One of the essentials of any leadership team is the element of trust. If the CEO or pastor or whatever title is given does not have the trust of those under his watch and care, the business/church/entity will go nowhere. Stagnation is the result. Likewise the other way. If the main leader cannot trust those under his watch to do what they are supposed to do and work as a team, the entity will falter.
I have been devouring books by Jon Gordon, Patrick Lencioni and James Hunter since the first of the year. I want to be the best leader I can be as the pastor of the church, but know there are some serious blanks in my abilities. Along with that, at the age of 72 I need to work on a succession plan (and have been). None of us will live forever-including Bryan Johnson, the centimillionaire tech entrepreneur who has that as his goal-so I need to have a plan in place. Frankly, I need to “shore up” my leadership skills to be better prepared to lead and to hand off my role here.
But the question which haunts me and should every leader (and maybe all of us to some extent) is Why? Why am I doing what I am doing? Patrick Lencioni has written a leadership fable called The Motive and I have yet to dive into Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why, but Lencioni writes, “At the fundamental level, there are only two motives that drive people to become a leader. First, they want to serve others. Two, they want to be rewarded.” (Edited for space-found on page 131) When you think about it those really are the two reasons why we do what we do. It comes down to this question: do I want to benefit someone else or do I want to benefit myself? Do I want to make another person’s life richer or do I want to promote myself to enrich the only one who matters…me?
I don’t want to belabor this point but want to simply ask one question: as you go through your day today, who are you looking out for? Whose life will be made richer by your presence and an interaction with you? You or another person? I was deeply moved by a book I would like to recommend to you on this topic: The Hard Hat by Jon Gordon. It set me back on my heels as it talked about a lasting legacy.
Good points to think about Bill. I have to go into the office today so I will have to put that thought in the forefront of my mind. I believe everything we do either praises God and lifts His kingdom up, or we hurt the kingdom message and disappoint God.
Hope your day in the office goes well Gail. I’ll ask you tonight at WNC. 🙂 But you are correct in that we either build up or tear down.
Great food for thought once again, Bill. Why do we do what we do? What is our motivation? If we are honest, we should do all things in service to God and to glorify Him, not ourselves.
Blessings!
The answer to your own question is absolutely the right one Martha.
I think the motivation you indicate is spot on… I also think that our “motives” as leaders need to be checked frequently. Having those we trust and can hold us accountable I think are extremely important to help keep our motives in check as it doesn’t take much for our motives to shift if we listen to the wrong voice.
I believe you have definitely hit on a good thing Ryan. Accountability keeps us focused on what it is we should be doing and why