If you want to insult a guy, don't listen to him, acknowledge what he says or respect one of his requests.In this post I will develop the former statement.
Are Men Naturally Leaders?
The answer to this question is no. The reason being, a natural leader develops this characteristic from his personal character, not his/her gender. So, the previous statement is not saying that it is important to acknowledge all men as leaders.
Do Men Need Power?
The answer to this question is yes. The concept of "power" is very complicated, and I do not have room to dive into a developed definition. I intend use the world "power" to signify authority and respect. Men naturally desire for others to look to them as authorities and in a respectful manner.
One with authority, is one who's perspective or opinion has value, enough value that one should listen to what they have to say. To do so respectfully means to listen carefully and to do so without attempting to offend or harm.
How is this Different from Leadership?
In leadership, one has authority and, sometimes, respect. Yet, one can have authority and respect yet not be a leader. One who leads is one who commands/leads a group to a specific destination. Leadership is also a deeper concept like power and I don't have room to dive into a better definition.
What does this have to do with Empowering Men?
At the beginning of this post I stated that men naturally desire power. I believe that in order to help men fulfill their potential in life and not be passive, you must empower them. This means giving them authority and respect.
How one does this will be a post for another time. Please post your thoughts, do you agree, disagree? Is this clear or muddled?
Hmmm. I read both of your posts about this and parts of it are a bit muddled, so I have a few questions.
ReplyDeleteFirst, isn't it possible to be in authority and not have something valuable to say? I know that God instituted authorities to be over us, and that we are to respect them, but just because they are in a position of authority, I can't understand that they would always have valuable input. I don't want to put words in your mouth, though, so could you please clarify?
Second, could you give an example of someone who has authority and respect but isn't a leader?
Finally, this isn't a question, but I was actually reminded of The Screwtape Letters when I was reading your other post on men being passive. You mentioned how sometimes a guy's identity is caught up in some kind of addiction, which can cause all kinds of problems. It brought to mind what Screwtape said about human identity: how we are only truly ourselves when we are turned away from our sinfulness. We are, after all, created in God's image, so we can't truly be who we were meant to be if we are still in sin (although, admittedly, we will never be perfect in this life). Just a thought.
Chelsea,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.
In response to the first question, I don't think that a person has authority because of the value of their opinion. Though sometimes that is the case. Furthermore, you can still listen to someone yet not follow their advice or serious consider what they're saying. So yes it is possible, and it happens, that someone can be in authority yet not have something valuable to say.
Second, Socrates. he had respect and authority but was not a leader.
Third, when I was writing my first post on "Why are Taylor Men Passive?" I was actually thinking about what C.S. Lewis talked about in Screwtape letters so you're right on in pointing to C.S. Lewis.