Influence vs. Impact

By Doug Franklin July 11, 2013

I have started to notice a change in leadership. For people my age (49) and older we think about leadership in terms of time spent. Our influence comes from how long we have been in ministry or how long we have been in a leadership position. It’s not important what we have done but how long have we been doing it. For 20 somethings it’s very different. They are concerned with impact and they don’t care how old you are if you are making a difference in culture and church. So we can’t teach leadership the same way, in fact many younger people reject leadership because it seems to be based on a meaningless statistic.

So how do we teach leadership to a generation that mistakenly thinks it doesn’t need it?

1. We connect service with leadership
We need a new picture of leadership. I like saying, “leaders live in an upside down pyramid.” We lead from the bottom up. We serve those who follow us.

2. We connect personal development to leadership
Everyone is going to be in a leadership position at some point in their lives. If we are in a car with two kids in the back we are leaders. So learning leadership will benefit everyone. We must help people see that leadership is a personal need for everyone.

3. We connect change to leaders
Changes happens through movements. Movements happen because someone takes a stand. Leaders take a stand because they have a vision of a better tomorrow. We are those leaders because we have a vision of a better tomorrow in Christ.