38 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY leader may have additional motivational sources including a servant leadership mentality that stems not just from an inner desire but a God-inspired higher call to act as Christ’s representative or ambassador.21 Robert Emmons described generativity as “a profoundly spiritual construct” that includes the idea of transcending the self, self-immortality, love, care, and fundamental goodness.22 A Christian leader has the opportunity to have an eternal mindset that endeavors to primarily serve and share God’s love. 23 According to James Hazy and Mary Uhl-Bien “Leadership serves a generative function.”24 Hannes Zacher and others described this generativity as a “leader’s behaviors and actions aimed at establishing and guiding members of the younger generation, while focusing less on their own gains, careers, and accomplishments.”25 William James mentions a link between a spiritual mindset, God and meaning: “When we see all things in God, and refer all things to Him, we read in common matters superior expressions of meaning.”26 Research shows that these spiritual strivings and generative actions may also satisfy a need for meaning in one’s life.27 Generativity, Meaning, and Purpose Viktor Frankl said that “the main manifestations of existential frustration—boredom and apathy—have become a challenge to education . . . thus, education must equip man with the means to find meanings.”28 If a leader can cultivate meaning and purpose in their employees or students, it may have a multiplying effect and lead to many positive results, including: happiness, resiliency, subjective well-being, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction.29 Recent evidence shows that companies can achieve better results if they incorporate practices that foster people’s sense of purpose and that purpose is positively correlated with employee engagement and job satisfaction.30 They define purpose as “the synthesis of the ends of a company, its ultimate reason for existence.”31 A purpose-driven leader must grapple with how to develop a sense of purpose, since followers deal with an individual sense of purpose in the company and not just the organizational purpose.32 Leaders must strive to cultivate and fuse
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODc4ODgx