80% Of The Time
I was in a meeting several years ago in which the person that was leading the meeting acted very forceful. He pushed through everything that he wanted to do… asking everyone – no basically telling everyone – to set their cell phones aside and to close their computers because what he was saying was “very important”. He then proceeded to demand that everyone look directly at him while he was talking.
My point here is that this “leader” was being very arrogant and was making sure everyone knew “he was the boss” of what was going on and wanted an audience to listen to everything that he was saying.
As I looked around the room most people did not look like they enjoyed being there and his actions were causing the meeting to be very tense – particularly for the folks who worked directly for this person (fortunately I didn’t). We still got some work done but it was at the cost of everyone’s mood,intensity and attitude. This’ leader’ also talked nearly 80% of the time even though he kept asking for feedback from others. He hardly ever stopped to listen to what he was asking for in the first place!
A Real Christian Businessman knows that to lead in the way that I just described is not in God’s plan, and it rarely gets folks motivated and wanting to offer extra help or suggestions. Humble leadership actually gets more action and has more followers. It just flat out gets more things done than does someone that says “you have to do it my way” and “I’m the boss and you need to look at me” style.
Humble leadership is outlined in detail if you look at the life of Jesus in the Bible. He went about doing things by not telling people what to do as much as by listening to their needs, asking questions and offering answers. His style has afforded him an obviously large following that is still evident today.
“…Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42b-45 NLT
Let’s use my meeting story this week as a reminder that if we want to be leaders within our own jobs or organizations (or families!) that telling people what to do and how to do it is not the best motivator.
Who would you rather follow: Someone who tells you what to do or someone who is trying to serve and meet your needs?
Check out my book at http://realchristianbusinessman.com/