A comparative evaluation of leadership in business and leadership in the Church to discover principles of Christ-like leadership that would help leaders lead effectively in any environment.

Abstract

This research is a comparative evaluation between leadership in business and leadership in the Church to discover principles of Christ-like leadership that would help leaders lead effectively in any environment. Church leaders distrust business leadership and business leaders cannot see any relevance that the Church has towards business. This research seeks to challenge this thinking. To consider this the following hypothesis was made: If business and Church leaders are going to be exceptional in their leadership, and live to their full leadership potential, they will have to be faithful to, develop and live by Christ-like leadership principles emerging out of the character, life, teaching and leadership of Jesus Christ – principles that transcend the differentiation often made between secular and sacred. Towards this end descriptive research was carried out by drawing on a number of sources. First, the aim was to determine the praxis by considering the leadership practices of respected leaders in business and the Church. It was discovered that there are definite crossover points with common understandings of what it takes to be an exceptional leader. It was also noted, however, that there are particular areas that relate exclusively to spiritual leadership. Thereafter, theory was considered by looking at literature that has been written about business and Church leadership. Again there was common ground, which led to the description of three circles of leadership: the inner circle, the middle circle and the outer circle. The next chapter took a look at the Gospels, with particular reference to Mark’s Gospel. Here principles were discovered that have a direct or indirect bearing on leadership. Finally, quantitative research was carried out to test praxis and theory. To accomplish this, questionnaires were sent to leaders that hold or have held leadership responsibility in business and the Church. The overall result was that 73% of leaders said that there was no substantial difference between leading in business and leading in the Church. However, going deeper into the results, it was seen that there are differences in emphasis between business and Church leadership. In conclusion, no changes were made to the hypothesis. The spiritual dimensions of leadership as expressed throughout the dissertation recognise that Christian leaders, in business and Church, have the same Spirit indwelling them to help them become exceptional Christ-like leaders.