What Drives You as a Leader?

Truly great post!  The four questions are extremely helpful and will be used by me today!

I especially like to tie to steroids.  It is so true!  It is so dangerous because those motivators can take us to great heights in a hurry.  The apparent success can deceive us into thinking that all is good.  This can lead to further effort based on the bad motivators.

Unfortunately, the fall can be painful when the true character of that motivation shows up (even if only to ourselves).  It cannot last and the consequences are never what we wnated or expected.

The key, as you have shown, is to determine our motivations for a project and its fit with our God-given strengths BEFORE diving in.  If we will be diligent to do this, we should see healthy and sustained success.  If not, beware!

Thanks for another great insight!

Just what I needed! Excellent! Thank you. 

Great 4 questions. I’ve often had to challenge myself in asking how much of my identity is wrapped up in what I’m doing. It’s important for me to remember who I am.

These are the things that motivate me as a leader.
 - Bringing out the best in others by discovering their talents and figuring out how to help the person leverage those talents in the specific position they are in.
 - Grooming future leaders. There are not enough good ones and we need more.
 - Being an example of a Jesus follower. Christians get so much bad publicity that I strive to be a real person who just loves God.

Ouch. I struggle with all 5. It’s been hard changing the “why” on doing things, but the payback is pretty quick in more energy. It’s also important in developing your relationship with God. It’s made me ask if I rely on Him or others.

Thanks MH for the post.

In the past few years, God has been revealing to me ways I am not as pleasing as he would like me to be for his kingdom.  It has been a long process (sometimes I can be a slow learner) and I know there will always be areas I need to work on/be aware of, but who doesn’t have areas like this? 

 Some of my natural tendencies are to worry, this leads me to be a bit controlling.  Which can be good for the success of a project because I am also a perfectionist, but it is not good when I take control away from God.  Thankfully, he has mercifully been showing me this and is helping me to let go and let him lead.  Not surprisingly, life is much more enjoyable with him leading.

Thank you for this post, I will print it and use the questions as reminders.   

What drives me is te desire to see change.  In my experience, change always disrupts the status quo and growth or movement toward anything only happens when we embrace change.  As long as the decision on WHAT to change (or what to influence or affect change) is healthy, the drive feeds itself, for me.

Great post. 

I have just finished writing a post about Freedom of Choice and how Daniel was affected by the Freedom of Choice given to his political colleagues. 

They were fuelled by Jealousy and Envy whereas Daniel was fuelled through his relationship with God. Their fuel was ‘It’s all about me’. Daniel’s fuel was ‘All about We’.Easy to choose, but tough on the follow through.

So familiar to me, I am an impatient person and often find myself rushing into something or I start making all these great plans and realize the very first consultant I should have gone to was God!  Kind of amazing how He doesn’t slap me down but gently guides me when I am praying, praising Him and asking for His help each day. 

Wise words. Every leader needs to regularly reflect on these questions. Without realizing it, I sought the approval of others to the degree that I was devastated when they disapproved. But after a time of brokenness, I realized that even friends we love and respect may be wrong. While we must be open to constructive criticism, even from those who do not have our best interest at heart, in order to see our “blind spots,” at the end of the day, we must get our joy from Jesus. If we can honestly say we are pleasing Him – our hearts and hands are clean – then it matters little if we do not please others. Our nation has had leaders who would change their principles when public opinion changed. Godly leaders maintain principles of integrity regardless of what others may say – even those we respect.

For years, I have been motivated by fear of failure and a deep need for
acceptance. Like most people, I longed to be accepted. I longed for the brass
ring; the ‘well-done’ ‘the pat on the back’. A workman is worthy of his wages,
but if I am not doing all things unto God, my return is limited to this place
and the reward finite. Thanks for the motivational gut check Michael. 

Thank you very much …

Excellent post! “What Drives you
as a Leader” what an exceptional question to ask a leader. What made or make
you the leader that you are? Throughout my military career I often wondered
what drove my leaders to make the decisions that they made. It made me think of
their upbringing and how they were raised. It plays a great part on how great
of a leader that they will become one day.  No matter if it was a game of softball or
football, how the person stepped up in the game would leave you with your own
conclusion of what type of a leader that person would become.