Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future

Don’t strive to be a well-rounded leader. Instead, discover your zone and stay there. Then delegate everything else.Admitting a weakness is a sign of strength. Acknowledging weakness doesn’t make a leader less effective.Everybody in your organization benefits when you delegate responsibilities that fall outside your core competency. Thoughtful delegation will allow someone else in your organization to shine. Your weakness is someone’s opportunity.Leadership is not always about getting things done “right.” Leadership is about getting things done through other people.The people who follow us are exactly where we have led them. If there is no one to whom we can delegate, it is our own fault.As a leader, gifted by God to do a few things well, it is not right for you to attempt to do everything. Upgrade your performance by playing to your strengths and delegating your weaknesses.There are many things I can do, but I have to narrow it down to the one thing I must do. The secret of concentration is elimination.Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.My competence in these areas defines my success as a pastor.A sixty-hour workweek will not compensate for a poorly delivered sermon. People don’t show up on Sunday morning because I am a good pastor (leader, shepherd, counselor).In my world, it is my communication skills that make the difference. So that is where I focus my time.To develop a competent team, help the leaders in your organization discover their leadership competencies and delegate accordingly.Once you step outside your zone, don’t attempt to lead. Follow.The less you do, the more you will accomplish.Only those leaders who act boldly in times of crisis and change are willingly followed.Accepting the status quo is the equivalent of accepting a death sentence. Where there’s no progress, there’s no growth. If there’s no growth, there’s no life. Environments void of change are eventually void of life. So leaders find themselves in the precarious and often career-jeopardizing position of being the one to draw attention to the need for change. Consequently, courage is a nonnegotiable quality for the next generation leader.The leader is the one who has the courage to act on what he sees.A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent. Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside.The first person to step out in a new direction is viewed as the leader. And being the first to step out requires courage. In this way, courage establishes leadership.Leadership requires the courage to walk in the dark. The darkness is the uncertainty that always accompanies change. The mystery of whether or not a new enterprise will pan out. The reservation everyone initially feels when a new idea is introduced. The risk of being wrong.Many who lack the courage to forge ahead alone yearn for someone to take the first step, to go first, to show the way. It could be argued that the dark provides the optimal context for leadership. After all, if the pathway to the future were well lit, it would be crowded.Fear has kept many would-be leaders on the sidelines, while good opportunities paraded by. They didn’t lack insight. They lacked courage.Leaders are not always the first to see the need for change, but they are the first to act.Leadership is about moving boldly into the future in spite of uncertainty and risk.You can’t lead without taking risk. You won’t take risk without courage. Courage is essential to leadership.

To ensure that we are leading with our feet firmly planted on the soil of what is, we must live by the seven commandments of current reality:Thou shalt not pretend.Though shalt not turn a blind eye.Thou shalt not exaggerate.Thou shalt not shoot the bearer of bad news.Thou shalt not hide behind the numbers.Thou shalt not ignore constructive criticism.Thou shalt not isolate thyself.Attempting to lead while turning a blind eye to reality is like treading water: It can only go on for so long, eventually you will sink. As a next generation leader, be willing to face the truth regardless of how painful it might be. And if you don’t like what you see, change it.

The primary reason we do too much is that we have never taken the time to discover that portion of what we do that makes the biggest difference.

Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside.

Where there’s no progress, there’s no growth. If there’s no growth, there’s no life. Environments void of change are eventually void of life.

Your talent and giftedness as a leader have the potential to take you farther than your character can sustain you. That ought to scare you.

There is no necessary correlation between how busy you are and how productive you are. Being busy isn’t the same as being productive.

Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. (Proverbs 1:5, NIV) The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15, NIV) Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22, NIV) Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. (Proverbs 19:20, NIV)

When you try to exercise authority within a department that is outside your core competencies, you will hinder everything and everyone under your watch. If you fail to distinguish between authority and competence, you will exert your influence in ways that damage projects and people. To put it bluntly, there are things you are responsible for that you should keep your nose out of.

Simply recognizing the need for change does not define leadership. The leader is the one who has the courage to act on what he sees…A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent.

The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards. Taken literally, this means that, for example, 80 percent of what you achieve in your job comes from 20 percent of the time spent. Thus for all practical purposes, four-fifths of the effort—a dominant part of it—is largely irrelevant.

The problem was that somewhere along the way I had bought into the myth that a good leader has to be good at everything. So I operated under the assumption that I had to upgrade my weaknesses into strengths. After all, who would follow a leader who wasn’t well-rounded?

But leadership is not always about getting things done “right.” Leadership is about getting things done through other people. Leaders miss opportunities to play to their strengths because they haven’t figured out that great leaders work through other leaders, who work through others. Leadership is about multiplying your efforts, which automatically multiplies your results.

delegation—either to time or to other people.… Transferring responsibility to other skilled and trained people enables you to give your energies to other high-leverage activities. Delegation means growth, both for individuals and for organizations.

We have a tendency to measure ourselves against the people around us. They become our point of reference. A good coach will evaluate your performance against your potential.…if we are wise enough to listen, they will help us go further, faster.

As a next generation leader you already possess the talent and intuition necessary to lead. But chances are it is your courage that will establish you as a leader in the minds of others. To put it in perspective, try to identify a leader worth following who didn’t pop up on the public radar screen as a result of a decision or action that required courage.

We must never forget that the people who follow us are exactly where we have led them. If there is no one to whom we can delegate, it is our own fault. Many examples in history underscore the centrality of this catalytic leadership principle. Each illustrates the fact that you never know what hangs in the balance of a decision to play to your strengths. Oddly enough, it was the prudent application of this principle that enabled the fledgling first-century church to consolidate its gains and capitalize on its explosive growth, without losing focus or momentum.

The first thing that sometimes keeps next generation leaders from playing to their strengths is that the idea of being a balanced or well-rounded leader looks good on paper and sounds compelling coming from behind a lectern, but in reality, it is an unworthy endeavor. Read the biographies of the achievers in any arena of life. You will find over and over that these were not “well-rounded” leaders. They were men and women of focus.

Keep in mind that everything you loathe about your current environment or organization was originally somebody’s good idea.

Often the reason we won’t say no is that we are afraid. We fear disappointing people. We fear being passed by. We fear missing out on a good opportunity. But at some point every leader must come to grips with the fact that there will always be more opportunities than there is time to pursue them. If we don’t choose our opportunities carefully, we will dilute our efforts in every endeavor. Refusing to say no eventually robs a leader of his ultimate opportunity—the opportunity to play to his strengths. Choose your opportunities carefully. Many opportunities are worth missing. Just say no.

You can’t lead without taking risk. You won’t take risk without courage. Courage is essential to leadership.

individual does. Here’s the difference: Eventually a leader’s lust for progress overwhelms his reluctance to take risks. In other words, failure to move things forward is the type of failure most feared by the leader. For the leader, failure is defined in terms of missed opportunities rather than failed enterprises.

Identify the areas in which you are most likely to add unique value to your organization—something no one else can match—then leverage your skills to their absolute max. That’s what your employer expected when he put you on the payroll! More importantly, leveraging yourself generates the greatest and most satisfying return on your God-given abilities.

Fear defies logic. Information only goes so far. Even when armed with all the reasons why we should not be afraid, the fear remains.

A third project you can do to help you surface your real strengths is to develop two job descriptions for yourself. Your first one should reflect current reality. The second one, your ideal job description.

This goes right to the heart of leadership. Leaders instill courage in the hearts of those who follow. This rarely happens through words alone. It generally requires action. It goes back to what we said earlier: Somebody has to go first. By going first, the leader furnishes confidence to those who follow. In this way, leaders give permission.

Keep in mind that everything you loathe about your current environment or organization was originally somebody’s good idea. At the time it might have even been considered revolutionary. To suggest change is to suggest that your predecessors lacked insight. Or worse, that your current supervisor doesn’t get it! Consequently, it is easier to leave things as they are, to accept the status quo and learn to live with it. While that may be easier, it is not an option for a leader. Accepting the status quo is the equivalent of accepting a death sentence. Where there’s no progress, there’s no growth. If there’s no growth, there’s no life. Environments void of change are eventually void of life. So leaders find themselves in the precarious and often career-jeopardizing position of being the one to draw attention to the need for change. Consequently, courage is a nonnegotiable quality for the next generation leader.

As you develop your list, a little voice inside you will whisper, “It will take more than courage to pursue these ideas; it will take capital.” At that point you may be tempted to put down your pen and retreat to the safety and comfort of how things have always been done. But before you retreat to your tent, let me remind you of two things: Capital follows courage, and what always precedes how.

In addition to a job description designed around your current employment, develop what you would consider to be the ultimate job description. This is for your eyes only. The goal of this exercise is to help you identify the niche in which you would feel most productive and consequently most successful. Dream a little.

Wherever there is fear, there is opportunity. Wherever there is great fear, there is great opportunity.