Book, Crook or Hook

     Those in authority generally speak of “leadership” in their exhortations to their constituents.  Whether their authority derives from the sphere of family, politics, church or business, they usually cite leadership in justification for the exercise of their authority.  I contend that we, the led, should be more discerning when confronted with leaders who bid us to adjust our will to theirs.  We should listen carefully to ensure we recognize their voice. 

     What some call leadership is actually management.  Although related, they are not the same thing.  Management is the harboring and application of limited resources to best achieve an agreed-upon end.  “Good” management, is simply doing it efficiently.  Not much else is required.  There are many books written about management, and many schools that teach it.  Which is fine.  One can learn management from a book, in a classroom.  But leadership can neither be learned nor applied from a book.  It is different. 

     First, leadership requires vision.  Leaders visualize outcomes or destinations for their people that they cannot or will not determine for themselves.  Generally, the leader’s visualized destination will not be agreed-upon by the led (at least not initially).  In fact, the majority may resist it—which leads to step two:  the leader must persuade the led toward his visualized destination without compulsion of violence to person or pocketbook.  The led must follow willingly, because they know their shepherd’s voice.  It is a voice of love.  The leader’s crook is carved from trust, not hickory;  he uses it, not for his own ends, but so that none is lost on the journey.  Like management, there are books and schools that teach leadership—but they only go so far.  To fully learn leadership, one must first follow a loving leader and then try lead by his example—and fail, and try again—and fail, and try again.  Likely, the school of leadership has no graduation ceremony in this realm.

     Finally, there is tyranny.  The tyrant’s ends are self-advancement.  At best, they derive from misguided utopian notions that man can be perfected without reconciliation with his maker.  The tyrant’s tools are neither the book of management nor the crook of love (although he will speak of these), for the tyrant neither manages nor leads—he compels.  Like the Assyrian king, the tyrant drags his sheep to his personal Babylon by way of a hook through the nose.  Although he cloaks his lupine nature, we children of God should not be fooled by the tyrant, for we know our Shepherd’s voice.