The Silence of Leadership
Just started working my way through Len Sweet's Summoned to Lead again tonight, and am already inspired. For me, attempting to stand out as a leader has never been simple or easy – and has always brought a kind of inner unrest or turmoil within myself. "Should I be doing something more?" "Why is this not working?" "Am I really the person God has called?"
It never used to be this way. I remember being the bossiest little boy ever – controlling, cheeky, charismatic (maybe) – but somehow as I've grown older things have become more complicated. And my leadership style is pretty complicated, unconventional – maybe unpopular.
I've always held true (as does Len) that leaders emerge rather than being made or appointed. And I can remember times when I have emerged, and still do. However, now I find myself as an appointed leader – I struggle with this. Was I supposed to emerge into this role – did I emerge? Or was I appointed?
Now I begin to see that perhaps I took on and embodied something which at the time there was no one else to embody – at least within our community. And this gives me strength.
Sweet talks about hearing your inner leadership voice – and learning to respond to it. I feel I often over-complicate things with words and terms and identifying power-plays – someone last week caught me off-guard when they said how much of a political animal I am.
I'm happy to be that animal – but at the same time must stay true to the simpleness of my voice. Politics is a means to an end, not an end in itself. I need to simplify – to learn more of how to grow and treasure people and relationships.
To listen to their voices and discern my own through them.
And I wondered what that inner voice was – what it could be for me personally – until just now, reading this…
is good to teach, if one does what one says. Now there is one such
teacher, who “spoke and it happened;” indeed, even the things which he
has done in silence are worthy of the Father. The one who truly
possesses the word of Jesus is also able to hear his silence, that he
may be perfect, that he may act through what he says and be known
through his silence."
- Ignatius of Antioch (c35-110), Epistle to the Ephesians 15:1-2.(HT: Chris)
As someone for whom a lot more tends to be going on inside than on the outside, this notion of silence seems really true. And my inner voice isn't some hidden voice of my own – it's the voice of The Word, the silence of The Word which I need to hear.
This brings me comfort – this voice is flawless, this voice is definitely there, even if my own falters. I need to learn to recognise more and more this voice inside me and to embody and incarnate the voice and the silence through my actions.
Perhaps this is what it means to truly lead. To hear and incarnate The Word through a life of devotion.
I'm fairly sure that was not the original meaning of that quote, but in that moment this is how it spoke to me so… I came over all poetic like.
