Tag Archive - Leadership

6 Sources of Power

May 10, 2007 in Leadership, Reading with 2 Comments

I’m reading through Leadership Divided and it quotes something from John French and Bertram Raven. They call these the 6 sources of power but they could just as well refer to influence in general. They are:

    1. Positional – based on a person’s role, which gives them the ability to give orders and make demands
    2. Referent – based on being liked or admired
    3. Coercive – based on having the ability to control something someone else needs
    4. Reward – based on the ability to grant or distribute rewards, including money, recognition, promotions, referrals, or other favors
    5. Expertise – based on having knowledge and skills that others do not possess or that are needed for a specific task
    6. Experience – based on having information or perspective that others do not have

This got me really thinking about what I naturally do and what I see those who I follow use. It seems to me that there are really only half of these that I would consider positive ongoing reasons for people to follow you: referent, expertise, and experience. This offers an interesting filter from which to observe and navigate the workplace.

The Relationship of Power

August 1, 2006 in Leadership, Reading, Spirituality with 3 Comments

I’ve been thinking through an idea that keeps getting bigger as I read more and think more about it. It was triggered by something that I read in the book Spiritual Leadership by the Blackaby brothers. It says that

If Jesus provides the model for spiritual leadership, then the key is not for leaders to develop visions and to set the direction for their organizations. The key is to obey and to preserve everything the Father reveals to them of his will. Ultimately, the Father is the leader. God has the vision of what He wants to do. God does not ask leaders to dream big dreams for him or to solve the problems that confront them. He asks leaders to walk with him so intimately that, when he reveals what is on his agenda, they will immediately adjust their lives to his will and the results will bring glory to God. (pg. 29)

What this quote is alluding to and the bigger idea that has been brewing in my mind is that maybe a lot of Jesus’ power came from His intimate relationship with the Father. Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe that Jesus was God in flesh but maybe we attribute too much of what He did to His divine nature as opposed to His relationship with the Father. I think it’s safe to assume that Jesus was closer with the Father than any person has ever been.

The really intriguing idea that comes from this is: what could God do through us if we were more in tune with Him? I’m starting to believe that we could have almost “supernatural” abilities because of how close we would be to what God is doing. The reason I started thinking of this idea in this way is that I heard a person that I really respect tell me about an opportunity that he recently missed. He said that he could have noticed something that was going on with a person if he would have been closer in his walk with Christ.

How would I act differently if I were closer in tune with God’s heart, with God’s purpose, and with God’s values? Could I discern things that would be otherwise impossible? Could I know about things that God would do but hasn’t yet? Maybe we are our greatest limitation to living a powerful Christian life.

Leadership Lesson Learned

June 12, 2006 in Leadership with 8 Comments

Wow…that is my most impressive alliteration title I’ve written yet!

We had a leadership camp for some of our students in JH and HS and we spent the week listening to different leaders share what they know about leadership and life. One of the speakers gave us a list of things to remember as we try and lead others and one thing stood out in particular. He said to remember that,

“Nobody cares how busy you are.”

While that may seem like a trite lesson on leadership it really hit me. How often have I explained to someone how busy I am (and almost always as an excuse of some kind)? Everyone is busy and the truth really is that people don’t care when we use this as a copout. I’ll definitely try and alter my vocabulary from now one to avoid this one.

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