The leader must shape the worldview of followers, and it is therefore, one of the most intellectual challenges a leader will face.

Leadership would not be as complex as it is, if we were less complex as human beings, but complex we are. People do not think issue by issue in detail, instead, we operate out of what is called a vision, or our worldview.

Visions are the silent shapers of our thoughts. Leaders will not lead, if they fail, to shape these silent shapers of their followers. Conflict of interest may differ or dominate for a short time, but irreconcilable visions, tear down and destroy. People will do almost anything from vision, and one of the reasons many leaders move from one program to another, one strategy to another, is they are frustrated with the results they are getting, never having influenced and shaped the vision of the followers.

Worldviews work by organising ideas. At the most basic level, all of us operate our thinking out of a unified understanding of the world, which shapes our thoughts, and affects our behaviour, and habits. It is these thoughts which make the world operational for us, and help us make sense of the world. All our basic moral judgements are embedded in our worldview, and these form our beliefs and assumptions. In other words, we form a worldview, and then the worldview forms us.

Therefore, leaders have to be faithful to the discipleship of the mind, before we can expect maturity and faithfulness from those we lead. Too often, leaders are aiming at the surface level, and stop there. Leadership will not succeed, until worldviews are influenced, and realigned. Leadership is the consummate human art that puts all the players, on the same field of reality.

The thrill of leadership is seeing this happen, and in fact, our success depends on it. This is how effective, convictional leadership works, you aim at the head and heart of your followers, confident, that if they share your worldview, and embrace it with conviction, the right actions will follow naturally.

Ideas have consequences, and leaders change and influence the way followers think about the world, what could be more exhilarating than that!