by Dr Dave M. Jenkins

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: June 04, 2011

Leadership is the ability to influence others to accomplish a task. Too often, leadership is confused with having power and authority over others. Leadership has little to do with authority, as one can be a leader without authority or can have the authority and not be a true leader. Leadership is more than what we do on a job. Leadership can be exercised in other areas.

Although religion can nurture spirituality, they are not synonymous. In fact, Jesus criticized the Pharisees and Sadducees for their religiosity and lack of relationship with God. Spirituality is having faith and a relationship with something larger than ones' self. Our spirituality is a source guide for personal values and meaning-making, a way of understanding the world, an inner awareness (Fairholm, 1997). In my case, it's a personal relationship Jesus Christ.

Our western culture tells us that we have to separate our work life from our spiritual life. Beckett (2001) explains this concept of dualism well in his book Loving Monday. He makes reference that dualism started as far back as the Greeks. The Greeks separated everything that was not of a spiritual nature as secular. All secular things were in the lower realm of thought while all spiritual concerns were in the higher realm of thought. It is no wonder why we have a difficult time blending the seeming two different realms of thought. However, they are not that different. Looking at the two realms differently, gives us permission to exclude our spirituality from all other areas of our life. We fail to be spiritual. We make up excuses and fall into the trap of being a Sunday-Christian. Beckett (2001) says, "It is not only that true spirituality covers all parts of life, it covers all part of the spectrum of life equally". I like the part about "equally". This implies consistency.

According to Fairholm (1997), spiritual leadership is a holistic approach of influencing the whole person. Spiritual leadership happens when one's spiritual values have a direct impact on their leadership style. We must learn to put others first. Spiritual leadership is learning to serve others and not using others to meet our needs as we progress to the top. The spiritual leader has a healthy sense of self and is not threaten by the development or growth of others. The spiritual leader displays a low level of anxiety in the mist of a crisis. He or she is the calming force.

Spiritual leadership has a way of engaging both the head and the heart. A spiritual leader

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