Thoughts on Leadership

            For the record, I do not consider myself to be a great leader, but I do hope to be one some day.  I am not an expert in leadership, I’ve never been to a leadership conference, but I do feel like God has been teaching me a lot about the subject.  The following are just some of my thoughts about leadership. 

 

-One of my professors this past semester said one of the most powerful things I have ever heard about leadership.  He said that we love to use the term “servant leadership” when we talk about Jesus, but the thing is Jesus never used the term leadership, He just said serve.  Sometimes it sounds like we promote service as a means to get people to follow us.  Jesus says in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  So what if leaders served not for the sake of getting people to follow them, but just for the sake of serving?

 

-I’m going to be honest, I don’t like to read a lot of books on the idea of leadership because a lot of the time I feel like I’m reading a book about how to sell a good product, like I’m signing up for Amway or something.  But I did read one this past semester that presented a really intriguing concept.  It’s called reverse learning.  It’s when a leader/mentor actually seeks to learn from who he/she is leading/mentoring.  I think this is a great idea.  Why do leaders always think that every moment or encounter you have with them is their opportunity to teach you something?  I find this frustrating, especially when I do it other people. 

 

I think this would do a lot to help produce more influential leaders.  It seems that if there is a common struggle for almost all leaders it is that they aren’t very teachable.  Who hasn’t said that before?  But, I have found it to be true, and the thing is that if as a leader you aren’t teachable than you are going to produce other leaders who aren’t teachable.  Perhaps the greatest thing a leader can do for someone under them is show them how to be teachable. 

 

I think the idea of reverse learning is a difficult concept for most people in leadership because they think they have a monopoly on wisdom.  Leaders seem to think that because they have more experience and the simple fact that they are older than they have more wisdom than those who are under them.  Let us not forget that wisdom comes from God.  Job 32: 8-9 says, “It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.  It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.”  It seems that we all have something to learn from each other regardless of age or experience.

 

-David offers us some really beautiful words about leadership, and I consider him to be a great leader so I will offer them to you.

“The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me:  ‘When one rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.’”  2 Samuel 23:3-4