Week 18: Leadership Criteria – Part Three

• Are you able to keep people focused on the main thing? The prime objective of Southwest Airlines was to keep their fares lower than any other airline. When members of the leadership base wanted to add food for the customers—instead of peanuts—the top level leaders said, “No, we’ll stick with peanuts.” That decision kept them on track with their mission.

• Are you an analyzer or a resolver? Leading is more than the ability to run a good meeting. It is the ability to know what to do with what you see wrong.

• Are you willing to confront? No one likes confrontation, but it goes with the job description of leading. It shouldn’t be something you love to do, but you must be willing to confront a problem to keep it from building into an exploding volcano. Kill the anaconda while it’s still in the egg.

• Are you mature? Age doesn’t guarantee maturity. Responding to the dealings of God, wisely, however, will.

• Are you able to keep a confidence? This costs many leaders their influence with people.

• Are you able to yield to a point well made by another? To never admit you’re wrong is to equally lose influence with people who know you are.

• Are you easily annoyed by other people’s failures? Or do they challenge you to want to help them do better and look for ways to equip them to succeed?

• Are you one who avoids the problem person on your team or do you seek them out? Jesus had problem men among his disciples and sought them out to adjust them in wisdom and love. At the end, their loyalty was so strong they died for him.

• Are you gripped with “passion” for your mission, or half-hearted about it? Only passion attracts followers—they pay attention to the voice of enthusiasm. All out focus and singleness of heart and mind produces a level of energy that’s contagious. Paul said, “This one thing I do.” John Wesley said, “Catch on fire and others will love to come watch you burn.”

• Are you able to use disappointment creatively? Sir Winston Churchill said at a graduation commencement, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.” Thomas Edison spent an entire year finding the perfect filament for his newly patented electric bulb. He tested more than 6,000 plants to determine which material would burn the longest.

• Are you able to readily secure the cooperation, respect and confidence of others? All the traits of good leadership in the last three blogs will ensure this privilege.

• Are you usually the person entrusted with handling difficult, delicate situations? Upon interpreting the dream of Pharaoh and advising him how to handle the interpretation of the dream, Joseph was entrusted with the role of supreme governor of Egypt. He not only pointed out the problem, he offered a solution to the problem. Many are quick to criticize without a solution.

• Are you able to put others at ease in your presence? Authoritarians do not.

• Are you at ease in the presence of your superiors? Insecure people are not.

• Are you decisive or a vacillator? Leaders possess a strong, decisive and steady will.