LEADERS ARE PROBLEM-SOLVERSOur own day presents leaders with difficult problems as never
before. If leaders are to survive, they must view the difficult as
commonplace, the complex as normal.^6Sanders also deals with the seemingly impossible problems that every leader
faces. He quotes John R. Mott who said that these kinds of “big problems”
are the issues that really separate leaders from followers. The bigger the
problem, the bigger the leader must be who faces and solves the problem.
Mott said: “I long since ceased to occupy myself with minor things that can be
done by others. A true leader rises to face battling circumstances and complex
problems.”^7
Principle:
“ You can measure a leader by the problems he
tackles.He always looks for ones his own size.”^8
(John Maxwell)Not only do problems have to be faced and overcome, the right problem
has to be identified, analyzed, and excised. Many people, including many
young leaders, identify the wrong problem. They focus on the wrong issues.
They put their spiritual emphasis on the wrong theological syllable.
They draw the battle lines in the wrong places. They zealously lead their
followers into war – but to fight the wrong enemy. They misdirect a lot
of energy and effort jousting with windmills. They spill a lot of innocent
blood needlessly. Their followers often experience unnecessary “battle
fatigue” from conflicts with little eternal consequences. At the end of the day,
there are a lot of spiritual and emotional fatalities where there should
not have been any. That’s because the cause was unworthy of the cost! The
causalities were of more value than the cause! So many of the battles
within the church should never have been fought in the first place, like the
Crusades. Too often Christians get focused on the wrong problems. In
their spiritual confusion and distorted priorities, they make their brothers
and sisters the enemy when they have a common enemy in the devil!
Concerning the importance of identifying the right problem and fighting
the right enemy, Fred Smith writes:
Great leaders have known the power of uniting against a common