In basically every corner of culture there’s talk of ‘leadership’ this and ‘leader’ that, which can be a good or bad thing depending on the context, motives, and attitude. I think I’ve hinted around my thoughts about ‘leadership’ on here before, but in this post I want to make one thing perfectly clear. EVERYONE is a leader.
We’ve all heard some form of the phrase “the life he/she is leading”. There you go – we’re all LEADING a life. In my opinion the greatest authority on the subject of leadership is John C. Maxwell. He says that the most difficult person to lead is yourself. That principle makes all of us a leader of at least one – self.
The greatest lesson my parents taught me about leadership is “lead by example”. They took every opportunity they got to tell me, “remember who you are”, and, “lead by example”. I always took that from them to mean, “follow God’s word and be who he’s prompting you to be; and follow the example we’ve set for you, and set that example for others no matter what others are doing”. My parents aren’t perfect, but they’re darn good people. I feel the same way about my wife’s parents. Of course we have our differences from our parents, but generally speaking they are some amazing examples to follow.
If you’re a terrible leader of yourself it doesn’t matter what your position is, who you know, who else is following you, what you know, or what you’re doing. People might be following what you’re doing regardless of whether or not they truly know you, but your leadership is limited to how much people trust that the image you portray is truly the example you live for those who do really know you. I pray every single day for wisdom and discernment with that trust, and that I steward well any trust others have in me.
Everyone has a self to lead, and how well we lead that self is the greatest indicator of our strength (aka character) as a leader (aka person). Are you an example worth following?
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