I recently called the hotel in which I stayed during the General Conference to acquire a copy of my receipt. I politely requested if the person could mail me a duplicate for my records but his response was revealing. He candidly indicated, “I am just a desk clerk, I have to transfer you to the voice mail of the General Manager so they can make that happen for you…” Before I had time to respond, the next voice I heard was the recording of the hotel’s senior leadership.
From my point of view, this person suffers from a “desk clerk” ideology, respectfully. I would a define such a posture as a mindset that believes that one must have a position of power or a formal title to make things happen. Seemingly, Maxwell (1998, p. 14) would agree that one does not need a title to be a difference maker. He elaborates:
“People have so many misconceptions about leadership. When they hear that someone has an impressive title or an assigned leadership position, they assume that he is a leader. Sometimes that’s true. But titles don’t have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t’ be mandated, It must be earned. The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to erase it.”
Yulk (2002) continues by outlining several strategies to move beyond mere positional power to acquire value-based influence. Some of them include:
(1) Rational Persuasion – the usage of logical arguments and factual evidence to show a proposal or request is feasible and relevant for attaining important task objectives.
(2) Inspirational Appeals – the agent makes an appeal to values and ideals or seeks to arouse the target person’s emotion to gain commitment for a request or proposal.
(3) Coalition tactics – the agent seeks the aid of others to persuade the target to do something or uses the support of others as a reason for the target to agree.
After the being labeled as a nuisance in the house of worship and being pulled from off their knees in prayer back in 1787, the leadership of old moved beyond a “desk clerk” ideology and excised their influence to confront a problematic system. The results? People like Richard and Sara Allen stepped out on faith, tapped into their personal influence, and advanced the Kingdom of God in a powerful way. I am glad that founding parents of our beloved church did not wait for titles or an election to make things happen. Perhaps it is time to learn from our leaders of old, embrace our faith afresh, and move beyond a “desk clerk” ideology? Who knows, we just may turn the world upset down in the process!
It’s NOT about us,
Maxwell, J. C. (1998). The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in Organizations. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
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