Some Thoughts on Leadership
Gabe Taviano, founder of DigitalDisciples.net and all around good dude, recently posted a few things about his struggles with leadership. I can appreciate where he’s coming from and recommend you check him out. His posts (here and here) have agitated something that’s been brewing inside of me for awhile and instead of hijacking his blog, I thought I’d address it here.
Why Leadership is Not the Same as Kingdom Influence
I personally have never been comfortable when people (especially Christians) emphasize leadership and focus on the discipline of leadership.
To me, when you focus on leadership outside of the context of whatever it is you and your group is trying to achieve, the actual leadership becomes empty. Leadership is only valuable in so much as it is exists within a greater context.
So when I hear “Christian leaders” going on and on about “leading leaders” I often wonder what exactly are they leading them in? Sitting around and talking about leadership? Woo hoo (eye roll).
It seems to me like we become so enamored with becoming leaders that we lose sight of who we really are. Followers. Followers of Jesus Christ.
If you want to be a great leader then I say forget about leadership. Leadership is a byproduct. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that leadership is a skill set and a necessary component to creating change. But it shouldn’t be exalted over all the other skills that are needed to create something. If you want to be a great leader you need to focus primarily on what you are trying to achieve.
This is especially critical for Christians because what we are trying to achieve is the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is supremely important. There is nothing greater!
The things that are important in the Kingdom of God is loving and glorifying God. | Seeking him through Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior.| Dying to ourselves and to this world so that we can live in Christ!| Loving our neighbor as ourselves.| Living in and loving a community of believers.| Being the church!| Feeding the poor!| Caring for the widows and orphans!| Clothing the naked!| Healing the sick!| Making disciples of all the nations!| Driving out demons and fighting to evil forces of this world!| Raising the dead!| Singing with great joy and reckless abandon the praises of our God who lives! These are what are important. Leadership is just a byproduct.
Leadership will happen when we do four things:
- Start from a place of love;
- Focus on what we are trying to achieve;
- Help those around us work together to achieve it; and,
- Help people work through the change that is happening.
Oh and #5. Don’t worry who takes the role of leader; it might not be you and that’s okay.
Image: http://www.activeminds.org/storage/activeminds/images/leadership_penguines.jpg
Discussion of “Some Thoughts on Leadership”
This entry was posted on 11 11th, 2009 and is filed under Blogging, Change Management, Culture, Kingdom, Leadership.
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Glad to have connected with you, and appreciate the mention in your post. Leadership is a byproduct……that sure says it in a nutshell! Awesome post to read here, will be back to read it again later today!
Yes, I am very glad that I got to know you as well. I think it's great that you're struggling with this whole leadership thing (as well). To me it's an indication that the Holy Spirit is at work within you and that's always a good thing (even though it might not feel like it now).
Thanks for this post.
As someone who is continually thinking over this idea with the folks I work with I struggle with making sure I am not just churning out clones of the ideal "leader" and rather pointing individuals towards Christ and letting Him change them.
It's much easier for me to see ways that I can 'fix' them….yikes.
I appreciate where you're coming from. I do find "leadership" worthwhile, but in the Christian context, I think people move past the fact that we already have a perfect leader in Christ way to quickly and get caught up in their own position.
I guess leadership all comes down to what you do with it. Like you said, seeing ways people need fixing isn't bad so long as (as a leader) you're not trying to step into a position that is rightfully Christ's.
For sure, it's a delicate balance that I probably mess up half the time.