W18D6 - Power
May 09, 2014
"Woe to the land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning" - Ecclesiastes 10:6.
Today's verse indicates that there are two categories of leaders who abuse power when they finally obtain it. One group is made up of the former 'servants'—those who were abused by power and now that they have it, they are going to abuse it the way they had experienced it. The second group is comprised of the 'princes'—those who have always had power by virtue of the fact that they are royalty. They were never followers so they have no idea what it is like to feel the sting of a leader's whip or tongue. The princes use their power to feed themselves and their ego and not serve the needs of others. Both groups are guilty of abusing power by not using it for the purpose it was given, and that is to lead effectively by serving the needs of others, not to use it as a means to personal gain.
LEADERSHIP STEP: The best time to determine how you will use leadership power is before you have it. If you already have it, you must learn to shift the benefit of your power to others and to the future good of your organization. Your step today is to revisit an exercise from January 22 and develop your leadership philosophy that describes how you will use your leadership power. Once you have written it out, obtain some help from others in deciding how you will apply it on a consistent basis.
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