“But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.”
Matthew 23 : 11 NKJV
Leadership is caught,…not taught. There must be willing and able parties on both sides of any leadership relationship for things to work out well as they were originally designed. Keep in mind at all times that leaders can only lead when their followers give them permission to lead and be in charge. The minute a follower believes or comes to know that the “leader” they are following is not what he or she originally thought them to be, or that the leader is not a person of great honesty and integrity, then the faith of the relationship is lost and soon also will be lost the relationship as a whole. In short. Followers must obediently and loyally follow,…and leaders gotta lead. It is a powerful thing to behold and watch function and play out. Great power and increased production is generated from a well led team. On the contrary, great team players poorly led all self destruct in the end of things. As I said, followership/leadership personal relationships must work both ways,…bottom to top, and top to bottom…if the highly desired and sought after results are to be achieved.
Personal respect and loyalty from the followers to the leaders,…and from the leaders to the followers must exist,…if success is to be accomplished by and for the organization.
True and productive leadership will always be what makes or breaks an organized team effort. Leadership is a learned and developed skill set and so is followership. That is precisely why the best students always become the best teachers, and the best leaders always were first the best followers. If you are not a good follower, then you will almost surely become a poor leader at best.
The one single most significant and important characteristic of all the greatest leaders throughout history is that they possessed and demonstrated a committed and continual Servant’s Heart to all of their followers. The best and biggest leaders are always the biggest and best edifiers of their followers. Good, positive, and encouraging edification by the leader to his followers regularly and abundantly given will do more for the follower’s mental attitude and personal desire to want to achieve greater accomplishments for the entire organization than almost anything else the leader can do for the followers.
The greatest and most effective leader of all time was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a servant leader. He led by his own example. He told people what to do and then He showed them how to do it. And then He got out of their way and let them do that which they had been shown and taught.
Leaders who don’t get what I just told you always have a tendency to over-help their followers. They seem to always do far too much to guide and assist those who follow their lead. The result of this over-helping is that it breeds on itself and actually weakens the followers. Just like raising your own children, the more you do for them, that they are capable of doing for themselves, the more they will let you help. Soon they will expect you to do the required work for them and very soon thereafter they will cease doing any work for themselves and then complain that you must no longer love them because you no longer are willing to help them.
The largest and most profitable businesses are built by qualified men and women who first of all have actually done what it is that they are teaching other people to do. These highly competent leaders never demand or lash out at their followers,….only poor or weak leaders ever do that. Strong leaders tell people what their vision is and how all of the followers fit into the group effort that is going to be required in order to achieve the planned goal or end result. Real leaders make every team member feel like they are an integral part of the whole “team mix.”
Perhaps a true story concerning a great man who always maintained his own humility and willingness to work and forgive might assist you in better understanding what I am trying to tell you.
Shortly after Mr. Booker T. Washington became head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he was walking past the house of a very wealthy family. The woman of the house assumed Mr. Washington was simply one of the yard workers her husband had hired to clean up around the house. She boldly asked Mr. Washington (not knowing who he really was) if he would chop some stove wood for her. Professor Washington quickly smiled , nodded, took off his coat, and cheerfully chopped the wood. When he carried the armload of wood into the woman’s kitchen, a servant girl recognized him and rushed to her mistress to tell her of his true identity.
The next morning, the woman of the house appeared in Washington’s office. Apologizing profusely, she said repeatedly, “I did not know it was you I put to work.”
Washington replied with generosity, “It’s entirely all right, madam. I like to work and I’m delighted to do favors for any of my friends.”
The woman was so taken by his manner and his willingness to forgive, that she gave and then kept giving very generous gifts to the Institute, and she also persuaded many of her wealthy friends and acquaintances to do likewise. In the end, Dr. Washington raised as much money for the Institute from this one act of chopping wood as he did from any other fund-raising event!
Random acts of kindness served on a daily basis to all other deserving people whom you encounter as you live your life, are the things that make the biggest impressions and stimulate the biggest blessings and benefits back to the person performing the acts.
Doing such things as these is Christlikeness at its best. Real ,true, and effective leadership is Christlikeness.
A great leader is never beyond hard work. The willingness to serve others is the essence of true leadership.
Leaders Gotta Lead…………….