The Smith Shack by Jonathan

Thoughts on Leadership, Part Two

jonathan@shammelle.com — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:31:00 GMT

Being a leader is a position of service, not a position where other people serve you. The more that I was recognized as a leader, the less control I had over my own time and energy, and if you have one person at the top (as in the guilds in the games I played) he has almost no control over his own time, if he's going to be a good leader. The vast majority of his time will be spent building up and helping others.

It is easy for a leader to lose touch with the average members. Often it seems that the 'leadership' forms a clique. That group is strong and solid, but due to some exclusive tendencies and habits, they don't stay in touch with everyone else well... and people will leave or drift away for that reason.

It is likewise easy for a leader to start to think he has some real power, and to like it. Aspiring to lead is one thing, desiring to dominate is something entirely different... and bad. People will often try to hang on to this 'position' long past the point they should have given it up. This is always detrimental, sometimes extremely so. Sometimes the members will try to keep a leader in a position he should no longer have, I have seen this, and it is also very detrimental.

Often a leader will enact policies that he was strongly opposed to on principle prior to taking the leadership position. Once this happens once or twice, it can quickly spiral into what become some very bizarre changes, even if incrementally.

Sometimes a leader will fall into the trap of thinking he's actually superior in some way to everyone else. "They made me a leader because I'm better at..." This is dangerous. And generally not true. It leads to an 'us vs them' mentality, viewing the 'people' as 'mindless sheep' who can be 'guided' where they don't want to go. A leader typically ends up in an official leadership position because he was doing the work of a leader. It has nothing to do with talent or superiority, but rather with effort.

Some thoughts on Leadership... part one.

jonathan@shammelle.com — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:22:00 GMT

I have been in a couple official positions of leadership in the past few years. One as a deacon in a local Plymouth Brethren assembly. Another as a guild leader/officer in several online games. Recently, I have also stepped down from those positions in leadership. I will tell, in brief the stories of both of those leadership positions.

Local Church

Three years ago, through the 'deacon selection process' at Believer's Bible Chapel, I was honored to be selected as a deacon. While it is a position of leadership, it is also quite obviously a position of service. My responsibility was to oversee the maintenance of the building itself... including work days, special projects, yard work, and minor improvements. Deacons also meet with the Board of Directors, which is the ultimate authority at BBC.

Typically chapels like BBC are dispensational in theology, and I have in the past several years come to see dispensationalism as incorrect. BBC has in it's official doctrine, explicit hardcore dispensationalism. This began to cause a problem for me, since when I would preach, I would, of necessity, do so from a non-dispensational perspective. Several months ago, I came to the conclusion that I would need to refrain from preaching, so that opposing theological systems are not being taught from the same pulpit, when the official doctrine is quite clear.

In the process, it became very clear that the leadership structure of BBC is not what I would consider Biblical. The bylaws explicitly state that the Board of Directors (a man made board whose members are not required to meet the qualifications for eldership) rules the church. That structure is more significant when one member of the Board does not meet the qualifications of eldership, and yet seeks to rule the church.

My 'renewal' for deacon is this next weekend. I have officially withdrawn my candidacy for renewal.

Online Games

This is a little longer story...

I started playing Asheron's Call 2 in 2003. Because I was fairly level-headed, and reliable/helpful/friendly, I was promoted to the position of officer in a guild of 100+ active players. Officers monitor chat to keep it clean, moderate disputes, lead group endeavors, and may occasionally need to recruit or remove people from the guild.

I served as an officer for a while, and then our current leader stepped down to manage other things in his life. I was chosen to replace him, and quite honored to have been chosen. After a couple years, AC2 was closed and some of us moved to Everquest 2 where I continued as the guild leader. In 2007, Lord of the Rings Online came out, and we moved to it, where I was still leader.. but instead of a guild of 100+, we were a guild of around 15.

For the good of the players in the guild, we merged with another guild and I was no longer a leader, but was given the position of officer.

We (Laurel and I) began to notice some problems with some of the attitudes in leadership. We raised the issue a few times, and were eventually called whiners (the issue was not about ourselves, but about others). At that point, we left the guild and began looking for a new guild, which we found, and where I have no leadership position.

Those are the two stories lately of leadership positions.... gain and loss.

I will write more in the future with some thoughts on leadership and some things I've learned.

So, about the Roman Polanski thing...

jonathan@shammelle.com — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:05:00 GMT

You know about the Roman Polanski case, or you've had your TV off and not surfed for news on the web. Which wouldn't be a bad idea... 30-some years ago, renowned director Roman Polanski drugged and raped a 13 year old girl. He fled the country before his sentencing, and we are now asking the Swiss to extradite him to the U.S. for a new round of legal stuff.

Warning... the content after the jump may not be suitable for children. No foul language or explicit pictures or even very explicit language will be used, so you decide...

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A few verses about the Law

jonathan@shammelle.com — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:21:00 GMT

Eric Schrag did a little studying about the Law we're given in the New Testament. He looked up many verses and put a lot of work into putting something together explaining the strictness and applicability of the Law laid out in the NT versus...

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Travelling men

jonathan@shammelle.com — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:24:00 GMT

If you know me, you know I like classic rock and oldies. I happened to see a link to something about Roy Orbison, and while looking at Roy Orbison stuff, I stumbled upon a video by the Travelling Wilburys.

From...

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Unwelcome Guests and Cute Faces

jonathan@shammelle.com — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:27:00 GMT

We've had some visitors to the cat food bowls lately (other than the chickens, who absolutely love cat food).

Here's one...

This guy, after L had gone to bed as I was getting ready, I saw him outside our back door. I pounded on the door a bit to get him...

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The Steve Miller Band, Concerts, and Expectations

jonathan@shammelle.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:03:00 GMT

Well, Laurel had a little 'mad money' and I saw the billboard for the Washington Town and Country Fair. It said, "Steve Miller Band, August 8th". I called Laurel...

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Tragedy has struck! (overdramatized?)

jonathan@shammelle.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:54:00 GMT

Tragedy has struck? Tragedy struck? Tragedy strikes again? Hmm... me conjugating verbs. Not something I usually get stuck on, but 'Tragedy has struck' sounds weird.

Anyway... a couple weeks ago...

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On the economy - more dialectical contradictions

jonathan@shammelle.com — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:20:00 GMT

More dialectical contradictions, again from http://thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=3076.

Economic justice:

America is capitalist and greedy - yet...

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Communism... a poem?

jonathan@shammelle.com — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:31:00 GMT

the following poem(?)....

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