individual, it is the general style that is most appropriate. Denise Lindquist, an air traffic controller, says that when she is at her screen (radar), no one challenges her instructions or orders because no one knows what she knows; and no one is in a better position to make decisions. She quips, "A control tower is no place to test consensus."
3. Conductor — When an individual is called upon to coordinate a variety of disparate parts into a cohesive whole, the best style is that of the conductor. As a conductor weaves the talents, textures, and musical sounds of an orchestra into a symphony, so the conductor leadership style requires a deep knowledge of the system involved and a sensitivity to how best to blend gifts, talents, and knowledge synergistically. Kathy Kirk, a soup kitchen operator in the Chicago area, points to her staff — a female wrestler, a Mary Kay cosmetics saleswoman, a reformed drug addict, a Sunday school teacher, and the man who mugged her five months previously - and says, "My job isn’t to feed hungry people any more. It’s to make sure these people feed hungry people without killing one another in the meantime."
4. Director — The leadership style of the director is ultimately one of empowerment. Directors give clear and concise instruction from the auditorium with the expectation that they may retire to the wings when the performance occurs. Directors help others realize their potential and free them to reach peak performance on their own. Directors believe in the inherent ability of each person they direct, but also hold in highest esteem their own ability to bring out the best in others. Nancy Crouse, a high school drama teacher, says that her role is not to create something new, but to unleash what already exists. She succeeds most once she is no longer needed.
5. Coach — The coach leadership style is about mentoring individuals to improve. The coach has first-hand knowledge of the skills and information followers need to accomplish their tasks. By employing experience, knowledge, and instruction, coaches analyze situations and enable people to develop. Coaches encourage people and continuously hold the larger picture in their own minds so that others may stay focused on their own part. A college basketball player says of Coach Steve Alford, "The guy is amazing. He watches all five of his players on the court and the men they are playing against, and he knows where each of them ought to be and what should happen next, and how best to make it happen. I’ve never known anyone who could see so much and then communicate it to others who don’t even see one-tenth as much."
6. Captain — When a leader emerges as "first among equals," she or he is employing the captain leadership style. Captains are usually elected or appointed to provide a specific kind of leadership in a specific setting. Generally, captains emerge as leaders through effort and achievement. Captains prove themselves worthy of leadership that is then conferred on them by others. Amanda Maxwell, a high school junior, remembers being asked to serve on her school’s student council without ever campaigning for the job. "During our school elections, I was busy writing to the school board about reinstating books that had been banned from our library. I led a campaign to fight censorship that eventually grew citywide. My guidance counselor and the student council sponsor came to me and told me that at an assembly my name was nominated as the kind of leader the students need. They elected me unanimously. I’m still in shock. I never dreamed of even running, let alone being elected."
7. Partner — Partnership is a style of leadership. When decision making, responsibility, and authority are shared equally by two or three people, the appropriate leadership style is partnership. The greatest benefit of partnership is that a variety of skills, knowledge, and ability can be combined. Burdens and stresses can be shared, and successes can be celebrated. Many effective individuals find their performance greatly enhanced when they form partnerships. Many great comic duos of the past illustrate the synergy that can occur in partnership. Burns and Allen, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, and Martin and Lewis are a few examples of how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Shared leadership is leadership with greater potential.
8. Team — A group of people sharing the responsibility for a task or project model the team leadership style. Teams allow people with very specific gifts, talents, and abilities to perform work together that would be difficult or impossible individually. Often teams of leaders may have a captain, director, or a conductor; but ultimately, different members with different gifts will lead different parts of the task or project. A flock of geese wings its way southward. The point goose tires and falls back, to be replaced by another. Leadership passes freely and frequently to the most appropriate member as need arises. Dave Campbell, neurological surgeon, says, "I stay out of the way until the patient is prepped and the pre-surgery is finished. When it’s my turn, I step up, and I am in charge. I do my thing, step back, and someone else closes. It works like a finely crafted watch."
9. Servant — One who leads by serving the needs of others; one who seeks to enable all involved to thrive and succeed; one who does so by assuming the mantle of the servant leadership style. Humility, respect, and a desire to share credit characterize this style. Servant leaders value mutual benefit more highly than praise, integrity more than recognition, and responsibility more than admiration. Servant leaders feel they have succeeded most completely when they make others look as good as (and sometimes better than) themselves. A young psychologist remembers a teacher at her daycare center when she was a child, Margaret Atwater. "Margaret always made sure we all got a snack or a turn on the slide. Margaret walked around to see if anyone was left out or crying. She always helped tie shoes, or put on coats, or clean up. She would smile and tell us to thank her by remembering to help others. I think of her all the time, even now. Boy, I hope I am like her." Servant leadership inspires servant leadership.
10. Example — Leading by example is a cliché, but it is also a valid style. Some of the most powerful teacher/leaders in the world let their actions speak for them. People like following leaders who lead by example — who model integrity of thought, word, and action. The lives of exemplary leaders inspire others to become like them. They are referred to as standards — benchmarks of behavior and performance. Barry Delbarton began picking up garbage from neighborhood sidewalks every Saturday morning in 1997. By early 1998, fifteen people — all who had seen Barry and had been inspired by his commitment — gathered weekly to pick up litter. One year later, almost forty people a week, on average, hit the streets with garbage bags. Barry’s reaction? Kidding, he says, "Heck, I used to pull weeds in my yard every Saturday morning, and nobody ever helped me do that. I’m not quite sure why this is so different!"

This is not an exhaustive or precise list. It does, however, remind us that there are now, and have always been, a variety of leadership styles at work in a given time and place. Some are more appropriate than others. Each is defined by context.

All of us assume leadership from time to time. What defines our style in one situation may not define it in the next. Truly exceptional leaders — those possessing the gift of leadership — move effortlessly from one style to another with an intuitive grace. That’s what makes it a gift. For the rest of us, we can learn to pick and choose. We can develop an understanding of the nature of leadership that helps us be more flexible and adaptive. We can free ourselves from the burden of finding the "key to effective leadership" — the one right way — and be who we really are: leader, follower, partner, or participant.

If you’d like to learn more . . .

Here are seven current books on leadership that may deepen your understanding about leadership and provide information helpful in shaping and developing your leadership styles:

• Leadership Without Easy Answers by Ronald A. Heifetz, Belknap Press/Harvard, 1994.
• First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster, 1999.
• Right From the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role by Dan Ciampa and Michael Watkins, Harvard, 1999.
• Fusion Leadership by Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, Berret-Koehler, 1998.
• The Leader of the Future, edited by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and Richard Beckhard, Jossey-Bass, 1996.
• Leader to Leader, edited by Frances Hesselbein & Paul M Cohen, Jossey-Bass, 1999.
• Leadership & Spirit, by Russ S. Moxley, Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Down the PDF version of this article.

Dan R. Dick is a former staff member of the General Board of Discipleship.

(Originally posted 10-3-00)