I know a company founded by a man with a passion for a hobby. He coupled it with a love for writing and published a magazine centered on his hobby. The fledgling company flourished. It soon had a suite of great products but lacked market penetration.
When the founding president retired, he replaced himself with a marketing expert.
The new marketing-president ran the company for five years. During his tenure, sales tripled. The rapid growth created organizational challenges. When it came time for his retirement, he promoted his organizationally-minded CFO to replace himself.
The new structural-president brought in much needed organization. Their products were great and their marketing terrific; now internal processes hummed. The company didn’t grow, but expenses were cut, operations streamlined, and profit margins soared.
The structural-president was pleased with his improvements. When it came time to retire, he replaced himself with another organizationally-minded CFO.
Within a few years, revenues were down 30%, product quality suffered, market penetration shrank, and corporate morale tanked. So he cut more jobs.
When the second structural-president retired, he hired a CFO … just like himself.
Who are the truly brilliant leaders?
All five presidents were highly gifted in their unique talents (an entrepreneur, marketer, and organizers); maybe in the top fifteen percent of all the business leaders I’ve met.
But only the first two were brilliant.
Highly gifted leaders are actually quite common, virtually a dime-a-dozen. But truly brilliant leaders are exceptional, because they also know their limitations. All five presidents were outstanding in their own specialties. But the first two alone had the humility to recognize that someone else’s unique talents were more important now.
To a hammer—even an exceptional hammer—everything looks like a nail.
Building monuments
What’s the purpose of Christian leaders? Why are they here? Is it to lead, organize, inspire, illuminate, or teach? No! A leader’s reason for being is to lift up others; to “raise the poor from the dust and to lift the needy from the ashes” (1 Sam. 2:8).
King Saul was a leadership disaster. God rejects him after he disobeys a prophet and he builds a monument in his own honor! The idea of building a monument in our own honor repulses us (I hope), though we see Christian Celebrities do so all the time.
Yet we build them too. We turn our followers into little clones—to be just like us—and so build a monument in our own honor. Let’s not build a house of clones, where every opinion is the same as ours and every gift-mix is a shadow of our own.
That monumental house of clones will collapse.
Nascent idolatry
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. When following spiritual leaders, imitation is usually the first sign of idolatry.
Some leaders love this imitation. I once saw an excellent speaker teach his followers how to pack a suitcase, shave their beards, and shine their shoes. (I kid you not.) Why in the world would a man gifted in communication consider himself an expert in personal hygiene (he wasn’t) unless … he enjoyed the flattery of his drones?
Other leaders are guilty by silence. They silently watch followers self-clone as they mimic hand gestures, talk with the same cadence, and train in the same profession.
We should raise up people to be who God designed them to be. Sadly, we allow clones to form themselves into a monument in our honor. Shouldn’t we hate this?
You and I are guilty too
It’s not just Celebrity Christian leaders of mega-church (or mega-book) fame. It’s us too, the not-so-famous leaders. We overvalue our own variety of savvy. And we undervalue—or ignore—all the other varieties of competence. We all do it.
Visionaries undervalue administrators, who look down on counselors, who pooh-pooh preachers, who scoff at academics, who laugh at visionaries. I have personally seen:
- A counselor/pastor who invested all his time with his pastorally gifted members, completely ignoring his administrative and worship staff, who were dying.
- A national leader who refused to allow differing discussions. He promoted all who agreed with him and demoted all who offered any contrary ideas.
- Two leaders of an international movement whose success was linked to their complementary gifts. One leader finally demanded ultimate authority, he over-exercised his style, and the movement died.
Yes, let’s love the gifts God gives us. But remember: God gives equally valuable gifts to others. We need their gifts as much as they need ours. Probably more.
Here’s a leader I love
The most brilliant, unsung leader in the Old Testament is the crown prince, Jonathan. He is extraordinary; an astonishingly gifted spiritual leader (see 1 Samuel 14).
When Jonathan meets David—his competitor to the throne—he gives David his own robe and sword. Most leaders put their blade in their enemy’s belly; Jonathan puts his sword in his opponent’s hand. (How many leaders do you know who would do that?)
Jonathan was the son of the king, but he did not count kingship a thing to be grasped. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. He sought out and raised up the unique giftedness of another, even at the eventual cost of his own life.
Doesn’t he remind you of another famous, spiritual leader?
Sam
Spiritual Judo
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“Jonathan was the son of the king, but he did not count kingship a thing to be grasped. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. He sought out and raised up the unique giftedness of another, even at the eventual cost of his own life.” – Great thought! The number one job of a leader is to replace himself, if he is busy building clones he cannot be busy building replacements.
God has blessed in that he has allowed me to be the man of a multi-million dollar corp where all the ideas that flowed and all the money made were the result of my creations. However the greatest blessing he has given me is to be part of a wonderful Ohana made up of true “Servants Of The Most High God” and work in the background, allowing others to be known. Though lately seems I’m coming out of the background some, would still much prefer remaining there.
Great thoughts Sam!
Hi Pat,
It’s funny, I see business leaders grasping the replacing but cloning wisdom faster than Christian leaders.
Alas!
Well, the good news is that God continues to raise up new leaders from out of nowhere when our current stock of leaders simply create drones and clones.
Leadership is probably the MOST misunderstood aspect in organizations because it is people who lead. Talents, skills, abilities, styles, and other factors all weigh-in on the results, and they are so very different from one leader to another. My experience is that organizations that really do well over time are ones where the “leader” is competent in the field, but surrounds him/her self with other very competent people.
Jesus was one who selected His own significant followers, trained them well, and inspected what He what He expected of them. Good raw talent, but He spent 3 years getting them ready. I always say that leadership is best judged by results over time. 2000 years later, the results speak much of Him.
Leadership is the most misunderstood–maybe it is better to say it is the most abused–aspect of organizations.
What Jesus did is fascinating. He picks hugely varying people with widely varying skills and personalities.
I love the four gospels, but I partly love them because of their differences. Inspired by God, they reveal God through the unique giftedness of each writer.
If Jesus had followed the modern day “clone” leadership style, we would have had one written gospel and three photocopies.
And we would have lost a treasure.
So, why exactly do you believe Jesus selected Peter to have the “keys to the kingdom?” On the surface, he appears to perhaps not be His best candidate, what with leadership appearing to be so critical?
Hi Jim,
EXCELLENT question.
But I’m not going to discuss the “keys to the kingdom” part of it. (There are strongly held, highly divergent opinions as to the extent of those keys and the exclusivity of whom they are given to.) Instead I’ll discuss Peter’s leadership candidacy.
Just before Jesus is taken captive, Peter (in essence) says to Jesus, “They may all leave you but I never will.” (And then he denies Jesus three times.)
A few days later, Jesus creates the miracle of the catch of fish, and Peter comes running to Jesus.
Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?”
There are several interpretations of “more than these”: more than you love these fish or more than you love these disciples. But the one that makes most sense is, “Peter do you love me more than these disciples love me?”
(Because a few days earlier, Peter in essence said he loved Jesus more than they did, and so he would never deny Jesus.)
Peter’s answer is: “Lord you know, you know all things.”
Peter is no longer proud or arrogant. Peter is a humble repenter. And that is what makes him a great leader.
The greatest leaders are the greatest repenters.
(And now for anecdotal evidence from what I’ve seen.)
I’m almost fifty-seven. I was raised in a Christian leadership family that had connections with leaders around the world.
I’ve seen leaders (from my childhood) that gathered great audiences, that had great speaking gifts, that had terrific pastoral gifts, or that were charismatic/dynamic leaders.
But the leaders that bore the most fruit–I mean where lives were really changed, (from hopeless to hopeful, from deceitful to truthful, from angry to joyful, from fearful to bold) — every single of those leaders were great, humble repenters.
Just like Peter.
So, yeah, I think he had the makings of a great leader. Not because of his boldness, but because he was a great repenter.
Thanks for the question.
Sam
Sam, anothr great post, pointing us into our hearts and into Him. Thanks!!
Yeah, great thought die; insightful ideas are forgotten; brilliant strategies dissipate.
But God lasts forever. Let’s look in THAT direction.
Thanks
Great blog as always, Sam. Saul was an incredibly complex character whose life deserves our attention. How did he fall from a character who displayed a valiant early career (1 Sam. 14:47-48) to one who became so darkly self-absorbed? I suspect some of the cause lay in his iron-fisted approach to authority that ultimately alienated his men and even his own son. Nonetheless, there are deeper spiritual issues at play. Where 1 Samuel 14 praises his exploits, the very next chapter records his downfall. While is is far too easy for armchair analysts (like me) to focus on negative character traits in narrative passages, 1 Samuel 15 clearly marks the pivot point for Saul’s undoing. An apparent sense of self-sufficiency permeates this chapter. As you say, “We all do it.”
This is where I run into myself over and over again. I love to teach, and I find myself addicted to the glory that goes with it. But I have to remind myself of the harder truth. It’s not about me–not once; not ever; not even for a moment.
Hi Doug,
You end your great analysis of Saul with wonderful analysis of your own heart (dare I say, of all our hearts).
At one point in the Roman empire, a soldier was instructed to visit Caesar every day and say, “Caesar, someday you too will die.”
In other words, you aren’t God, someone else is.
Maybe I need to put that saying on my desk above my laptop.
Sam
Insightful and timely, Sam.
“to lift up others” – yep. Great post!
Look at almost any leadership manual, and they will teach you how to motivate people, direct them, gather them, assign them, communicate with them, reward them, etc.
Real leadership lifts people up. It was the prophet dream of Hannah (Samuel’s mother) for the ideal king. And it is what Christ himself did for us; he lifted us up; he came to bring a new, abundant life; he made us brothers and sons; and eventually he pledged marriage.
He raised the poor from the dust and lifted the needy from the ash heap.
As leaders, let’s look into the hearts of those who follow (or anyone we meet) and lift them up.
Good stuff. Thanks for sharing these insights.
Thanks for the thanks. We need each other.