Being Thankful for Being Leaders

This Thursday we celebrate the national holiday of Thanksgiving. This week’s posts will focus on various aspects of Thanksgiving. Today let’s turn to being thankful for being leaders. Depending on your worldview, every good and perfect gift is from God. That’s my worldview. I view leadership as a gift from God. The Apostle Paul spoke of the spiritual gift of leadership in Romans 12, and we certainly find leaders who were gifted by God to do amazing things from cover to cover in the Bible. If your worldview is similar to mine, then we have a great deal for which to be thankful to God when it comes to being leaders.

That we are leaders is reason for giving thanks. Leadership is a blessing and a responsibility, a sacred trust to be used to advance the cause of our business, our church or whatever organization we lead. While your worldview may see none of that, even a purely evolutionary worldview would acknowledge that leadership is an opportunity to have greater impact on the environment. While such a worldview doesn’t really promote the idea of gratitude other than as a motivator to live more effectively, even that is worth celebrating. I’m not being facetious when I say being in a leadership role is a reason for giving thanks.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to thank the New Life Christian Ministries family for the privilege of being their lead pastor. Having served as a pastor for more than thirty-two years, I know the challenges of that leadership role. As with all leadership roles, it is often extremely difficult to serve as a pastor. Having the vast majority of those you lead, being volunteers means motivating them to follow must be much more about the vision of the ministry than anything else. After all, they aren’t receiving a paycheck, so they must be motivated more intrinsically then extrinsically.

Whatever your leadership role, think of the blessings of that role. Think of the reasons for which you give thanks that you are leading. The reasons may be more secular than spiritual, but that’s okay. What are the reasons? When we stop from time-to-time to say, “Thank you!” whether to God, or just for our circumstances, we find ourselves in a better frame of mind for our work. I’ll be talking about an attitude of gratitude on Friday, and that attitude goes a long way to providing greater satisfaction in our lives whether as leaders or as followers.

My goal today is to help us understand that whether we’re leading an organization that is extremely effective and “easy” to lead right now, or we’re going through difficulties that make it challenging to get out of bed each day, leadership is a blessing, and taking the time to say, “Thanks,” to God, or for our situation is helpful. I hope you will take time to sit down (or stand up) and reflect on the blessings of your role as a leader, and take a moment to offer thanks for those blessings. I have and it has already given me a better perspective on the tasks that lie ahead.

Here’s to leading better by taking the time to say, “Thanks” for the opportunity to lead–today!

Leadership Lessons From Paul: Save Yourself First!

As we conclude our week of focusing on leadership lessons from the Apostle Paul, today’s post is titled “Save Yourself First!” Paul wrote these words to the Ephesian leaders he was addressing for the last time, 28“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders. Acts 20:28 (NLT) Note the order–guard yourselves and God’s people. We must guard ourselves before we can guard others. That is an essential leadership principle. If we have not guarded, protected, watched over, even saved ourselves first, we will be of no help to those we lead.

I learned that principle first as a fourteen-year-old boy taking the lifesaving merit badge at Boy Scout camp. The instructor told us, “The first rule of lifesaving is: Save yourself first! The principle is obvious when it comes to lifesaving. After all, if you drown you aren’t of much value to the person you’re attempting to save. The principle as it related to lifesaving meant an order of priority was attached to the methods of rescuing a drowning victim. At that time it was reach, throw, row, go. In other words, you would attempt to reach the victim with a rod or a pole or something that would allow you to remain on solid ground while reaching into the water. Next, you would throw a rope or a lifesaving buoy to the drowning person. The third option would be to row a boat to the person.

The last, and least likely option to use would be to go to the person, to swim out and bring the person to the pool deck or shore. It is the last option, because it’s the most likely one to lead to your own growing. I remember the instructor telling us if the drowning victim were more than half our size, it would be likely the adrenalin of their own circumstance would give the person the strength to grab you and hold you under until both of you drowned. I have always remembered that image. The instructor said, “If that’s your only option wait until the person goes under and is unconscious. Then bring him to shore.”

What does all of that have to do with leadership? Everything. If we don’t take care of ourselves first, guard our own lives personally and professionally, we will be in no condition to lead others. One of the most important aspects of our leadership is self-leadership. We’ve talked about that before, and we’ll talk about it again, because it is that important. While leading a business, a church or some other organization may not seem like rescuing a drowning victim, at times it seems exactly like that. When we have a worker who personal habits, or lack of skills is dragging her team down, or when he has a family situation that is dragging him down, we may well find ourselves in the position of the rescuer.

How we approach those situations will be determined largely by our own personal preparation, and whether we have thought through the implications of guarding ourselves first, and then reaching out to them. More than one leader has found herself in over her head, because she failed to follow the principle of saving herself first. One of the most important aspects of saving ourselves first is simply to prepare before the crisis comes. While we can’t anticipate every eventuality in the lives of our workers or volunteers, many of them are so common we can prepare for them. Anticipating what may happen, gives us the ability to reflect on what we will do when it does happen. Those moments of anticipation allow us to prepare without the panic that can ensue in the midst of a crisis.

So what do you do as a leader to guard yourself, to save yourself first? Do you have a daily regimen of study, prayer or meditation and physical care? Effective life management practices are the front life of guarding our lives. Since August, I have renewed my own daily practices of rest, prayer, physical care, building relationships, study, prioritizing my work habits and practices, and finances (The seven aspects of life management I addressed back in July). The results have been a far greater preparation for the crises of life that do come regularly. Take a moment to reflect on your own life management system. Are you guarding yourself by caring for each of these areas? Which one or ones do you need to address more effectively.

Remember, as leaders guarding our own lives first is not an option. It’s an essential part of being ready to lead effectively in the good times, and particularly in the challenging ones.

Here’s to leading better by guarding ourselves, by saving ourselves first–today!

Lessons from the Apostle Paul: Speak the Truth

As we continue our lessons from the Apostle Paul focus, today we turn to speaking the truth. We live in an era where many believe truth is relative. The Apostle Paul had encountered Jesus Christ in a vision and new the truth of who Jesus was. While we may debate whether that encounter really happened, for Paul it changed everything. His prior reality was Jewish teaching was true, and Jesus was a pretender. He was not the Messiah, the long-awaited deliverer of Israel, and the church was not a sect of Judaism, but a heresy that needed to be eliminated. After his meeting with Jesus, Paul became an all-in believer. He devoted the remainder of his life to teaching the truth that salvation comes through no one else, but Jesus Christ.

During his final conversation with the Ephesian church leaders, Paul made this powerful statement:  26Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:26-27 (ESV) What Paul was saying was if anyone failed to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, and ended up eternally dead, he was not responsible, because he had spoken the whole truth to them about God. Speaking the truth as leaders is an absolute essential to our being and becoming great leaders. All meaningful leadership is built on the foundation of truth.

While our focus may not be promoting the cause of Jesus Christ, whatever our area of leadership may be there is a body of truth that is necessary for success. In business, for example, telling the truth may cost a company sales in the short run, but over time, when a customer knows he or she can trust your word, the long-term benefit is tremendous. I am not naive enough to assume that every successful company tells the truth. I am aware enough to know Mark Twain was right when he said, “If you tell the truth you can have a short memory.” In other words, if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said, because you don’t have to remember the first lie you told, so you can back it up with another lie.

In business, by being straight-forwardly truthful with a customer or a supplier from the beginning, we lay a foundation for the future that allows them to say, “I know I can depend on what I heard. A deadline is just that. If they say it will be ready on Thursday, it will be Thursday or before, or they will let us know why it wasn’t.” Certainly, many companies have prospered in the short-run by cutting corners, and by telling outright lies. Others have prospered over time, but as leaders we all sleep better at night when we know we have said and done our best to be truthful.

It’s interesting that even though we live in a culture that holds less and less esteem for the truth, the truth-tellers, who are humbly so, still hold far greater credibility than those who espouse the idea that truth doesn’t matter. As leaders, nothing is more important to us over time than our character. Integrity, which literally means that our lives are integrated in the sense of consistency with ourselves requires truth as its foundation. Being that I am a pastor, the foundation of truth is even more important in my life, because I hold there is truth and falsehood, that truth results in goodness over time, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, how are you doing at speaking the truth consistently? Even more basic than that, do you hold truth as a value to be lifted up, valued and lived out in your dealings with people? If the leaders don’t value truth and champion it, the organization won’t either. The Apostle Paul looked the Ephesian leaders in their eyes and reminded them he had always spoken the truth. He didn’t “shrink back” from it. That’s a tough position to hold in our world today, but it has never been an easy position to hold. As you consider your responses to these questions, how are you going to make certain you lift truth to its proper place in your leadership? Who will hold you accountable? That last question may be one for another post, but the legacy we leave as leaders will start with what we did and do with the truth.

Here’s to leading better, by speaking the truth–today, and always!

Leadership Lessons From Paul: Count the Cost

As we continue our focus on Leadership Lessons from the Apostle Paul today we turn to counting the cost. Before we can be or become effective leaders in any field we must count the cost of leadership. In Paul’s case, he was a leader in the nascent church of Jesus Christ, a dangerous role that often cost leaders their lives. Before following Jesus in that era, a person had to ask whether he or she was 100% in, because those in leadership were often arrested and even executed.

Thankfully, most of us will not have to pay that kind of cost for our leadership role, but leaders always pay a cost for being leaders. Sometimes the cost is extra time. Sometimes the cost is extra training. Always the cost is extra responsibility. To be a leader means to take on more than being a line worker, or a volunteer, or a typical employee. If we’re leaders we already know that, but sometimes we forget, and if we haven’t counted the cost on a regular basis we can become upset because we must pay the costs.

When I’m having a bad day, or when I’m feeling sorry for myself because of something that’s happened, because I’m a leader, taking a moment to remind myself that I signed up for this is helpful. After all, along with the costs of being leaders, we also experience benefits. The benefits of leadership are the subject of a post for another day, but I raise them here simply to remind us when the going gets tough, that’s part of who we are–we are the ones who signed up, got drafted, or were called to take on the tough times and situations and to lead the way through them.

So, have you counted the cost recently? Have you sat down and reminded yourself that along with the benefits of being leaders, we will always be expected to show up earlier, stay later, and address matters that others will never even have to consider? Have you remembered that being leaders is a responsibility that goes beyond the role of showing up to fulfill your quota or collect your paycheck? Being leaders is seldom easy, and it’s never without challenges. That’s why counting the cost is so important.

Here’s to being a better leader by counting the cost and living into the benefits–today!

Thank You Veterans!

Today, I pause to say, “Thank You Veterans!” The longer I live the more grateful I am for those who have served our nation through the military.  We owe the men and women who served, because they were drafted into service, or because they voluntarily accepted the responsibility to serve in the armed forces, a debt of gratitude we will never fully understand or be able to repay. Having never served in the military myself, I often look back over my life and think that while I have served many people, and sacrificed a great deal in doing so at times, it is not the same as bearing arms in defense of our nation. The men and women who have done so deserve our thanks.

While some disagree on principle with the concept of an armed military, and others contend those who serve today are often simply in the military as a “job,” the fact remains: the men and women who serve on the front lines, and in support of them, are playing roles that make it possible for me to write these words, without fear of governmental intervention, or some outsiders’ disdain. The very freedom to disagree with what I right here, and to have right to speak our minds has been bought with the service and lives of men and women who have served in the armed forces. I appreciate that willingness and commitment on the part of so many to provide such opportunities.

Thank you to any who read this post who have served or are serving in the armed forces of the United States of America. Thank you for the sacrifices you have made or are making on our nation’s behalf. Thank you for standing up and in some cases standing down in order to bring or maintain peace and order here and abroad. Thank you for being willing to serve your fellow Americans, and those of many other countries, sometimes in situations that most of us can’t even understand. Thank you for those who serve as a response of duty to God and country, and thank you for those who serve, because it is your chosen vocation. Whatever the reason for your service, Thank You!

 

Leading for the Long Haul

Well, The elections are over, and the “losers” are protesting. The world is stunned that a non-politician who ran a belligerent campaign, and whose personal life is filled with questionable and even despicable behavior has been elected president. That he has apparently failed to receive as much of the popular vote as his challenger, adds to the displeasure of those whose candidate lost. As I said yesterday, the immediate changes to our lives won’t be great, although the protests indicate that many believe the results are a harbinger of terrible things to come.

How are leaders to respond in such times? How are we to respond over the long haul when the short-term outlook is filled with uncertainty? As always my response to those questions comes from my faith in Jesus Christ: We respond with calm and assurance, because we know that He who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. In other words, we don’t panic as so many are doing. We don’t act out as a two-year old who didn’t get his or her way in the check out line at the grocery story. We maintain our character. We consider the facts and respond with wisdom.

The protests surprised me, to be honest. I believe in the American system of government, and the peaceful election of leaders, and transition of power. We have become a nation of two-year olds in my lifetime. When we don’t get our way, the tendency is to act out. When we think we are “right” about a matter we tend to yell and scream to make our point. As I say so often when I’m speaking about the truths of God,”When you’re right, you don’t have to shout.”

I’m not saying that Donald Trump is right, and therefore we ought not to yell at his being elected president. I’m saying, the democratic process we use is the right one for us, and we must abide by the results it produces or protest in decent orderly ways. Particularly as leaders, we must remember that the systems and processes we put in place in our companies, our churches, and yes, even our government, are intended to bring meaning, purpose, order and predictability to our lives. When we disregard them, because we don’t like the outcome in brings disorder  and potentially chaos. That’s why we must lead in such times, through the crises, because crises come and go, and as we demonstrated wisdom and calm through them it becomes the long haul.

As I move toward the benchmark of sixty years on the planet, I have become more and more certain of one thing when it comes to leading for the long haul: Infantile responses to matters we don’t like, or with which we disagree are never beneficial. As leaders, we don’t have the luxury of acting out in such ways, because we don’t like outcomes or in order to change decisions that have been made. The way leaders address such matters is to pause and reflect before we act. I was talking with someone the other day, who has a strong tendency to overreact in situations he doesn’t like. He said he had started to pause, pray and reflect in such situations and was amazed at how much more positive his actions have become as a result.

Undoubtedly, we could take that advice as a nation right now. Most assuredly we, as leaders, need to take that advice all the time, but particularly as we go through crises on our way to the long haul. Every time we decide and act with wisdom in our daily lives, we are forging a long haul that is worthy of emulation. At the end of the day, one of our most important legacies as leaders will be the way we led over time. Anyone can lead effectively for a day, a week, or a month. But the test of leadership is seasons, decades and lifetimes. How are you responding or reacting to the crises of your life right now? What safeguards do you have in place to ensure that when life brings you something you don’t like or even hate, that you respond with wisdom rather than with raw emotion, or an impulse you will regret? What plans do you have in place to lead effectively over the long haul?

The way we respond to such questions will determine how we respond or react in the inevitable crises of our lives and of our leadership. May we respond in such ways that we are demonstrated to be leaders, true leaders, over the long haul.

Here’s to leading better, by pausing to reflect before we act, so our leadership will be effective–not only today, but over the long haul!

Leading Through Change

As I’m writing this post it is 11:53 pm and I have NBC news on it the background. We’ve just been told “Decision Night in America,” could be an all nighter. Regardless of the outcome, we will all be leading through change. We will be a divided people, as we already are as a nation. Whichever candidate wins will have a major task of seeking to convince those who voted against him or her that he or she is worthy of the office of president. For each of us who serves as a leader, we will experience some impact.

Frankly, the impact may not be noticeable right away. After all, whichever candidate wins won’t be inaugurated until late January. I told the folks at worship this weekend on Wednesday morning Jesus will still be Lord. For those of us who believe that, the stabilizing effect is huge. For those of you who don’t, moving forward will be a time of moving through change. How do we lead through such momentous change in the greater culture?

The key to leading through change is do the next right thing. That’s a statement I learned from my association with folks in AA and NA. For the past six and a half years I have led a weekly Bible study for those in recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction, and they have a saying, “Do the next right thing.” That’s good advice for all of us, but particularly for those of us leading through change, because we will need to discern the next right thing and lead others to do it. In times of change, it isn’t always clear what the right thing to do is, but clarity is a key of great leadership. In fact, over time, those who follow us will continue to follow our leadership if we are clear, even though at times we are clearly wrong.

Let me explain. When everyone is wondering what to do next, and no one knows for sure, effective leaders will examine the evidence, we will pray if we are men and women of faith, and then we will take a clear step in a particular direction, explaining why we’re doing it and how we’re going to get where we’re going. If we have a good track record of navigating uncertainty well and with clarity, people will follow. They will give us some latitude for error, because no one will know for sure what the next right thing is in times of change.

During times of change leaders don’t take polls and follow the majority, they may take polls to find out what people are thinking, but they will always lead based on what they believe is right and best for everyone they lead. The character we have been developing to this point, will guide us as we move forward into a new future. Whether we’re living under the first woman president, or the first populist president since Andrew Jackson, we will live in an historic time. Life is change. So leading through change is a given, yet at times the changes are more dramatic. This will be one of those times.

Will it matter to you who is president? Will your leadership change as a result? What changes do you anticipate depending on who is elected? Remember asking such questions helps us to be ready for whatever eventuality may come. My prayer and plan is to stay rooted in the truth and to live it out in love. Those two qualities: truth and love are going to be needed regardless of who wins, or by the time you read this post has won!

Here’s to leading better, by preparing to lead through change–today!

Vote!

The day has arrived–election day 2016. I devoted yesterday’s post to reminding as that as leaders we must often make the least bad choice, and commented on the two major candidates for president. I won’t rehash that here. My goal is short and simple today: to urge those who are registered to vote to VOTE!

The freedom to vote for our government officials is a great freedom, that men and women have defended for well over 200 hears. It was not purchased lightly, nor maintained without great cost. That means out of respect for those who have given us and continue give us this and many other freedoms, if for no other reason, we need to vote.

While so many have told me their vote doesn’t matter, that one person can’t make a difference, I would contend that one person has always made the difference. This blog is devoted to leadership, because history tells us that the most unlikely people can become leaders, and in their roles as leaders one person has always made a difference. We can go back several thousand years to a time when Israel was a fledgling nation, struggling under the political leadership of their first king, a man named Saul. While the Israelites didn’t have a right to vote the king out of office, or to select a new one from a field of candidates, the could and did offer their backing to God’s new choice: David.

David was a shepherd. On the surface, he didn’t look kingly. In fact, when the prophet Samuel came to anoint a new king from the family of Jesse, he had Jesse line up his sons in a row, and Samuel went through a handful whose appearance seemed more fitting than David. Jesse hadn’t even invited David to the lineup, because he seemed such an unlikely candidate. Yet God chose him. It must have been much easier to have God choose the king, than the process we use, and yet, whomever is chosen as leader in any era, that person must lead, that person must grow and develop or be looked at in the rearview mirror as an unworthy candidate.

David was a great king. He had many flaws as all of us do, but the people loved and followed him. Throughout the pages of history we see individuals who rose up from the back woods, from slavery, from oppression, from humble circumstances and became great leaders. That’s because each of us has a certain capacity for leading, but some recognize their role and take advantage of timing and step forward into leadership. The people must then rally around the leader, or determine he or she is not a leader.

What does that have to do with our voting today? Everything. We may not like many or any of the candidates, but they are what we have from whom to select. If we really believe “someone” needs to do something, then perhaps that’s a call to become more involved in the political process and perhaps to run for office.  After all, any of us who are leaders know it was a dissatisfaction with something that moved us to step forward and doing something in our area of leadership. What we can do today is vote. What we do tomorrow is our responsibility to discern and act.

Please, exercise your right and privilege to vote today!

Leading By Making The Least Bad Choice

The election is upon us. Tomorrow we get to choose the most powerful leader in the world. When you say it like that, it sounds extremely important. It is. I have the opportunity to serve in countries where people do not get to select their governmental leaders. Having no choice leads to many negatives. The mentality can be, “What difference does it make what I do, because I don’t have any influence.” John Maxwell and others have said, “Leadership is influence.” We get to select the leader of the United States of America. Now that’s influence.

The challenge is the two major candidates don’t offer us a good choice. What does it mean to lead when we have to make the least bad choice? The question is vital, because in our daily leadership we are often left with the choice between bad and worse, just as thankfully we are often left with the choice between better and best. All of life seems to be on a graduated scale when it comes to the choices, decisions and commitments we must make. How we navigate them makes all the difference for us as leaders. After all, if every choice, decision and commitment was a clear as a bell leadership would be unnecessary. Precisely because such matters are often clouded in uncertainty if not outright ambiguity leadership is necessary.

As a pastor, I find myself in the position of not being permitted to endorse any candidates for public office in my official capacity as the pastor of New Life Christian Ministries. I am certainly permitted to hold my own personal opinion as are all of us as Americans. I am permitted to encourage everyone to register to vote, and to vote. As Christians and as Americans we have a responsibility to do so, because as the Apostle Paul reminded us we are called to obey the governing authorities. Certainly part of that responsibility in a nation where the citizens have the freedom, privilege and responsibility to select their leaders through a popular election, is to make the time and effort to do so.

The decision as to which of the candidates to select for president, and for a couple of other positions on our ballot here in western Pennsylvania has never been more of a decision between bad and worse than it is this time. Neither Mr. Trump, nor Senator Clinton have said or done anything to make them a clear choice for me. I don’t want to follow either of them as “my” president, and yet one of them will be. No one seriously believes that any of the minor party candidates will be voted in as president. To plan a vote for one of them in “protest,” is to say, “I am not going to vote to elect the president.” It is to cast no vote for president. Certainly each of us has the freedom to do that. As leaders it makes no sense, because we are throwing away our influence.

So what are we to do? I have been praying and listening. I watched the debates, if we can call them debates, not only between the two presidential candidates, but also the one between their running mates. What I saw and heard was more than disturbing. Neither candidate moved me to a sense that he or she would be worthy of my vote, but one of them needs to receive my vote. I must use my vote to select the least bad choice. In doing so, I have considered several matters that are of great importance to our nation’s future: 1) Who will reflect our values as followers of Jesus better? 2) Who will be the better candidate when it comes to recommending Supreme Court judges? 3) Who will be taken the most seriously by the world around us as a world leader? 4) Who will have the best opportunity to get Congress to make and reform laws that will move us forward and make us great as a nation?

Some may contend that as citizens of God’s Kingdom, Christians ought not to concern ourselves with matters of who is president, senator, representative, etc…. The truth is whichever candidate wins the election tomorrow, God will still be in charge of the universe, and I will still look to Him for the primary foundation and direction of my life. Nevertheless, as a Christian and a leader, I have the responsibility to take the matter of voting seriously, and the matter of who gets my votes for the various positions on the ballot with the utmost seriousness.

Having weighed a great deal of input, and having considered which candidate is the least bad choice, I will be casting my vote for Mr. Trump. I abhor much I have seen and heard of his personal character and attitudes, but the same is true of Senator Clinton. The clinchers for me are Mr. Trump’s position on the sanctity of human life, his likely recommendations for Supreme Court justices during his tenure as president, his bringing a much-needed perspective as an outsider to Washington, and not wanting four more years of the past eight years, or more accurately the past thirty years of Senator Clinton’s vision for America. My hope is that as president Mr. Trump will do what President Reagan did and surround himself with folks who know far more than he does about the matters where he is deficient and they are many.

As a private citizen I am greatly concerned that the two “best” candidates we could put before the American people for the highest office in our land are Mr. Trump and Senator Clinton. As I have thought about that a great deal through this season of political campaigns, which seems to have run for the past four years, I have realized every decision goes back to a previous decision. We selected these two from a broad field of candidates in the primaries. Many “better” candidates were eliminated because they didn’t have the money to compete. Others eliminated themselves because of bad decisions they made. Still others were eliminated because we didn’t vote for them.

Our political system is flawed, but one of its beauties is I get to write that without fear of recrimination. We can criticize our government and its leaders. That is a privilege many in our world have never experienced. That privilege is tied to the privilege and responsibility of voting. As leaders we don’t get to “sit this one out.” We are called to go first, to set the example, and even when we must make the least bad choice, we make it, because that’s what leaders have always done and must continue to do.

Here’s to leading better, by making whatever least bad choices are before us–today, and especially tomorrow!

Leading in the Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness

As we continue our series on leading in the fruit of the Spirit today’s focus is gentleness. While Siri’s definition of gentleness is the quality of being kind, tender, or mild-mannered, the biblical definition is closer to humility. However we define it, gentleness is probably not on the top ten list of the qualities most leaders would consider vital to leading effectively. And yet the Apostle Paul included it as a facet of the fruit of the Spirit. Why? The short answer is gentleness or humility is a quality of Jesus. He led by serving. He led by demonstrating a gentleness or humility unparalleled in the history of leadership, and the history of humanity for that matter.

What does that has to do with our leadership in the 21st century? That all depends on whether we want to lead in a manner reflecting Jesus or not. When we gain success as leaders, it is all too easy to let that success inflate our sense of ourselves, to exhibit pride, and to think that our leadership is the key to our organization’s success. We might even think without us our organizations couldn’t make it. While our leadership may well be vital to our organization’s success, one thing about which we must be clear is one day it will succeed without us, or it won’t succeed. We are all “interim” leaders when we consider things from the long view. Even if we hold our position for decades, the time will come when we retire, move on to another position or die.

That means gentleness is not only a helpful quality for leaders, but a particularly important quality for successful leaders. After all, gentleness will be the trait that helps us keep our success in perspective, to thank God for the abilities and gifts He has given us, and to remember that without a plan for succession there is no long-term success. Without gentleness or humility, we can forget that the organizations we serve are intended to outlive us. We may forget that we serve them and our employees or co-workers, and not the other way around. These are vital reminders for the long-term success of our organization.

So how is it going in the area of gentleness or humility in your leadership? Do you recognize the contributions of others? When you need to reprimand an employee do you do it with gentleness, recognizing that unless he or she is totally derelict as an employee, the time will come when you will be offering praise for work well done. Are you see the folks around you as people and not merely as “cogs” in the “machinery” of your organization? How would others say you do in the area of gentleness.

These questions are so important when it comes to examining our performance in areas such as gentleness, because we wouldn’t naturally think to consider the. Gentleness is like salt. When you add salt to food in the appropriate quantity it enhances the flavor without drawing attention to itself. When we lead with gentleness the same will be true. We will enhance the overall well-being of our entire organization without drawing attention to ourselves.

Here’s to leading better, by making sure we are exercising gentleness in our work–today!