Читать книгу The Divine Conspiracy Continued: Fulfilling God’s Kingdom on Earth - Dallas Willard, Dallas Willard - Страница 29

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.

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Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

IN ORDER TO transform our social systems, society’s leaders must take the initiative and assume responsibility for ensuring their own personal honesty as well as the integrity of their particular field of expertise. In an age when more and more of our social and political lives require a level of knowledge and skill that few of us possess and even fewer can attain, trusting leaders and experts has become an increasingly perilous necessity.

Because our vulnerability grows as our dependency on others to make good decisions increases, it is important to make sure that our leaders are more committed to pursuing common flourishing than personal power and privilege. Therefore a vigorous investigation of the qualities and characteristics of moral leadership must accompany our debates about the status and qualifications of our leaders.

Here we discuss some of the key attributes of moral leadership, the unique and necessarily exalted position of a leader in contemporary society, and the conjoining of responsibility with accountability. We will then consider some of the unique opportunities of Christlike leaders in a democratic form of government, the prominent role of heroes, and the importance heroism plays in reshaping our imagination for exemplary moral character.