Leadership

I've been doing some reading (surprise, right?) on leadership, and there's a good book written by a guy named James O'Toole, who's not a Christian at all (by his own admission) but he gets soooo close to principles of leadership that we find in Scripture! Take a look at these, and see if you "measure up". I personally have much to learn still, but I'm a work in progress--I never want to stop learning and changing for the better. (the numbers in parenthesis are the page numbers in the book)

-Leadership means responsibility, not privilege (27)-—George Washington’s view.
-Don’t ask followers to do something I’m not willing to do myself (28).
-For Washington, the public’s trust in him grew out of his manifest integrity (28).
-A leader listens to the people he serves, but he's not a prisoner of their opinions (29).
-“Successful completion of one’s short-term mission is not the clearest sign of effective leadership, but lifelong consistency of high moral purpose is” (25).
-Eventually, I may be ridiculed for my stances. However, what is significant from the lessons we have observed from the Rushmorean Presidents is that when ridicule came, they stuck with their moral principles, their commitments to integrity, even in the face of incessant pressure to give in and quit.
-learn to lead by inspiring values (11)—these are values that in the thick of the battle will draw followers.
-treating people with respect is what moral leadership is all about, and nothing could be harder (12).
-In opposition to O’Toole’s position, I believe that there is not to be a distinction between our public life and private life in the area of morality and integrity. According to Scripture, our lives are to be one and the same, there’s no dichotomy in this area.
-Leadership signs are among the followers: Are they reaching their potential? Learning? Achieving desired results? Serving? Managing conflict? Managing changes gracefully?
-It’s less a function of the technique of leadership, it’s about the function of attitudes and ideas.
-Effective change builds on the existing culture (73). Don’t try to completely introduce a new way of doing things, that’s a REVOLUTION, which isn’t good. We want beneficial development over time.
-People respond to how you treat them. If you treat them with respect, and ignore the negatives, you get a positive reaction” (98).
-Lead based on principles that are right instead of simply following practices that work (115).
-A leader has more power if it is granted than if it is unilaterally usurped (117).
-“Leaders don’t just do things right, they do the right thing” (129).

What do you think? Have you read his book? Do you agree with all of these statements above? What's been your experience? What do others say?