Measuring leadership
What would be the indicators that a community has an abundance of good leadership? Would it be the scope of followership and dependency on leaders? Would it be that people act in empowered ways, and if that’s the case, how much and what kind of leadership would we need?
Or is leadership, as in many wisdom traditions, the presence of people in the community who continuously remind people of their own power and the source of their power?
November 19th, 2005 16:42
Jack, FWIW, I’d have to go with the last hypothesis.
I never would have imagined it (for reasons too detailed and probably boring to people who don’t know me), but I’m in the second year of a two-year leadership training program at my synagogue.
It’s a new program that was begun by the Marcus family with a very generous sum. There are 13 of us, out of a congregation that has about 1100 families.
Our retreats and monthly training sessions have included a variety of instructors who spoke on a variety of topics.
The crowning effort, however, in my opinion, is the mentor part of the program which began this fall. I’ve gotten the most, so far, from conversing with and observing my mentor, who moves others to action through her ability to bring out the best in others and also use her own talents to achieve objectives.
November 19th, 2005 17:06
Good for you! Leadership is quite a craft, and the learning never ceases. In my world, the best leaders understand this and practice it with humility.