PERSPECTIVES
countered along the way. I was flying home from California, and by an unbelievable miracle Dr. Juan Prestol was seated next to me. At that time he was the treasurer of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and had earned a PhD in leadership. I asked him his philosophy of leadership and he said, predictably, “servant leadership as Christ modeled is of first importance.” However, he went on to say that in addition to servant leadership “authentic leadership” is what he strives to bring to the table and what we need more of in our church. I asked Dr. Prestol how he defined authentic leadership and he began to outline his four pillars of authentic leadership. As he spoke, something clicked inside me and finally I was able to articulate what I have come to believe biblical leadership looks like. I am sharing with you the first pillar today and will talk about the other three pillars in future articles.
Pillar #1
The first pillar of authentic leadership is self-awareness (“know thyself ”). This might seem strange at first, but it truly is important if we want to be authentic, Christ-centered leaders. This is true whether you are the Pathfinder leader at a local church, or a part of the Pathfinder leadership at the General Conference. In essence, being self-aware is about being able to evaluate yourself honestly, to keep your emotions in line with the values you hold, and to have a clear understanding of how you are viewed by others. I once worked with a principal of a school who was excellent at his job. He was creative, energetic and a skilled communicator. He had one achilles heel, though; he was a bad sport. He loved to play intramural sports with the students but would lose his temper when he wasn’t winning and lash out verbally and sometimes physically with the students. It broke my heart to watch him lose the respect of the will never forget the moment I was students, faculty and parents when he would have outbursts. handed a rather expensive farewell gift I spoke with him privately about his actions on the playing from my supervisor at the last moment, field but he denied he had a problem. This hurt his ability to as my family’s belongings were being loaded on the moving lead the way he wanted to lead the school. truck. I politely (and I hope graciously) accepted the gift and In the first example I shared about an unethical boss, the very soon afterward we were in our car beginning our drive man evidently was unable to see how his manipulative tactics to new responsibilities. hurt people and discredited his leadership. He was completely It was the first time I had received a gift that left a pit in my unaware how transparently divisive his tactics were. stomach. Honestly, I didn’t want a gift from this boss. He and Most of you reading this today are leaders of some type in I both knew I had seen him do a number of underhanded your church. To be truly authentic, you must have the ability maneuvers that were outright unethical. He and I both knew to do honest self-evaluation. It is a gift you can give yourself it was time for me to go and the gift felt more like a bribe than and those whom the Lord has called you to lead. a thoughtful gesture. He had been “a bad boy” and he knew it Next time, I will talk about the and I knew it. second pillar Dr. Prestol gave I had bosses before him who were not the greatest leaders, me—being genuine but none of them resorted to the kind of manipulation I saw as a leader. in him. Frankly, I was disillusioned over my experience and was leery about how my future career was going to work out. I’m so thankful that my next leader was one of the best I ever worked for, and I found him to be filled with integrity.
Authentic
Leadership Series
I
A defining encounter
It wasn’t until years later that I finally understood how to put my journey in context with the different leaders I had en4 OUTLOOKMAG.ORG FEB 2024
GARY THURBER is president of the Mid-America Union.
