Designed to Dominate

Every manufacturer designs his product with the right components, engineered to fulfill the function that the product is created to perform. In essence, the purpose of the product dictates the mechanical and engineering components required to fulfill the manufacturer's intent. Its "circuits" are right for the job.

This principle holds true for all creation, including human beings. The Creator caused to be inherent in each created entity- including the apex of his creation, mankind- everything it needs to fulfill its original purpose. The original purpose for mankind, defined and established by the Creator, was to "rule (have dominion) over all the earth." Since the word "dominion" in this case means to reign and rule, the Creator wired all humans with the capacity and natural ability to lead.

We can conclude that human beings are wired for #leadership. Humanity has the natural circuitry to have dominion over its environment. The greatest evidence of what a product can do or is capable of its determined by the demands made on it by the one who made it. Therefore, God's requirement that we dominate is evidence that the ability to lead is inherent in every human spirit. this is the #leadership spirit.

What Is The Leadership Spirit?

In my #leadership lecture and seminars, which I share with governmental, educational, business, nonprofit, and religious organizations around the world, I usually begin with a statement that encapsulates my philosophy of #leadership: "Trapped within every follower is a hidden leader." I am always amused to watch the reaction on the faces of the audiences as they attempt to grapple with the implications of this statement. I can usually predict their first thought, which is often the question, "If every follower is a potential leaders, then who is going to follow?" This reaction is natural and legitimate in light of our traditional concepts and philosophy of #leadership, as they have been promoted over the centuries.

However, the above statement contains the essence of what the original philosophy of #leadership was intended to be. It is upon this premise that I propose the belief that #leadership is inherent in the human spirit of every person, but only a minute fraction of the human population ever knows, discovers, believes, or attempts to develop or release this hidden #leadership potential.

My awareness of this suppression of our #leadership gifting gave birth to the deep purpose in my heart, which has become the passion of my life: to help as many people as possible, of every nation, race, creed, or social status, to discover their true #leadership potential.

Rediscovering Your Leadership Purpose

Remember that everything God does is motivated by his purpose, and therefore the original purpose for a product determines its design, composition, capacity, and potential. Purpose may be defined as "original intent" or "reason for creation." For example, God created seeds to produce trees and plants, and therefore they naturally posses the inherent abilities and capacities to perform this purpose. Fish were created to swim, and  thus their ability and capacity to swim is inherent in their design and instincts. They never need to attend swimming school.

Birds, on the other hand, were created for the purpose of flight and naturally come with the inherent design and ability to fulfill that purpose. Birds never attend flight school. The principle is that whatever the Creator established as the original purpose for his creation determined its natural, inherent design, its raw material, and its capacity, capability, natural talents, and potential.

This principle begs the question, "Why, then, did the Creator create mankind?" The answer is found in his declaration of his purpose and original intent for humanity: "Let them rule ("have dominion") over all the earth." He created us out of himself because of his intent that we rule over the earth. Again, purpose is the reason for the creation of something. In essence, it is the reason why a thing exists.

The Leadership Spirit

To exercise #leadership, you must believe that you are inherently a leader.

Leadership really comes down to two things: who you are and how you think. It is about discovering your identity as a born leader and then understanding the way true leaders think so that you can fulfil your inherent calling. If you don't first establish your #leadership nature, it will be very difficult to have the mind-set of #leadership.

True #leadership is first concerned with who you are, as opposed to what you do. Leadership action flows naturally from a personal #leadership revelation. To exercise #leadership, you must believe that you are inherently a leader. Again, to purse purpose as leaders do, you must think like a leader. To think like a leader, you must receive the thoughts of #leadership. To receive the thoughts of #leadership, you must have a personal encounter with your true self; a discovery of your nature, ability, and essence as a human being. Just as a product cannot know its true purpose or worth except in its  relationship with its manufacturer, so it is with you and me. 

Earlier, I made a distinction between the #leadership spirit and the spirit of #leadership. The #leadership spirit is the inherent #leadership capacity and potential that is the essential nature of human beings. The spirit of #leadership, is the mind-set or attitudes that accompany a true #leadership spirit and allow the dormant #leadership potential to be fully manifested and maximized. Clearly understanding this difference is critical for discovering and living out your #leadership capacity.

What Is A True Leader?

Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by a passion, generate by a vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.

Peter F. Drucker, one of our generation's foremost thinkers and authorities on the subject of #leadership and management, stated, "There may be "born leaders,' but there are surely far too few to depend on them. Leadership must be learned and can be learned..... '#leadership personality,' '#leadership style,' and '#leadership traits' do not exist."

Leadership Is More Than Influence

A popular definition of #leadership is that "#leadership is influence." In spite of the fact the #leadership does involve the component of influence, I believe that this is an incomplete description because it does not distinguish what kind of influence or the source or cause of that influence.

True Leadership Is Marked By Others' Willful Submission Of Their Authority To Yours.

There are many people, past and present, who have influenced others using threats and violence, but we don't call that true #leadership. We call it manipulation, oppression, or dictatorship. Nero, hitler, and Idi Amin were all influential. They exerted their wills over people, but they were not leaders in the true sense.

A Working Definition Of Leadership

True #leadership fundamentally requires the responsibility of taking follower into the exciting unknown and creating a new reality for them. For over thirty years, I have dedicated myself to the study of the subject of #leadership. After thousands of hours of study, research, and reading hundreds of books on the subject, I determined to craft my own comprehensive definition of #leadership as I have come to understand it. This definition incorporates the principal ingredients and components that I believe give birth to and sustain true #leadership and can be applied by anyone who desires to discover and release the hidden leader within. 

The Power of Attitude

There is nothing as powerful as attitude. Attitude dictates your response to the present and determines the quality of your future. You are your attitude, and your attitude is you. If you do not control your attitude, it will control you.

Attitude creates your world and designs your destiny. It determines your success or failure in any venture in life. More opportunities have been lost, withheld, and forfeited because of attitude than from any other cause. Attitude is a more powerful distinction in life than beauty, power, title, or social status. It is more important than wealth and it can keep one poor. It is the servant that can open the doors of life or close the gates of possibility. It can make beauty ugly and homeliness attractive. The distinguishing factor between a  leader and a follower is attitude.

Attitude Creates Your World And Designs Your Destiny.

What is attitude? We will discuss this topic in detail in coming chapters, but for now let me simply define attitude  as "the mind-set or mental conditioning that determines our interpretation of and response to our environments." It's our way of thinking. It is also important  to understand that attitude is a natural product of the integration of our self-worth, self-concepts, self-esteem, and sense of value or significance. In essence, your attitude is the manifestation of who you think you are. Leaders think differently about themselves, and this distinguishes them from followers.

The story of the lion and the sheep demonstrates the power of attitude. We live our attitudes and our attitudes create our lives. The difference between the attitudes of a lion and a sheep determines their place in the scheme of the animal kingdom.  Perhaps that is why the Creator, as recorded in the books of the Hebrew writer Moses and other biblical writers, identifies himself with the unique temperaments or natures of certain animals.

We live our lives based on who we think we are. According to the illustration, if you believe in your heart that you are a sheep, then you will stay in the confines that others have placed you in or  that you have made for yourself. If you think that you are a lion, then you will venture beyond manmade limitations and embark on the life of #leadership that you were born to live. You will develop into someone who inspires and influences others within your inherent domain.

No amount of training in #leadership skills, courses in management methods, power titles, promotions, or associations can substitute for the right attitudes. I am convinced that all the money in the world may make you rich, but it can never make you a leader. You #leadership development is determined by your perceptions of who you are and why you exist in other words, your sense of significance to life. 

A Decision Affecting The Future

Just as the young lion's genuine growl revealed his inherent strength, you can release the inherent #leadership strength within you come to understand your true self. Just as the young lion watched the beast walking away and knew that he had to make a decision about his future, you have a choice to make about your own future.

Just as the young lion looked back at the farm where the sheep were and then looked toward the forest where the lion was heading, you have to evaluate your past and your potential and step toward one or the other. Just as the young lion knew that, to become his true self, he would have to give up the safe, secure, predictable, and simple life of the farm and enter the frightening, wild, untamed, unpredictable, dangerous life of the jungle, you will have to leave the safe confines of being a follower if you are going to become a leader.

Just as  the young lion turned his back on the farm, crossed the river, and walked into the forest leaving behind his old life as a sheep and embarking on the life he was born to live.

As on who has had to cross that river myself, my desire is to be a catalyst, like the beast, roaring an invitation into your life and heart and hopefully helping you to enter the adventure of discovering and releasing the #leadership spirit within you.