Leadership is NOT (and I know that I’m going to step on some toes here):

1.  Being able to organize an event.  (Even my Outlook Planner can do that.)

2.  Raising money.  (It’s not the money that makes a leader.  It’s how effectively the money can be used.  It’s how the money was obtained in the first place.)

3.  Starting a church, a business, or a non-profit.  (Anybody can start a thing.  It’s how the thing you started progresses.  It’s whether or not the thing perpetuates without you.)

4.  Bossing, coordinating, firing, and/or scheduling somebody.  (It’s easy to give orders, slightly more difficult to get people to follow them, and art when people actually want to follow them.)

5.  A large following of people.  (People, and we’re all people, are like sheep.  We’ll follow anything.  Sometimes the thing we follow is a shepherd.  Sometimes it’s just another sheep that reminds us of a shepherd.)

6.  A loud voice.  (Loud voices tend to think their loudness makes them more persuasive.  Usually, their loudness masks their insecurity in what is actually being said.)

7.  Being edgy, risky, or forward-thinking.  (Because any person can think of the never-been-done.  The question is whether the never-been-done should be done.  Just because it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean that it should be.  Just because it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean that you should be the one doing it.)

*Leadership IS the ultimate brush used to paint the ultimate canvas of a person’s heart. Leadership is art, people-art.