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~ W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Seldom a day goes by we do not hear the desperate cry for authentic leadership. “Where are the voices of leaders,” asks Lee Iacocca in his book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?, “who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman?” My travels around the globe as an American patriot, a family man, a homeschooling dad, a son, a brother, an educator, a mentor, a writer, and a man of faith derive great pleasure from countless opportunities to lead and to follow, some on the world’s stage. I bear witness to awesome managerial skills and fine leadership qualities worthy of emulation. In my quarter century of public service, most recently as an academic dean for a military university and a senior consultant supporting the Federal government in the National Capital region, I also am duty bound to bear testimony of misguided well-positioned folks who know nothing of leadership believing, instead, in an ego-centric self-serving way, people exist for their benefit instead of vice versa.

I can no longer sit idly by asking others, “Where have all the leaders gone?” if I am not ready to do my part to nurture the servant hearts of young and emerging leaders. Where have all the leaders gone? Like Mr Iacocca, I believe they are in our midst; we need only to call them forth, to embrace them, and to show them the way—the servant’s way. Indeed, much like teaching people to fish rather than giving them their food, NorthFork helps to establish a firm foundation upon which to raise a generation of leadership, a shepherd kind of leadership we find in the examples of Sitting Bull, Robert Kennedy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, Albert Schweitzer, Corrie ten Boom, Jesus, Nelson Mandela, Greg Mortenson, Ronald Reagan, and Mother Teresa to answer their cry.

Leadership principles hold worldwide application and appeal. The world yearns for leadership; not the glitzy, glossy, gives-good-press veneer that often passes for leadership in the public eye but, rather, the humble, soft-spoken kind of leadership that invites folks to listen, to trust, and to follow. Authentic leadership—true leadership—is always undertaken as a service to the greater good. For more than a quarter century, the problem of our age has been described as “a crisis in leadership.” “One of the most universal cravings of our time,” suggests James McGregor Burns, “is a hunger for compelling and creative leadership.”

Leading is not something one does; it is something one becomes. True leadership is about people, not power. It is the outward manifestation of a caring heart, passionately concerned for the preservation of justice, equity, and the universal good of the people. “The signs of outstanding leadership,” Max DePree asserts, “are found among the followers.”

NorthFork will nurture those who are preparing themselves to venture into the public square, determined to make a difference among those who choose to follow. NorthFork will set out to help leaders discern how to do what’s right, bringing “ancient paths” (Jeremiah 6:16) within reach of those whose hearts seek to walk in the steps of the greatest leadership role models of all time—servant leaders.

Don’t forget …