Leadership Principles: The Whom
I believe that the principles of leadership we hold most dear all have foundations in the bible. I’ve said before that the word leadership has taken on a life of its own these days but its roots are very biblical. In fact, I established much of this in a post entitled A Biblical Worldview of Leadership (click to read). To truly answer the question of who is it we are to lead, we again need to turn to scripture.
The word disciple is one that it a bit more normalized in many cultures but in western society it seems to be attached to the church. When we truly understand its meaning and purpose though, we’ll quickly realize that the words leadership and discipleship are interchangeable. (I unpack this in greater detail in a video under the teaching section on the resources page.) When we look at the idea of who we are to be specifically leading we look to Paul’s letter to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2:2 says,
“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (ESV)
Leadership, like life, occurs in concentric circles. Those closest to you, your inner circle, have the most influence over you and you over them. That influence goes down some as you step outward through those circles. Leadership, and as I said before discipleship, work the same way. The way Paul said it to Timothy was the same, start with those closest to you and then allow your influence to have a “trickledown” effect.
As leaders we all understand that we are responsible for and answer for everything that occurs within our teams and our organizations but what if we approached the management of them differently? For me, I’ve been called to students so my inner circle is oftentimes my adult team and my older students, our student leadership team. My wife and I pour into them, develop them, and then give them opportunities to lead. We have significant influence over them and through the lenses of engaging, equipping, and empowering, we make disciples/leaders. From there, we ask and even expect them to do the same to the next circle. That’s not to say we don’t stay connected to or pour into the other circles but our primary focus is those closest to us.
In a business context it would be like a CEO or CFO equipping and empowering their vice presidents and managers for the betterment of the organization. In a church context, it would be pastors equipping and empowering their staff for the betterment of the ministry. Leaders must stay connected to the organization, business, ministry, and team from top to bottom but that’s truly done through their inner circle first. Our inner circle then goes through their circles to “trickledown” influence and “trickle-up” information.
When leaders, of any context, ask the question of who do I lead, they need only look to those right in front of them first. Who are you leading? Who are you pouring into? Have you spread your leadership too thin trying to lead your entire organization or do you have and inner circle you can count one?
Keep pressing on! You have what it takes!