Transformational

I try to read everything I can get my hands on about leadership. I am particularly drawn to books that create a “buzz.” You know, the ones everybody on the plane is reading and everybody at Starbuck’s is talking about.

Several years ago I read a book that was the latest rage on leadership. I think it was the first of many books this author has written on leadership and related topics.

To be honest, I was appalled. Two things jumped out at me as I read the book. First, the author absolutely wore out the “vertical pronoun.” If we had a dollar for every time he used “I,” there would be no recession and no need for a bail out.

The second thing that bothered me was the author’s discussion of capital campaigns and building programs as indicators of his effectiveness and success as a leader.

These are violations of what I think are two of the most important aspects of legacy leadership.

First: Leadership is not about me. It begins with me, but it is not about me. My character, my integrity, and the way I deal with people hopefully make me a leader worth imitating. But my leadership is not about me.

Second: Authentic leadership is transformational. The real measure of a leader’s effectiveness is changed lives. Leadership is not about market share, return on investment, revenue growth, “the bottom line,” the size of the capital campaign, or the square footage and number of buildings on a campus. Those outcomes may occur as an indirect result of lives being changed, but that is not the real measure of a leader’s effectiveness.

Authentic leadership is about being a leader that is worthy of imitation. Authentic leaders seek to create an environment where people can flourish as they become all that God intended them to be.

How do you measure leader effectiveness?