Everyone loves a secret—the bigger and more surprising the better. Think of the great conspiracy theories that have been around for decades. Did an alien ship crash land in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947? Did Oswald really shoot JFK, or someone from the Grassy Knoll? Is fluoride toothpaste laced with chemicals to control the population? Are agents of the United Nations flying around the country in black helicopters? If you found out something unbelievable was true, how would it change the way you view the world? We want to know and act on secrets for our own advantage.
As you grow through life and work, you might wonder if there is a secret to becoming a great leader. Do the world’s best leaders know something that you don’t, which enables their leadership in a more effective and impactful way? Yes! There is a secret to becoming a great leader! It isn’t a conspiracy theory. However, like those crazy government rumors, few people know and live by the underlying truth. Becoming a great leader begins with an understanding of how to view leadership itself. A misguided view will lead you down a tangent that will not bring you the personal and professional growth you desire.
Leading versus leadership. You can lead without being a leader. To lead is simply to be first—out in front of others. You can be the lead salesperson. The fastest marathon runner. The most experienced hamburger cook. In this view, we define leadership by personal achievement. A leader in this vein is pursuing the object of their leadership—the what that they are leading. And this is how we know this is not true leadership, because a genuine leader is not first over a thing. If you are leading something you can count, quantify or wear around your neck, you’re not a leader. You’re simply first or best. Scripture confirms this view is not God-directed. Philippians 2:3 instructs us, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Ambition won’t grow you to great leadership.
Who are you leading? A genuine leader is always focused on a group of people. You can lead a band, a team, an army, an orchestra. Leadership is about directing, motivating and growing people. A great leader influences others toward their personal best. This, at the same time, increases his effectiveness as a leader. Leadership cannot be exercised in isolation. Which brings us to the secret of becoming a great leader…
The secret to great leadership is relationships. No self-development book, executive coach, website or seminar can develop you into a great leader. You may find some useful principles or examples through these means, but great leadership only comes out of the meaningful relationships that connect to you. Leadership must be exercised among people, so just knowing how to lead does not make you a leader. Becoming a great leader requires that you grow to know peers, strengthen them as you are also learning from them, adding their experience to your own for personal development. The leadership qualities you acquire, and the skills to exercise them well, are fundamentally expressed through your relationships. Scripture instructs us in this: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). The Bible’s instructions on leadership are clear: “You must do it!”
Great leaders attract, engage and inspire people. You are at your best when you are supporting others to do and to become their best. The goal of leadership is not self-improvement, but organizational and relational improvement, which raises the relational and performance level of everyone who comes into contact with you. Effective leaders positively impact their marriages, their families, their workplaces and their communities. As you learn how to lead well, and apply those principles to each relationship, you can change and improve people’s lives, and as a byproduct, positively impact your organization, your own life, and beyond.
The benefit of knowing a secret is being able to act on that knowledge in a useful way. As a leader, if you want to better yourself in that capacity, you now know the secret to doing so—connect with other people. But what kind of people? Often leaders who do build relationships desire to connect to others who already have influence or skills that will benefit the leader’s own career. Jesus told us as leaders, though, that a selfless view of relationships is of greater desire. Matthew 7:12 tells us, “…whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them…”.
Jesus Himself modeled this kind of leadership. Consider that Jesus could have shown His power as God and simply commanded others to follow His orders. Though Jesus had all authority, He did not exercise it. Rather, He taught, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). The Greatest Leader of All chose to place Himself in the position of servant for the benefit of others. If our desire is to become a great leader, we do that by building up other people, as we would have them build us up. So choose relationships with those with whom your influence will help them flourish.
As we watch the news each day there are sometimes inklings of conspiracy theories, small details that leak out and we think may be part of some greater truth that is being hidden from us. Scripture reveals the great secret of relational leadership. Consider how your personal, professional and spiritual growth may be part of a conspiracy of faith-centered leaders who even now are building up those around them in the manner of 1 Thessalonians 5:11, for the selfless motive taught in Philippians 2:3. No, you still may not know the truth of aliens or JFK, but you do know the truth of great leadership. What do you now is up to you…
As a leader, you’re not over a what, but a who. To lead is to influence others in a way that helps them grow personally, professionally and spiritually. Leadership is fundamentally about influencing people.