Contemporary Leadership and the crisis of character.

This is a journey into the consequences of lack of leaders with character in our contemporary world."A lack of strong leadership as made a mess of our world". There is a lack of moral force among our leader.There are many great leaders in the history of the world who their lack of character has brought down.Bill Clinton among others in Politics; Ted Haggard and Eddie Long from the church and others. Charisma, talent, power, intellect and vision is not enough to make you a great leader, there is a place for character and that place is too important to take for granted.



The greatest obstacle to a leader's success is a deficit of character.
True leadership has always been built on strong character.  Good character or moral force is like a personal security system for your life.
It was made clear that Character is easier kept than recovered. Once you lose the trust of others, it is very difficult to win it back.
A leader who desires to be strong and effective will summon the courage to identify and root out his weaknesses, preventing them dorm growing into larger, more damaging issues. i.e the character deficit you are not willing to deal with will deal with you.
Character is your protection as a leader, it extends the longevity of your leadership, preserves your cause and legacy, prevents you from hurting people around you.
People become leaders when they make up their mind not to sacrifice their principles on the alter of convenience or compromise.
Conviction is fundamental. Only when a leader discovers who he was born to be and how his intrinsic gifts determine his personal leadership, can he effectively develop the values, principles and ethics that lead to strong character.

Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by a passion, generated by a vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.
Discovery of purpose of purpose is essential to becoming a leader
You have to be convinced of the course you are pursuing. If you don't have solid convictions, you don't deserve to have followers.
You need a vision to be a leader. Your vision influences your entire life, including your priorities.
Passion is the drive you have in achieving your purpose. Passion gives you natural enthusiasm and energy and that inspires others.
Inspiration is when your vision ignite new possibilities in the minds and hearts of other people

True leaders draw other people to their vision, they don't clone themselves in their followers but enable others to use their unique gift and abilities to fulfill their own inherent purposes.
True leaders don't abuse or manipulate others but rather inspire people by setting good examples.
Influence is leadership.  Leadership is the ability to influence another person, either positive or negative.
It is important therefore for you to be sure of your character as a leader as well as the character of your leader because you influence your followers and your leader influence you. At this junction, it is expedient to ask these these rhetorical questions:
Who is your leader, who is that individual that you have given the authority to influence your life?
Does the individual have a commendable character?
What influence is the individual having on you?
So there is a need to constantly study and evaluate your leaders.
Even if a leader's belief seems good, you must still observe his life to see if his words and actions are consistent if he lives according to his stated convictions.
And lastly in part Conviction and Character are therefore the distinguishing marks of a true leader.
So, will you have a leader of conviction? Will you lead in the way for others to become leaders of conviction by following your examples? Extracts from The power of Character in Leadership by Myles Munroe.