At the Year 12 Prefect Induction service this week, I shared the story of a boy at one of my previous schools who stood for election as a student leader. Tom (not his real name) was academically gifted, good at sport and a talented public speaker. Part of his pitch to be a prefect was that one day he wanted to be the Prime Minister of Australia. Most people would think that Tom stood a very good chance of becoming a prefect. However, most of his fellow students did not support him and he was not elected.
I suspect a key reason that Tom was unsuccessful was the impression he created that being elected as a student leader was little more than a stepping stone for him to go on to something greater. While this may not have been his motivation, that was the impression many students gained. He was not perceived as being humble.
Leadership must start with core values that you not only articulate, but thoroughly influence what you say, do and think. A core leadership quality is humility. Philippians 2:3-4 in the Bible says:
