“And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

                                                                 1 Corinthians 13 : 13  NKJV

People will quickly and very easily follow a leader whom they know beyond any question truly does love them.  Once the people who are in need of a leader discover that a person really does care for them and has their personal best interests in mind, they will very quickly allow such a person to become their leader.  The secret needed to make this leader/follower relationship and endeavor work right is for the leader to be actively and seriously  involved in the efforts of the people he is attempting to lead.

If any person desires to be a leader…he must connect with his followers.  Connection best occurs when both leader and follower are actively involved in the work ethic of achieving common desires together.  

All too many wanna-be leaders never attract any significant size of a following because they never connect with the people they are attempting to lead.  They talk a good story. They communicate their ideas well.  They are very articulate and make total sense,….but, they never reach into the hearts and minds of the people they are leading and therefore never have much of a following.  All followers have to fully buy into the dreams and vision of their leader if success is ever to be achieved. 

All the great leaders throughout the history of mankind have all (1) known precisely where they are going and (2) been able to convince and persuade other people to follow along with them.  

They are able to relate to their followers because they are like-minded.  The “leader” person has taken the time to build some kind of personal relationship with the “follower” person to the point where he knows what it is that the follower really wants to accomplish.  Once that has occurred, the leader is then assisting the follower in achieving what it is that the follower desires to do…which is also what the leader is trying to accomplish.  When this situation occurs, the leader can then very easily lead the follower in their combined efforts to help the follower get what it is in his life that he truly wants.  Remember, the old adage is still very much alive and in play:  You can have anything in life that you really want,…if…you are willing to first help enough other people get what it is that they really want.

If you ever intend to be a great leader of people, I must first ask you a very simple question.  Do you really know where it is that you are going,…are headed to,…intend to wind up?  If you can answer that first question, here comes the second just as important one,….Do you know what it is that you are going to achieve once you arrive at your chosen destination?  Both of these two questions must be clearly and completely answered before you begin your journey, or else you will be just wasting your time and other very valuable resources. 

Before you can ever succeed, you must be knowin’ where you are goin’….and what you are going to be doing once you get there.

Good, growing, and committed personal relationships are always the real key to working with people and helping them achieve their own desires.

There is a true story that totally communicates the truths of my message.  Please permit me to share it with you.

Now as this story unfolds, please keep in mind all of the time and effort you have poured into something, someone, or some activity that you are attempting to build, complete, or befriend.

In the year 1873, a Belgian Catholic priest named Joseph Damien De Veuster was sent by his church to minister to lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.  He arrived in high spirits, hoping to build a friendship with each of the lepers.  The inhabitants of the island shunned him, however, at every turn or activity he attempted.  He built a chapel, began worship services, poured his heart out to the lepers, but all to no avail.  All of his efforts seemed totally futile.  No one responded to his ministry and after twelve years of struggling, Father Damien decided to leave.  As he stood in dejection on the dock waiting to board the ship that was to take him away from Molokai, he looked down at his own hands that he was wringing back and forth and frighteningly noticed some mysterious white spots on them.  Feeling some numbness in both of his hands, he knew immediately what was happening–he had contracted leprosy!

Father Damien returned to the leper colony and to his work.  Word spread quickly and within hours, hundreds of people gathered outside of his hut, fully identifying and connecting with his plight.  A bigger surprise came the following Sunday.  When he arrived at the chapel, he found it full of people!  Father Damien began to preach from the empathy of love rather than the distance of theology and ideas, and his ministry became enormously successful.

Those who receive your love today will be much more interested in hearing about your faith tomorrow.

Leadership of other people is most definitely nothing more than actual personal influence on and over those folks who choose to follow you.  It is the followers who actually allow or permit the leader the authority to lead them.  The more a leader connects with his followers, the more the followers will begin to respect their leader.  This entire process is enriched and best consummated when the leader stays completely involved in and working alongside with those that he is leading.  

Respect (which must be  earned) for the leader is the first thing that must be established between the parties.  Once in place, trust will quickly ensue.  Respect and trust form the basis of a good and lasting friendship.  And it is this friendship what will cement the connective process together between the leader and his followers.

Leaders Gotta Lead………………