Life Leadership Model

By Effiom Effiong

Life Leadership Model is a leadership philosophy that primarily deals with a leader’s self-awareness, self- control and self-expression.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Effiom Effiong
• Release date: Sep 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463768785

Book preview

Life Leadership Model

For Success and Greatness

The Portrait of a Happy Leader

Printed in Abuja, Nigeria

©2019 by Effiom E. Effiong

ISBN: 978-978-973-038-4

License Note

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical – including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system – without permission in writing from the author.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the following translations of the Holy Bible.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the New Living Translation.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the New International Version.

Scripture quotations marked BBE are taken from the Bible in Basic English.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible.

Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation.

Scripture quotations marked ABCE are taken from the Amplified Bible Classic Edition.

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Introduction

The Life Leadership Model

Quadrant One: The Leader

Chapter 1-The Concepts of Leadership and Followership

Chapter 2-The Makeup of a Leader

Chapter 3-The Leader's Sources of Self-Consciousness

Chapter 4-How to Find Purpose and Fulfil Destiny

Quadrant Two: The Leader's Assignment

Chapter 5-Results-Based Assignment

Chapter 6-Relationship-Based Assignment

Chapter 7-Management-Based Assignment

Chapter 8-Three-Dimensional Provisions for Your

Assignment133

Quadrant Three: The Process for the Assignment143

Chapter 9-Understanding Process

Chapter 10-How to Achieve Whatever You Want

Quadrant Four: The Expression of the Leader s

Chapter 11-5 Essentials for Effective Self-Expression

Chapter 12-Expressing Yourself through Service

Conclusion -The Need for a Paradigm Shift

Dedication

This book is dedicated to God and to all leaders who sincerely desire to be happy, successful and great.

Acknowledgments

I thank God for the ideas, wisdom and grace to put these words down. I could not have done it without His inspiration and insight.

I would like to appreciate my beautiful and loving wife, Mrs. Ekpoanwan Effiong, who stood by me throughout the book's development. I appreciate my mentor, Mr. Michael Ojukwu, who is the source and motivation for the birth of this book. I especially thank my Pastor, Dr. Olubunmi Ladipo, who gave me encouragement and direction for the book.

I greatly appreciate my editor, Omei Bongos-Ikwue, who worked tirelessly to give the book its flavour. Thank you, my friend and brother, Mr. Roland Achor, for your splendid contributions and great encouragement throughout the process of writing the book.

Nothing great is ever done alone. This book could not have been completed without the efforts and contributions of other great people too numerous to mention. I am truly indebted to you all and pray that your labour of love will not go unrewarded.

Thank you.

Foreword

God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature. So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle,

And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female.

God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth. (Genesis 1:26–28; MSG)

I believe this statement from the Bible is the essence of, and mandate for, all human beings. Everyone has a unique purpose for domination on earth. This must be discovered, developed and deployed for domination in that perculiar sphere of influence. The author, in his book, has articulated the process of achieving God's original mandate for every man and woman.

I commend this book to you and pray that it brings you to the discovery of your unique area of influence, and the development and deployment of the peculiar gift within you.

Blessings,

OlubunmiLadipo

Introduction

The Life Leadership Model

The whole concept of leadership can be summed up in three words: self-discovery, self-mastery and self-expression. As a leader, you will only be great, happy and prosperous if you are fully conscious of your ideal self, master every aspect of that self for maximum impact and express that self for the benefits of all. This book is to help you achieve just that.

Everyone in the universe is searching for solutions. People might seek solutions to their unfulfilled desires and expectations, or their challenges and problems. Whatever it may be, we are all seeking answers to life's questions. Many people seek these answers outside themselves. They seek answers in their environment, leaders, family, business, career, or possessions. They believe that if their leaders, spouse, boss, friend, or parent did this or that for them, their lives would be better. Sadly, such people drift through life without finding lasting satisfaction for the yearnings of their souls.

Only a few people know that the solutions they seek lie within them. Such people know that their external environment only reflects their internal condition; thus, they seek the cause of this reflection instead of its visible effect. They know that if the cause changes, the effect will also change. Are you poor, sick or feeling lonely, depressed, frustrated or anxious? The solution to these challenges, or any other one confronting you right now, lies in your consciousness of your ideal personality. Knowing who you are and constantly living in the awareness of that truth is the master key to your transformation and freedom.

In his book, The Spirit of Leadership, Myles Munroe tells the true story of a young lion that grew up among sheep. One day, another lion from the jungle confronted him where he was feeding. Before the confrontation, this young lion considered himself a sheep. He lived as a sheep, ate as a sheep and responded to life as a sheep. He has the nature, composition and make-up of a lion, but expresses himself as a sheep, unconscious of his identity as a lion. After his encounter with the lion from the jungle, his transformation and liberation took place. He became conscious of his true nature. He understood that he had never been a sheep and, consequently, cannot live like a sheep anymore. He made his decision to take his rightful place in the jungle where lions reign as kings!

This is where his real work begins. Since he knew nothing about living like a lion, he must undergo his transformative training before he can truly live like a lion. He must unlearn everything he learned while living as a sheep. He must discard his old lifestyle, mindset and attitude about life. His major work is to change his perspective about himself and keep it changed! He must develop the attitude and mindset of a lion. He must be true to who and what he is! He must develop a new lifestyle of dominion over life. He must take up the responsibility to hunt, talk (roar), eat, sleep, walk and work like a lion. This new life requires a considerable amount of work, perseverance and persistence. He must develop the mastery of a lion.

What is true about this young lion is true about many leaders today. The greatest challenge facing leaders in our generation is the incorrect perception of their self-image, self-ideal and self-worth. When a man's true identity confronts him, everything about him changes. Until then, he lives like an ordinary person, controlled by his mind and five senses, and aware only of what his five senses tell him about himself and his environment. Until he meets himself, he remains carnal – that is, only physically or materially inclined and never spiritually inclined. He must see before he believes because for him, seeing is believing.

But when he knows the truth about his true nature and identity, he becomes supernatural and influenced only by his spirit. From that point onward, he gains an entirely new perspective about himself. His paradigm becomes believing is seeing. Suddenly, he finds nothing outside himself with which to compare himself; there is nothing else in the entire universe that looks exactly like him. His likeness can be found only inside him.

Your real self is your spirit. You are the image and likeness of God. God, like the lion from the jungle, has come to introduce you to yourself. You must no longer evaluate yourself by your external environment orexperiences because they might not be telling you the true story about yourself. Let God show you who you are. If you have believed in Christ Jesus, you are a brand-new person on the inside. You may look the same on the outside, but on the inside, everything about you has changed. Your spirit has become completely new, you have received the mind of Christ, and your body has been quickened to live the new life. You are no longer a natural human being, but a supernatural personality. Because you are one with Christ, your evaluation of yourself must change. As the apostle Paul reminds us,

So, we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:16–17; NLT)

Your responsibility is to live in the consciousness of this new life throughout your existence in this world. Only the Bible can truly and fully tell you about this new and unique nature: But if you give yourself to the Lord, you and Christ are joined together as one person (1 Corinthians 6:17; TLB). You and Christ are no longer two persons but One. It's no longer you and Christ, but Christ. Christ is the head, and you are the body. The Holy Spirit has wholly immersed you into Christ. This is who you are now, and your subsequent growth and advancement must be in alignment with your newly found life.

The Life Leadership Model is a new model that considers leadership from an inside-out perspective, rather than the traditional outside-in one. It focuses on life's spiritual realities rather than its physical or material ones. The Life Leadership Model considers your whole composition from its ideal perspective and shows you how to regain power, authority and dominion over your life's circumstances and situations. The Model shows you how to live in the spiritual world while influencing your physical and material universe.

The Life Leadership Model examines leadership from four different perspectives. These four perspectives or quadrants cover everything you desire to know about yourself as a leader, why you were born, how to solve your problems, and how to realise your dreams. The Model can be applied at any leadership level. The Life Leadership Model is best utilised when you are considering leadership from the inside-out perspective, and if correctly used, will always bring about success and happiness in every sphere of your life.

The four quadrants of the Life Leadership Model are:

1. Quadrant One: The Leader

2. Quadrant Two: The Leader's Assignment

3. Quadrant Three: The Process for the Assignment

4. Quadrant Four: The Leader's Medium of Expression

This Model encompasses everything about leadership, and leaders can use it in the for-profit or non-profit sectors, businesses, families, government agencies, faith institutions, educational platforms, military and para-military institutions, as well as communities. The joy of life is in living. I hope the ideas in this book will guide you to becoming all you ever dreamt of and desired in life.

QUADRANT ONE

THE LEADER

CHAPTER ONE

The Concepts of Leadership and Followership

The Concept of Leadership

Leadership has often been considered from the perspective of people, position, influence, or achievement. Many definitions relate leadership to the act of directing people from a place of authority, influencing them to do something they would not normally do on their own, or simply, to achieving success in every area of their lives. Others have presented leadership as the ability to achieve results through the application of one's gifts and talents. Rarely has leadership been considered from the perspective of spiritual self-discovery, self-mastery and self-expression which comes from the realisation of one's identity, purpose, potential, source and destiny.

Leadership is not a medium for controlling or manipulating people for personal and selfish gains but a medium for expressing mastery and lordship over situations. Leadership is the platform and process through which the hidden splendour of the universe is explored and revealed in all its fullness and majesty. Leadership is the capacity to understand and explore the relationship between the visible and invisible worlds. Leadership is your capacity to appreciate our unity in diversity and to do to others what you would want them to do to you.

You are not a leader because you occupy statutory positions, acquire leadership titles, dominate others, or manipulate people. These qualities do not make you a true leader. True leaders do not control people; instead, they serve others through their gifts and talents, and they collaborate with others to advance the universe for the benefit of all.

Every human being has an in-built capacity for leadership. The ability to lead is embedded within; you only need to discover and express it. To fully express your leadership potential, you must first understand who you are. In his sermon, The Immutability of God, Charles Spurgeon wrote, The proper study of mankind is man; the proper study of God's elect is God, and the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. You can know yourself only to the extent that you know God and understand your oneness with Him. You cannot honestly know who you are until you know your true Source and the attributes of that Source as it relates to you. Only through the eyes of God can we truly measure and evaluate our self-worth, potential, identity, purpose and destiny. To measure yourself by a lesser standard is to devalue yourself. You are worth much more than you think! All of history's great leaders lived in the consciousness of this knowledge, and it became the secret of their remarkable manifestations. You cannot correctly know yourself until you know God and His attributes.

Leadership is the process of unfolding everything about you: why you are in the world, what you are here to do, how you should do it; where you should do it; for whom you ought to do it; when you should do it; and from which platform you must do it. Leadership and management are, therefore, inseparable. It is impossible to be a productive and effective leader without understanding management. Leadership demands the effective management of your resources and the efficient utilisation of your gifts for maximum output. You are both a leader and a manager. You must lead and manage, as well as manage and lead, in seamless unity. Because they make you responsible and accountable, any attempt to separate management and leadership will end in failure and counter-productivity. Leadership is all about you!

Why We Need Leaders

The earth, unattended by human hands, cannot release its huge inherent blessings. In its natural state, it is like a forest waiting for human actions. Someone must work on this forest to transform it into a garden. The resources, plants and animals in these two habitats may be the same, but their conditions are starkly different. The most significant difference between a forest and a garden is orderliness. Leaders are expected to transform their forests into gardens and manage these gardens to manifest its beauty and splendour. A forest will never transform itself into a garden