Through the years, I have had the opportunity to be both blessed and blistered by leadership decisions that I have made. Trial and error teaches us many lessons and history has 20/20 vision. Although the list below is not exhaustive, here are a few principles that I live by and allow to guide me in my leadership journey.
1. If you do not read, you will never successfully develop the ability to lead. Have you ever heard someone refer to another person with the term, “he / she is a born leader”? Don’t ever believe that. They may be referring to a magnetic personality or an ability to make friends, but no one is born a great leader. A leader must mentally stay ahead of those whom he or she is leading. We are not born with the knowledge that we need to be a successful leader. Leadership is an acquired trait. We acquire it through the discipline of study. We form the habit of lifelong learning.
2. A decision that is inevitable should be made as soon as possible. Why do leaders wait when they know what must be done? We wouldn’t do this if cancer was found in our body. We would want a physician to take immediate and corrective action. Yet, often times, leaders put off tomorrow what should be done today. What comes into play here is the natural tendency to avoid causing hurt and pain to someone, desiring to find a consensus to agree with our needed action, or, the fear of damaging one’s own reputation in the eyes of others. Avoiding the inevitable can only allow the opportunity to cause greater damage. Henry Ford once said, “it has been my observation that most people get ahead by using time that others waste.” It is one thing for me to choose to fail if I want, but I have no right to cause others to fail. As a leader, my decisions have an immediate positive or negative impact upon others. By delaying a decision to make a course correction, I am potentially causing others to fail due to my inability to act. We are responsible for the good that we do and the good we choose not to do.
Leaders are placed in a position of leadership because someone has authorized them to lead and they are expecting them to lead. Decisions that are obvious do not need consensus. They need correction. As the old saying goes, “if you are going to lead the orchestra, you are going to have to turn around and face the music.” Leaders push the envelope. Leaders stretch themselves, their organization and those whom they lead. Leaders take action when action is necessary, and they do so with wisdom and compassion. Like a rubber band, leaders must know the limits of how far they can stretch others without breaking them. A broken rubber band is a useless rubber band. Leaders are called to stretch people, not to break people. Leaders that choose to procrastinate are actually hurting themselves and the organization that they are leading. Perhaps Edward Hale said it best; “I am only one but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something and I will not let what I cannot do, interfere with what I can do.”
3. Conflict arises from unmet needs. I have never found this statement to be inaccurate. When there is conflict in a person’s life or in the life of an organization, I have discovered that the root of the conflict was connected to someone or some group that had an expectation that wasn’t met as they anticipated. Whether their expectation was accurate or even biblical was not the issue. The issue was that their need was not met in a manner that they felt it should have been met. The end result was turmoil, division and conflict.
Let’s face it, leaders cannot solve every problem anymore than they can make everyone happy. But a listening ear can go a long way toward dissolving the conflict at hand. Sometimes, people just need to talk it out. In these moments, leaders must take the time to look, listen and learn what the true reasons really are behind the conflict. Discovering the root of the problem is paramount if we are to pave a path of reconciliation and healing.
Peace is impossible to keep, but peace is very possible to make. Jesus gives us great insight into this in Matthew 5:9, for here He teaches us; “blessed are the peacemakers,” not the “peacekeepers.” He knew that conflict was inevitable. John 16:33 further tells us; “in this world, YOU WILL (emphasis added) have tribulation.” Conflict is eventually going to raise its ugly head in your life and ministry. Knowing this very fact causes us to ask ourselves, “how then will I choose to deal with conflict as a Christian leader?” In these moments, leaders need the wisdom of Solomon, the discernment of Paul and the patience of Job. There is an analogy that says we all carry two buckets to a fire. One is filled with water and the other with gasoline. It is the individual carrying the two buckets that must choose which bucket to pour on the fire.
4. You must stop losing before you can start winning. Leaders must identify every individual and every component of their organization that is no longer fruitful or advancing them toward their mission. Is our goal to maintain or multiply? Do we see our goal as simply keeping the doors open or launching out into new franchises? If your organization is more committed to survival than mission, your days are numbered. This is why leaders must discover and correct any strategy that is causing them to lose. What coach in their right mind would continue to call the same play repeatedly if that play never worked? We must heed Paul’s words to us in 1 Corinthians 9:24b; “run in such a way that you may win.”
Growing organizations constantly need an infusion of new ideas. I heard a statement while watching an animation from the movie Shrek that said, “From where I sit, I can only see the past at present!” These words, although spoken by a magic mirror, ring true for many who are in leadership today. They can’t see the future because they are too preoccupied and/or enamored with the past. There are two enemies that leaders must avoid at all cost; (1) mundane and (2) routine. Why do leaders “only see the past at present?” Are we more comfortable there? Do we fear confronting future challenges? Do we feel ill prepared for what lies ahead? Whatever the reason, leaders must lead! Leading is what leaders do. Leadership absent of faith is leadership lead by fear and fear is the silent enemy of dreams and visions. Winners look at what they are going to, while losers look at what they are going through.
My position in leadership requires that I think out of the box, look ahead and “run to win”. Flint McCullough was a Scout in the TV western, Wagon Train. His job was to stay ahead of the pack and lead the masses to their destination. Much like him, I must be the one that rides out ahead of everyone else and look for opportunities, dangers and challenges that lie in the distance. I must know where to lead and where not to lead. People are depending upon me to find green pastures, fresh watering holes and safe passages through the terrain that lies ahead. A healthy organization has such a leader that understands how to redirect and reposition itself to prepare for the challenges of tomorrow, today!
5. If service is beneath you, leadership is above you. I certainly didn’t coin this phrase, but it rings true none-the-less. Jesus taught us that the higher the leadership ladder you climb, the larger your servants heart must become. He demonstrated His love to others through the example of a servant’s heart (see John 13:1-17).
What would you say if I offered you an opportunity that had a 100% success rate? What if I offered you an investment that, if you acted and invested in it, you would have a 100% chance of cashing in? Scripture gives us such a promise of guaranteed success. According to 1 Corinthians 13:8, love never HAS, love never CAN, love never DOES and love never WILL fail!
People are our greatest commodity. Forgetting this simple truth should disqualify anyone from a position in Christian leadership. Every individual, whether they agree with our decisions or they disagree with them, deserve to be treated with respect, with honor and with Godly love. To be Christian is to be “Christ Like.” As you examine the life of Jesus, you quickly discover that He died for people and for nothing else.
Leading with love breaks down barriers, removes defense mechanisms and restores trust and confidence to the relationship. Leading with love is a true indicator that you display a servant’s heart because it tells the recipient that they are valued above everything else.