Religion and Leadership

Religion and Leadership | May 4, 2009

Quite a few of the exemplary leaders or rather the founders of good/ethical companies had some sort of religious background or affiliation. Even Phil Powell, who my group interviewed for the exemplary leader project, mentioned his Christian values. I don’t think that being a person of faith, any faith, is necessary to be a good leader, though one could mistakenly make that corralative assumption. The key seems to be being a person of values and consistent and good morals. Generally this is associated with religious people but does not have to be. As I have mentioned before, good leaders must lead themselves. Leading yourself requires self-awareness and discipline; self-awareness and discipline are associated with a moral framework and ethical personal fabric. That point may seem obvious but it is not – it would be niave and foolish to walk away from this course thinking that good leaders need to be religious. What a person should walk away from this course understanding is that it is necessary to have a firm and deep moral framework for yourself. There is a recurrent theme here: you can’t lead if you don’t know the path and the path is drawn in part by who you are and what you believe.

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I agree with the importance of consistent values and morals in effective leadership. Indeed, I think consistency in and of itself can go a long way. No one likes dealing with a leader who is all over the wall or can never really prepare work in a manner that knows will be satisfactory or above-average. Moreover, the notion of values and morals is important because it speaks to a part of the self that has the capacity to motivate. Few religions have values and morals that are truly bad or worse, reprehensible. That is, even if one does not affiliate with the religion of the leader, she likely still could admire the quality. Quite simply, most religious values are valued by society at large, no matter what the affiliation.

That said, I think your correlative assumption may be on to something. I realize your blog was attempting to downplay the religious affiliation, but I think religion says a lot about a person. I do not mean to say that religious affiliation is a necessary quality of effective leadership. However, a religious person is one that is devoted to something larger than herself, someone that is likely inspired and motivated, one that does have a consistent guiding post on how to act and relate with others, a sense of respect of for others and oneself, and a sense of accountability. These qualities are relatively consistent throughout the world’s major religions. They are also important components of solid leadership. Therefore, I find it as no surprise that a lot of the exemplary leaders had some sort of religious background/affiliation/”driving force.” In fact, I would expect it.

Comment by jodwrigh — May 6, 2009 @ 1:36 pm

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I am a joint JD/MBA student who will be graduating soon. I go to school at night and work full time during the day as a paralegal. I have a previous professional life in social services.

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I agree with the importance of consistent values and morals in effective leadership. Indeed, I think consistency in and of itself can go a long way. No one likes dealing with a leader who is all over the wall or can never really prepare work in a manner that knows will be satisfactory or above-average. Moreover, the notion of values and morals is important because it speaks to a part of the self that has the capacity to motivate. Few religions have values and morals that are truly bad or worse, reprehensible. That is, even if one does not affiliate with the religion of the leader, she likely still could admire the quality. Quite simply, most religious values are valued by society at large, no matter what the affiliation.

That said, I think your correlative assumption may be on to something. I realize your blog was attempting to downplay the religious affiliation, but I think religion says a lot about a person. I do not mean to say that religious affiliation is a necessary quality of effective leadership. However, a religious person is one that is devoted to something larger than herself, someone that is likely inspired and motivated, one that does have a consistent guiding post on how to act and relate with others, a sense of respect of for others and oneself, and a sense of accountability. These qualities are relatively consistent throughout the world’s major religions. They are also important components of solid leadership. Therefore, I find it as no surprise that a lot of the exemplary leaders had some sort of religious background/affiliation/”driving force.” In fact, I would expect it.

Comment by jodwrigh — May 6, 2009 @ 1:36 pm

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