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The single most impressive leader in the history of the world is Jesus of Nazareth. No leader ever built a higher-impact team in a shorter period of time with less talent to work with.
However, Jesus seems willfully to violate eight well-known, widely accepted laws of leadership.
1. Build a Team of Highly Qualified Leaders
Jesus does not seek the “best and brightest,” as many corporate organizations do. Instead, he goes out and gathers a rather motley crew of commercial fishermen. The majority of them are untrained, uncouth, and underage. Some have hot tempers, others have questionable business practices, and not one has evangelistic experience.
2. Keep Up the Momentum
In Mark 1, Jesus calls his first disciples, teaches in the synagogue, drives out an impure spirit the healed all the sick and demon-possessed in Capernaum.
Right in the middle of this “Nielsen-rating” upswing, Mark 1:35 records that Jesus actually withdraws from all the action; he goes off alone to a solitary place to reflect and spend some quality time in prayer.
The disciples finally find him and exclaim, “Jesus, everyone is looking for you!” Which is simply code for: “What’s up with this? We’ve all been busting our backsides to get this kingdom dream realized for you, and now that we’re on a roll, you want time off for a spiritual retreat?!” From a leadership perspective, Jesus’ seclusion makes zero sense, and the disciples know it.
3. Propagate Good Press
After praying in a solitary place, Jesus tells the disciples, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Then, a man with leprosy came to him and begged him to be healed; and Jesus healed him.
Instead of trumpeting his success on the evening news, he looks at the leprosy-free man and says, in verse 44, “See that you don’t tell this to anyone.”
4. Avoid Unnecessary Controversy
One day—a Sabbath, mind you—Jesus decides to get some fresh air with his disciples. They wind up walking through some guy’s grain field, and the disciples start popping the heads off several stalks to snack on. The Pharisees, who never seem to be far from the action, absolutely go nuts and consider the grain-popping motion an act of labor, which is strictly forbidden by their rules.
Jesus explains the whole bit about the Sabbath being created for people, not the other way around, but the Pharisees aren’t easily dissuaded.
5. Leverage Time and Influence
Jesus makes another colossal leadership blunder in Mark 10, when he breaks the law of wisely leveraging time and influence.
In verse 13, Jesus is caught spending time in the middle of a workday with a group of children.
6. Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You
Jesus thoroughly alienates a very wealthy man. Remember his interaction with the rich young man? This breaks a cardinal rule pertaining to fundraising: Don’t make wealthy people mad!
7. Avoid Sensational Exploits
In Mark 11, Jesus cleanses the temple of money changers and marketers who are peddling their wares in a house of worship.
Any student of leadership has to wonder if the whip (John 2:15) is really all that necessary. All the whip is going to do is give the press something to sensationalize, and seasoned leaders never give free bullets to the opposition.
8. Demonstrate Unshakeable Courage
One might think he would demonstrate unshakeable courage and then call his followers up to his level of steadfastness, a la William Wallace in the movie Braveheart. When his soldiers were thinking about defecting from an impending major battle, Wallace (played masterfully by Mel Gibson) mounts his horse and rides back and forth in front of all the soldiers, shouting, “I am not afraid to die for our cause on this day, and you shouldn’t be either!”
With fear-stricken disciples huddled around him in the Garden of Gethsemane, Mark 14:34 reveals an extremely distressed, deeply troubled Jesus: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow,” he admits, even “to the point of death.”
To paraphrase, he says, “Take this cup from me if at all possible, Father. But, if not, then your will be done.” It’s a far cry from the hero of Braveheart.
Leadership Violations Committed by Yours Truly (Bill Hybels)
1. Bet on a Ragtag Team
Every leader knows how important it is to surround yourself with the highest caliber people you can find: the brightest, most capable, most competent ones available. Instead of recruiting high-capacity types, I surrounded myself with a few personal friends, none of whom had any specific experience, expertise, or talent in church work.
I knew I was headed down a path that seemed to violate a critical leadership law, but I also knew that God was the one leading. And so I followed.
2. Derail the Momentum Train
Willow was growing by hundreds of people a month, and reporters began to write articles about “this ministry in Chicago” that was rapidly becoming the largest church in North America.
We were building a crowd, but we weren’t building committed followers. I made my toughest ministry decision to date: I intentionally derailed our momentum.
The law of leadership fought tooth and nail to maintain momentum. But the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit told me something entirely different.
3. Embrace Muslims after 9/11
I invited a local Muslim leader to attend our weekend services as a resource for greater understanding. Most people at Willow thought the service was extremely beneficial, that it did indeed serve as a bridge builder in our community. But I had risked a fair amount of national credibility capital and created “unnecessary controversy” on that one.
Maybe you need to figure out what happens when the laws of leadership and the demands of discipleship collide, because every once in a while, they will. Mark my words. Although the Spirit had given me a great book title, I was none too thrilled about the content.
Every leader should be ready to address this question, “What will be my response when the laws of leadership and the demands of discipleship collide?”
The Origin of the “Laws of Leadership”
Here’s what Hybels noted that he began to grasp: laws of leadership are really just descriptions of hard-learned lessons that, for hundreds of years, leaders have come to view as valuable guides toward mission achievement. Laws of leadership are, in essence, a collection of wisdom principles, passed from one leadership generation to the next.
Leadership laws are not “inspired” by God in the same manner that we use the word inspiration when referring to Scripture. They are not inerrant, infallible, or immutable in the way we understand those terms biblically, but they are extremely valuable observations that, when followed, can cause each successive generation of leaders to get better at leading whatever they’re leading.
Most of the time, the laws of leadership and the teachings of Scripture—particularly regarding embracing people living far from God and discipling those who have already made a faith decision—dovetail nicely. I think that collisions between leadership and discipleship are actually quite uncommon.
Jesus consistently manifested what we might consider traditional “leadership laws” throughout his ministry: he cast and consistently reinforced a God-given, crystal-clear vision. He was perpetually (annoyingly, even!) “on purpose”; he poured into his team until the mission poured out of them; he resolved conflict immediately . . . with love and truth; the list could go on and on.
Hybels explains, “In my opinion, good teaching will never be enough to build the kingdom of God. But combine good teaching with great leadership, and watch what God will do! Go wherever leadership is taught. Get near leaders who are more advanced than you are. Keep growing. Keep challenging yourself! Keep getting better!”
Christian leaders above all others would strive to be the most devoted, most faithful, most astute learners of leadership’s laws.
Decide on the Side of Discipleship
Trust the promptings of the Holy Spirit, for they will help you at these deadly intersections. When the demands of discipleship articulated in the Bible collide with human laws of leadership, read my lips: Defer to the Bible.
You can’t put a price tag on being obedient to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Even when you are the only person who understands why you are doing what you’re doing, walk confidently along the path God paves for you.
Christian leaders cannot afford to wield influence apart from the direction of the Holy Spirit. It takes more than human-crafted leadership laws to be effective; the role of Scripture and of the ministry of the Holy Spirit can never be overestimated.
Just a simple reminder that the power of the Holy Spirit is the leader’s best friend. The one who stands alongside you when leadership gets lonely . . . that’s the Holy Spirit.
If you know the laws of leadership and follow them when they should be followed, if you love God and readily follow the prompting of his Spirit when you sense he is guiding, then you will make it. And when there’s a collision, if you say, “I’m going to decide on the side of discipleship and the clear teachings of Scripture every time. I’m going to put my hand in the Holy Spirit’s hand all day, every day, and allow him to be my guide and my strength,” then you will make it.
Nehemiah 4:14 says, “Remember God, who is great and awesome, and then fight with all your might.”
As you face your daily responsibilities as a leader, this is Hybels simple charge from Nehemiah straight to you, “Remember God, who is great and awesome. Remember God, who is faithful and true. Remember God, who is ever-present in times of turmoil. Remember God, who has promised to pull you through.”