Life Stages & Timeline
A Jewish Rabbi once described to me how the Jewish people navigate through life. He said that contrary to Greek forward navigation, Jews navigate similar to someone rowing a rowboat. They use the path of where they have been to help direct where they are going. He explained to me that where a person has been is as important as where they are and where they are going. I believe that as this is true for life, it is also true for one 's leadership journey. Along with education and mentorship, life experiences play an important part in a leadership journey. It is in those experiences that the knowledge learned and advice received, can play out and be used to grow. Because of this, every leader 's journey is different and …show more content…
Because of that, the most important position of leadership in my life started when I became a husband and, then later on, a father. God has given me the responsibility of being the head of my home (1 Cor. 11:3 ESV) and it cannot be taken lightly. I will have to answer to God for how I lead my family. Along with leading, it is the responsibility of my wife and me to raise and teach our children in "the way they should go" (Proverbs 22:6). These roles are the highest points in my leadership journey. I am still learning and growing in both of them but I have learned so much already. My family needs to be my first priority and place of sacrifice. If I cannot lead at home, where leadership starts, then I am going to have a hard time leading outside of the …show more content…
I have come to learn that this is an area I need to grow in. Being aware of my emotions and being able to manage them allows me to be more empathetic and understanding to my wife and children. I have all girls and so my home is a breeding ground for emotions. For a long time I looked at emotions as something that can distort reality and so I thought "good" leaders keep their emotions at bay and lead through intellect devoid of them. However, I have come to believe the emotional task of the leader, according to Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2013), is the most important act of leadership and, in a very real sense, more powerful than intellect (pp. 6, 27). Great leadership lies in the competencies of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the "heart" of a person and "without a healthy dose of heart, a leader may manage but not lead" (p. 21). "Gifted leadership occurs where heart and head, feeling and thought, meet" (p. 26). The heart of a person not only shows who they are but how they will lead. Leadership is a journey of the heart. Emotional intelligence defines who we are through our heart. “Authentic leaders aim at liberating the heart, their own and others’, so that its powers can liberate the world ” (Palmer, 1999, p. 76). Scripture tells us to “keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23 ESV). Leadership is diving
A Jewish Rabbi once described to me how the Jewish people navigate through life. He said that contrary to Greek forward navigation, Jews navigate similar to someone rowing a rowboat. They use the path of where they have been to help direct where they are going. He explained to me that where a person has been is as important as where they are and where they are going. I believe that as this is true for life, it is also true for one 's leadership journey. Along with education and mentorship, life experiences play an important part in a leadership journey. It is in those experiences that the knowledge learned and advice received, can play out and be used to grow. Because of this, every leader 's journey is different and …show more content…
Because of that, the most important position of leadership in my life started when I became a husband and, then later on, a father. God has given me the responsibility of being the head of my home (1 Cor. 11:3 ESV) and it cannot be taken lightly. I will have to answer to God for how I lead my family. Along with leading, it is the responsibility of my wife and me to raise and teach our children in "the way they should go" (Proverbs 22:6). These roles are the highest points in my leadership journey. I am still learning and growing in both of them but I have learned so much already. My family needs to be my first priority and place of sacrifice. If I cannot lead at home, where leadership starts, then I am going to have a hard time leading outside of the …show more content…
I have come to learn that this is an area I need to grow in. Being aware of my emotions and being able to manage them allows me to be more empathetic and understanding to my wife and children. I have all girls and so my home is a breeding ground for emotions. For a long time I looked at emotions as something that can distort reality and so I thought "good" leaders keep their emotions at bay and lead through intellect devoid of them. However, I have come to believe the emotional task of the leader, according to Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2013), is the most important act of leadership and, in a very real sense, more powerful than intellect (pp. 6, 27). Great leadership lies in the competencies of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the "heart" of a person and "without a healthy dose of heart, a leader may manage but not lead" (p. 21). "Gifted leadership occurs where heart and head, feeling and thought, meet" (p. 26). The heart of a person not only shows who they are but how they will lead. Leadership is a journey of the heart. Emotional intelligence defines who we are through our heart. “Authentic leaders aim at liberating the heart, their own and others’, so that its powers can liberate the world ” (Palmer, 1999, p. 76). Scripture tells us to “keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23 ESV). Leadership is diving