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To continue from last week, let’s take the next quality of a great leader from Dr. George O. Wood’s top 10 and put some thought to what it means.

vision to see what others may not

Great leaders see things differently. One definition from the World English Dictionary says “the ability or an instance of great perception, esp of future developments: a man of vision.” And the Bible clearly places its stamp of approval on leaders that have vision for we know that without it people perish. The Message puts Proverbs 29:18 this way, “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves.” So the leader that can see and relay that vision is vital to the people of God.

John Ryan in his article “Leadership Success Always Starts With Vision” on Forbes.com says,

Great leaders give real thought to the values, ideas and activities they’re most passionate about–and those are the things they pursue, rather than money or prestige or options forced on them by someone else.

This quote got me to thinking about why great leaders have visions and see things the way others may not. I definitely believe one large part is because God has placed on them the gift of leadership. But I think another large part of the equation boils down to time spent thinking and dreaming with God.

Great Godly leaders see things differently because the God who created everything, the most creative being that has been or ever will be is an integral part of their thought process. So what does that mean for us as spouses, parents or children’s leaders?

I read Andy Stanley’s book Visioneering years ago and have went back to it many times for its timeless principles of developing a vision. Stanley says “Visioneering is the course one follows to make dreams a reality.” He goes on to boil it down to this formula:

VISIONEERING = INSPIRATION + CONVICTION + ACTION + DETERMINATION + COMPLETION

Let me break this formula down to some questions to ask yourself about your vision creation process.

1. Do you make time in your day or week to just simply be inspired, by friends, by other leaders, by family and most importantly by God?
2. How invested are you in the ideas you have? How strong are your convictions?
3. Are you ready to take action on the ideas you have?
4. How determined are you? What will happen when someone questions your vision?
5. Are you ready to hold on to see it through?

Bottom line, if it is God-inspired vision all of these questions have fairly simple answers. And to see what others may not, you will have to spend time with the One who sees everything.

A couple of years ago I went back to school and had the privilege of sitting under a talk by Assemblies of God General Superintendent George O. Wood. The class was on leadership and Dr. Wood had been asked to list his top 10 qualities of a great leader. I wrote them down as he spoke but have referred back to them many times because of their practicality in my own life.

Over the next 10 weeks I would like to share each one with you and expand Dr. Wood’s statements with some of my own thoughts and experiences.

The first of the 10 qualities Dr. Wood listed is…

A great leader must desire to lead.

Ok, I know you have been in the room when someone in charge started looking for someone else in the room to put in charge while they stepped out of the room or did something else. Sometimes it was a smooth transition but there were those odd times that the someone they found was feverishly shaking their head no and crumpling up in their chair to try to avoid the inevitable “learning experience” that was about to happen.

Or how about the room that you stepped into that was mass chaos. I don’t know about you but if there is not a leader in that room, I will be one of the first to try to begin to take control. But then there are those times that there is an appointed leader in the room, they are just not leading. Between you and me, those are hard rooms for me to stay in for very long because I refuse to undermine appointed leadership. In that case, I either try to come alongside the appointed leader and help or quietly leave.

MindTools.com has a Leadership Motivation Assessment that starts this way…

The first and most basic prerequisite for leadership is the desire to lead. After all, becoming an effective leader takes hard work. If you’re not prepared to work hard at developing your leadership skills or if, deep down, you’re really not sure whether you want to lead or not, you’ll struggle to become an effective leader.

Are you motivated to lead?

Now don’t take me wrong, having that desire to lead does not make you better than the poor soul shrinking in her chair and it certainly does not give you license to lord it over those who do not have that same desire. Remember Romans 12:6-8 , “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift … is to lead, do it diligently…” That desire has been placed inside you by your Heavenly Father, a good gift that should be treasured and nurtured to be used for His (and only His) glory.

Great leaders can be found in both the largest of places and the smallest of places. William F. Baker & Michael O’Malley Ph.D. in their book Leading with Kindness say that “Leadership can be big or little, and leaders large or small, but it is all grounded on the same native drive to create.” They just know they must lead.

If this rings true with you, lead to the best of your ability no matter where you have been placed. Don’t force your way into leadership, your God-given gift will make room for itself.