Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Convictional intelligence

We get a lot of multiple intelligences teaching strategies in our professional development for teaching. However, Mohler's book is the first time I came across the idea of convictional intelligence. Mohler defines convictional intelligence as "the product of learning the Christian faith, diving deeply into biblical truth, and discovering how to think like a Christian" (Mohler, R. Albert. The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2012. Print. 31).

He continues,

Recently, moral catastrophes and scandals on Wall Street and elsewhere in the world of business and government produced calls for the development of moral or ethical intelligence in leaders. Business schools have been rushing to add courses on ethical business behaviors and practices. The reason is simple – financial intelligence will wreck itself without moral intelligence and the guidance of ethical reasoning.

Now, in terms of Christian leadership, all of these insights from the concept of multiple intelligences are helpful, but Christian leaders must develop and operate out of an additional intelligence – convictional intelligence. Leaders without emotional intelligence cannot lead effectively because they cannot connect with the people they're trying to lead. Leaders lacking ethical intelligence will lead people into a catastrophe. But leaders without convictional intelligence will fail to lead faithfully, and that is a disaster for Christian leaders.
(31)

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