The burden of leadership III: how do I lead?

The last two posts have been on leadership. We looked at the enormity of leadership in the first one. We concluded it is a tasking position indeed. Howbeit, that should not prevent us from stepping up to the plate. There is a certain level of influence we can’t attain till we answer the call to leadership. So in the last post, we looked at what I call “myth busters”. Everybody is a leader in their own right, will you personally answer the call to it?

Today, we want to turn our thoughts on how we should lead? The “how-tos” are the missing pieces to every puzzle most of the time. After desire, your next best bet is instruction. Please, let us look at these simple steps:

1. Lead by love- the greatest leaders are those who love. My greatest leadership role model is Jesus Christ. He modeled how to walk in love. Anytime I study on him, I see how short I am in terms of my influence. He loved all, embraced all and knew how to relate to all kinds of people. There were leaders in his days but none could compare to him because of how he modeled leadership. Look at one of his leadership philosophies:

“You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.”” Mark‬ ‭10:41-45‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Leadership is service and you can’t do it without love. It is giving of yourself, your time, your resources to make everybody around you better. According to Jesus, the best way to lead is to serve. You can’t lead effectively till you touch a heart before they ask for a hand

Read this prosé on love by St. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ and a founding father of the Christian church in the first century:

“If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.”

‭‭Personally, I want my leadership to be defined by love not only by competence and skill. In my early years of leadership, I thought the best leaders were of competence and skill but in my later years, those two virtues will not just cut it!

2. Lead by attitude- to me, attitude has to do with how one thinks and it eventually shows in his disposition. One who embodied this great quality was Thomas Edison, an inventor of 1,093 things and had more patents than any other person in the world; having been granted one for sixty five consecutive years. It took him ten thousand tries to find the right materials for the incandescent light bulb. Will I try again after fifty attempts? His lab in West Orange, New Jersey got burnt down. It was a fourteen building complex; his invention factory- the home of his ingenuity. He slept there many nights and everything got burned down when he was sixty seven. How will you handle this? I wrote this post last week Sunday and after editing, I lost everything (again!!! This is the second time). I let out a loud scream and just went to bed, and that was over a post! Didn’t want to think about it, woke up the next morning and said to myself, “I will write next week” which is in fact today. Well, Edison rebuilt the factory and said this, “I am sixty seven but not too old to make a fresh start. I’ve been through a lot of things like this. I am long on ideas, but short on time, I expect to live to be only about a hundred”. He kept working for another seventeen years and died at age eighty four. Don’t give up that business because it’s been four years! Young pastor, don’t close down that church because it has been five long years! Student, don’t throw your hands in despair, because of the four attempts in trying to pass that exam! Don’t give up on your marriage! It will work again! Believe in “tomorrow” and “one day”

3. Lead by skill- I personally define skill as polished talent. Talent comes in its raw state. Everyone has it! It is God given. Just as you can’t do anything with gold dug straight from the mines. You can’t do much with talent. Like gold, it has to be refined. When it comes out of its refinery process, it is called skill! In sports, you are discovered because of talent but you succeed because of skill. Operating only on a talent level will produce only mediocre performances! One of the best ways to polish talent is to read and gather relevant, applicable information. Education will fine tune your game to the next level

I trust you were encouraged by today’s post. Answer the call to leadership, embrace it and go for gold

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Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love