Leadership

In my ongoing quest for understanding, I’ve listened to a multitude of pastors and their take on various Scriptures and its relevance to my life. In 2020, pastor Mike Todd, based on Genesis 1:27 and 1 Cor 16:13-14, suggested that we get the following words mixed up, ‘Male, Man and Father.’ How so? I thought. Then he said:  

“Male is God’s choice; man is your choice.”  

Okay, I get that! Now help me understand the part about fathers. [I do talk to the speakers like that when I’m watching at home :-)]. If I didn’t know better, I would have said that he heard me. He continued with: 

“Being a male is God’s choice (Gen 1:27). Being a male is simply physical. If you have the right parts, you’re a male. You didn’t have to study for it...or choose...But every male is not a man.”  

Wait a moment. You’re losing me! He didn’t stop, he galloped into the next part. I had to rewind and rewatch. This is what he said: 

“Being a man is simply mental, it’s a choice. You became a male because you’ve got the part but you’re going to became a man because you’ve made the choice.” 

He then summed up that part of his teaching by saying:  

“You’re born a male. You have to choose to be a man. If you never choose to be a man... your default will be boy.”  

Reflecting on what Pastor Todd said, I thought:

As a man, you will have various responsibilities. The role of a husband and a father comes with great responsibilities. You may choose to become a husband and lead at home. That is where you learn the art of leadership, as you serve in your leadership capacity at home (first as a husband and then as a father). You may also choose to be a team leader, manager, CEO of a company etc., You may choose to become a pastor, elder/deacon, secretary or take up other forms of leadership within your church; you may also choose to become a head-teacher, head of year or head of department within educational establishments.

Whatever leadership position you hold or aspire to hold in the future, you will need to have a vision that others (those you serve) can get behind. I listened to an interview with John Maxwell by Carey Nieuwhof and based on notes taken from John Maxwell’s responses to Carey’s questions, I put together the following 10 points and wanted to share them with young leaders, to help them get a head start or help them move forward.  

Advice Gleaned From John Maxwell In An Interview By Carey Nieuwhof: 

#1 ~ Have a vision for your team. Scripture makes it clear that without a vision the people perish (See Hosea 4:6).

#2 ~ Cultivate a Growth mindset over a Goal mindset. An advantage of having a growth mindset is that you increase your capacity to be able to learn more.

#3 ~ Maintain a teachable spirit. It takes humility to lead.

#4 ~ Criticism is part of a leader's life. Grow from it! Criticism is part of a leader's life. Learn to deal with it in a way that is effective and will benefit both you and your team.

#5 ~ Feed your faith and starve your fears.  If your faith is stronger than your fears then your faith will win. If your fears are stronger, they will win and that’s when criticisms will take you out.

#6 ~ Focus on your vision and mission. What you focus on expands. What you don’t focus on shrinks.

#7 ~ Celebrate the successes of others. The great way to develop leaders is by letting them practice leadership and the way to build confidence is to celebrate wins.

#8 ~ Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice means you win some and you lose some. The losses are good as long as we learn from them.

#9 ~ Invest in yourself and others.  Add value to leaders who multiply value to others. Invest in other people and believe them to reach their potential.

#10 ~ “Reproduce other leaders” Empower. Equip. Provide opportunity.  

Bonus points:  

1. Adopt a strategy that works for you. John Maxwell uses the acronym REAL to help him focus on: 

Relationships – helping people get along with people / connect with people;  

Equipping – helping to equip, train, develop and empower people; 

Attitudes - helping people handle the adversities of life attitudinally; and 

Leadership - helping people influence people and lead them. 

REAL is then added to his spiritual discipline, making it the five areas keeping him focused as a leader.  He says, “So instead of going for setting goals, I took those four lanes plus my spiritual development lane, as a person of faith, and I said, ‘These are the five areas I’m going to grow in.’ I started diving, and I’m still diving and I’m having layered learning and getting depth to what I know...” 

2. Define what success is for you. John says, I think: “Success is having people who know me the best love and respect me the most.” 

 "The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper" (Proverbs 19:8).