Day 10: Leaders Within

Wish 10: Recognize the right leaders

I hold this to be true: the best leaders are not famous.

When I asked a class to talk about someone they considered a great leader, all of them identified leaders in history, or famous business personalities. Names like Gandhi, Trudeau, and Trump were mentioned. Then they asked me whom I considered a leader.

I said my grandfather is a great leader.

In North America, hardly anyone knows my grandfather. But he was a visionary, and he didn't brag about it. Decades after his passing, we're discovering how much he's contributed to the town he grew up in.

Actually, I told them, anyone could be a leader. The organizer of a non-profit organization, a school principal, a small business owner, and even your own mother, can be a leader.

You see, it does not matter how famous a person gets, or how high up an organization a person climbs. It is about how the person affects the people around positively.

So-called leaders like Trump and Iaccoca are always talking about themselves. "See what I've done. I'm a great leader." If they make mistakes, they blame someone else or the environment.

The real leaders don't even identify themselves as such. They just do what they think makes a difference. They apologize for mistakes they make - they are accountable. The don't take credit; they pass it on to the people who helped. They don't call themselves great leaders. Someone else will.

Why do I write about this now? The greatest leader (in my opinion) is Jesus Christ. He never identified himself as such, and he had a humble life. He never boasted about his greatness. Other people talked about it. That's why we know about the Messiah now.

My wish is to find and recognize the leaders in our midst.