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ISKCON Leadership—Guideline 130

Purpose: To guide ISKCON leaders in sound principles of spiritual leadership.

Quotations from Srila Prabhupada:

"These are all very nice boys and girls, that I can understand, so now you take charge of giving them all good guidance and help on the path back to Home, back to Godhead. Practically the leadership of this Krishna Consciousness Society is now in the hands of you my older disciples and I am very pleased that you are taking such huge responsibility very seriously. In this way remain very sober and cool-headed and always think of Krishna somehow or other, and there is no doubt this Movement will one day conquer all over the world.

"One thing is, that I want that the highest standards of devotional service be maintained. Our routine work—rising early, cleansing, chanting, temple worship, sankirtana, study—these things must go on very nicely, and if they become improved more and more, and are not neglected or in any way decreased, then now become very convinced of our Krishna philosophy and very enthusiastically and soberly maintain temple routine standards, increase book distribution, satisfy the devotees, and in every way become the perfect KC example of angel."

Letter to Makhanlal, 72-01-10

"Even those who are constantly engaged in sinful acts are all corrigible to the standard of perfect human beings if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord. Jesus Christ and Hajrat Muhammad, two powerful devotees of the Lord, have done tremendous service on the behalf of the Lord on the surface of the globe. And from the version of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, it appears that instead of running a godless civilization in the present context of the world situation, if the leadership of world affairs is entrusted to the devotees of the Lord, for which a worldwide organization under the name and style of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has already been started, then by the grace of the Almighty Lord there can be a thorough change of heart in human beings all over the world, because the devotees of the Lord are able authorities to effect such a change by purifying the dust-worn minds of the people in general."

SB Purport 2.4.18

"Everyone should be expert. The leaders must be expert and the worker must be expert so that they may follow the instruction of the leader. If the leader says something and the workers, 'Hmm, I shall consider it, later on,' then how the leader will execute his leadership? Both of them should be cooperating and know that 'We are all working for Krishna.'"

Morning Walk, Vrindavan, 3/14/74

"Our leaders shall be careful not to kill the spirit of enthusiastic service, which is individual and spontaneous and voluntary. They should try always to generate some atmosphere of fresh challenge to the devotees, so that they will agree enthusiastically to rise and meet it. That is the art of management: to draw out spontaneous loving spirit of sacrificing some energy for Krishna. All of us should become expert managers and preachers."

Srila Prabhupada Siksamrta: pg. 2401, 72-12

"Similarly, we should try our best to our best capacity, and victory will come from Krishna. We should never sit idly and ask Krishna to do everything. Our principle should be, therefore, that we should work for the mission with great enthusiasm, with certainty for its success, and patiently follow the regulative principles and associate ourselves with pure devotees, and work being completely in Krishna consciousness, that will make us happy and successful."

Srila Prabhupada Siksamrta: pg. 2413, 68-02

"...the door of Krishna consciousness is open for everyone. But when one has to take charge of a center, he has to become completely above suspicion."

Srila Prabhupada Siksamrta: pg. 2435, 68-03

"...the leader in charge of a temple must learn to successfully deal with the other persons there. No one is working as a paid servant, so if the dealings are not friendly everyone will decide to leave."

Srila Prabhupada Siksamrta: pg. 2436, 68-11

"...impressive not repressive, that is the system."

Srila Prabhupada Siksamrta: pg. 1009, 72-02

Guidelines

131. ISKCON leaders shall carefully study these and other instructions given by Srila Prabhupada about leadership.
132. ISKCON leaders shall develop these general qualifications:
     1. ISKCON leaders shall be knowledgeable of ISKCON's guidelines and practices, and shall always execute assigned duties in accordance with them.
     2. ISKCON leaders shall be ultimately accountable to the GBC body.
     3. ISKCON leaders shall not engage in illicit (e.g. against the principles of Krishna consciousness) or illegal activities, or permit others in their charge to do so.
     4. All ISKCON GBC, sannyasis, officers, and other senior responsible members of the Society shall assist one another in maintaining the spiritual standard of ISKCON, expanding the dynamic preaching of ISKCON, and preserving Srila Prabhupada's mood and instructions.
133. ISKCON leaders shall consider and apply these leadership principles:
     • Seek excellence
     • always strive to satisfy Lord Krishna, Srila Prabhupada, and other ISKCON members
     • always strive for continual improvement
     • conduct well planned, well organized activities
     • always maintain a personal service attitude
     • present yourself and ISKCON professionally (correspondence, appearance, business dealings, etc.)
     • remain above suspicion by acting in an accountable, responsible, forthright manner.
     • see that not a penny is wasted, not a moment spoiled
     • report all contributions received to the temple treasury, even personal gifts.
     • Manage by objectives
     • establish a clear, true vision; delegate the objectives, not the methods. (describe what should be accomplished, not how it should be done)
     • develop self-managed teams of devotees to tackle assigned objectives
     • be flexible to personal creativity and unanticipated obstacles
     • accomplish goals in the simplest, most Krishna conscious manner
     • Encourage diversity and natural growth among devotees
     • engage people according to their propensities
     • recognize that there are unlimited ways to spread the Sankirtan movement
     • Recognize devotees' right and need for autonomous, independent thinking
     • encourage and challenge commitment, don't assume or force it
     • request service on behalf of Srila Prabhupada, don't demand it
     • encourage devotees to take responsibility and develop themselves as leaders
     • Be impressive, not repressive
     • inspire loving sacrifice for Krishna
     • capture the imagination by providing positive, not negative incentives
     • nurture love and trust among the devotees in your charge
     • have high expectations of staff, and demonstrate high standards
     • Be proactive
     • identify goals and strategy, then act on a plan; don't be always reacting to crisis.
     • Model simplicity by living in a modest, simple manner.

Quotation from Srila Prabhupada:

"Everyone has got some propensity. The art of preaching is to engage that propensity in the service of Krishna. Whatever we have got, our mind, our intelligence, our possessions, our time, our energies, let them all be used in Krishna's service. So training people in this way, this will be the success of your preaching work."