d65blade

I have been a student of leadership and I learned them by watching and observing people, extracting principles in every decision they make, testing and proving these principles and living it out. Another idea has come to life and I would like to share them to you. But first, let me start by asking you these two questions…

Q. Do you know what happens when you’re all heart and no skill?
Q. Do you know what happens when you’re very skillful but no heart?

Let me answer that by sharing you a story about two presidents.

President Marcos was a man with much skill and has proved it through the economic state of the Philippines at his time. He was even admired by other nations when ever he speaks because they didn’t see any notes on top of his podium unlike the presidents of our day which is guided by Teleprompters.  But according to history in the eyes of Filipino masses, he lacked heart which led to his ouster and a bitter ending. A leader of much skill with less heart has brought a revolution to that nation.

Another person rose up in the ranks of presidency because people were longing for heart which placed Corazon Aquino in the seat of Malacañang. She was considered by the majority at that time to have posses a heart of integrity. But heart alone didn’t work. Massive brown outs and multiple coup attempts and economic downfall came like a flood. Corrupt men and advisers skilled at their craft took advantage on the weakness of President Aquino on the lack of skill in governing. A woman whom I salute in terms of integrity of heart. How many opportunities have we lost in helping people simply because we don’t know?

A LOT!

The worst thing that could happen is a president with out skill and heart. (This by the way existed in the Philippines, hehehe… go figure out who.)

Is there a leader who posses both skill and heart that had led a nation? Does such a person exist? History points to a man who had conquered nations and amassed great wealth and lead massive armies and became one of the greatest Kings who ever lived on the planet. His name is King David. But how did he do it? The answer lies in Psalms 78:72…

“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart and with skillful hands he led them.”

What an awesome statement. An idea that had change my leadership perspective and belief.  Integrity of heart is brought about by character which we grow into and skill is something we learn and practice, not something that we are born with. Skill will get you far in leadership but heart combined with it will push you farther.
If you have one and the other didn’t exist in your leadership, you’ll end up in tragedy like the tale of the two presidents.

Two powerful ideas when possessed by a leader will certainly do exploits.  And how did King David end, the bible tell us that he accomplished the purposes of God in his generation and ended well.

Two ideas I have found in great leadership… You have to have integrity of heart and skillful hands.

Tags: Kindom Principles, Leadership

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.