"A good leader should not guide his/her followers, but should inspire them". Do you agree?

[Sushan Ekanayake]

"Even looking at our expert leader, Jesus, whose Word is life, we can see this lesson lived out. Jesus is not merely an itinerant preacher who directs our steps. He is a soul-stirrer who invites us to walk with Him. If our master, Jesus, leads us by walking with us and stirring us to discover, then these earthly leaders must learn to come alongside and help others discover their own best answers."
(Chapter 2, Page 9)

Most often we compare how a boss will treat his subordinates and how a leader will treat his followers. Upto now I had the idea that a leader should guide his/her followers. But this author has given leadership a new meaning claiming that it is not the leader's job to show the path and guide his/her followers towards a specific goal, but to inspire them to find their own answers and be their own guidance.

Do you agree with this 'job description' of a leader? If a leader is guiding his/her followers, will it make he/she a 'not so good' leader?

[S P]

I think it's definitely fair to say that leaders should inspire their followers. However, even Jesus himself offered guidance to his followers through the words of his parables. I think that good leaders need aspects of both in order to be successful.

[Dzejn_Crvena]

I disagree. I leader should also know what his/her followers need. You can be inspired to do things but feel lost along the way.
To me, it also depends on what kind of followers a leader has in order to know how to make them work together as a team. Some followers need guidance while the others are self-sufficient enough.

[Fola Moni]

I completely disagree. The essence of leadership is to guide and blaze the trail for your followers to follow. Of course, inspire them by all means but remember, everyone is different and thus, need different rules.

Overall, I believe the best way is to guide and inspire them, and the best example is Christ himself. He's the King of inspiration, but He has also left us a guidance booklet, the bible.

[PeterRabitt20]

A leader can guide, inspire, advise, and so on. They usually are appointed by a group who feel that the person can speak on their behalf. Jesus did guide his followers (in my opinion) or else there wouldn't be a Gospel. But he also inspired and advised them.
I think the author has in mind the type of leaders who force their opinion on others. There's my change!

[Reema Aydieh]

Yes, a leader needs to inspire but they also need to lead and guide. It’s a great responsibility to lead people and it takes a lot to make people believe in you enough to follow. That’s why inspiration should be hand in hand with guidance.

[Kenna Ridzi]

I think it's definitely fair to say that leaders should inspire their followers. However, even Jesus himself offered guidance to his followers through the words of his parables. I think that good leaders need aspects of both in order to be successful.

I agree, good leaders should both inspire and guide their followers. However, I believe inspiration is better than guidance. Inspiration opens your eyes to new possibilities, new perspectives, essentially guiding in itself because the act of inspiring someone makes them want to do or create something. Guiding is having a direct influence on a course of action, and is that not what inspiration does? Hope this makes sense.

[Hogwarts03]

I do think it's important for a leader to inspire their followers, because what's leadership without inspiration?

However, I'll have to disagree. A leader can inspire followers but they can feel uncertain, lost or don't know what to do or the correct path. The essence of guidance is to create a path and examples which followers can easily relate to and feel more motivated by. There are also some who can be inspired and want to do the right thing, but don't have the ideas or tools to carry out whatever they want to do, which is why guidance is imperative in leadership.

[Kristy Khem]

I think that leaders need to guide, inspire, and instruct. Jesus inspired his followers by using parables. He guided them by setting an example. And in some cases, Jesus also had to instruct his followers by giving them commands. A balanced leadership style encompasses all three.

[Jasy95]

I personally think this is relevant to the phrase "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” I think the best kind of leadership comes from inspiring and teaching people how they can do things on their own. If they continue to rely your guidance, they aren't truly going to benefit as much as if you inspire them to be able to do things on their own.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I think it's definitely fair to say that leaders should inspire their followers. However, even Jesus himself offered guidance to his followers through the words of his parables. I think that good leaders need aspects of both in order to be successful.

I too think so. A leader should identify the strengths and weaknesses of his/her followers. Some of them may only need inspiration, but others may need guidance. If you try to inspire the ones who need guidance, you will fail. At the same time, if you try to pamper the ones who just need some inspiration, then they will leave you. A good leader should balance these aspects.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I disagree. I leader should also know what his/her followers need. You can be inspired to do things but feel lost along the way.
To me, it also depends on what kind of followers a leader has in order to know how to make them work together as a team. Some followers need guidance while the others are self-sufficient enough.

Exactly. You have spoken my mind. A leader will have a set of followers with different qualities. It is essential to identify the individuals that follow you.

There will be followers who will do things exactly as they are being told, yet will fail if let to decide and work alone. At the same time there will be ones who have the ability to decide and plan, yet unable to execute them. So a good leader should identify these various qualities and direct them towards a common goal. So that directing is essential to achieve a common goal.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I completely disagree. The essence of leadership is to guide and blaze the trail for your followers to follow. Of course, inspire them by all means but remember, everyone is different and thus, need different rules.

Overall, I believe the best way is to guide and inspire them, and the best example is Christ himself. He's the King of inspiration, but He has also left us a guidance booklet, the bible.

I disagree. Bible was not a creation of Jesus, and he did not use it to guide people, but his own teachings. The old testament is older than Jesus. So definitely it is not his guidelines book.

But I agree with your thoughts on guiding and directing. The followers who need guidance should be guided without trying to inspire them. Such an attempt on inspiration will leave them stranded.

[Bertha Jackson]

Good leadership is a combination of guidance and inspiration. You have to show the way and set the example for them to follow.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I think that leaders need to guide, inspire, and instruct. Jesus inspired his followers by using parables. He guided them by setting an example. And in some cases, Jesus also had to instruct his followers by giving them commands. A balanced leadership style encompasses all three.

A leader should set an example of himself, that is true. Any good will be a good example. Yet, I can't fully agree regarding a leader commanding his/her followers. A leader should have a command over his/her followers. But that does not mean that he/she has to order around and boss them. Being persistent and straight when making decisions will give your followers the needed inspiration. That will be more than enough to guide them towards a preplanned goal.