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As Maxwell explains, “Everything I know about leadership I learned from the Bible. Not only is the Bible the greatest book ever written, it is the greatest leadership book ever written. If you have felt a stirring to become a better leader or if someone has tapped your shoulder and asked you to lead, God will help you.”
Leadership Issue #1: Identity
You Have Great Value Because God Values You
You’ve probably heard people say, “You had to see it to believe it!” That’s true in many situations. But when it comes to a person’s potential, the opposite is actually true: they have to believe it in order to see it.
Low self-esteem puts a ceiling on potential. If you want to achieve your leadership potential, you must value yourself as God values you. You are valuable to God because of who you are: you were made in God’s image, according to his likeness. You are valuable to him because of what you cost: even before you were born, Jesus gave everything to redeem you. You are valuable because of what you can become: before you took your first breath, God had a plan for you.
God chooses to use us not in spite of our weaknesses, but because of them.
God is glorified when we allow him to work through us. God chooses leaders based on their availability, not their ability; on their willingness to walk in obedience to him, not their own strength.
Case Studies
1: Gideon Is a Mighty Warrior—Because God Says So (Judges 6:11–40)
Gideon’s account opens with him threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites, and the angel of the Lord addresses Gideon as “mighty warrior.”
How might Gideon’s life have played out differently if the angel hadn’t told him he was a mighty warrior?
2: God Knows Us Completely (Psalm 139:1–24)
How many different ways in this Psalm does David express the idea that God knows him?
3: Peter’s Sense of Identity Gives Him Confidence (Acts 4:1–20)
Peter and John are described as “unschooled, ordinary men.”
What actions taken by Peter and John in the Acts passage indicate a strong sense of identity?
What role do you think identity played in Peter and John’s boldness in speaking, healing people, and standing up to the high priest and other officials? How difficult do you think it was for Peter and John to defy the Sanhedrin and say that they would listen to God, not them? What gave them the confidence to do this?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Think about your sense of identity. Where does it come from?
Write a paragraph about yourself attempting to see yourself from God’s point of view. How do you think he would describe you?
Leadership Issue #2: Surrender
Submit to God’s Authority Before Trying to Develop Yours
You may be wondering how surrender could be a leadership issue. Doesn’t leadership require strength while surrender shows weakness?
Surrender actually shows cooperation, especially when you’re discussing submission to authority. That’s often referred to as followership, and it is something all leaders need to know how to do, especially leaders of faith. As a Christian leader, you are asked to make the choice to surrender to the highest authority (God). Humility is necessary for surrender to God. It means acknowledging that He is, was, and always will be our leader.
Case Studies
1: Surrender and Trust Go Hand in Hand (Proverbs 3:1–12)
The Proverbs writer admonishes his son to trust God with all his heart and not rely on his own understanding. How is honoring the Lord with one’s wealth a sign of surrender?
Why does the Proverbs writer tell his son to accept the Lord’s discipline? How is that related to surrender and trust?
2: God Requires and Blesses Humble Surrender (James 3:13–18 & James 4:1–7)
Why does James say that wisdom and humility are linked?
James writes, “You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” What should leaders ask God for, and what motives would be right?
James says the solution to pride and selfish ambition is to submit to God and resist the devil. How would that look in your life?
3: A Life Characterized by Surrender to God (1 Peter 2:1–25)
Peter says, “Submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human authority.” How difficult do you find that to do?
Peter uses the metaphor of a house being built to describe the spiritual growth process among believers. Peter spends quite a bit of time admonishing people to submit to human authorities.
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Think about the importance of trust, humility, and wisdom in surrendering to God and authority. What is the role of surrender in followership? How does your willingness to surrender help you as a leader?
Where is God is asking you grow and learn when it comes to surrender?
Leadership Issue #3: Purpose
You Were Created for a Reason
You were created for something. God designed you with a purpose.
By seeking and then acting on purpose, we find meaning and fulfillment. And God’s will is achieved on earth. So how do you find your unique purpose? First, look to God’s word. His unique purpose for someone will always align with his big-picture purpose for all believers.
Next, consider your current opportunities, abilities, and passions. God often uses these things, along with his supernatural guidance, to help us discover direction.
Another sign that purpose comes from God is that it feels bigger than we are capable of doing. That’s because a God-sized vision requires God’s power.
People’s passions and God’s power combine to achieve God’s purposes.
Case Studies
1: God’s Purpose Is Fulfilled Through His Power (Psalm 33:1–22)
The psalm says that God “thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever” (33:10–11). The passage refers to the “plans of the Lord” and “the purposes of his heart through all generations.” And it says that God “watches all who live on earth.”
This Psalm speaks of God’s faithfulness, righteousness, and power.
2: God’s Call Is Bigger Than Jeremiah Can Imagine (Jeremiah 1:1–19)
The passage says that God knew Jeremiah even before he was formed in the womb and that he set Jeremiah apart and appointed him as a prophet even before he was born. Based on that information, what can you infer about God’s relationship with people and whether people’s purpose is discovered or chosen by them?
Twice God told Jeremiah that He was with him and would rescue him.
3: Saul’s Passion, Transformed by God’s Power, Fulfills God’s Purpose (Acts 9:1–22)
Ananias also had an encounter with the Lord, being directed to go to Saul, whom he feared. What do you think would have happened if Ananias had refused to go to Saul?
How was it possible for Saul to change direction so quickly and only a few days after his encounter be able to preach that Jesus was the Son of God and prove he was the Messiah?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
How do followers of Christ recognize when a purpose they are pursuing is their own and when it is from God?
Do you believe that God’s purpose for you and the desires of your heart can align?
What action could you take immediately—by yourself or with others—toward fulfilling your purpose?
Leadership Issue #4: Integrity
Bigger on the Inside Leads to Better on the Outside
(Check out my former post entitled “Do you lead with integrity?”)
Integrity is defined as “the quality or the state of being complete; unbroken condition; wholeness; entirety.”
As leaders consistently keep their promises and practice what they preach, they become “bigger on the inside.” For leaders, this creates trust, protects talent, and fosters internal peace. In contrast, a focus on image over integrity is an attempt to appear bigger on the outside, often at the expense of who we are on the inside.
When leaders focus on becoming bigger on the inside, in addition to benefitting their followers, they are caring for their own souls. A healthy soul is whole. It’s not fractured.
Case Studies
1: Judah’s Promise to Israel (Genesis 43:1–5, 8–9)
Why do you think the brothers were terrified of Joseph when he revealed his identity?
2: Joshua Has to Make a Choice (Joshua 9:1–27)
The children of Israel had been told by God repeatedly not to make treaties with any of the people who lived in the promised land they were entering (Exodus 34:12; Deuteronomy 7:2), yet that’s what they ended up doing with the Gibeonites.
The passage says Joshua “made a treaty of peace with them to let them live.” It does not mention any obligation to protect or fight for the Gibeonites, yet that is what Joshua did. Was Joshua simply maintaining his integrity, or was he going above and beyond it?
3: Weigh Your Words and Your Promises (Ecclesiastes 5:1–7)
What lessons can you find in this passage on communication, decision making, and leadership?
The writer of Ecclesiastes uses the word fool several times in this passage. What are the characteristics of a fool, and how do they differ from a person of integrity?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
What values are important for you as a person and leader?
(I share about my own values and how they were shaped in a tribute post to my grandfather here.)
What action do you believe God is asking you to take to grow in integrity as a result of this lesson?
Leadership Issue #5: Followership
Good Leaders Are Great Followers First
There is a common misconception about leading and following. It assumes that every individual falls into either the “leader” or “follower” category. But it’s not either–or. It’s both all the time.
Only a leader who has followed well knows how to lead others well.
The acid test of character comes when we disagree with people who possess legitimate authority. When we refuse to demand our own way and instead submit to others for the benefit of the team or organization, our hearts are right. This is when God can trust us to lead others.
Case Studies
1: Daniel Finds a Way to Follow While Maintaining His Values (Daniel 1:1–21)
Daniel believed eating food from the king’s table was wrong, yet he desired to submit to authority. How did he resolve this conflict?
2: Authority and the Chain of Command (Luke 7:1–10)
The centurion describes how people under his command respond to him, but he also describes himself as a man under authority. What does that mean? How would that impact his choices and behavior?
When the centurion says, “Say the word, and my servant will be healed,” what kind of authority is he saying that Jesus has?
3: Submission to Governing Authorities (Romans 13:1–7)
Paul says that governing authorities are God’s servants for your good, but he also describes them as agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. How can both of those things be true at the same time?
What is your natural response to Paul’s words, “If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor”? Which do you find the most difficult to give?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Which is the greater issue for you personally? Do you have a difficult time following authority when you should? Or do you have a more difficult time standing up when you should?
Leadership Issue #6: Self-Leadership
Everything Worthwhile Is Uphill
(Check out my very first blog post here or my summary of Managing Me).
As leaders, one of our greatest struggles is leading ourselves first.
There is no such thing as accidental achievement. Any climb uphill must be deliberate, consistent, and willful.
Case Studies
1: A Noble Example of a Good Self-Leadership (Proverbs 31:10–31)
2: Invite the Holy Spirit to Help with Self-Leadership (Galatians 5:13–26)
Paul admonishes his readers not to use the freedom they have to indulge themselves. How can this instruction be applied to leaders and leadership? How are indulgence and service opposites?
3: Paul Instructs Titus on Training in Self-Leadership (Titus 2:1–15)
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Based on what you’ve learned from these passages, write a statement or philosophy of self-leadership for yourself.
What action do you believe God is asking you to take to improve your own self-leadership?
Leadership Issue #7: Growth
Tomorrow Gets Better When You Get Better Today
(Check out my summary of John Maxwell’s 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth here.)
Your capacity to grow will ultimately determine your capacity to lead.
There are many reasons to pursue personal growth. It opens doors. It makes us better. Personal growth increases hope. It teaches us tomorrow can be better than today.
To be realistic about any growth plan, wise leaders ask themselves: Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?
Life begins at the end of our comfort zone.
Case Studies
1: Go After Wisdom (Proverbs 4:1–27)
The Proverbs writer says that wisdom leads to righteousness and straight paths.
2: Information Is Not Enough (Matthew 13:1–23)
Jesus described the people who didn’t understand his parables as seeing but not able to perceive and hearing without understanding. This parable from Matthew describes a spiritual process. It depicts reactions to the Word of God. However, it could also be applied to growth more generally.
3: Why We Must Keep Learning (Hebrews 5:11–14 & Hebrews 6:1–12)
The passage says that the people being addressed should be able to teach others at this point, but instead they need someone else to reteach them the basics. What are the leadership implications of this?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
When you look at your life spiritually, which of the four soils describes you: rocky, shallow, thorny, or good?
What about if you look at your leadership life?
Leadership Issue #8: Relationships
Leadership Is Always a People Business
One of the greatest mistakes leaders make is spending too much time in their offices and not enough time out among the people.
First and foremost, leadership is a people business. If you forget the people, you undermine your leadership and you run the risk of having it erode away. Then one day when you think you’re leading, you’ll turn around and discover that nobody is following, and you’re only taking a walk.
Leaders who tend to the people usually build up the people—and the business.
Case Studies
1: Jacob Blesses His Grandsons (Genesis 48:1–22)
What leadership lesson can you learn from Jacob’s crossing of his hands to make the blessing specific to each boy instead of doing the blessing in the traditional way, which Joseph expected him to follow?
2: Paul Defines Love (1 Corinthians 13:1–13)
Paul says that love keeps no record of wrongs. How can a leader honor this admonition and still lead effectively? Knowing that love protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres, how should that guide your leadership of others?
3: John Encourages Love Over Hate (1 John 2:3–11 & 1 John 4:7–21)
John says that anyone who says he loves God yet doesn’t love his brothers and sisters is a liar. If you experience conflict with someone or someone harms you, how can you resolve the problem and still maintain this standard?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Paul said that if he was able to communicate truth and knowledge but did it without love, he was nothing and just making noise. What implications does this truth have for how someone should lead?
How can a leader go about upholding John’s command to love others, while still doing what’s best for the organization or team, and preserving his or her leadership credibility?
Leadership Issue #9: Motives
You Must Choose How You Will Use Your Leadership
Someone once said, “People have two reasons for doing anything—a good reason and the real reason.”
Your motives matter. Ask yourself why you want to lead. There is a big difference between people who want to lead because they are genuinely interested in others and desire to help them, and people who are in it for only themselves.
People who lead for selfish reasons seek…
- Power: They love control and will continue to add value to themselves by reducing the value of others.
- Position: Titles are their ego food. They continually make sure that others feel their authority and are aware of their rights as a leader.
- Money: They will use people and sell themselves for financial gain.
- Prestige: They want to look good more than they want to be or do good.
Case Studies
1: God Questions Jonah’s Motives (Jonah 3:1–10 & Jonah 4:1–11)
2: Motives Matter (Matthew 6:1–18)
3: Paul Explains His Motives (1 Thessalonians 2:1–12)
Paul says that he and the other leaders “worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone.”
Leadership Insight & Reflection
How well do your motives align with the ones described by Jesus and Paul in the passages? In what ways do you need to change your thinking, mindset, or attitude to be in greater alignment with them?
Leadership Issue #10: Pride
You Can’t Fulfill Your Purpose If You’re Too Full of Yourself
Leaders can start to think that everything is all about them—especially when their team or organization is winning. The greater the accomplishment, the greater the temptation to take all the credit. That’s why it’s so important that they remain grounded. The most important quality of a well-grounded person is humility.
Rick Warren says, “Humility is not denying your strengths. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses. All of us are a bundle of both great strengths and great weaknesses, and humility is being able to be honest about both.”
Wise leaders are open about their failures and shortcomings. They use self-deprecating humor and laugh at themselves.
Case Studies
1: David’s Humility and Gratitude, Even When God Denies His Request (1 Chronicles 17:1–27)
2: Two Kinds of Leaders (Daniel 2:1–19, 24–49)
3: Something to Be Proud Of (1 Corinthians 1:18–31)
According to Paul, what’s the one thing we should boast about? Why?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
David, Daniel, and Paul are three of the most accomplished and respected leaders in all the Bible, yet they exhibited great humility.
How would the development of greater humility benefit your leadership and improve your team?
Leadership Issue #11: Choices
The Decisions You Make, Make You
The greatest power we have in life is the power to choose.
Even in situations where we might feel powerless, we always have power over our own beliefs, feelings, and actions. Victimhood is a choice—and not a good one. Wise leaders never see themselves as victims of their circumstances.
It’s always important to take into account how our decisions affect others. Wise leaders don’t make followers pay the price for their bad choices.
Leaders’ choices do more than reveal who they are; they also determine who they are—and will be.
Case Studies
1: Moses Prepares to Say Farewell to the Israelites (Deuteronomy 30:1–20)
As Moses neared death and knew that his time of leadership was coming to the end, he told the children of Israel they had a choice to make. They could turn toward God or away from him. Moses warned that the Israelites would be tempted to bow down to other gods and worship them.
2: A Warning that Helps with Decision Making (Proverbs 5:1–14)
The Proverbs writer, thought to be King Solomon, says, “Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house.” What guideline or principle for dealing with temptation can you discern from this advice?
From this passage, what lesson can you learn regarding moral, personal, and leadership choices?
3: A Governor’s Tough Choice (Matthew 27:11–26)
What is your opinion of Pilate? Was he a good leader who had to make a bad choice? A bad man who make an evil choice? An indifferent man who made a careless choice? An agent of God doing his will who really had no other choice? Or something else?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
The three leaders in these passages—Moses, Solomon, and Pilate—had different approaches to how they made decisions. What would you say their criteria were? How were they different from one another? How were they similar?
What change do you believe God is asking you to make to become a better decision maker?
Leadership Issue #12: Criticism
Action Always Causes Friction
One of the prices of leadership is criticism.
Joyce Meyer observes, “God will help you be all you can be, but He will never let you be successful at becoming someone else.”
Case Studies
1: Learn to Accept God’s Criticism First (Isaiah 30:8–22)
2: Jesus Warns His Followers to Expect Poor Treatment (Matthew 10:16–33, 38–42)
3: Peter Sets the Record Straight (Acts 11:1–26)
Leadership Insight & Reflection
In the Isaiah passage, the people were being criticized by God, their leader.
In the Matthew passage, a group of potential leaders were being warned by their leader, Jesus, about forthcoming criticism because he himself had been criticized.
And in Acts, the leader, Peter, was being criticized by a group within the church, an organization he was leading.
Leadership Issue #13: Recruiting
No Team Can Succeed Without Good Players
Leaders must select the right players in order to create a winning team. Unfortunately, many leaders hire haphazardly. Because of desperation, urgency, or just plain ignorance, they quickly grab any candidate who comes along.
It’s critical for leaders in business or ministry to approach hiring in the same way winning coaches approach the draft: strategically. This begins with an accurate assessment of needs, with an eye toward the future and the big picture.
Of course, even the best recruits need to be developed. Wise leaders create and sustain a culture of development and growth, starting from the very top. As people are developed, they have the potential to rise through the organization.
Case Studies
1: Hiram Sends Huram-Abi to Solomon (2 Chronicles 2:1–18 & 2 Chronicles 4:11–16)
The parallel account of the building of the temple in 1 Kings 7:14 says, “Huram[-Abi] was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.”
2: Jesus Begins Choosing His Disciples (Luke 5:1–11 & John 1:35–51)
3: A Team Is Recruited to Go to the Believers in Antioch (Acts 15:22–41)
Leadership Insight & Reflection
These passages show Solomon, Jesus, the apostles, Barnabas, and Paul recruiting people to help them.
How could you improve as a recruiter?
Leadership Issue #14: Equipping
People Get Better When Their Leaders Want Them to Be
When equipping potential leaders, the long-term goal is for them to become leaders in their own rights—to possess all the skills, attitudes, and instincts of a leader.
The equipper creates a plan for growth. Together they set long-term and short-term goals. The equipper provides tools and resources, along with opportunities to practice skills and make mistakes.
Throughout the process, the equipper provides consistent ongoing follow-up and accountability to help the emerging leader develop. The equipper also offers increasing amounts of responsibility and authority.
Case Studies
1: Moses Equips the Israelites to Equip Their Children (Deuteronomy 11:1–28)
Good leaders anticipate problems and prepare their people to meet them positively. What does Moses say in this passage to equip the people in this way?
2: God Equips Joshua and Joshua Equips the People (Joshua 6:1–20)
What do you think would have happened if God had not spoken to Joshua and given him specific instructions about how to conquer Jericho?
3: The Greatest Sermon in History Contains Great Instruction (Matthew 7:1–29)
Identify which parts contain general principles, which contain instruction for how to do tasks, and which contain warnings of things to avoid. Why did Jesus take these different approaches?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Which type of equipping do you think is most difficult to teach: spiritual living, completing tasks, or leading others?
Who has God put in your life who needs to be equipped? How could you equip them?
Who in your past has done a good job of equipping you—for simple tasks, spiritual living, complex problems, or leadership responsibilities? What made that person a good equipper?
Leadership Issue #15: Teamwork
If People Don’t Work Together, the Team Will Fall Apart
(Check out my previous posts on “Teamwork: The Heart & Soul of Sports” and John Maxwell’s The 17 Laws of Teamwork.)
Great challenges require great teamwork, and the quality most needed on a team facing a difficult challenge is collaboration. Notice this is not “cooperation,” because collaboration is more than that. Cooperation is working together agreeably. Collaboration is working together aggressively.
Wise leaders emphasize collaboration when they encourage team members to focus on completing over competing. For collaboration to work, teammates must be supportive rather than suspicious of one another.
Case Studies
1: Working Together Accomplishes Great Things (Nehemiah 2:17–20; Nehemiah 3:1–32; Nehemiah 4:1–6)
Look at the diversity of people who worked together to rebuild the wall.
What does this say about Nehemiah’s leadership that he was able to get so many different people to work together?
2: David and His General Rally the Troops (2 Samuel 10:1–19)
3: Surviving Because They Worked Together (Acts 27:13–44)
How would you describe Paul’s leadership in this incident? How did he get everyone to work together?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Based on these three passages, how do these factors come into play in leadership: God’s direction, God’s favor, vision, integrity and credibility of the leader, buy-in of team members, strategy, communication, relationships, collaboration, and execution?
What do you find most challenging when leading a team: external opposition, internal division, or forces beyond your control (such as nature)?
Leadership Issue #16: Confrontation
When Things Go Wrong, Leaders Work to Make Things Right
As a leader, it is your responsibility and your privilege to be the person who helps your people get better. That often begins with a candid conversation.
Leaders balance care and candor. Care without candor creates dysfunctional relationships. Candor without care creates distant relationships. But care balanced with candor creates developing relationships. Caring values the person, while candor values the person’s potential.
If you’re candid with others but with their benefit in mind, it doesn’t have to be harmful. It can be similar to the work of a surgeon. It may hurt, but it is meant to help and it shouldn’t harm.
The next time you find yourself in a place where you need to have a candid conversation, just remember this:
- Do it quickly—shovel the pile while it’s small.
- Do it calmly, never in anger—balance care and candor.
- Do it privately—you want to help the person, not embarrass him or her.
- Do it thoughtfully, in a way that minimizes embarrassment or intimidation.
Case Studies
1: Nehemiah Settles a Contentious Dispute (Nehemiah 5:1–19)
2: Jesus Teaches the Right Way to Confront (Matthew 18:15–35)
Some manuscripts of this passage use the phrase “sins against you.” Are there other situations where this same process of confrontation would be appropriate and helpful?
3: Restoration Is the Best Outcome (Galatians 6:1–10)
Paul states that our goal should be to gently restore people who do wrong. But he also says that people reap what they sow. How do you reconcile these ideas? What is your role in confrontation, what is the role of the person being confronted, and what is God’s role?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Based on these three passages, what responsibility do people of faith have to gently confront others when they do wrong? Do leaders have more, less, or the same level of responsibility for confronting problems and wrongdoing?
Write a personal code of conduct for confronting people you lead. Include what, when, and how you should confront people, as well as the outcome you will always strive to achieve.
In the context of confronting others and forgiving, why did Jesus tell the parable about the unmerciful servant who was forgiven but refused to forgive others?
Leadership Issue #17: Mentoring
Investing in People Provides the Greatest Leadership Return
(Check out my posts on The Mentor Leader by Tony Dungy; Mentor Like Jesus by Regi Campbell; and “Who are Your Mount Rushmore of Mentors?”)
If equipping is like preparing people to become expert mountain climbers, then mentoring is like training them to become something more: the best version of themselves, both on the mountain and off. This involves helping them grow holistically—developing personal qualities that will benefit them in many areas of life, not just in their job requirements.
It’s especially important with mentoring to focus on the journey more than the destination. Fortunately, mentoring people does have some specific steps that can be taken: getting to know them, finding out their goals and desires for growth, spending time together, answering questions, challenging them.
It often works to think of mentoring as a combination of teaching, demonstration, observation, and follow-up. Good mentors both consistently model and clearly explain right behaviors.
Leaders who mentor well are able to develop a culture of mentoring that extends throughout the organization. And when everyone is becoming the best they can be, the organization does the same.
Case Studies
1: Leaders Who Disqualify Themselves from Mentoring Others (Luke 11:37–54)
The Pharisees and experts in the law had positions of authority, yet they were not worthy of being mentors. Why? List all the reasons in the passage that would disqualify them.
2: A Pharisee Comes to Learn from Jesus (John 3:1–21)
Jesus laid out the gospel to Nicodemus and explained his desire to save people, not condemn them, but there is no explanation of the Pharisee’s response.
3: Paul Mentors with Integrity (1 Thessalonians 2:1–20)
Paul says in this passage that he cared for the people in Thessalonica the way a nursing mother cares for her children. What do you think that means?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
What do you have to offer to people who might want to be mentored and developed by you?
What dream do you have that you would be better positioned to accomplish if you were mentored?
Leadership Issue #18: Diversity
Differences Can Be Made into a Strength
(Check out my post “Does Your Organization Need a Chief Diversity Officer?” and “Moving Beyond Diversity in the Workplace”.)
Good leaders see diversity as one of the best ways to build a world-class team. When properly led, motivated, and unleashed, a diverse group of professionals can gain an uncommon advantage over their competitors.
Diverse teams tend to heighten the leadership challenges. It’s crucial for the leader to create an environment where differences are celebrated, and yet unity in the midst of those differences is encouraged.
Effective leaders engage in conversations that draw out different perspectives, and they make it clear that they value independent thinking over flattery.
When leaders encourage and reward diversity, creativity, independent thinking, and open communication, they create a stimulating, challenging, and bold team. Everyone gets the most out of each other, and everyone wins.
Case Studies
1: God Sets One Standard for Israelites and Foreigners (Numbers 15:1–2, 13–31)
2: Unity Within Diversity (1 Corinthians 12:4–27)
Why do you think Paul uses the human body as a metaphor for the diversity of skills and abilities among believers? What insights about teamwork and leadership can you gain from it?
3: Paul Calls the Ephesians to a Higher Standard (Ephesians 4:1–16)
What role does “speaking the truth in love” (verse 15) have in promoting diversity? What role does it have in maintaining unity?
Leadership Insight & Reflection
Where do you struggle when it comes to developing or maintaining unity while promoting diversity?
Leadership Issue #19: Change
You Must Lead Change to Improve Your Team
(Check out my posts on John Maxwell’s Change Your World and Jon Gordon’s The Shark and The Goldfish: Positive Ways to Thrive During Waves of Change.)
Any person who has led change knows it’s challenging. Unlike the common refrain, people do not naturally resist change; they resist being changed.
There’s a two-frame cartoon in which the leader asks, “Who wants change?” and every hand is raised. But in the second frame, when he asks, “Who wants to change?” not one hand is raised. That pretty much characterizes human nature. We want the benefits of positive change without the pain of making any changes ourselves.
Marilyn Ferguson put it this way: “It’s not so much that we are afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it’s that place in between that we fear… It’s like being between trapezes. It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold on to.”
Winston Churchill quipped, “To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.”
Talk about the change clearly, talk about the change creatively, and talk about the change continually.
Case Studies
1: Naomi Encourages Ruth to Take a Huge Risk (Ruth 2:19–23; Ruth 3:1–18; Ruth 4:9–12)
2: Jesus Challenges People to Change (Matthew 5:17–48)
Examine Jesus’s pattern of communication as he quoted the Old Testament and presented a change he wanted his followers to make. What can you learn from his communication?
Which of the six subjects Jesus spoke about in this passage struck you the most strongly: murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, or loving enemies?
3: A Major Change for the Early Church (Acts 15:1–21)
Leadership Insight & Reflection
How did each of the leaders in these passages approach the process of creating change?
As a leader, how do you handle change when guiding others through it? Are you strategic or impulsive? Are you persuasive or autocratic? Are you patient or impatient with people? Try to assess yourself honestly and impartially.
Are Jesus’s words still a message of change? How are people responding today?
Leadership Issue #20: Failure
You Can Find a Lesson in Every Loss
(Check out my summary of John Maxwell’s Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn.)
The difference between average people and achieving people can be found in their perception of and response to failure. Why? Because there is no success without failure.
Leaders can achieve great things and profit from failure only when they both see it correctly and respond to it positively.
Leaders also assume failure is temporary. They don’t see a failure as an end, but rather a pause. Their perspective can be summed up in this quote from actress Gracie Allen:
It’s been said that experience is the best teacher. But in reality, we learn the most from evaluated experience. Every failure has the potential to take us one step closer to success. Knowing what won’t work is at least as important as knowing what will. Psychologist Joyce Brothers observed, “The person interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of the process of getting to the top.”
Case Studies
1: God Meets Us at the Lowest Point (1 Kings 19:1–18)
The chapter immediately before this passage describes a showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, where God demonstrated his supernatural power in response to Elijah’s request, and then all Baal’s prophets were executed. After such a great victory, why do you think Elijah ran away from Jezebel? [Your Response Here] 2. What did Elijah say that indicates he thought he had failed?
2: Failure Isn’t Final (Lamentations 3:1–33)
How can someone be both positive and negative toward God at the same time?
3: Two Failures, Two Different Reactions (Matthew 26:14–16, 31–35; Matthew 26:69–75; Matthew 27:1–5)
Judas and Peter both failed Jesus, Judas by delivering Jesus to the chief priests to be arrested and Peter by disowning Jesus after he was arrested. How did each of them react to their failure?
Which of the men do you think fell further: the one who boasted he would be faithful but wasn’t, or the one who said nothing but did wrong?
John 21 contains Jesus’s interaction with Peter where Peter said he loved Jesus and was restored. Judas repented to the priests, but they showed him no mercy. What do you think would have happened to Judas if he had lived, repented to Jesus, and asked for forgiveness?
Leadership Issue #21: Power
The Best Use of Leadership Is Serving Others
While Lord Acton’s maxim can be true, the abuse of power happens on a continuum. The temptation toward corruption or abuse grows as power increases.
As leaders increase in influence, the temptations that come with power do increase at the same rate. And they must be actively combatted. The first pitfall of increasing power is selfishness.
Even the most well-meaning servant leaders can be seduced by power—gradually, as they enjoy the perks, they fall into focusing on their own desires first.
Arrogance is another temptation of power. Leaders can start to think that everything is all about them, and that they deserve what they get.
Wise leaders cultivate humility and gratitude daily, by giving credit to God for their blessings and to other people for their successes. When leaders remain humble, they are less likely to act entitled or demanding. They hold loosely to their power.
One of the greatest temptations of power is to chase comfort and wealth.
The more comfortable humans are, the more comfort they want to have.
The antidote to this pursuit is contentment. And it must be chased with the same enthusiasm. Wise leaders strive to increase their contentment in all circumstances (Philippians 4:11). Leaders who are content have more peace and practice more generosity. As they gain more, they give more.
Case Studies
1: Rehoboam Chooses Power Over Wisdom (2 Chronicles 10:1–19)
Rehoboam was made king after his father Solomon died. What was his mindset as he received the power of the throne for the first time?
What were the motivations of the two groups who advised Rehoboam: (1) the elders, and (2) the young men who grew up with Rehoboam and served him?
2: The Power of Riches Never Satisfies (Ecclesiastes 5:8–20)
Why does the writer of Ecclesiastes say that we should not be surprised when we see the poor oppressed and justice denied to people? What does this say about human nature and what often happens when people receive position and power?
3: The Nature of Real Power (Matthew 20:20–28)
Leadership Insight & Reflection
What do you believe God wants you to accomplish with the power you have?
Based on your past track record, can you be trusted with more power or influence? Have you been faithful and trustworthy with the power you’ve already received?
May you learn from the Bible—and lessons from leaders in Scripture—as you shoot for the stars!