Just a Thought: Jesus completely turned upside down the concept of leadership. Someeone said leadership is influence. Nothing more and nothing less. Therefore, we are all leaders in some form or another. For most people, they think the leader is on top. They think leadership is where all the privilege and power are. They think leaders are at the top of the pyramid. Jesus portrayed a leadership style that doesn’t match that image at all. Jesus introduced a concept called “servant leadership.” Years ago, a man by the name of Robert Greenleaf wrote a book by that title. But it wasn’t he who introduced the concept, it was Jesus a couple thousand years prior to Greenleaf. Here is the synopsis of Jesus leadership style. “…Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt 20:26-28) It was Andrew Carnegie who said, “no man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or to get all the credit for doing it.” Jesus taught us to value others. Not to see others as steps to a higher level for ourselves. Not to see others as steppingstones to the top. He taught us to value people. Make a commitment to others. And to work together with each other. Many feel leadership is about using people, having privilege, power and getting others to do what they don’t want to do. In the old days they called that slavery. John Maxwell states, “The person who works better with people is called a follower. The person who helps people work better is a manager. And the person who develops better people to work is a leader.” Jesus completely turned upside down the concept of leadership. Jesus saw other people as valuable and so should we. The people around us make us better and we should strive to make them better as well. If your idea of leadership is to get power, prestige and privilege, your idea of leadership is not Jesus’ idea of leadership. Jesus saw His leadership as an opportunity to serve and make others better by adding value to their lives. Who wouldn’t want to follow a leader like that? What kind of leader are you?
