Leadership: Destiny Or Discernment

Catalog description

Take a moment and imagine a great leader. What challenges and triumphs, skills and strengths are they most noted for? Can you think of any other person occupying that particular niche in history? Leaders, particularly those at some historical distance, often seem tailor-made for their unique circumstances, the outcome of their actions fordeordanined. It is difficult to imagine anyone but Martin Luther King at Selma, Henvy V at Agincourt, or Lincoln at Gettysburg. Is that really all there is to it? Is leadership a simple - and apparently random - matter of landing that right person at the right moment? If that were the case, our great leaders would serve little of the credit they receive. A great leader is constantly engaged in a process of discernment, evaluating and matching her/his skills to challenges and events around them, reflecting on successes and failures, making adjustments, and moving forward. Leaders aren't born in the right place and time; they create the right space in their time. This course will explore these issues and many others as you begin to discern your own understanding of leadership.