Mimicking A Mentor

By Doug Franklin March 7, 2013

If you want to lead yourself you need to be honest with who you are. At a recent training event we were all taking a leadership type assessment that put you into one of four categories: doer, thinker, relator and mover. I knew one the youth workers who was taking the assessment with me quite well, and clearly he was a thinker like me. To my surprise he finished the assessment and told me he was a mover. I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is a thinker. The weird thing is, he wants to be a mover, but why? Does he think being a mover will give him more leadership? Will it allow him to have more influence? The answer to both questions is no. Who you are is who you are. No assessment will change that, even if you answer the questions based on who you want to be. Leadership and influence come from having leadership and influence. So what do we gain by not being honest with ourselves? Maybe some pride but it will be short lived. The best thing to do is be OK with your leadership personality. God has given it to you for a reason and for a mission. Embrace it and work at growing it.

Often times we have a person in our lives who has had a big impact on us and we want to be like them. We want to act like them and talk like them. We try and copy them, but the results are different. We are not able to have the same impact. This frustration can lead us to think we should not be in ministry. Remember you are unique and special and when you lead in your personality and with your gifts you will be successful.

I am a thinker and I lead from a problem solving position. I know the strength of my leadership comes when I am dealing with difficult issues. So I place myself in areas of LeaderTreks that need a problem solver. When it comes to operations and good quick decisions, I leave that work to others because they are better at it than me. I have come to the conclusions that being a leadership mimic won’t work for me and it won’t work for you. Get to know yourself and thank God for how he has made you.