Turn Your Speech Into A Leadership Talk

My experience working with thousands of leaders world wide for the past two decades teaches me that most leaders are screwing up their careers.

On a daily basis, these leaders are getting the wrong results or the right results in the wrong ways.

Interestingly, they themselves are choosing to fail. They're actively sabotaging their own careers.

Leaders commit this sabotage for a simple reason: They make the fatal mistake of choosing to communicate with presentations and speeches -- not leadership talks.

In terms of boosting one's career, the difference between the two methods of leadership communication is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

Speeches/presentations primarily communicate information. Leadership talks, on the other hand, not only communicate information, they do more: They establish a deep, human emotional connection with the audience.

Why is the later connection necessary in leadership?

Look at it this way: Leaders do nothing more important than get results. There are generally two ways that leaders get results: They can order people to go from point A to point B; or they can have people WANT TO go from A to B.

Clearly, leaders who can instill "want to" in people, who motivate those people, are much more effective than leaders who can't or won't.

And the best way to instill "want to" is not simply to relate to people as if they are information receptacles but to relate to them on a deep, human, emotional way.

And you do it with leadership talks.

Here are a few examples of leadership talks.

When Churchill said, "We will fight on the beaches ... " That was a leadership talk.

When Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you ... " that was a leadership talk.

When Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" That was a leadership talk.

You can come up with a lot of examples too. Go back to those moments when the words of a leader inspired people to take ardent action, and you've probably put your finger on an authentic leadership talk.

Mind you, I'm not just talking about great leaders of history. I'm also talking about the leaders in your organizations. After all, leaders speak 15 to 20 times a day: everything from formal speeches to informal chats. When those interactions are leadership talks, not just speeches or presentations, the effectiveness of those leaders is dramatically increased.

How do we put together leadership talks? It's not easy. Mastering leadership talks takes a rigorous application of many specific processes. As Clement Atlee said of that great master of leadership talks, Winston Churchill, "Winston spent the best years of his life preparing his impromptu talks."

Churchill, Kennedy, Reagan and others who were masters at giving leadership talks didn't actually call their communications "leadership talks", but they must have been conscious to some degree of the processes one must employ in putting a leadership talk together.

Here's how to start. If you plan to give a leadership talk, there are three questions you should ask. If you answer "no" to any one of those questions, you can't give one. You may be able to give a speech or presentation, but certainly not a leadership talk.

(1) DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE AUDIENCE NEEDS?

Winston Churchill said, "We must face the facts or they'll stab us in the back."

When you are trying to motivate people, the real facts are THEIR facts, their reality.

Their reality is composed of their needs. In many cases, their needs have nothing to do with your needs.

Most leaders don't get this. They think that their own needs, their organization's needs, are reality. That's okay if you're into ordering. As an order leader, you only need work with your reality. You simply have to tell people to get the job done. You don't have to know where they're coming from. But if you want to motivate them, you must work within their reality, not yours.

I call it "playing the game in the people's home park". There is no other way to motivate them consistently. If you insist on playing the game in your park, you'll be disappointed in the motivational outcome.

(2) CAN YOU BRING DEEP BELIEF TO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?

Nobody wants to follow a leader who doesn't believe the job can get done. If you can't feel it, they won't do it.

But though you yourself must "want to" when it comes to the challenge you face, your motivation isn't the point. It's simply a given. If you're not motivated, you shouldn't be leading.

Here's the point: Can you TRANSFER your motivation to the people so they become as motivated as you are?

I call it THE MOTIVATIONAL TRANSFER, and it is one of the least understood and most important leadership determinants of all.

There are three ways you can make the transfer happen.

* CONVEY INFORMATION. Often, this is enough to get people motivated. For instance, many people have quit smoking because of information on the harmful effects of the habit

* MAKE SENSE. To be motivated, people must understand the rationality behind your challenge. Re: smoking: People have been motivated to quit because the information makes sense.

* TRANSMIT EXPERIENCE. This entails having the leader's experience become the people's experience. This can be the most effective method of all, for when the speaker's experience becomes the audience's experience, a deep sharing of emotions and ideas, a communing, can take place.

There are plenty of presentation and speech courses devoted to the first two methods, so I won't talk about those.

Here's a few thoughts on the third method. Generally speaking, humans learn in two ways: by acquiring intellectual understanding and through experience. In our schooling, the former predominates, but it is the latter which is most powerful in terms of inducing a deep sharing of emotions and ideas; for our experiences, which can be life's teachings, often lead us to profound awareness and purposeful action.

Look back at your schooling. Was it your book learning or your experiences, your interactions with teachers and students, that you remember most? In most cases, your experiences made the most telling impressions upon you.

To transfer your motivation to others, use what I call my "defining moment" technique, which I describe fully in my book, DEFINING MOMENT: MOTIVATING PEOPLE TO TAKE ACTION.

In brief, the technique is this: Put into sharp focus a particular experience of yours then communicate that focused experience to the people by describing the physical facts that gave you the emotion.

Now, here's the secret to the defining moment. That experience of yours must provide a lesson and that lesson is a solution to the needs of the people. Otherwise, they'll think you're just talking about yourself.

For the defining moment to work (i.e., for it to transfer your motivation to them), the experience must be about them. The experience happened to you, of course. But that experience becomes their experience when the lesson it communicates is a solution to their needs.

(3) CAN YOU HAVE THE AUDIENCE TAKE RIGHT ACTION?

Results don't happen unless people take action. After all, it's not what you say that's important in your leadership communications, it's what the people do after you have had your say.

Yet the vast majority of leaders don't have a clue as to what action truly is.

They get people taking the wrong action at the wrong time in the wrong way for the wrong results.

A key reason for this failure is they don't know how to deliver the all-important "leadership talk Call-to-action".

"Call" comes from an Old English word meaning "to shout." A Call-to-Action is a "shout for action." Implicit in the concept is urgency and forcefulness. But most leaders don't deliver the most effective Calls-to-action because they make three errors regarding it.

First, they err by mistaking the Call-to-Action as an order. Within the context of The Leadership Talk, a Call-to-action is not an order. Leave the order for the order leader.

Second, leaders err by mistaking the Call as theirs to give. The best Call-to-action is not the leader's to give. It's the people's to give. It's the people's to give to themselves. A true Call-to-action prompts people to motivate themselves to take action.

The most effective Call-to-action then is not from the leader to the people but from the people to the people themselves!

Third, they error by not priming their Call. There are two parts to the Call-to-Action, the primer and the Call itself. Most leaders omit the all-important primer.

The primer sets up the Call, which is to prompt people to motivate themselves to take action. You yourself control the primer. The people control the Call.

The primer/Call is critical because every leadership communication situation is in essence a problem situation. There is the problem the leader has. And there is the problem the people have. In many cases, they are two different problems. But leaders get into trouble regarding the Call-to-action when they think it's only one problem, mainly theirs.

For instance, a leader might be talking about the organization needing to be more productive. So, the leader talks PRODUCTIVITY.

On the other hand, the people, hearing PRODUCTIVITY, think, YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE ME MORE WORK!

If the leader thinks that productivity is the people's problem and ignores the "more work" aspect, h/she's Call-to-action will probably be a bust, resulting in the people avoiding committed action.

Let's apply the primer/Call dynamic to the productivity case. The leader talks PRODUCTIVITY: but this time uses a PRIMER. The primer's purpose is to establish a "critical confluence" - the union of your problem with the problem of the people.

In this case, the leader creates a critical confluence by couching productivity within the framework of MORE MEANINGFUL WORK.

The primer may be: LET'S GET TOGETHER AND SEE IF YOU CAN COME UP WITH AN ACTION PLAN THAT WILL ENSURE THAT THE PRODUCTIVITY GAINS YOU IDENTIFY AND EXECUTE WILL ENABLE YOU TO WORK AT WHAT'S REALLY MEANINGFUL TO YOU.

Note what we've done: The primer is LET'S GET TOGETHER AND SEE IF YOU CAN COME UP WITH AN ACTION PLAN.

The actual Call is from the people to themselves: LET'S INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY BY WORKING AT WHAT'S MEANINGFUL.

With that Call, the leader moves from just getting average results (YOU MUST BE MORE PRODUCTIVE: i.e., you're going to solve MY problem) to getting great results (YOU COME UP WITH WAYS TO TIE PRODUCTIVITY INTO MEANINGFUL WORK: i.e., you're also going to solve your problem.)

So, here's what the leadership talk Call-to-action is truly about: It's not an order; it's best manifested when the people give themselves the Call; and it is always primed by your creating the "critical confluence" -- they'll be solving their problem as well as yours.

The vast majority of leaders I've worked with are hampering their careers for one simple reason: They're giving presentations and speeches -- not leadership talks.

You have a great opportunity to turbo charge your career by recognizing the power of leadership talks. Before you give a leadership talk, ask three basic questions. Do you know what the people need? Can you bring deep belief to what you're saying? Can you have the people take the right take action?

If you say "no" to any one of those questions you cannot give a leadership talk. But the questions aren't meant to be stumbling blocks to your leadership but stepping stones. If you answer "no", work on the questions until you can say, "yes". In that way, you'll start getting the right results in the right way on a consistent basis.

2004 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. ? and has worked with thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years helping them achieve sizable increases in hard, measured results. Sign up for his free leadership ezine and get a free guide, "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com

Unlocking Organizational Value Through Leadership

For more than two decades, in many ways, in many forums, with thousands of leaders, I've taught that organizational results are limitless.

Those leaders who don't understand this don't understand the soul of leadership. When I say "soul", I don't mean it in a religious sense, but in a human sense, and not as a static entity but as a fundamental process that manifests the value inherent in all organizations. The soul of leadership is that which triggers and guides the best organizational activities to achieve the best results.

However, there is another soul at work here. It is the leadership soul of the individual leader. Again, I am not using the word in a religious sense but in a human sense, and as a fundamental process that manifests the human value inherent in each individual leader.

The leadership soul of the leader is that inner strength and commitment an individual draws on in order to carry out the activities of the soul of leadership.

Mind you, I am not counting angels on the head of a pin. The difference between the soul of leadership and the leadership soul of the individual leader is not a philosophical fine distinction. The difference may not be readily apparent, but it is manifest, and it is decisive. It's a difference most leaders and their organizations are not aware of -- to their detriment.

The soul of leadership looks outward, the leadership soul of the individual looks inward. Working in tandem, both outer and inner directed activities can notably increase the effectiveness of your leadership. When both the soul of leadership and the leadership soul unite, great things can happen.

That's where limitless results come in. Most organizations have far more value locked up than their leaders realize. Those organizations consistently fail to tap the deep reservoirs of their members motivation, talent and skills. After all, most members of most organizations want to do well. In fact, in each organization, the members, naturally and collectively, represent an on-rushing current of ardent commitment to succeed. However, through misguided leadership, leadership that is tyrannical and micro-managing, leadership that coerces rather than motivates, that current can be blocked, impeding results.

The blockage occurs when leaders focus exclusively on ordering the establishment of surface drivers such as sales and marketing activities, logistical dynamics, organizational strategies and tactics, financial strategies and tactics, human resource undertakings, and the like -- what business schools teach.

Clearly, the surface drivers are necessary in realizing the value an organization possesses, but they're not sufficient. In focusing exclusively on the above drivers, leaders often neglect the deepest and most important realm of all, the realm which largely determines the success or failure of the organization, the realm of human relationships -- what business schools don't teach.

For example, I'm sure you've heard of the classic case of the railroads of the mid-20th century neglecting to understand they were in the transportation business and losing out to airlines in the passenger market. Railroad leaders did a fair to middling job of dealing with sales, logistics, administration, etc. But their hierarchical, top-down management structures and culture that viewed their employees much like rail cars to be pushed and pulled here and there, probably prevented them tapping into the immense collective value of those employees. If the employees had been empowered, motivated and unleashed, they would have brought a richer vision of market dynamics to railroads that could have forestalled their decline.

On the other hand, I know of a company that has consistently tapped into the strengths of its employees. In the 1930s, they were in the tea bag business. However, they didn't see themselves in the tea bag business but in the materials' business. As markets kept changing, their offerings kept changing and today, their tea bag paper products have morphed into hi-tech thermoplastics. They couldn't have done it without tapping into the value of their employees.

There are many ways to unlock value in an organization. Those are not the purview of this article. The main point I'm making is about the leadership soul of the leader and unlocking its value.

Just as the results-potential of organizations are limitless, so the interior of each leader is a limitless world of value.

To unlock the value within an organization, leaders must unlock the leadership value within themselves.

What is this leadership value? It is the value you have simply being a human being. All human beings have a powerful capacity for transformation because they possess an innate capacity to direct a strong sense of determination and action in whatever direction they choose.

Furthermore, humans also have an powerful capacity to form and manifest deep, transforming relationships. And it is in the on-going transforming of relationships that you find and unlock the leadership value within yourself.

How do you unlock the value inherent in your organization and in yourself? Fortunately, there is a simple, powerful tool to do that. I call it the Leadership Imperative: "I will lead people in such a way that we not only get results but grow as leaders and human beings."

Make this principle live in your daily actions, and you'll be unlocking and unleashing great organizational value -- as well as great value in your career and your life.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. ? and for more than 21 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com

What is Leadership Training?

The introduction of a successful leader into a management team is a good investment for any organization. Leaders visualize plans, inspire subordinates and plan the required course. Leadership skills comprise of various qualities such as optimism, commitment and the ability to use power effectively.

Leadership training is significant, not only in the world of business, but even in the worlds of sports and medicine. Leadership training is essential for the social and economical set-up of any business. Leadership skills in managers are important ingredients in company's expansion. These skills are best acquired with the help leadership training. Democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire are the different approaches to leadership training. Each of these is unique and inculcates leadership skills based upon distinct operational patterns.

Training programs are tools that help in the application of leadership skills at work. These skills could have been acquired at leadership skills classes, seminars or read. Individuals as well as organizations specialize in offering leadership training in various fields. There are many organizations that offer online leadership training also. Some of these organizations are even willing to reimburse the money paid for a leadership seminar, if the result is not satisfactory. Leadership training programs are expected to use core and widely agreed upon features of leadership, to bring out the best in people. Leadership involves vision and the ability to influence people and motivate them to work towards it.

Leadership training can be profitable to businesses in a number of ways. It helps to educate the employees, improves their performances and reduces staff attrition. This is beneficial to organizations, as it reduces the cost involved in constantly hiring new employees. It also helps in developing high performance teams. The participants gain a sense of power, which is, the power to guide others and the organization in the right direction, successfully.

Leadership Training provides detailed information on Leadership Training, Leadership Development Training, Corporate Leadership Training, Leadership Skill Training and more. Leadership Training is affiliated with Leadership Development.

Turbo Charge Your Career With The Most Powerful Leadership Tool Of All: The Leadership Talk: Part 1

Leaders speak 15 to 20 times daily. You speak at meetings, you speak across their desks, you speak on the phone, you speak in e-mails, you speak at lunch, beside the water cooler, and on elevators, etc.

It's in the interaction of those speaking encounters, multiplied daily, month in and month out, year in and year out, that you become a successful leader or not.

If those encounters are defined by Leadership Talks instead of presentations/speeches, the effectiveness of your leadership will be dramatically increased, not only in your job but in your career.

Here's why: There's a ladder of verbal persuasion. The lowest rungs (least effective)of which are presentations and speeches. Primarily, they communicate information.

But the highest rung, the most effective way to communicate as a leader, is through the Leadership Talk.

The Leadership Talk not only communicates information. It does something much more. It has you establish a deep, human, emotional connection with people - so important in motivating them to achieve results.

Once you understand the Leadership Talk, you'll find it's indispensable to your leadership. You'll never go back to giving presentations/speeches again.

I'm going to show you what it is and a few tips on using it. But first, let's understand this important point: If leaders don't measure up, it's often because they act under the wrong premises. Here are two golden leadership premises that drive The Leadership Talk.

Premise one. Leadership is about one thing only, getting results, however you define and measure them. If you're not getting results, you're not a leader, or you won't be a leader for long. Leadership is not a measure of results; results are a measure of leadership.

That seems simple enough; but many leaders either ignore or misunderstand this premise. They may not know that getting results is their raison d'etre. Or they may be focusing on the wrong results. Or they may be going after the right results in the wrong ways.

If leaders don't act on the above premise, they'll go wrong in countless ways.

Premise two: The best leaders get more results, get them faster, and get "more, faster" continually.

This too may seem like an obvious point, but it is a point many leaders miss as well. In leadership, the greatest sin is the greatest treason, to get the right results for the wrong reasons.

For example, many leaders think that they can cost-cut their way to achieving a robust organization. Don't get me wrong: Cost-management should be an on-going effort in any organization, but to rely on it as the primary results-generator can lead to an organization being driven into the ground. Achieving "more, faster, continually" means going beyond an exclusive focus on cost-cutting and getting results by tapping the heart of what the organization is all about.

And the heart of any organization is purpose and people: the combination of its central purpose and the actions of the people who manifest that purpose. Those people must be enlisted as cause leaders. Cause leaders do more than accomplish their jobs; they actually take leadership of those jobs and by doing so bring a special motivation, vision, and initiative to the jobs.

Leadership is not position, it's performance. If you are a floor sweeper, say, you best accomplish your work not simply by doing floor sweeping but taking leadership of it: in other words, approaching the job with the distinctive initiative, care, and commitment that leadership entails.

These two essential premises beg the question, how do leaders get more results, faster results on a continual basis?

The answer is simple: through the Leadership Talk.

The Leadership Talk is a powerful results-generator, maybe the most powerful results-generator you'll ever use. It works through your interacting with people so that they become motivated to be your cause leader(s) in achieving more results faster, continually.

Leadership Talks can be formal ways of communicating but mostly they are informal. Unlike a speech, they are usually interactive. They can be delivered anywhere: at a conference table, over lunch, at a water cooler, across a desk. (One of the best Leadership Talks I have witnessed was given by a plant supervisor to one of his team members at a company picnic while they sat on the back of a truck, sipping beers.) And in many cases, an effective Leadership Talk can be given when roles are reversed, when the audience speaks to the speaker.

Finally, though the methodologies I've developed for The Leadership Talk are new, its roots go back into the mists of history. Throughout history, when people needed to accomplish great endeavors, one thing had to happen, a leader had to gather them together and speak from the heart. That leader had to give a Leadership Talk.

In the next two parts, I'll describe the essential elements of the Leadership Talk, so you can start developing and delivering them right away.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. ? and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com. For more on the Leadership Talk: http://www.theleadershiptalk.com

The Fundamental Purpose of Leadership

It's time to question the traditional assumption of leadership's fundamental purpose. The textbook account focuses on the leader's role in maximizing employee performance. All the decades of writing about leadership style beginning over 50 years ago focuses on how different styles affect the motivation and productivity of employees. When we question the conventional purpose of leadership and offer a different foundation, we get a very different conception of leadership. Until we recognize the need for a radical shift in perspective, our vision of leadership will remain stuck in the past.

Having an internal focus on employee performance was acceptable for leadership prior to the 1970's. But since the success of the Japanese commercial invasion, business has increasingly operated in an era of hyper-competition where rapid innovation changes whole markets overnight. In the old days of leadership theory, business was not so competitive. Then, business's only task was to execute as cost effectively and profitably as possible. Today, there is also the need for businesses to be constantly re-inventing themselves, to be continuously creating new futures. For leaders to be successful now, they must have an external focus.

The new purpose of leaders is to ensure that new futures are created as rapidly as their external markets evolve. All organizations now have two equally important tasks: to deliver today's results and to create the future. The principle of division of labor suggests that we need two separate functions for these very different tasks. Management needs to be upgraded from a narrowly controlling, mechanistic function to take care of today's business, leaving leadership to champion changes to enhance competitive advantage.

So, what are the implications of this shift in emphasis? Well, if your sole reason for being is to maximize employee productivity, you need to be in charge of the people whose performance you want to improve. You need a formal position of authority over them. You need the authority to promote, move, develop, train and pay in accordance with merit. People can be motivated by informal leaders but none of the other productivity enhancing decisions can be made without formal authority.

Not so with the new leadership. Promoting new products, services or better processes can be done by anyone, regardless of their formal roles. Even a consumer group criticizing an existing product line could show leadership from the outside to the organization. This new conception of leadership is the only way to make sense of bottom-up leadership. If leadership is merely the successful promotion of new products, then front-line employees can do it. The Sony employee who invented Playstation is a good example. He showed bottom-up leadership to the senior executives at Sony whose initial reaction to the idea of Playstation was to protest that Sony doesn't do toys.

The role of senior executives is now more multifaceted. They need to both lead and manage. But leadership, as conceived here, has nothing to do with motivating employees to perform better, contrary to the textbook account. So-called transformational leadership became popular because it was felt that employees needed to be really inspired to give of their best. But now, we need to shift everything to do with motivating employees to management, leaving leadership free to promote enhancements to competitive advantage. Why? Because we need a definition of leadership that makes sense of how leadership can be shown bottom-up which has nothing to do with motivating employees to work harder. The sole purpose of leadership, therefore, is to promote new directions. It is management's job to execute them.

Leaders must have an external focus to be effective; managers can focus internally. Both leadership and management are equally essential organizational functions, but only management is a formal role. Leadership is an informal, occasional act, like creativity, not a role. Senior executives are managers by virtue of their roles, not leaders. If their businesses are operating successfully and don't need innovation or process improvements to succeed, then these organizations don't need any leadership. This is a second radical implication of the new vision of leadership, the first one being that leadership has nothing to do with managing people or getting things done through them.

Keep in mind that, if leadership equates to the successful promotion of new products, services or process improvements, and if anyone can do it regardless of position, then employees with no one reporting to them can show leadership. This is a liberating conclusion, but one that has revolutionary implications for our understanding of leadership.

See http://www.leadersdirect.com for more information on this and related topics. Mitch McCrimmon's latest book, Burn! 7 Leadership Myths in Ashes was published in 2006.

Elevate Your Leadership by Immersing Yourself in a Wide Array of Leadership and Organizational Tools

There are so many books, seminars, coaching, and consulting practices based on leadership and organizational development. There are many forms of leadership and organizational development models such as transformational leadership, executive coaching, Six Sigma, TQM (Total Quality Management), business process improvement, learning organizations, and systems thinking to name a few. Some of you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of authors, seminars, coaching, and consulting practices claiming to have the answers for improving your leadership and/or organization's performance.

I used to be one of those individuals, as I too was initially overwhelmed by the number of books, speakers, and seminars pertaining to leadership and organizational development. However, I soon realized that life, learning, and leadership is all about taking in knowledge from multiple sources and then deciphering for yourself what works best for you and your particular situation. Whatever improved my personal leadership, I incorporated in my repertoire. Whatever did not work, I allowed to fall into the recesses of my subconscious so that I could retrieve it in case I ever needed it in the future.

There is so much knowledge available in the world in regards to leadership and organizational development. However, all of this knowledge may not be beneficial to our particular situation or life. Therefore, we must obtain this knowledge with a discriminating eye, assessing multiple leadership models from multiple sources, looking for those tid bits of information that can improve and shape our lives and organizations to be what we want them to be. However, for this to occur, we must overcome our intimidation and immerse ourselves in the vast genre of leadership and organizational development for optimal absorption.

Personally, I try to read as many books and articles on leadership and organizational development as my time allows. In addition, I still attend leadership and organizational development workshops and seminars because even though leadership and organizational development is what I do, I can always learn more.

My personal leadership development is the result of all of my years of academic study coupled with my ongoing appetite for learning about leadership and organizational development. The books, coaching, seminars, and blog are expressions of what I have learned and continue to learn. I am sharing my insights with you because I know that leadership and organizational development does not occur overnight, rather it consists of a continuous immersion of both your conscious and subconscious into the depths of who you are and how you relate to the challenges of the world you live in.

By immersing yourself in all of the leadership and organizational development training offered by the various leadership development outlets, you will provide your conscious and subconscious with a steady diet of ideas that you can then pick and choose from. Immersing yourself in multiple leadership and organizational models will afford you the ability to pick and choose the ideas that work best for you. It is important to note that one model may work for one individual and not another. Also, a combination of ideas from several models may work better for you than someone else. Therefore, do not limit yourself to any one model, as there may be something you can learn about yourself, or your leadership from another. Always remember that leadership and organizational development is a life long learning process. If you truly want to develop your leadership, don't be intimidated by the vast amounts of knowledge in the field. Immerse yourself with a discriminating eye and come out a leader.

Dr. Barrett has an earned PhD in applied management and decision sciences, with a specialization in leadership and organizational change. He also holds a MS in organizational leadership and a BS in organizational management. In addition to these degrees, Dr. Barrett has completed several executive certificates focusing on various areas of management and leadership development.

Dr. Barrett is proud of his academic accomplishments, as they are the product of his long and sometimes difficult journey out of poverty. Along his journey, Dr. Barrett served honorably in the U.S. Air Force, participating in several vital overseas operations in the Middle East and Europe. He has also taught organizational leadership courses at the graduate degree level at Mercy College. This desire to develop leadership whether it be in myself or others is what drives Dr. Barrett. Dr. Barrett currently lives in NYC, where he runs The Barrett Center for Leadership Development, LLC ( http://www.TheBarrettCenter.com ) and The Barrett Leadership Blog ( http://www.TheBarrettCenter.blogspot.com ). The Barrett center offers workshops, seminars, coaching, consulting, and speaking engagements focused on the leadership and organizational principles developed by Dr. Barrett. You can find his current leadership model (The Barrett Leadership Model) in his new book Leading from the Inside-Out.

The Barrett Center's Mission: To help clients develop their leadership from the inside-out. The Barrett Center's Vision: Uplift the human condition by teaching individuals and organizations how to lead their existence from the inside-out.

The Nature of Christian Leadership

The quest to identify an ideal model of leadership that leaders can replicate in order to have better functioning organizations continues to be a challenge for leaders (Kouzes and Posner, 1987). This has lead writers such as Greenleaf, Winston and Brauna to explore the nature of Christian leadership, which has the capacity to change the moral fiber of man and society. This unique model has shown the potential to revolutionize leadership as we know it, and invariably create more successful organizations.

To fully understand the implications of Christian leadership we must first understand its nature. Hence the questions: what are the fundamentals on which this type of Leadership is based? Why this style of leadership gained preeminence in the work of so many scholars and has proven to be so effective in Biblical Testaments...? What is the nature of Christian leadership that sets it apart from secular leadership styles? In order to ascertain answers to these questions this paper examines the nature of Christian leadership by studying and analyzing Jesus' Leadership in the 9th chapter in the gospel of Matthew, verses 20-22, by explicitly looking at the attributes which formed the core of Jesus' Leadership. To assist readers to fully comprehend the nature of Christian leadership in this passage, this paper employs an inter-textual and inner texture approach from Socio rhetoric Interpretation. By examining Jesus' leadership from different perspectives readers are provided with a more wholesome view of the nature of Jesus' leadership style. This paper therefore, examines attributes such as: Godly principles, love and purpose of Jesus' leadership as well as their importance to what constitute Christian leadership. It is my intention that readers will utilize the findings in this paper to enhance their leadership styles which will invariably lead to better leadership and healthier organizations.

Background

Matthean gospel holds much value to the understanding of Christian leadership as it is deemed to have had more influence on the development of the early church and consequently, Christianity. There seems to be much discrepancy about the authorship of Matthew (Desilva, 2004). Some scholars claim that it was written by Matthew, an eye witness, one of the twelve, while others cited the reliance on Mark gospel as evidence against him being an eye witness. Matthew is said to have utilized not only Mark as a source but also the Q. The language while bearing marked similarities to Mark is more elaborate. The Matthean gospel is said to have been written prior to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. The citation of various Jewish customs, without accompanying explanations, woven throughout Matthew suggests that it was written for a Jewish audience. In order to portray Christ as the King and Messiah of Israel, Matthew utilizes various quotes from the Old Testament, thus all the principal themes are grounded in the Old Testament.

Method

In analyzing Matthew 9:20-22, socio rhetorical criticism is employed to assist in understanding the intricacies of this passage. Socio rhetorical criticism is a method of analyzing text by looking at the values, conviction and beliefs in the text in relation to the world (Robbins, 1996). There are five approaches in this method of analyzing text: Inner texture, inter texture, social and cultural texture, ideological texture and sacred texture. (Desilva, 2004). For the purposes of examining Matthew 9:20-22, an intertexture is first done to provide a conceptual understanding of the existing culture in that era. This is followed by an inner texture approach to help in comprehending the passage. Inner texture refers to the different ways that a text manipulates language to provide more detailed understanding of the text. The argumentative texture is one branch of understanding the inner working of a text. It provides reasons for readers to think and act in a specific manner. The inter-textual method of analyzing a text, studies the specific text in relation to other texts outside of the particular text. This method of analyzing a text may use different approaches and includes the use of other text in relation to the text being studied, in order for readers to fully grasp the meaning of the text. The use of both approaches provides a richer and fuller meaning of the text.

Intertexture Analysis

In order to understand Matthew 9:20-22, we must understand the history surrounding the two sects operating throughout that era; the Pharisees and the Sadducees. A study of the writings of Flavius Josephus, early rabbinical writings as well as the New Testaments provides an accurate description of these two groups. The term Pharisees is derived from the Hebrew perusim, which means "separated ones." Later findings suggest that it may have been derived from Hebrew parosim, meaning "specifier," They were regarded as puritans, in other words they were extremely passionate concerning the principles within the Mosaic laws, as well as those that they added to the Old Testament legislation (Huie, 2007). This sect is symbolic of the orthodox core of Judaism and had very strong influence on the Israelites. The Sadducees are said to have been named after Zadok, a priest during the stint of King David and King Solomon, other theorists presupposes that the name is a derivative from Zadok who lived in the 2nd century BCE. In the same vein there are others who believe the name "Sadducee" comes from the Hebrew tsadiq, which means righteous (Huie, 2007). The Sadducees were famous for their unbelief of supernatural happenings. Matt.22:23 express their refusal to believe the resurrection of the dead. This sect had no regards for tradition and despised legalism. In their view the Pentateuch was the only authority, they were often very affluent, aristocrats, member of the priestly tribes and under Herod's rule were the owners of the temple.

The degrees of differences between these two groups created an imbalance with regards to the political views throughout that era. These two groups had opposing views/beliefs concerning laws, and regulations (Huie 2002). Matthew 9:20-22 is about the woman with the issue of blood. This story may be seen as an interruption, as it occurs while Jesus was on His way to heal Jarius's daughter. Matthew relates a story of a woman who had been bleeding for over twelve years. According to Jewish Law, this woman is deemed as unclean because of the insistent bleeding (Lev 15:25-27). This woman was scorned by family members and the society and was barred from synagogue and temples (MacArthur, 2005). A poor woman, Luke mentions that she had spent all that she had, looking for a cure. She was ostracized, an outcast by all accounts. As a result of her illness, the traditions of that era prevented women from touching men, it is possible that this is the reason she approached Jesus from behind and touched the hem of His garment. Her belief in Jesus to cure her was evident in her gesture to touch Him. Jesus did not criticize the woman because she opted to mix with people and thereby breaking all the conventions of that era. Instead He encouraged her "Take heart daughter your faith as made you whole, on approaching Jesus the woman thought "if" I touch his cloak I will be healed." This statement is often refers to as an enthymeme (Robins, 1996).

Enthymeme is described as a syllogism in which one of the premises or the conclusion is not stated explicitly. In Matthew 9:20-22, the enthymeme 'if' is presented to make the statement logical or qualitative, implicit in this statement we can assume that Jesus posses special healing power. How did Jesus receive such power? The answer to this can be two fold, it could have been 'in born" or it could have been acquired. Authors of the first three synoptic gospels presupposes that Jesus power was from heaven and was given to him at his baptism (Matt 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22). (Robbins, 1999). It is possible that this woman's opinion runs concurrent to that of the authors in Matthew, Mark and Luke. This woman knew that Jesus had power and if she could touch him, His power was sufficient to heal her. This act to touch Jesus generates two points of view; On one hand it could have been construed that by touching a man of such power you are either foolish or simple minded and your action could have resulted in death. Biblical tradition showed where Uzzah touched the ark of God and died (2 Samuel 6.6-7). The converse is also true. Her actions could be interpreted from a bold perspective as an expression of her courage.

In the Matthean Gospel special emphasis is place on Jesus' healing powers while in the Lukan gospel, the attention was deflected from Jesus but instead is centered on the woman's faith, (your faith as made you well). There are different implications based on Jesus' leadership in this story that helped to form the premise of Christian leadership.

The needs of followers are important and should take precedence over issues that are less important, such as some aspects of the law. "This eternal principle is clearly spelled out by Jesus in Matthew 12:3-8, Mark 2:25-28 and Luke 6:3-5. Thank God His Son was not a legalist, or that poor woman would likely have received the back of His hand, rather than His healing touch." (Maxey, 2000). Matthews account provides the depth of compassion that Jesus had for the "common people" as well as the infinite power He possessed from God, that He freely used to help people. As a leader He was always accessible to his followers, this is evident in the large crowd that followed Him. People irrespective of their position could approach Him. This woman was poor; the Lukan account refers to the fact that she had spent all her money on doctors, trying to find a cure (Luke 8:40-49). She lost her status to the point of being referred to as a woman with the issue of blood... In a culture pervaded by the Pharisees and Sadducees with their different beliefs, Jesus did what he needed to do in order to fulfill the purpose of His mission.

In showing love to even those who were deemed unworthy he fostered Godly principles which were emphasized in the golden rule... "do unto others as you would have them do unto you..." Jesus modeled the core of Christian leadership and left a pattern for current leaders to emulate by serving others.

Conclusion

The nature of Christian leadership is based on the fundamental issue that Jesus' leadership represents the quintessence of leadership, and may be viewed as a blue print of true leadership. To model this kind of leadership, contemporary leaders must first analyze the distinct leadership principles which are evident in Matthew 9:20-22. The story of the woman with the issue of blood, showed Jesus modeling leadership. By acknowledging the condition of the woman, by healing her and by further referring to her as daughter, Jesus transformed the spirit and ethos of leadership. In an era that was dominated by self-righteous dogmatists, he showed love, rendered service and never lost sight of His purpose to reach out to those who were ostracized. His values consistently guided His actions which resulted in a continuous increase of followers. Contemporary leaders should explore the benefits of Jesus' style of leadership as His style can create more successful transformative organizations.

References:

DeSilva, D. (2004). An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Huie, B. T. (2007). Who were the Pharisees and Sadducees Retrieved 21 September 2007, http://users.aristotle.net/~bhuie/pharsadd.htm

Kouzes and B. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987

MacArthur, J. (2005). The MacArthur Bible Commentary, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc Publishers.

Maxey A. (2000). Reflections, Retrieved 22 September 2007, http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx287.htm

Robbins, K. V. (1996). Exploring the Texture of Exts. A Guide to Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation, Harrisburg. PA: Trinity Press International