After giving the subject of leadership several years of consideration, I have come to realize a difference between leadership position and statesmanship freedom.

Where a leader performs first for a student to follow, the statesman makes sure that all can perform equitably. In statesmanship institutions, there is no leader. There is no mentor. There is nobody in first command. Authority rests in the open freedom to step out first to challenge and be challenged. In leadership models authority rests in the position at the head of the conference table or lecture hall. It is even found in the content of the books and texts assigned.

In a statesmanship model authority remains in the open body called a forum. In a leadership model it is about the position at the front of the lecture hall. I was listening to a news commentator interview a politician from Egypt and this politician said something interesting. He said, “I care not who is elected. I care only how we elect that person.” In a statesmanship model, it is about the equitable process in elections.

I believe that when we focus on leadership, we produce too much elitism into rigid positions with virtually no open medium for free expression to test those positions. A statesman is concerned with the form of government and not its leadership. A leader is more concerned with getting the right people in key positions whereas a statesman is more concerned with the fair process in the selection of key positions.

A leader, by definition, is inherently antithetical to freedom because it weakens position, whereas a statesman is willing to die for freedom and give up position. But here comes the great twist, a leader can challenge a statesman when the statesman forgets to wax on freedom and wax off the need to control the conscience of others. This happens when a leader assumes a statesman’s poise and refuses to be challenged or contradicted. This is the political world we live in today. When this happens, it is time to be reeducated by one who has been there and done that. It is time for the presumed statesman to get some boots licked, and the boot licking is usually done by one willing to step out among the crowd first, hence the importance of leadership and a free society that allows anyone to step out and say something.

Every great statesman begins as a leader who steps out first among the crowd. And if he or she fails to gravitate toward business, government, religious and social forms that foster more freedom for all to step out and assume responsibility, he or she is no better than a tyrant dressed as a Naked Optimist. All this and more to be published in late 2011.

I can’t even keep track of how many copies of the book I have given to friends, family and co-workers.

On top of that the fact that the author’s decided to give 100% of their proceeds from this edition of the book to charity is an amazing example of servant leadership in itself. The charity, All Grace Outreach, is a fantastic organization which I’m sure benefits greatly from the hundreds of thousands of copies this book sold.

http://www.allgraceoutreach.com/