FOLLOW THE LEADERPrinciple: “No one can do the minimum
and reach his maximum potential.”^28
(John Maxwell)Tragically, our Western society has increasingly become satisfied with
mediocrity – in almost all areas of life. In his book entitled Excellence,
John Gardner poignantly writes this:
An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an
incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in
plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity – and tolerates
shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity – will
have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes
nor its theories will hold water.^29Gardner’s rather humorous observation about excellence in plumbing
and mediocrity in philosophy points out the fact that our society has often
confused success with excellence. Success is based upon the attainment of
certain cultural goals – whether that is measured in number of cows,
acreage owned, or in the amount of blue chip stock in one’s portfolio.
Calibrated that way, success is achievable only for a select few. On the
other hand, excellence can be achieved by everybody – but only if they are
willing to “go for it!” In his book entitled Christian Excellence, Jon Johnston
contrasts the difference between success and excellence this way:
Success bases our worth on a comparison with others. Excellence
gauges our value by measuring us against our own potential. Success
grants its reward to the few but is the dream of the multitudes.
Excellence is available to all living beings but is accepted by the few.
Success focuses its attention on the external...Excellence beams its
spotlight on the internal spirit...Success encourages expedience
and compromise, which prompts us to treat people as means to our
ends. Excellence cultivates principles and consistency.^30It is obvious that Christians – especially Christian leaders – should be
pursuing spiritual excellence rather than worldly success!
As a result of this desire to excel, the effective leader continues to push
himself towards excellence – while others around him may be characterized