What Every Young Leader Should Know
By: Jessica Eiswerth
eadership
is a word that brings many different thoughts and questions to people’s minds.
Some may question whether or not they are a leader and others may have never
considered the possibility. The reality is that leadership is something that
many people are often confused about. The dictionary defines leader as a
“guiding or directing head.” But what most people want to know is what makes
someone truly a great leader?
Common characteristics associated with effective leaders in
general include: humble, integral, communicative, straight-forward, imaginative,
inspiring, and competent. There are many other qualities that people would
include in their definition of a good leader and though many of the characteristics
mentioned above would be expected, it is a totally people-opinionated list.
This is a big problem.
The only way to truly
understand leadership and what makes a truly great leader is to ask the One who
created it all. Leadership was God’s idea and how He defines it is perfect
truth. If we really want to be effective leaders, we must look into God’s Word
and seek to understand Biblical leadership.
Let me share with you some wisdom
that I have gathered from various highly respected godly men in leadership who
have impacted many lives, including mine. One of the first questions that I
asked each of these men was: what is one characteristic that you believe every
leader should possess? Each of them gave a different answer, but I agree that all
leaders should have the following characteristics:
1. “A
love for God. Really!! A real (Biblical) love for God. When a leader really
knows and loves his God he will lead in God’s way. He will rule with
righteousness and in the fear of God. And his people will be blessed!! (See 2
Samuel 23:3,4!)”
2. “It
sounds cliché but humility/servant leadership. The best leaders are those who
understand that their leadership is best expressed as they serve those they
lead.”
3. “Empathy,
always trying to be in the other person’s shoes.”
Although we can look at what kinds of
qualities leaders should possess and better understand what leadership is, how
do we know if we are leaders or if we are being called to leadership?
Some people are what we call “born
leaders,” they have strong personalities and a wide sphere of influence as a
result. Often people watch and follow them blindly. Others are specifically
called to leadership by the people around them and still others just think that
they should be leaders and pursue leadership positions.
One
of the leaders I interviewed stated this: “If you asked me what advice I would give
to someone who thinks they should be a leader, I would tell them to make sure
that “call” is confirmed by the people of God and then I would tell them to
open themselves up to have that “call” really tested as they try out some leadership
wings.”
As
a young leader clearly called to leadership, I asked the men I interviewed what
they thought the biggest challenge facing leaders today was and I got a few
different responses. One man responded, “building the next generation of
leaders.” This concept is mentioned throughout God’s Word, but it is best described
as discipleship. Jesus commands us to make disciples in Matthew 28:19-20. This
applies specifically to leadership in that in order to facilitate discipleship,
we need a leader.
Another man responded to the question
about the biggest challenge by saying, “for older leaders I think one of them
is figuring out how to get connected to, empower and direct our current “cause”
driven, short-term focused culture. For the younger leaders, I think one of the
biggest challenges is picking a direction. They have passion and they have
skills but the options are so many that they tend to get stuck in indecision
mode or they are continually starting a new journey.” This serves as a good
warning to young leaders to be aware of direction and to decide to make a
commitment.
A
third response to my challenging question was, “The biggest? There are many big
challenges leaders face today. I would not want to say there is a “biggest” –
each leader will face a merry-go-round of challenges . . . For example: Personal
integrity; Theological stability; Relational wisdom.” This statement addresses
an important point in that if there was a classified “biggest” challenge for all
leaders, then leadership would tend to focus on overcoming the “big” challenge
and likely leaders would not be prepared to face the other challenges of
leadership.
Understanding
that all leaders will have challenges helps us to understand that all leaders
will make mistakes. What is one mistake that people witness leaders making more
frequently than others? “Putting themselves first in decision making.” Pride is
definitely a prominent issue that often comes out in leadership and all leaders
have to make an effort to fight against it. “God calls and appoints leaders for
the sake of his people and for his glory. Leaders should lead with strength and
godly determination, but not for themselves.”
Another common mistake
is when leaders start “chasing trends and strategies rather than focusing on
the people that they are leading or serving.” I can see this mistake being made
everywhere and it is becoming more common as new trends and strategies are constantly
developed. Most often caused by fear of failure, leaders are automatically
drawn to new things, especially if their current strategy seems to be out-dated
or ineffective. Leaders fear that they will lose their followers, so they
follow the trends.
Both of the common mistakes mentioned
above can fit as sub-points under one main mistake, and that is the failure to
understand Biblical leadership. (See 2 Samuel 23:3,4 again). If you fail to
understand Biblical leadership as described in 2 Samuel 23:3-4, you will
continue to struggle and make the same mistakes over and over again and
eventually become very worn out and discouraged as a leader, making you very
ineffective. So basically, if you do not understand Biblical leadership, you
are not a true leader.
What
do true leaders do to ensure they continue to grow and develop as leaders? All
three of the godly men that I interviewed answered this question the same way,
they all said the same three things:
1. Read
God’s Word.
2. Read
leadership books by quality authors.
3. Spend
time with other growing leaders.
As a follow-up question I then asked
which books these men recommended as quality resources to gain insight into becoming
a better leader and I came up with the following list of books:
- The
Bible: Studying the lives of King David, Jesus and Paul specifically.
- “Being
Leaders” by Aubrey Malphurs
- “Spiritual
Leadership” by J. Oswald Sanders
- “Good
to Great” by Jim Collins
- “Feeding
and Leading” by Kenneth O. Gangel
- “Help!
I’m a Student Leader” by Doug Fields
- “How
People Grow” by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
- “Lead
Like Jesus” by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges
- “Transforming
Discipleship” by Greg Ogden
Now some people
probably wonder why is leadership so important? I am going to quote one of the
men I interviewed to answer this question, he said, “God calls and
appoints leaders for the sake of his people and for his glory.” Leaders are
part of God’s plan and they are put into their positions to ultimately bring
Him glory and honour.
So when
I asked the leaders I interviewed about their most important decisions, they
all said similar things. Pertaining to his leadership role as a senior pastor,
one man said, “Of course there are many important decisions we make – but among
the most important is leadership selection. This is critically true with
staffing and the board, but it is also true in every area of ministry (small
group leaders, SS teachers, youth leaders, etc.). The ones leading and mentoring future leaders need to be people of spiritual reputation and be
heading in the same direction with the same heart and passion.” This connects
with what another pastor said in his answer, “I would say one of the most
important decisions I make is who am I going to bring alongside me in leadership.
All the best curriculum in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have faithful growing
people teaching it and discipling those they are leading.” That last statement definitely
emphasizes the importance of true leaders.
As a
final question, I asked the leaders what advice they would give young leaders.
One leader said, “Gather some key people around you who will mentor you through
this time. Not only someone who will pat you on the back but someone who will
push you.” Being a young leader, I know and recognize the importance of
encouragement and constructive criticism. To be a leader, you must be willing
to be a learner and learn not only from other leaders but you must also be open
to learning from those you are leading.
A final piece of advice
was, “serve those that are entrusted to your care and be above reproach.” Part
of being a true leader that follows the pattern of Biblical leadership is
servanthood. When we focus on serving the people we are leading, we glorify God
and put away our selfish pride.
In
conclusion, true leadership is Biblical leadership where a servant leader fears
God and rules justly as described in 2 Samuel 23:3-4 but also follows the
example of Biblical leaders such as King David, Jesus and Paul and seeks to serve
and lead his/her followers with integrity.
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