“And Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.” Exodus 18:25-26
Wherever a human life is encountered, there is a need for leadership. Leadership determines a lot of human activities. At the global level, decisions of statesmen can result in the outbreak of a world war.The importance of leadership must never be underestimated.
Every person is a leader. What differs is only the extent of one’s scope. Leadership scope spans from leading one’s own life to global or transgenerational leadership. People ought to fully appreciate and rever each level of leadership. No level is without significance. People have diverse leadership mandates and grace, but with understanding, no level is to be looked at with disdain.
At an individual level, if you lead your life in an honorable, honest, and smart way, you definitely inspire those who know you. Actually, if you lead yourself well, you are poised to lead others well because the same principles that work for you will work for others.
Some are leaders at the family level. Leaders at this level lead the family entity with excellence. Family members are grounded in virtues of life such as being smart, diligent, honest, collaborative, polite, respectful, and organised. Any family function held in a well led household will exhibit an enviable order, serene atmosphere, and marvelous teamwork. Communities are inspired by such. With time, you see members of such a household being given responsibilities to lead community initiatives.
Family members from well led homes are conditioned to be leaders through exposure to grassroots functional leadership. Most of the times they will use the same principles at higher levels.I am convinced that most leadership deficiencies that manifest at the national and global level are a product of poor leadership that started at home of persons in question. Violent homes produce leaders who resort to violence whenever they feel threatened. Families that inculcated honesty are the only sources of leaders who shall ruthlessly deal with corruption.
Family leaders must appreciate that they are leading the basic unit of society. Whatever they do shapes society. Newspapers might never write about heroes at this level, but the products of this level of leadership give national grace or disgrace.
Corporate and state leaders are the most visible leaders, and many think of these whenever we talk of leadership. If you are given the opportunity to lead at this level, you must be wise enough to know that the broadness of your scope inevitably impacts many people. The impact might influence many generations, thus the need to be more cautious since the stakes are too high to recklessly execute the leadership mandate.
Serving at the corporate or national level is a privilege to impact humanity at a huge scale. Contribute meaningfully to the well-being of humanity using this platform; don’t misuse it. At this level, your mind is too limited to deliver without engaging other minds. Learn to consult widely and be decisive when you need to.
In carrying out leadership, especially at corporate or national level roles, remember there is a need to give others the opportunity to exercise their abilities in the same office. Some of your successors will produce better results than you, and that ability can never manifest without you giving them the opportunity to lead. If you have the right spirit and are not jealous, just like what Jesus said in John 14v12 , you must set up others to do greater works after you.
Leadership is not easy. It is much easier to point out other people’s leadership flaws than to deliver better leadership yourself. As a result of this appreciation, whenever you assess/judge other people’s leadership contributions, try to be practical and gracious.
I have a few leadership tips that l thought might enhance your leadership execution:
1) Give strategic direction The role of leaders is to show followers the destination. Whatever is done by team members must take the led entity to the desired destiny. If the leader is not sure of where the entity is going, then the blind is leading the blind. At any given opportunity, a leader must be conscientising team members of the vision. Before you accept or turn down a leadership role, enquire about the vision. If the vision is not inspiring, your anchor is weak. You are most likely to make no mark in such a setting since “Where there is no vision people perish… (Proverbs 29v18 KJV). If the vision is inspiring, you have the requisite motivation, which brings you success. Leaders, just like God, must be able to say, “I have a plan for you, a plan to….” Jeremiah 29 v 11.
2) Love people. The greatest unspoken need of people is love. People long to be sincerely and unconditionally loved. No wonder God loved us and defined himself as love to us. He knew as our leader Father we needed that. If you want to lead people well, love them sincerely. Be genuinely concerned about their affairs. As much as you can show them love. When you love people, they will, in turn, love you, love your vision, mission, and goals. They will defend you because you are their source of what they need the most, which is true love. To be a great leader, genuinely love your followers.
3) Surround yourself with competent people. The delivery of a leader is greatly impacted by the quality of persons he/she regards as formal/informal advisors or inner circle. That is why one needs to marry right to always get quality counsel nearby always. Just like Jesus, as a leader, you need to wisely select your inner circle. Bounce ideas, assumptions, extrapolations, and beliefs on a well chosen mastermind group. In the corporate world, it is a norm in leadership renewal to let a new CEO select his/her top executive team. They appreciate responsibility, accountability, and performance delivery, which is easier when a leader has a team of the leader’s choice. In picking a team, one must resist the temptation of picking a team of people who only think like the leader. One needs some contrary, competent but loyal persons too.
4) Appreciate other people’s contribution. People hate to serve a leader who hesitates to acknowledge the contribution of subordinates in any endeavor. Where possible, mention by name initiators of specific pursuits. Public praise and acknowledgment motivates your team to do more for you.
4) Empower others. By empowering others, you have permitted them to apply their best minds on a task. This promotes the most in thoughtful contribution. People hate to be unnecessarily controlled, especially in areas they can do without further instructions, guidance, and monitoring. Entrust proven competency. Whenever someone betrays it, then be clear you are now withdrawing some of the power as a result of the prior unpleasant experience.
5) lnvest in the future
A good leader invests in the future by mentoring others. Great leaders are people who are sharp in picking rough diamonds and go on to cut them into beautiful pieces. Leaders see potential in people and patiently make them what they never thought they could be. Just like David, leaders meet the rejected, despised, counted out and make them into mighty men. As such, they are loyal and dependable because they owe their revered status to your personal investment into them. The long processing time is your opportunity for you to teach them the vision, instill correct values, and show the mission they are all to subscribe to. Some will fall away along the way, but those who remain will be worth the effort. You are not a leader if you only think of poaching somewhere those you want to work with.
6)Don’t speak first.
A leader has an opinion on all matters concerning the entity he/she is leading, but it is not wise to air it out prematurely. As a leader, you must give others the chance to air out their opinion first. After assessing all the contributions made, then make a pronouncement of the way forward.
7) Have open ears but be objective.
As a leader, people enjoy talking to you about what is happening around you. Some of the information is toxic if it is not wisely handled. Promote the presentation of factual and truthful information, especially in informal settings. Don’t deprive the other party of presenting their viewpoint before you make a decision or impression about them. Many leaders ruin great entities by foolishly entertaining rumors. Usually, those who have an affinity for relaying information to the leader are the least productive and most untruthful and divisive people within an organisation. If you give ears to baseless rumors, you are promoting rumor mongering and distrust in the entity you are leading.
8) Be futuristic in your dealings
David refused to do harm to King Saul. Actually, he killed the person who claimed to have killed Saul. In doing this, he knew he was setting a precedence of how his followers were to treat him as the future king of Israel. Apostle Peter was clever in writing about Paul, he did not criticise him but had to write,”…as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”(2 Peter 3:15-16). Apostle Peter, in saying this, exhibited great leadership. He knew that as a leader, he had to wisely choose his words. If he did not, he would have created a storm and divided the church. You, in turn, as a leader, have the future in mind in whatever you say or do.
At whatever level God entrusts you to lead, endeavor to do your best. In doing your best, you impact many more lives. If God counts you as an able leader, He will promote you, for He ever has a shortage at any level all the time.
