Maxim 1. Leaders are summoned!

The Problem with the Vision Thing

What is wrong is “the vision thing.” Our understanding of leadership needs to be turned upside down. The future needs ears even more than it needs eyes. To put it bluntly: The whole leadership thing is a demented concept. Leaders are neither born nor made. Leaders are summoned. They are called into existence by circumstances. Those who rise to the occasion are leaders. (Leanard Sweet)

Leaders don’t have a vision first they have a calling, a summoning to do something. They have nothing in the beginning, no strategy, no plan, and they can even lack vision. Leaders are called. Leaders hear that they have a mission and move.

If this is the case; titles, position, and popularity are not the true makings of leaders. Rather those who rise and can effect change are leaders. These thoughts remind me of the statement often made by political leaders about history choosing them and defining their legacy.
In ministry you may desire an office, and that office is a good work. Whatever your qualifications are the main issue for leading is your calling. You will be moving and your work will be good. Your calling is made sure, your summoning, by the fact that you are on mission and effecting change in the area you desire to lead. At first, there is no need for a title, there is not even a need in the leaders mind for a plan. The leader is moving though. The leader is in action. He is rising.

This definition of leadership is very much in line with what I see in many Biblical leaders. For example, Nehemiah didn’t have a following, didn’t have a position, didn’t have any money but he was summoned. His summoning led him to carry a sad countenance with his cups before the King. All he had was a calling, a summoning. He had no vision, and no plan until he got to Jerusalem for rebuilding the walls. He was incredibly ignorant of the tasks necessary, or the necessary resources he needed. All that being said, when we was given the resources he was quick to develop a plan. When he assessed the walls he was quick to come up with a strategy for accomplishing the task. Then he shared the vision. What made him a leader was that he was willing to rise to the occasion of fixing the walls that were broken down. He risked death to present what God had summoned him to do.

Dr. Sweet talks about the book Good to Great by Collins and how he defines leadership. Collins suggests that it is “the intentionally humble and quiet leaders who truly make a difference. Humility can win out over more powerful organizational forces.” It is often the culture of the company that produces a great leader rather than the other way around. Great companies often have humble and quiet leaders who have been summoned to a cause greater than themselves. If this is the case character not vision is the stuff of leadership. What matters most is not the clarity of your eyes (Vision), but the charity of your heart and the clearness of your ears. (Leanard Sweet)

Summoned leaders can make things happen. There is a divine energy that causes, effects what they have been called to do to move. Can you cause a thing to go? Leaders who are summoned can cause a thing to go. The Old English word for lead means to “to cause a thing to go.” (Leanard Sweet)

History will be our guide. We will look at leaders in history as we go through and chase this thought with Dr. Leanard Sweet. If leaders are summoned and then given a voice what great leaders have risen to the occasion and demonstrated incredible gifting and divine direction in the midst of circumstances that were perilous?

I can think of many such leaders Charles Shackleton is just one such man who was summoned to lead in difficult circumstances. Abraham Lincoln is maybe our greatest president because he summoned to lead in the midst of the circumstances of his time. Martin Luther King is another who amid racial turmoil was summoned to lead. It seems to me that all great leaders have a great dilemma into which a divine God places them and it is His great pleasure to watch them lead. They are often unknown, ordinary people who lack often what the world believes are necessary skills and training. However, they were made for what they are summoned to.

I am reminded of the movie Apollo 13. There is a quote in that movie that is truly great. It is not, “Houston we have a problem.” It is when the Nasa Director says what he is thinking. “I think this could be the worst disaster in NASA history.” Gene Kranz the mission coordinator says, “With all due respect sir, this could be our finest hour.” I would like to submit that Kranz was summoned to lead for that moment in history. He studied all his life for that moment when God thrust him into the lime light as mission coordinator for Apollo 13. With passion and great leadership skill Gene Kranz motivated his people telling them, “We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option.”

The thing about summoned leaders is that they rise. They have the character to overcome their circumstances, and often great failures produce great leaders. Summoned leaders care about what can be done and they make things move. I don't care about what anything was DESIGNED to do, I care about what it CAN do. Gene Kranz Apollo 13 Coordinator

Summoned leaders care only about what can be done. They were designed for the moment into which they have been placed. They rise and go and make things happen for the better!

What is more important your vision, or your character?

Can you think of a leader in history who you believe was summoned to lead?

What role do you believe God plays in leadership?