Many of you have been given the wonderful opportunity to be a leader. It is a responsibility that has been given to you by the Lord and you have accepted that and all that it entails. Sometimes leading is tremendously fulfilling and other times a seeming unforgiving weight of responsibility. Mark Miller, a leader who writes on leadership that I have come to really appreciate, wrote this the other day in his leadership blog. “Leadership is a gift that I have been given, not a title I have earned.” It is a really freeing perspective to have.
If I think in terms of leadership being a title, I will think in terms of others respecting the title. I have heard more than once a leader say, “If you can’t honor me, at least honor the position.” Or, “They are not respecting my position.” And while it is certainly important for a culture of honor to be properly developed in any organization, commanding it will not produce the results you are really desiring in the first place.
But if I can see leadership as a gift, an opportunity, it totally changes the dynamics. It is a gift that is not meant for me, it is a gift that has been granted to me to empower others to fulfill their God given destiny. A leader is called to serve others and in serving and empowering others, they will be honored and respected, not for their title or position, but for their desire to see others fulfilled. And in seeing others fulfilled, there is the realization that the energy and passion of any great leader will be more fully realized.
So lead, faithfully and passionately. But understand it is a gift that has been entrusted to you, not for the sake of yourself, but for the benefit of others.
D.O.V.E.