Thanks to Linda Hatcher, I was featured in this month’s edition of “Leadership Guide Magazine” as a “Leader in Action” interview.

Linda asked me for my definition of leadership. I responded:

“I actually have an aversion to most leadership genre material.

“One reason is because it often describes a type of person who is born, not made. It ignores the difference between principles and gifts.

“Some people were born with a charismatic, persuasive personality. They can stand on a stage and, quite naturally and effortlessly, deliver a compelling message that moves people to action.

“Others were born with other gifts that are not quite as easily demonstrated, but that when utilized are very much leadership.

“I also shy away from material that provides silly tips as gospel truth that do not have anything to do with legitimate leadership.

“For example, I once heard a man at a conference spend 30 minutes on the supposed ‘principle’ that ‘leaders walk fast,’ as if a purposeful walk were a major determining factor of leadership. If that were that case, my slow, ponderous demeanor would preclude me from leadership.

“I define leadership as 1) knowing exactly who you are and what your calling is, 2) doing the right things to pursue your unique calling, and 3) serving others using all the talents and resources with which you have been blessed.

“By that definition, great mothers are quintessential leaders, and most leadership definitions do not take those types of essential roles into consideration.

“Calling, mission, Providence, Soul Purpose — whatever you want to call it — is so vital. Too many people think that leadership means front-stage fame and glory—the executive seat where you make all the decisions.

“But ‘backstage’ leadership is every bit as important, although rarely recognized.

“For example, I was born to be a writer. I serve the world best through writing. I will never be a public speaker, and I want nothing to do with that world.

“My gifts mean I can influence society much better by staying at home in my office cranking out words than I can being on stages, running for political office, appearing on TV.

“Who was more important: George Washington, or his mother? Thomas Jefferson, or his obscure and largely-forgotten mentor George Wythe?”

Check out the full interview here.

Linda also published a review of Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett Gunderson and I.

Enjoy!

While our nation is struggling to protect itself from terrorism, another enemy just as dangerous to our freedom is almost imperceptibly enslaving us from within.

This sirenic enemy is not human but it manifests itself in the material things we use every day of our lives. It is our custom homes, our SUVs, our new furniture and clothes, our big-screen TV’s and our computers.

This insidious enemy of our freedom is all of these things — bought on credit.

According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, there was one bankruptcy filed for every 73 households in 2003, a new record and a 99% increase since 1993. The Federal Reserve indicates that household debt hit $8.9 billion nationally in 2003, also a record high relative to disposable income. Americans now spend $1.22 for every dollar they earn.

What is the difference between a family with two wage earners struggling to pay off the credit cards, mortgage, and car payments, and the slave toiling under chains?

It’s true that the family simply enjoys a higher standard of living than the slave. So is that what America has been reduced to; prostituting our freedom for material consumption?

It’s also true that the slave doesn’t have a choice for freedom, which is precisely what makes our situation so pathetic; we are not being placed in bondage externally, we are choosing our own slavery.

Talk to any red-blooded, flag-waving American and he’ll tell you that America is the most free country in the world, even as he calls his wife to tell her to do another balance transfer on the credit cards.

He’ll point to our economic prosperity as proof that we are the greatest country in the world, without realizing that our prosperity is mostly a credit-induced facade, a house of cards ready to fall at the first sign of weakening faith.

He’ll abuse the political freedoms that he claims to cherish by voting himself yet another material benefit, happily provided by power-hungry politicians who are more than willing to spur on the artificial economy by inducing more easy credit in exchange for votes.

It matters not whether we are conquered from without by terrorists or communists, or from within by falling prey to the siren of debt-induced materialism. Either way we are in bondage.

Our Constitution does not provide us our freedom; it simply provides an external structure that allows us to choose internally to be free or not. It simply gives us the opportunity of freedom.

So if you’re a freedom-loving patriot who is ready to fight and die for America, land of the free, home of the brave, don’t flaunt your red, white, and blue flag on your brand new truck purchased on credit.

Prove your patriotism by living within your means. Let your financial statement validate your love of liberty.