Successful Leadership
There is a strange phenomenon happening in our world today. We live in a time in human history in which everything we think we need and want is in the palm of our hands, and is one click away from providing us with whatever resource it may be. There are plenty of upsides to this: we have instant access to contact loved ones, to keep up on news reports in the world, to share our lives and hearts, and to keep in touch with as many people as we can.
However, in the midst of all of these things that can be blessings, we have twisted the access we have to news to only viewing through a political eye; we have taken the opportunity to share our hearts and opinions in honor, and we have exchanged it for the chance of tearing another down to prove that we are right; we have turned the beauty of a place of healthy communication into a posture of allowing our rightness to trump love with no regard for how others are impacted by what we post, say, etc.
In this process, I have noticed something very interesting. Every single person doing this is looking to help lead another person. This may be leading them to think, act, or speak differently, this may be to bring in another direction for a conversation, or this may simply be to bring clarity or reveal a missing puzzle piece. Whatever it may, we have people seeking to lead other people through words.
Now, I would much rather have wars fought with words than anything else, but when words are used to cut down rather than to build up and honor--regardless of political view--we run into the same outcomes of war: division, pain, and death. This death can be physical from some instances of how awful humanity can be to one another, or metaphysical in the impact of killing dreams, thoughts, creativity, and imagination.
In any case, this style of leadership is causing something very harmful to the Church and world. Many people look to lead by words alone and in doing so are leaving out the activity of those words. They talk about an experience or ideal that has caused them to see a people group, a religion, or a political party in a manner that is divisive and dishonoring. I have heard many people talk about an experience with the Church that was not in line with their ideas, and they have thrown away the Church altogether. This can be the same in any other group and for any other circumstance.
I am not saying that these experiences did not happen, that they do not matter, or that it is not something that people must wrestle with. I am saying that when our posture of rightness trumps our activity of loving and honoring those around us that we have missed the point of why we even have a conversation in the first place. It is disheartening to see many try to lead others with words alone, but still I am here to write about how I believe God has a call on each person's life to experience God's leadership that will empower them into a true place of leading with not just words (which are important) but with their actions as well.
I truly believe that each person is a leader in their own way. Each one of us was created in the image of God meaning we have the DNA of the Greatest Leader ever. However, many people base their worth and understanding of leadership on what they accomplish, on how much they make, or in the instance of this blog, how many debates they have won. As much as this is an opinion held by many in the world today, I would like to disagree, respectfully, and offer two other ways we can view success in the ways we all lead.
The first is love. The most successful leaders I know are those that are constantly pursuing ways to love those who do or don't love them back. They are those that don't run away from others who differ from them, but rather run towards them looking for ways to honor and empower. A leader rooted in love is a leader who is confident in who they are and is not trying to earn or prove who they are. They simply love to lead and lead by love. The greatest thing a successful leader can do is recognize that they are completely loved and that in their being loved, they are empowered to love those around them.
Sometimes this love is disciplinary, but it's correction that is given to lead others to their maximum potential. Sometimes this love is gracious, but it's grace that not only covers but empowers another to try again with the right resources and help at hand. This love in leadership may take on different characteristics circumstantially, but it is a love that is faithfully committed to bringing out the full capacity of those around them. Bill Bradley says it like this, "Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better."
The second step in being a successful leader is obedience. As a Christian, I believe the ultimate goal in leadership is being in intimate connection and covenant relationship with Christ Jesus. From this place of knowing and being with God, we are empowered to understand who we are more as leaders in the Kingdom and the world. When this is the foundation of our leadership, we can live more freely aware of the reality that all the Lord asks for us to do is obey. This is not an obedience that brings harm to others, this is not an obedience that creates slavery and oppression, and this is most definitely not an obedience that is disconnected from love.
This is an obedience rooted in love that calls for humility in every posture of leading and living as we serve those around us. The Scriptural reality of authority is most revealed through the life, words, and actions of Christ Jesus of Nazareth. What we see in the One who has been given the Name above every other name (Phil 2:9), is that as the King of kings, He came in obedience, humility (Phil 2:5-10), and leadership manifest through serving others (Mk. 10:45). John Ortberg writes about His leadership in this manner: "The entire life of Jesus isn't the story of somebody climbing up a ladder; it's a picture of someone coming down--a series of demotions. The problem with spending our lives climbing up the ladder is that we will go right past Jesus, for He's coming down."
As leaders, we all are called to steward our leadership in a manner that is loving and obedient to the One who is love and leadership personified. I think this empowers us to an understanding that the next time we try to lead others through words without actions, we are missing the components of successful stewardship. I think this gives us the opportunity to check our intention of sharing opinions. I think this leads us (pun intended) to a greater place of seeking to lead others through loving service, honoring humility, and obedience to the One who is looking for all to know that they are loved more deeply than they can ask, think, or imagine.
My prayer is that we all would walk in the destiny of being a leader who is not just able to lead but to lead successfully in love and obedience. I leave you with the words of John Stott that I hope inspires us all to live as successful leaders connected to the Successful Leader: "The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve." Amen.
