I Know This About You.

I have a core philosophy on leadership. Are you ready? It’s not easy to comprehend. Okay, maybe it’s not so difficult…here it is.

Everyone is a leader.

You are a leader. If no one else, you are leading your family. Most likely you are leading beyond this. It could be coaching ball team, managing a few people at work, teaching a class or running an organization.

You are a leader.

With the Positives…

I’ve found there are a lot of positives with leading. Along with finding pleasure in those under me doing great work, there is also the simple fact that more gets done without me involved. My household is a great example.

Kia and I have delegated some of our household chores to our kids – dishes, laundry, some meals, etc. It’s incredible after years of doing all of these things to have them done without my involvement (though breaking up disputes is a regular occurrence).

I remember the pleasure when all my children were able to dress themselves. Now I can tell them to get up, put on clothes and I have no part in the process.

As much as that sounds like parenting…it’s really leading. I’m leading my kids to adulthood – responsibility, autonomy, decision making, etc.

You are a leader.

…Comes Responsibility.

Yet with all of the positive that comes with leading, there also responsibility. It’s why so many people don’t like the idea of leadership.

I’ll be honest with you. Most of the time, I don’t feel the full weight of the responsibility on me. I don’t mean the day to day, get-the-job-done responsibility. I feel that. I mean the larger, these-are-my-people responsibility. Too often, I miss it.

Recently, I got a (good) wake up call.

O God, you know how foolish I am;
my sins cannot be hidden from you.

Don’t let those who trust in you be ashamed because of me,
O Sovereign lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Don’t let me cause them to be humiliated,
O God of Israel.  -Psalm 69:5-6

As a parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or even friends of children, we are in a precious place. If you are overseeing a group of men or women at work, it is no less important. We are leading people – children or adults – into maturity. It’s not just physical, emotional or career maturity, it’s so much more important. You are leading them into spiritual maturity.

It may or not be overt, on display or even intentional, but you are leading spiritually. That makes the above passage so important.

As I read those verses from Psalm 69, I realized my mistakes, can lead those who I lead astray. My words, my actions, even my thoughts, can destroy the faith of a follower.

Yet with all of the positive that comes with leading, there also responsibility. Click To Tweet

I hope that’s a wake up call for you too. You are leading people into spiritual life.

You are a leader.

Will you lead well?

Let me give you one piece of advice on how to lead well spiritually. I’ve become more and more aware of this in the last several years. It became super clear in a book I read about intimacy last year.

Donald Miller, in his book Scary Close, made this observation about the teenage and adult children of his friends. The ones who were the most mature (held your eye, had real conversations, weren’t overly dialed into their phones) had one thing in common. They all had parents who were open, honest and vulnerable with their children.

Again, parenting is leadership and leadership in many ways is parenting. With that in mind…

My advice? Be vulnerable. Share your weaknesses. Be honest about your mistakes.

Everyone is dying to know you are human. They need to see it. God already knows you are foolish; those who you are leading need to see it too. When you show it, the faith you talk about will become real in their lives.

This week, I challenge you to find one opportunity to be real with your family, your team, your friends, your followers. Show a weakness. It’s okay. It’s better than okay. It’s leading well.

And there is one thing I know about you.

You are a leader.