Power

Power (pou' er) n. 1. The ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority. 2. A person having great influence over others.
[excerpted source: The American Heritage Dictionary]

There are quite a few more definitions, but for this blog I'm sticking with these two.

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How you understand power tells others quite a lot about you. If you are a person who seeks to control others, you will exercise whatever authority you have over people. If you are a person who seeks to impact others, you will influence them by your manner of dealing with them.

It is all too easy to fall into the former. The problem with that is people follow the leader out of respect for the position (not the person); because they have to. Irritation, distrust and even anger can flow from this model of leadership. Followers feel constricted, undervalued (if at all) and rarely good enough. One can easily see how this model of leadership will always cause a downward spiral for the followers and their work.

However, if a leader works with his people and influences them, people follow their leader because they want to. Trust develops, friendship, and satisfaction. Followers feel freedom to try and explore, valued, confident and successful. One can easily see here as well, that this model of leadership will always build people up, creating an uplifting environment with positive results.

In a business it is assumed we will find both models in various places. In the church, we should never find the former. Yet we do for a variety of reasons. {sigh}

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
- Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV)

I guess the bottom line here is that the best leader is the one who actually serves his followers (imagine that!). He doesn't try to control them or mold them in his own image, rather he cherishes who they are and allows them to grow and flourish in who God has made them to be.

I know I'm not perfect, but I really try to be a leader who serves his followers. I want to have influence over people not control. To me, that's real power.