The ancient Romans believed that the stars worked in such a way as to drive the affairs of humanity. This power to impact the decisions of mere mortals was called influentia by the Romans, and from it we derive both influence and influenza. I find it interesting that the idea of both life (influence) and death (influenza) come from the same root word.  The Jewish Scriptures also speak to life and death emanating from the same root. “The power of life and death is in the tongue …” (Proverbs 18:21a, ESV). The Scripture carries this concept a step further, however, by stating that “… those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21b, ESV).  These two ideas come together in leadership. Leadership is defined by influence, and the leader most often influences through the tongue. The question for every leader, then, should be, “Am I growing life or death through my leadership?”  May all of us who lead find ourselves eating the fruit of life and not death (I mean, the fruit of influenza is not that appetizing ...).