THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE LEADERSHIP SPIRIT

When we talk about the attributes of leadership, we are referring to the manifest qualities that reflect the natural source and nature of our Creator. According to Merriam-Webster’s 11^th Collegiate Dictionary, the word attribute comes from a Latin word meaning “to bestow.” The Creator has bestowed on us the attributes of a leadership spirit. Here are some of the definitions of attribute: “an inherent characteristic,” “an object closely associated with or belonging to a specific person, thing, or office,” and “a word ascribing a quality.”

Once more, since God is our Creator and the “material” from which we were created, then in order to understand our leadership attributes, it is naturally imperative for us to explore, study, and come to understand the nature of His attributes. In essence, if you want to know and understand yourself, your nature, and your abilities, it is necessary for you to know God, who is your source.

OMNIPOTENCE

The first attribute of God is that He is omnipotent or all-powerful. How do we apply this attribute to ourselves? Omnipotence means “all-inherent power.” It can also be described as a sense of secure ability in pursuing and fulfilling one’s purpose and will. Since we were made in the image and likeness of the Creator, and possess that same ability in a measure, this means that we inherently have power that enables us to accomplish what we were created to do.

In addition, power can be defined as the proper use of energy. The application for us is this: God does not use energy in a negative way. His power is creative. A true leader who has tapped into his essential nature uses power to create things, to make things better for people, just as God does. The Creator uses His power to produce what is good, and we are meant to do the same.

OMNISCIENCE

The Creator is also omniscient or all-knowing. Because we have His nature, we have the facility to understand and retain knowledge. I believe that we are capable of learning as much as we want to. In this sense, our ability to learn is infinite. Moreover, we can never grow too old to learn. We have the capacity to know more than we think we can.

This means that whatever you’ve learned so far is not enough for you to know. Our ability to know is inherent, and any perceived limitation of this ability is based on our conclusion that we’ve learned all that we can or want to know. Yet this is not all that we are able to know. We have a long way to go in order to match our potential for knowledge.

Paul of Tarsus said that a day will come when we will meet our Creator face-to-face, and then we will “know as we are known.” I can’t bodily go into the heavenlies to communicate with and learn from God, I have the capacity to do this in my spirit. We need to be more aware of our ability to know our Creator and the world that He has made.

OMNIPRESENCE

The third attribute of God is that He is omnipresent. This means that He is everywhere and that there is no place in heaven, the universe, or on earth that threatens or intimidates Him. Here is how I apply this attribute to our leadership spirit. When you read about the life of Jesus, you sense that He could be anywhere and be comfortable. He was equally at ease in the presence of high officials, the poor, His family, His disciples, and anyone else He met. A true leader has the capacity to adapt to and function among any group of people effectively.

In addition, as I said earlier, you can put a natural leader anywhere on earth, and in a matter of time, he is in charge of his environment. His environment doesn’t control him; he controls it. Again, because we are made in the image of our Creator, we have the ability to dominate our environments. We can control and govern them instead of becoming victims of them. But we have to first discover that we have this ability because of the Source from which we came.

INTEGRITY

The fourth attribute of God is His absolute integrity. This means that He is always pure in His motives and intentions. In essence, God is always and completely integrated or one with himself. His intent, words, and actions are one with Himself. This is also the concept of being Holy. It means that what He says, what He does, and who He is are one and the same. In God, there is no contradiction. True leaders are honest. There is no manipulation or deception in their dealings with others or their pursuit of their visions. True leaders possess candor and sense of self. They are true to themselves first and then to others.