Inspire! What Great Leaders Do.
Three different people with three different approaches to life.
Kathy, from early in her life, enjoyed beauty in all forms. She appreciated it in nature, in art, in musical performances. Kathy could see beauty in places and people that others found unlovely. Beauty aroused in her calmness, peace, and awe. She wishes that more people could find those qualities in their lives. No matter where she lives or works, she always finds herself wanting to find and create more beauty in the world around her. People often come away from an encounter with Kathy with an inner stillness and a greater appreciation for the world around them.
David had always especially appreciated settings where he felt himself being honored as a child of God. In those moments he knew no fear – anything seemed possible. Such encounters encouraged him to stretch and take risks. What the world could be like if people could be freed from fear, he thought! At home, at work, on his softball team, David offers to others the honoring that makes such a difference to him. People often seek out David to serve on their committee. They know that things just run differently when he is part of the group.
What angered Deborah, without fail, was seeing people not being fairly or justly treated. At age 15 she began participating in protest movements, taking a stand when people were marginalized or treated in inhuman ways. Justice and equitable treatment have been her passion ever since. Deborah has found she doesn't have to only march to make a difference. She treats others with the fairness and justice she wants for the world. In conversations with individuals, in her interactions with groups, her calm, but passionate way of speaking conveys the depths of her convictions. In her presence, people open their minds...and are often moved to change them.
Kathy, David, and Deborah share something in common. They each feel called to use their gifts to create more of what they want in the world. They have causes they give themselves to. Each feels they are in the world for a purpose, that they have a destiny to fulfill. They deeply and passionately want the world to have more of what is so life-giving for each of them.
The three also share something else in common. Each is an ordained minister. The passion they feel could have been brought and offered through a variety of career choices. In each case, however, they felt an additional call to offer their gifts through the path of ordained ministry.
Each, in his or her own way, is an inspiration to others. People in their presence find themselves wanting to grow and stretch and find their own purpose. Much of that inspiration came from these three people living their beliefs about what is important for the world and why they are here on earth. Their presence, the authentic passion that fills their words and actions, draws people in their congregations and communities into fuller, more inspired living.
Each of us has known a Kathy or a David or a Deborah, people who know and live their calling. They move us. Our own spirits come alive in a new and expanded way when we're with them. We feel energy, a power from within - the Spirit - taking us to a place of greater aliveness. We leave their presence feeling inspired, ready to step into life in a larger and more adventuresome way.
What happens to us in those moments? What is it that builds a longing in us for a bigger or more focused life? It's inspiration , according to Lance Secretan in his book, Inspire! What Great Leaders Do (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004). In it, he discusses the power of inspiration and offers his perspective on how we can live the kind of inspired lives that inspire others.
What is it that happens in an encounter that causes people to be inspired? Secretan suggests that it is the presence of someone embodying inspiration in their own lives. People who themselves are inspired, inspire others. It's not well-rehearsed words or the appropriate clothing that inspire - but a presence that conveys a commitment to something bigger. A leader is inspiring when he speaks or acts from a sense of why he is here on earth at this particular time in history. Secretan believes that the primary question for a leader is not "how can I inspire others?" but "what inspires me?"
To be inspired and to be an inspiration for others, Secretan suggests a person has to be clear about her Destiny , Cause , and Calling . Let's go back and look at how Secretan's three words apply to Kathy.
Destiny The questions that help identify Destiny are, "Why am I here on this earth? What is my divine purpose?" For Kathy the answer is: "To bring more beauty into the world."
Cause The questions that help identify Cause are, "What will I stand for? How will I practically meet my Destiny while here on this earth?" Kathy's answer: "Nurturing in people a sense of calmness, peace, and awe."
Calling The questions that help identify Calling are, "What will I do, how will I use my talents and passions to serve? What is the work I love, the activities that make my heart soar?" Kathy answered: "Through public speaking and private conversations and the shaping of the physical space I'm in."
Secretan then invites us to test out the flow of our Destiny, Cause, and Calling. Do they support each in a seamless way, each serving the other? The Cause serves as the bridge between Destiny and Calling. It connects our activities with our purpose for being in the world. In Kathy's case - it is through her presence with people in speaking and conversations and through the space she creates that people move more deeply into a personal sense of calmness, peace, and awe. As they embody more of those qualities they actually contribute to beauty in the world, simply by who they are. They not only see beauty, their attitudes embody beauty.
As Kathy starts each day she grounds herself in these things: "God has placed me here today to use my public speaking and private conversations and the physical space I'm in to nurture in people a sense of calmness, peace and awe so that more beauty is brought into the world." She finds that doing her work from this perspective brings both focus and fulfillment to her work.
Calling is a familiar word in the church. Often as people enter ordained ministry they say they are "called" to the pastorate. Secretan includes the vocational aspect, but invites us to a deeper level than simply being called to pastoral ministry, or to a particular church, or to a committee or task. He connects our calling to why we are here on this earth (Destiny) and what we will stand for (Cause). We live inspired and inspiring lives as the three are clear for us and we authentically and fully embody the connection and flow of the three. Inspiration is meant to fill the whole of our lives, not just our vocational selves.
Kathy, David, and Deborah are clear about their Destiny, Cause, and Calling. Each responded to a specific call to the ordained ministry as the arena in which they would serve. In the context of that arena they each lived out a deeper understanding of Destiny, Cause, and Calling.
Why is this important?
The questions that Secretan poses - why am I here on earth? What will I stand for while I'm here? How will I use my gifts and talents? For what end? - are classic questions of faith. They help people place their lives in a larger, spiritual context and create lives marked by purpose and meaning
Every Sunday, people slide into pews hoping, on some level, to find or re-enforce the answers to those questions. Every Sunday pastors stand in pulpits hoping that the words and concepts they've labored over will do exactly that. Following the service, pastors hope to hear words that go beyond, "nice, sermon." They want to know that the sermon they delivered brought inspiration -the indwelling of Spirit that heals and transforms and leads people to go forth and make a difference in the lives of others.
What if the key to sermons making a difference isn't the brilliance of the ideas or the compelling nature of the stories? What if the key to compelling leadership in a congregational meeting isn't having it all figured out before walking in? What if the key is simply the pastor speaking from a firm groundedness in his or her authentic sense of identity and calling?
If that is the case, and we believe it is, then every interaction a pastor has is a moment of Spirit. And a pastor's efficacy, as so many others have declared, is not in our tools and our techniques. Though tools and techniques are important, they are of secondary importance. Primary is a deeply held sense of calling and the ability to let that calling guide and shape our words and actions.
Applying it in your life
Review what you think Secretan means by Destiny, Cause and Calling. Use the stories of Kathy, David and Deborah to help see how one profession can be an umbrella for many "callings".
Across the next weeks "chew" on what God's purpose for you is. Think about those moments when you've been at your best in a variety of settings - in your workplace, your family, your community. What was that "bigger thing" you felt connected to? Begin to form a sentence that expresses your personal Destiny, Cause and Calling.
Look for situations and moments in your past when those three things fit together in support of each other and you were inspired. What did it feel like? What was the impact on the people around you?
How might living more fully your Destiny, Cause, and Calling change your interactions with a clerk at a store? A congregant in a meeting? Family members?
What steps will you take this week to live out your Destiny, Cause and Calling more fully?