In the corporate world, there are people who are so-called as business analysts. In the government arena they are called think-tank personnel. In the computing business, systems analysts are their names. The espionage guys call them field agents…and so on and so forth.
These are the people who have immersed themselves and studied the industry where they are in and the results of their work and their deliverables are the stuff that prods their leaders, managers and policy makers to boldy decide what is good for their own respective organization.
These are the people that lives, breathe and practice the trade they have experienced from day one of their lives. The habits and character they accumulated through the years have shaped their lives and their outlook as well as helped shaped and influenced other peoples lives. They are the people who serve the greater whole wholeheartedly by being just there to provide help, offering their advise, sharing their time, develop tactical plans to augment strategic goals. They are the subtle people working in the background..a vital cog which helps drives any group to achieve its goals and mission.
I fancied myself to be one of this kind of people….
This is the realization I got…actually I always tangentially refer to before and after the unit meeting last Saturday with the leaders of the Rael unit’s CFC community. And this is the reason I’ve wanted to express to them (particularly my wife) with regards to their suggestion that I should step up and become a household leader…the ‘real’ reason I’ve declined that ‘offer’ is more personal in nature rather than a performance issue. I really do appreciate the gesture and the value of their appraisal of me with regards to the role…I would if I could, but I can’t, so I wont.
Long before I’ve joined Couples For Christ…I had my share of offers to lead a group, where it be in the neighborhood community we have back in the Philippines or from any group I have the privelege of belonging to. It’s interesting to note that when I was with Coca-Cola for 14 years, I’ve crawled my career way up from a mere casual stores clerk to become the most senior analyst in our group…but never a manager, Though I have 2 colleagues who were just juniors a few years back who did become my boss and the other had been promoted to lead another group. I was never promoted NOT because I was not qualified or just typically bypassed by office politics. I didn’t get the roles because I declined the promotion that was offered to me in the first place…yes...I REFUSED it.
The reason I refused those leadership roles and other opportunities to lead is the same reason I refused the role being suggested by my Brothers and Sisters…because my heart doesn’t desire for it and I know I would be able to contribute my skills and my experience in a position where I am most comfortable and efficient with. Doing something you love with the right tools you have is better than using the same tools in doing something you don’t enjoy doing.
It’s like building a skyscraper…both an architect and a civil engineer generally could be a project manager to lead in building it. But both of them would prefer to contribute their skills in the way they love it..architects designs the building…the engineer sees to it that is built according to the plan. I could be that architect or that engineer, but I could never be that project manager…there are guys who would love to do it (not necessarily an engineer or an architect)…but not me.
I’m inclined to adhere to the Peter’s Principle (as developed by the famous sociologist J.Laurence Peter) which states that..in every Hierarchy, a person tends to rise to his level of incompetence… A person’s incompetence is not necessarily exposed as a result of the higher-ranking position being "more difficult" — it may be simply that the position is different from the position in which the person previously excelled, and thus requires different skills, which the person may not possess. An example used by Peter involves a factory worker whose excellence at his work results in him being promoted into a management position, in which the skills that got him promoted in the first place are no longer of any use.
More so, my perception of a good leader is far from what I have currently in my character and outlook. I don’t have the controlled and Solomonic-like character of Bro. Gani, the spirit-filled St.Paul like personality of Bro. Boyet. The St. Peter like temperament and strong disposition of Bro. Roy. The Elijah type and questioning persona of Bro. Raul nor the ambivalent character of Isaiah in Bro. Edwin. Those five biblical persona were leaders in their time and have had good followers in the spread of the faith.
I’d rather consider myself like Luke, the apostle-writer, never a leader but gained recognition as a chronicler of the lives of Jesus, the apostles and St. Paul. He was the silent companion of St. Paul and his ministry. He preached thru his active work for the poor and care for the sick (he is the patron saint of Physicians). Luke's unique analytical perspective on Jesus can be seen in the six miracles and eighteen parables not found in the other gospels. Luke's is the gospel of the poor and of social justice. It is only in his gospel that we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan. And I could well relate to him in terms of character and outlook…the type of guy who works in the background just like all the people in my first paragraph’s premise.
My wife and I during this Christian Life Program, though physicall drained, are spiritually-fullfilled, when we’ve touched other peoples lives through the service we render to them and to the example we give them. We don’t need to lead others to help them transform their lives. Our actions and the way we live bespeaks for itself. We cannot be sheperds to a flock of sheep but we are part of the good flock that helps gathers the lost sheep or prevents one from getting lost thru the bond of brotherhood and sisterhood.
Our dedication and commitment to this community is part and parcel of our desire to be perfect in HIS eyes. Though we know we can’t achieve that in this lifetime, we know that in the after life, God’s pat on our back is enough for us to feel the perfection we desire for.
And I hope and pray that by this example we have…my children and my children’s children would pave the way for a life worthy of God’s love and grace.
As what Mahatma Gandhi stirringly said… Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy…
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