Common Sense vs. Leadership

The topic of leadership must be the most over used, over hyped, over promised, and over analyzed word in the world.  I am tired of it.  Not that it isn't important.  It is!  But I am beginning to wonder if there are really that many great leaders.  If there were as many great leaders as claimed in blogs, conferences and books, then things should be going a little better.  Don't you think?  There should be fewer problems in the economy, the local church, families, marriages, churches, etc.  Somehow, the leaders aren't leading.

Anyone can appoint themselves a great leader.  I call them fauxleaders.  All they have to do is learn the leadership language and become a part of the leadership speaking circuit and they are ready to teach leadership.  There has been nothing new said about leadership since the time of Christ.  It's all the same stuff repackaged.  Some of the fauxleadership gurus of our day are swapping stories and statistics, which is all right as long as they give the source of their wisdom.  Too many people, especially in the church world, are so caught up in leadership that they forget about being themselves - a human being crafted by the God of the universe who gives each person a purpose - whether you are a leader or not. 

I propose that someone do a conference on how to function without leadership gifts. That would be called the "common sense" conference.  It's just not as sexy a word.  I think the key to leading anything is common sense, which as Ed Young says, "common sense is not so common."  We need more conferences on common sense than leadership.  You can't number common sense principles because each of us make hundreds of common sense decisions every day.  You will never read a blog on leadership by me.  I'm not that great of a leader.  And I only know about 5 truly gifted leaders.   One is my pastor.  God gives the rest of us common sense to survive one day after another.  Some in the secular world would say "some people are better lucky than good."  That describes my life much more honestly than leadership.  It seems to me that a lot of people who claim to be leaders must have suffered from low self esteem at some point in their life.  Why else would they have to remind us  every day that they are a leader?

Did Jesus ever claim to be a leader?  I can't remember off the top of my blog, but he talked a lot about common sense and service and love and forgiveness...leadership must have been way down on the list of character traits.

So for all of us who are uncommonly unleadershiped gifted, let's use our common sense and run circles around the fauxleaders.