STEPPING INTO LEADERSHIP FROM THE CROWD

INTRODCTION

The world is a pyramid, the bottom is very large, but the top is too narrow. The bottom is for the crowd, while the top is for the leaders. The bottom is a place of struggle for survival, while the top is a place of strength for living. You don’t need to struggle at the top you only need strength to stay and remain there.
The top is free but only few people get there. Why not be in the company of the few that get to the top. The higher you go the cooler it becomes. The heat is much at the base. The base is for the crowd; only leaders get to the top.

No leader was born at the top, even Jesus the world greatest leader stated from the manger. David the world most blessed king, was picked from the sheepfold. Mother Theresa was not born in the palace. You don’t have to be born with silver spoon in your mouth to become a leader. It is not hereditary. You can choose to leave the bottom of the pyramid if you so wish.

The chance of breaking through at the bottom of the pyramid is too remote. It is like forcing a snail to run in the Olympics.
It is interesting to know that many leaders started as members of the crowd, but one day they made decisions and took steps that eventually paved their way to the top. The top is not the exclusive right of the privileged few. You can walk your way to the top from the crowd. It is not by wishing, it is not by luck, it is by conscious, deliberate and strategic approach.

There are too many people who are life member of the crowd. They have no purpose for living and no direction in life. They lack vision to see the future. They are multitude with no sense of mission. They end up frustrated and die common with nothing attributed to their names. These crowd members are everywhere in every nation and they are in the majority.

The people in the crowd are too common and hence they have little or no value. Some of them that work so hard earn little because they generate little value. There is no much value in the crowd; that is why they hire them for peanut. If you must generate value, you must leave the crowd. You must strive for excellence in whatever you do. This is the only way to the top.


THE JOURNEY TO LEADERSHIP

The journey to leadership begins with a discovery of God ordained purpose. No manufacture created a product before thinking of the purpose the product will serve. He decides the purpose in his mind before going to the drawing board to design it. God drew out the plan for our lives; went to the drawing board to design us before deciding the parents through which he arrived on earth. Even our parents did not have a say in our designs. They were only privilege to serve as the vehicle that drives us into the earth.

When you discover your area of calling and you pour your passion into it, and you consciously locate a credible leader to mentor you in your area of calling, you are on your way to becoming another credible leader. It is your desire to lead in your area of calling that makes you enroll as a protégé in the school of leadership under a credible leader. Every credible leader today was once a follower and protégé of another credible leader.

It takes a leader to produce another leader. My choice of the word “credible leader” is deliberate, because there are many self-acclaimed leaders who are not worthy to be called leaders because they lack vision they only find themselves in the position of leadership either by selection or by manipulation. It takes a well defined vision and sense of purpose to lead and lead well.


VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

Every credible leader is a visionary leader. He sees ahead of others and then takes the lead in showing the way. His judgment is respected because he is credible.
Visionary Leadership begins with Discipleship. If you are not humble enough to be disciple by a leader, you will not be qualified to become a leader. If you assume leadership position without going through discipleship training, you will only become a leader with thugs and hooligans as followers. Thugs and hooligans don’t need any training; only genuine followers need discipleship training. Thugs and hooligans are mad dogs waiting for stupid instruction to carry out. They live for what they can get. They cannot think. People that use them never wish their children become thugs and hooligans.

A good leader invests heavily on training. If you want genuine people to follow your leadership, you too must be ready to invest in their lives. Those you invest in their live will willingly follow you until they also grow to become a leader and continue to remain under your leadership oversight. There is no genuine leader that does not have a leader ahead of him, and until you enroll to be a disciple of a leader you cannot become a leader.

JESUS CHRIST THE GREATEST LEADER
Jesus followed God as his leader. He was disciple by God. He was a protégé of God. He followed His instruction to the letter; he later became a leader and also raised twelve disciples who later became leaders of the gospel (John 17:4, 6a, 18). Jesus had a visionary leader ahead of him (God) and he too became a visionary leader and he too went ahead to made other visionary leaders (the twelve disciples). This is visionary leadership circle.

To become a leader identify a credible leader to follow and grow under his discipleship. In no distant time you too will become a credible leader with many followers. As a follower, you are called to serve and your reward is honour (John 12:26).


STEPPING OUT OF THE CROWD

Jesus was born among the crowd. There was no money to even rent a room in the inn. He came from the bottom of the bottom. He started his life among the crowd. At age twelve he made a decision never to remain in the crowd, and for eighteen solid years he consciously enrolled in the school of discipleship, first with the lawyers of his days and latter in his father carpenter’s shed: At age twelve, Jesus stayed back in the temple to learn at the feet of the renowned lawyers of his days; hearing them speak and asking them relevant questions (Luke 2:46-47). These lawyers were amazed at his high level of understanding. Later he was under the carpentry apprenticeship in his father’s shed; he learnt carpentry until the people stop calling him ‘the son of the carpenter’ (Matt 13:55) into being called ‘the carpenter’ (Mark 6:3). If Jesus the son of the most high could invest eighteen years of his early in the school of discipleship to prepare for his three and half years mission on earth, who are you not to invest the early productive part of your life in order to secure a glorious future.

The lack of discipleship of many youths is the reason for shortage of leadership today. We have more youths in the crowd and only very few at the top.

WHO IS A LEADER?

A leader inspires from the word of God and educates his followers through a discipleship training programme and these followers become empowered until they also enter into their leadership destiny. According to Dr David Oyedepo, the chancellor of Covenant University, a leader is someone who takes the lead, and set the pace for other to follow. There are many people are endowed with this leadership assignment by destiny.


THE PARENTS

Parents are leaders; they are the first leader a child encounters. It is the responsibility of parents to disciple their children. It takes a discipled parent to effectively disciple a child. Today we have many parents who never went through parental discipleship and yet are rearing children. They assumed the role of parenting because circumstances beyond them, has forced them into parenting. There are many parents who had never read a single book on parenting or attended any seminar on parenting. Many parents make the mistake of thinking that adequate provision can substitute for child’s home training. They labour to provide for their children; all the essentials but are not always there for them. These children end up receiving training from strangers and end up becoming strangers to their parents. When parents put their wards under the care of uncultured and untrained house-help, what do they expect? There are many homes where their children have fallen victims of the negative habits of their uncultured house helps. Today we hear of even male drives abusing innocent baby girls because the parents put the child in their cares to take to school.


THE TEACHERS

Teachers are leaders and teaching profession has suffered in the hands of those who are not called to be a teacher but find themselves in the profession for the sake of survival. Although they went through schools to received teaching certificates, unfortunately they were not patient enough to submit to the discipleship of older and experienced teachers. By the time a teacher is demanding gratification in cash and kind from the students before doing his job, what do you expect under that school atmosphere? We all know that this is the plight of our public schools. There are more cheaters than teachers, who will rather use the school time to run their private businesses. This evil is more pronounced in our higher institutions. Society is the reflection of her school systems. Since secret cults activities have become a norm in most of our institutions, our society is plagued with the increase in the activities of ritual killers and all forms of gangsterisim and hooliganism.


THE POLITICIANS

It is wrong to assume that every political office holder is a leader. Many politicians have done more harm than good. They kill there people with the help of the thugs and hooligans they have raised among the crowd. They embezzled public funds to enrich themselves and their family members. They betray the trust repose on them by their people. They don’t have the interest of the people in their heart. They use the machinery of power to perpetrate their evil. Despite these evil reports about some of our politicians, there are still few of them that believe in the good of their country and they stand for the truth. These are the true leaders and we pray for more of them will be raised among our youths.

CONCLUSION

The crowd is not where we belong although many of us stated from there. A journey from the crowd into leadership begins with a conscious enrollment in the school of Discipleship under a credible leader. We must locate these credible leaders and enroll as protégé under their leadership.
A visionary leader helps you discover your purpose through vision that he impacts unto you each time you are privilege to hear him speak. As you enroll in the school of discipleship under a visionary leader and you follow him faithfully, you will soon become an enviable and visionary leader. Elisha located Elijah and enrolled under his discipleship and follow faithfully. Despite the mocking of other sons of prophets Elisha followed until he received the double portion of the anointing that was upon Elijah.

A visionary parent must have vision of the type of children he wants to raise, a visionary teacher must have a vision of the type of graduates he wants to produce and a visionary politician must have a vision of the type of society he desire to have.

It is only by this we can have a Godly society where only things of value will be celerated and promoted.