Leadership Influence vs. Impact

In a guest blog post on MacLakeOnline.com, Doug Franklin talks about a change he’s noticed in how church leaders define success. He says in the past, leaders thought about leadership “in terms of time spent. Our influence comes from how long we have been in ministry or a leadership position.” But today’s upcoming leadership generation is much more concerned with impact, i.e. “your age doesn’t matter as long as you’re making a difference.” Franklin even says young leaders are rejecting the old-school qualification of time spent as meaningless when compared with the importance of effectiveness.

To reach the upcoming leadership generations, Franklin advises three steps:

Connect service with leadership. Franklin exemplifies this with a picture of an upside-down pyramid. “Lead from the bottom up. Serve those who follow you.”

Connect personal development to leadership. Franklin says everyone serves as a leader at some point in their lives, so learning leadership skills benefits everyone. “Help young leaders see how leadership is a personal need,” he adds.

Connect change to leaders. Franklin says, “Change happens through movements, and movements happen because someone takes a stand. Leaders take a stand because they have a better vision of tomorrow. We are those leaders because we have a vision of a better tomorrow in Christ.”

Doug Franklin, from a guest blog post on MacLakeOnline.com, 4/8/10