Great Vision Needs Great Leadership
People join great vision but leave poor leadership. I got this quote on LinkedIn. I feel we as Christians drop the ball here.
Jesus coming to earth is the single greatest event on this earth. Now, admittedly, his coming to die for our sins is the main thing, but part of the package is he gave us the vision to carry on. Take a look at his famous words in Matthew 28:18-20.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Now that is vision and inspiration. 2000 years later it still gives us marching orders.
Next comes leadership. People join great vision and leave poor leadership. Jesus really gave us a big job.
He also invented servant leadership. Read from Matthew 20:25-28.
25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Many of the famous leadership gurus are Christian: Ziglar, Lencioni, Maxwell, and Blanchard come to mind but there are more.
Jesus gave us the base to be great leaders. Why then is so much bad leadership running around?
Great Vision Needs Great Leadership, But
I once helped a young Christian man who was taking on a role I had held previously.
He told me, “Jim, I cannot lead the way you led.” I thought he must mean by personality he would have some differences. I accepted that idea.
He then stood high above the workers and alienated a good team. After some thought, I realized that he did not want to lead the way I did. This is a sin we should not fall into given Jesus clear command. See also Revelation is Precious and Inflection Points Critical.
Then other Christians apply grace liberally. They give bad leaders grace, and the people under the bad leader suffer, and the best self select off the team. They tend to make excuses for the bad leader. Years often pass. To them, I say, Jesus said to Peter “Get behind me Satan”. Jesus had back bone. He was filled with both Grace and Truth. Where did we get off just using grace?
The people suffer while Christians with the best vision and leadership thinking behind them find every way to avoid personal discomfort.
I have posted many blogs under the category leadership here. We have no excuse for not being great leaders. Let’s get at it.
