What's Your Motive?

Motive Matters.

There is a central fact that those of us in leadership positions cannot escape: people are dependent on us. They depend on us to anticipate the future and make appropriate course corrections. They depend on us to provide them with the resources they need to do their jobs. And, they depend on us to do the right thing in terms of recognition and rewards.

The fact that they are dependent on us gives us a lot of power. In fact, we could call this the elasticity of power because the more dependent a person is on us, the more power we have. Sadly, I can think of former colleagues that abused the power of their position and manipulated people who were very dependent upon them.

For the math and engineering types, here’s the functional notation:

POWER = f (DEPENDENCY)


Kind of scary to think about isn’t it? So, here’s the issue:

How will I handle their dependency?

How will I use my power?


At the heart of the issue is a more fundamental question: What is your motive?


Those of us who have been entrusted with leadership roles – and, remember there are many more leadership roles than the ones with formal authority and titles – need to consistently evaluate our motives. And the question – What is Your Motive?– is the single most important question we as leaders must ask.

To help with this, I have developed a motive check using the following questions:

Motive Check

> In any decision, ask yourself, “What is your intent?”

> Take time to examine why you are doing what you are doing.

> Examine what your gain will be from what you do. It is not a bad thing to gain something from your actions. But, you need to be aware of what you will gain and how that influences your actions.

> Determine whose approval is most important.

> Are you seeking the approval of God or of people?

> We also need to cultivate a set of friends who will love us enough to tell us about our blindspots and question us about our motives.

> We need to allow ourselves the discomfort of letting people ask us the tough questions and challenge our motives. Who is somebody in your life that you are comfortable checking your motives?

> Will you be a servant-leader who uses your power to serve others?

> Or, will you be a self-serving leader who uses power to benefit yourself and advance your personal agenda?


What is your motive?