Leadership Thought: How’s Our Political System Working Out? Maybe It's Time for a Change?

Dear Friends,

I was recently gifted with John Maxwell's newest book High Road Leadership, and the first chapter really captured my attention. In a nutshell "High Road Leadership" is synonymous with the word "Others."  It’s a quality of leadership that respects the other person and seeks to add value to each and every relationship.

In these days of political name calling resulting in a bitter political divide, High Road Leadership seeks to bring people together by valuing each person and treating one another with dignity and respect.

Sounds like a good idea to me, and by the way such leadership might make a big difference in what might get done by our political leaders. 

And yes, isn't High Road Leadership consistent with the teaching of our Master who stressed the importance of "doing unto others as we would have them do unto us?" 

The first chapter of the book is titled "Bringing People Together" and in it Maxwell includes a number of thought-provoking quotes which serve to highlight some of the key points he seeks to make regarding High Road Leadership.

"Leadership rises when leaders possess good leadership skills and good values."

"Hate has caused a lot of problems in the world but has not solved one yet." Maya Angelou

"No matter what the circumstances, if we want to be good leaders, we must come to the table, sit in the middle without choosing a side, listen to others, and work to bring people together." 

"If you can't work with people who disagree with you, you will never become the leader you could be."

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

"Treating others better than they treat you, and with consistency and without judgmentalism, is the best way to bring people together."

"High Road Leaders don't focus on the chasm between people. They focus on the connection."

 "When you believe the best about people and give them your best, it brings out their best."

Such leadership principles are simplistic- just wishful thinking you might say.  They would never work in these turbulent and often chaotic times. But I would ask how's our present system working out?

Maybe it’s time for a radical change, and maybe Jesus was right when He taught us that "Every kingdom  divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city and house divided will not stand." (Matthew 12:22-28).  At least these principles provide us with something to think about!

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom