“A large population is a king’s splendor, but without followers, a prince is ruined” – Proverbs 14:28
A year ago, a hilarious meme video was circulating on the WhatsApp platform. It was about a relay of Kindergarten kids. What made it really funny was when the kid, after the handover of the relay baton, raced innocently towards the opposite direction. He was too fast that even the teacher couldn’t manage to catch up with him, until he was badly off.
Sounds funny, yeah? But is it not funnier when the current leadership trends follow the same rhythm? I mean after you take the lead, you may possibly race passionately at 100 miles per hour towards the wrong direction! We may not blame you at the start but if you don’t wanna pause, it will be terrible.
It goes without saying that, all genuine leadership comes from above; but then at a close focus, we are leaders at our capacities. As long as one follows your steps, then you need to do leadership faithfully at that capacity. The Litmus test about leadership is this: check and see if anyone’s following, especially when not in any leadership position. Indeed, leadership is nothing without following.
We can now peacefully agree that the core of leadership is “following” and not “position” the best of it happens when the leader is following and those being led are following too. Paul excited it, “follow me as I follow Christ.” You can’t be a successful leader if you never followed. It’s a tragedy. When I was graduating from a Sunday School student to a Sunday School teacher, the trainer, during a capacity building quoted, “a good leader knows the way, shows the way and goes the way.
We therefore need to be Compass Leaders.
You can’t follow if you don’t know the ‘who’ and ‘where.’ This brings about the essence of DIRECTION: if you don’t get the direction right, there’s a likelihood of emergence of two terrible hiccups;
- Leaders who don’t provide direction because they never sought VISION and a GOAL from above. They get frustrations from their followers.
- Confused sheep (followers) who don’t know what to do but blame and justify their failures and insufficiency to their directionless leader.
There’s no greater risk than a vision-less leader. Basically, a Compass leader need to;
- Know what’s happening and what’s needed at the glass roots.
- Get a vision of where to move from there to the goal. Get the concept.
- Do mapping; strategically providing responsibility to followers in every step.
- And, above all INFLUENCE their team towards their God-given vision.
“Where there is no vision people perish…” - Proverbs 29:18
The Christian leader doesn’t have the military behind them, nor constitution, or financial incentives. God’s word is not only what they need but all they have.
From Noah to Abraham, to Moses, to Judges to David and Kings, to Peter and Paul and beyond, God has always used human leaders to accomplish his purpose. Every leadership came with an assignment and a detailed direction to execute the assignment. And just as today, some hackened and others defied. Their response is what distinguished them.
Sagacity Worth Pondering:
- A compass leader seeks, submits and executes God’s directives: Noah when called to build the ark by God was given instructions by God. All the way from the detailed measurements and type of materials he was to use up to capacitating the ark. He fully obeyed every detail and God saved him and his family.
- Compass leaders seek and heed to wise council: Remember Absalom, Rehoboham; Absa refused to listen to Ahithopels advice. It cost him his life. Rehoboham refused to listen to elders’ advice and chose to listen to foolishness of the youth. This cost him a ½ of his kingdom.
Look here; being a leader doesn’t need you got all the answers, seek council from the experienced; those who went before you carry godly wisdom.
“If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure. Real survivors learn wisdom from others.” Proverbs 28:26
- Compass leaders share their vision with their team:
Nehemiah strategically led out men to carry out the vision he had about rebuilding the walls. He motivated them for the task before hand, not selfishly for his sake but for God’s glory. In the same way, Paul shares his vision with those who were after him.
- Compass leaders are pillars of Integrity: Integrity should be the foundation of all leadership. Buffett once quoted, “Look for three things in a person – intelligence, energy and integrity. If they lack the last one, don’t even bother with the first two.”
If I were to compress what Paul wrote to his son in 1 Timothy 3, I’d say, ‘overseers should be MOI’s {Men of Integrity}. Doing good without supervision, practicing what they preach, being consistently trustworthy and reliable.
- Compass leaders avoid mediocrity at all cost: Besides having the end from the beginning, leadership calls us to earnestly ensure faithfulness till the end. Paul before his execution wrote to Timothy, “I’ve fought the good fight of faith; I’ve finished the race…” This is exactly what is expected of us as leaders. At the end of it all, will you honestly write as Paul? Will you run by the rules and complete the race without settling for less? Samson, on my own view is an example of a judge who settled for less. Although we read about his extraordinary deeds, there’s more he’d have done, if only he’d depend on God and avoid negligence. He lived below God’s standard, and ended up a mediocre, what a leader ought not to be.
It must not escape every Christian leader that Christian leadership is a matter of faithfulness. If you run the race faithfully, we call that EXCELLENCE.
