“Leaders instill courage in the hearts of those who follow. This rarely happens through words alone. It generally requires action. It goes back to what we said earlier: Somebody has to go first. By going first, the leader furnishes confidence to those who follow.As a next generation leader, you will be called upon to go first. That will require courage. But in stepping out you will give the gift of courage to those who are watching.What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business?What has been done is safe. But to attempt a solution to a problem that plagues an entire industry - in my case, the local church - requires courage.Unsolved problems are gateways to the future. To those who have the courage to ask the question and the tenacity to hang on until they discover or create an answer belongs the future.Don’t allow the many good opportunities to divert your attention from the one opportunity that has the greatest potential. Learn to say no. There will always be more opportunities than there is time to pursue them.Leaders worth following are willing to face and embrace current reality regardless of how discouraging or embarrassing it might be.It is impossible to generate sustained growth or progress if your plan for the future is not rooted in reality.Be willing to face the truth regardless of how painful it might be. If fear causes you to retreat from your dreams, you will never give the world anything new.it is impossible to lead without a dream. When leaders are no longer willing to dream, it is only a short time before followers are unwilling to follow.Will I allow my fear to bind me to mediocrity?Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away.Where there is no uncertainty, there is no longer the need for leadership. The greater the uncertainty, the greater the need for leadership. Your capacity as a leader will be determined by how well you learn to deal with uncertainty.My enemy is not uncertainty. It is not even my responsibility to remove the uncertainty. It is my responsibility to bring clarity into the midst of the uncertainty.As leaders we can afford to be uncertain, but we cannot afford to be unclear. People will follow you in spite of a few bad decisions. People will not follow you if you are unclear in your instruction. As a leader you must develop the elusive skill of leading confidently and purposefully onto uncertain terrain.Next generation leaders must fear a lack of clarity more than a lack of accuracy. The individual in your organization who communicates the clearest vision will often be perceived as the leader. Clarity is perceived as leadership.Uncertainty exposes a lack of knowledge. Pretending exposes a lack of character. Express your uncertainty with confidence.You will never maximize your potential in any area without coaching. It is impossible.Self-evaluation is helpful, but evaluation from someone else is essential. You need a leadership coach.Great leaders are great learners. God, in His wisdom, has placed men and women around us with the experience and discernment we often lack.Experience alone doesn’t make you better at anything. Evaluated experience is what enables you to improve your performance.As a leader, what you don’t know can hurt you. What you don’t know about yourself can put a lid on your leadership. You owe it to yourself and to those who have chosen to follow you to open the doors to evaluation. Engage a coach.Success doesn’t make anything of consequence easier. Success just raises the stakes. Success brings with it the unanticipated pressure of maintaining success. The more successful you are as a leader, the more difficult this becomes. There is far more pressure at the top of an organization than you might imagine.”

“Don’t strive to be a well-rounded leader. Instead, discover your zone and stay there. Then delegate everything else.Admitting a weakness is a sign of strength. Acknowledging weakness doesn’t make a leader less effective.Everybody in your organization benefits when you delegate responsibilities that fall outside your core competency. Thoughtful delegation will allow someone else in your organization to shine. Your weakness is someone’s opportunity.Leadership is not always about getting things done “right.” Leadership is about getting things done through other people.The people who follow us are exactly where we have led them. If there is no one to whom we can delegate, it is our own fault.As a leader, gifted by God to do a few things well, it is not right for you to attempt to do everything. Upgrade your performance by playing to your strengths and delegating your weaknesses.There are many things I can do, but I have to narrow it down to the one thing I must do. The secret of concentration is elimination.Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.My competence in these areas defines my success as a pastor.A sixty-hour workweek will not compensate for a poorly delivered sermon. People don’t show up on Sunday morning because I am a good pastor (leader, shepherd, counselor).In my world, it is my communication skills that make the difference. So that is where I focus my time.To develop a competent team, help the leaders in your organization discover their leadership competencies and delegate accordingly.Once you step outside your zone, don’t attempt to lead. Follow.The less you do, the more you will accomplish.Only those leaders who act boldly in times of crisis and change are willingly followed.Accepting the status quo is the equivalent of accepting a death sentence. Where there’s no progress, there’s no growth. If there’s no growth, there’s no life. Environments void of change are eventually void of life. So leaders find themselves in the precarious and often career-jeopardizing position of being the one to draw attention to the need for change. Consequently, courage is a nonnegotiable quality for the next generation leader.The leader is the one who has the courage to act on what he sees.A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent. Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside.The first person to step out in a new direction is viewed as the leader. And being the first to step out requires courage. In this way, courage establishes leadership.Leadership requires the courage to walk in the dark. The darkness is the uncertainty that always accompanies change. The mystery of whether or not a new enterprise will pan out. The reservation everyone initially feels when a new idea is introduced. The risk of being wrong.Many who lack the courage to forge ahead alone yearn for someone to take the first step, to go first, to show the way. It could be argued that the dark provides the optimal context for leadership. After all, if the pathway to the future were well lit, it would be crowded.Fear has kept many would-be leaders on the sidelines, while good opportunities paraded by. They didn’t lack insight. They lacked courage.Leaders are not always the first to see the need for change, but they are the first to act.Leadership is about moving boldly into the future in spite of uncertainty and risk.You can’t lead without taking risk. You won’t take risk without courage. Courage is essential to leadership.”

“Leaders are not, as we are often led to think, people who go along with huge crowds following them. Leaders are people who go their own way without caring, or even looking to see, whether anyone is following them. "Leadership qualities" are not the qualities that enable people to attract followers, but those that enable them to do without them. They include, at the very least, courage, endurance, patience, humor, flexibility, resourcefulness, stubbornness, a keen sense of reality, and the ability to keep a cool and clear head, even when things are going badly. True leaders, in short, do not make people into followers, but into other leaders.”

“Recognizing and accepting both the responsibilities and the opportunities leadership offers you is a significant step in your development as a leader.”

“Those occupying leadership roles who completely lack integrity are what we call 'Blind shepherds'. They are not really 'bad' leaders, because they are not leaders at all: they are misleaders.”

“The more varied the environments in which you exercise your leadership gift, the stronger that gift will become. You will become a far more effective leader.”