LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE FORCE

Part 2 of 6

What is the Force? Does it exist? Is it purely a concept found only in the Star Wars movie franchise? The answer to that is a question of faith.

I am of the solid belief that leaders need to be guided by God. While you can be a good leader without God, it is impossible to be a great leader without Him.

The reason for this is that leaders need to hold on to something more stable and solid than the world around us. The world around us has a very peculiar belief system that is the antithesis of great leadership. Concepts such as winning is the only thing and win at all costs, while they may force competitiveness, do not necessarily result in great leadership.

The concept of the Force in Star Wars is related to knowing one’s true destiny. Are you already aware of your destiny to be a leader? If yes, then you need to tap into and be connected to the Force. John Maxwell says in The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork that One is too small a number to achieve greatness. While the reference may be towards having others surround you and be with you in a team, it also refers to relying solely on yourself and no other person or entity.

Inherently, you cannot rely on only yourself. Doing so allows you to see only one facet of the entire picture; 1 viewpoint only which is yours. However, the solutions are often not seen from your viewpoint but from the viewpoint of others. In many cases, even the viewpoint of others is too shortsighted to see the real picture and solution. Hence, you will need something more than that a deeper, higher viewpoint which can only be found in God.

Others call this their gut instinct. Whatever it is called, it requires something outside of yourself; this is what they refer to as the Force in the Star Wars franchise.

In the course of what we do, our aim is always to encourage others to aspire to be GREAT. This is an acronym that stands for:

Godly

Right

Exemplary

Acceptable

True

With specific reference to # 1, you cannot begin the journey to be great without God. You can try. But somewhere along the way you will fall and fail because that is how the world is geared towards. Only by having a stronger anchor in God, can one aspire to be, do and achieve great things.

Is the Force with you?

More to come in Part 3