Every thing rises and falls on leadership...

"True leadership means to receive power from God and to use it under God's rule to serve people in God's way." Leighton Ford

"First pride, then the crash. The bigger the ego, the harder the fall." Proverbs 16.18 (The Message)

When I converse with others on leadership, invariably Donald Trump's reality series The Apprentice comes up as the best show on marketing and leadership. I totally disagree – I see bickering, lack of teamwork, absence of servant leadership, and our sin nature in humankind rears its ugly head. Just as God was calling out to Adam in the Garden, when he "messed up" in disobedience, The Apprentice confrontation takes place in the Boardroom before the Donald - displayed for us to see Thursday night - The "team" members, just as Adam did, cover their sin, hide, affix blame and justify their actions for self preservation (at the expense of others).

Thank God for His grace, mercy and kindness that leads to repentance!

Greg Morris of Leadership Dynamics writes, “True leadership is not about impressing people, but about serving others. It is not about manipulating those around you but about motivating them. Authentic leadership is not about controlling those under your supervision but about communicating to them a vision for God-designed excellence.”

“To be a Christian leader means you operate under the guidance and control of the Savior. We need to ask ourselves often, "Am I building people or am I building my own dreams and using people?" For the Christian leader, people must come first. People aren't the means to an end; they are the end!”

So what about the Donald? I wouldn’t want to work for him! Kris Laroche explains it better in his essay -
Donald Trump's Leadership Lessons: The Great Man Myth Lives On
By Kris Laroche
Originally published in the August 2004 Issue of Link & Learn.

What explains the shocking popularity of the Donald Trump's reality series The Apprentice? There are a number of possible reasons. It certainly could be our endless curiosity about the lives of the rich and famous. It may also be explained by our current interest in staring into the fishbowl drama watching real life struggles, humiliations and victories. Perhaps it's the chance to witness, from a safe distance, the scary and possibly all-to-familiar horror of being fired from a desirable position. These are reasonable answers however, there seems to be much more to it than this. The wildly successful show, The Apprentice, has hit on something big. It responds to an ongoing and unresolved fascination with the mysterious, complex and universally meaningful phenomena called LEADERSHIP.

Kris goes on to write about:
Seven Leadership Lessons Courtesy of THE DONALD: A How Not-To Guide of Great Leadership

LESSON #1
The leader is in complete control, taking charge of everything, and holding the key to success.

According to Donald Trump, leadership is all about control and power. Trump's words, as well as his actions, throughout the series indicate that he lives what we call, "The Great Man theory" of leadership. He interrupts, commands, directs, instills fear, controls, and makes all the decisions. He has "advisors" who play the role and he allows them a brief opportunity to speak, yet rarely do they disagree. We saw this with both of his weekly side-kicks. Self-important is a defining trait. Trump never allows others to interrupt or talk over him. When one contestant said, "let me finish", early on in the series Trump pounced, making it clear that he is boss which means he speaks first, foremost and loudest. Most of his behavior and words ("I'm not going to be happy if you're late") reinforce the notion that everything that everyone does within the organization is about pleasing him. You could see the results of this as contestants focused all of their efforts during each week's task towards guessing what Trump would like and how he would handle a situation.

Read on for more:

In closing, here’s a simple prayer:

“God, give me something that I can give others.”
John C. Maxwell’s prayer