Torch, Summer 2000

Leadership 4 Torch verything rises or falls on leadership. If you reflect upon the organizations you’ve been associated with; if you begin to think about your life and the leaders that God has sent into your life; if you consider how leadership successes or failures have affected you, you will agree that everything rises or falls on leadership. You may think that you are not a leader, but most people are at one level or another. You may say you have no desire to be a leader, but, in time, nearly every one of us will assume a leadership position of some sort. We are, or will be, leaders in our homes, at work, in our churches, or on school boards. I dare say that nearly all of us have some kind of leadership responsibilities. Everything rises or falls on our leadership. With that in mind, we should turn our thoughts to determining the kinds of leaders that we should be. Most studies on leadership tend to focus on what a leader does. While that is certainly an important aspect of leadership, I contend it is more important to determine who a leader is. For if we do well while our very being suffers Editor’s Note: In keeping with Cedarville University’s 1999-2000 theme of “Preparing Leaders for the 21st Century,” President Paul Dixon delivered a series of chapel messages on leadership to students, faculty, and staff. The following article is an edited compilation of several of those messages. by Dr. Paul Dixon Leadershi : the privilege to have the responsibility to direct the actions of others in carrying out the purposes of the organization at varying levels of authority and with accountability for success or failure of the endeavor.