It’s easy for us to comment on others who are leaders or managers; those with whom we work with and report to, and those who whose words and actions have an impact on us. We often cast an “idealistic” “they should be like that” mode or template over them. However, leaders cannot be everything to everybody. While what they say and do can be made “generic”, to apply to everyone they manage, this can make their message impersonal, “systematic”, “bureaucratic” etc.
A great leader is so within that timeframe and the people he or she leads and has impact on. For example, what happened in the lives of Moses and Aaron have a certain degree of divine intervention. There is a sense that they were at the right time and the right place, physically or metaphorically, and in the right frame of mind and spirituality to be used by God.
Brief though it was, there is nonetheless rich and warm description of Dorcus (Acts 9). Another short item is the book of Jude, written to warn of false teachers who misled others from the faith in Jesus.
It may not be easy to find original evidence directly assessing credibility of Dorcus, Jude and other people. We can guess and formulate theories and makde observation. But that’s as far as we can go. These people were leaders of their time. Perhaps they did not speak or act, and did that in the capacity of either Moses or Aaron. They are leaders in being true to the calling (vision), which means they said and acted to fulfil that vision.
Taking that on its own, the absence of “leading others” might suggest that is an outcome of being a leader. To lead others does not necessarily mean, first and foremost, that followers need to be found.
Do leaders need to lead in order to be leaders?
To answer that question…
I think the greater question is the time factor. A leader does not become one overnight. A leader will cease to be one one day; although it can happen overnight, it will take some time for the leader to “unwind” from his or her leadership characteristics, and for others who treated the leader as leader to reduce their call on the time of the leader (since that leader is no longer a leader).
To take it another way, can a leader “be” a leader at a different time with no followers?
There are two aspects here.
1) a leader can be a leader irrespective of time. if he or she bears leadership attributes, he is a leader.
2) as suggested above, followers is taken as an outcome or by-product of a leader.
The examples of Moses, Aaron, Dorcus and Jude are important here. They are leaders because they are faithful to a vision (a calling). Their faith in God takes their lives down a path here the “outworking” of their discipleship impacted positively on others.
I have noticed recently that a number of leaders in the industry ceased working before their retiremenet age, or at least were still at the height of the professional lives. It made me think perhaps they realise their leadership capability has reached maturity; it would take a complete renewal of their person / personality / body to continue learning to lead.
Leaders is very much a sociological necessaity as our imagination. Many “leaders” of the past had been true to what they believed as their calling, before enmassing followers, if they did have followers. Again, “time factor”, we read history backward, we assign leaders followers, when perhaps much of the life of the leaders, they were alone on the mountain, staying with sheeps, or locked up in solidary confinement.
