Step 2: Organization Profile will be researched by;
Step 3: Service Profile will researched by;
Step 4: Field Research will be done by;
1) As a group we have decided to answer this question about our company.
CHECK OFF one (1) of the following questions
a. _____How does everyone in the organization know and carry out the customer service vision?
b. _√__Why do customers come to this organization and what factors keep them loyal or returning to do business with this organization?
c. _____Does the online brand/social media of customer service match the day to day experience of the customer at this organization?
d. ____How does the leadership of the organization model the service culture to the staff and/ or the customers?
e. ____Does the staff get adequate training to carry out top-quality service in this organization?
f. ____How does the organization measure its own success/ or rate itself in terms of customer service or customer satisfaction? Is this a good measurement? Why or why not?
g. ____How are loyal/ repeat customers cultivated in this organization?
2) As a group we have decided to conduct the field research of our company by;
CHECK OFF at least one (1) of the following:
· √ Interview with staff, leaders, customers, shareholders
· √ Physically visit the organization location to view how the company operates.
· _____Evaluation of social media or online brand as it relates to customer service and satisfaction.
· ____Carry out a Customer Service Alignment Assessment (Toister, 2017 p.75).
· ____Create and carry out a Service Culture survey of your own making.
Individual Synopsis and Evaluation – 3 – 5 pages
I. Title Page – 1 page
II. Introduction: ½ page
Introduce what you will be discussed in your paper.
III. Main Body of Paper: 1- 2 pages
You must include the following:
· A Brief Description of what your role was in the Group Project.
1) Which step did you research?
2) An interesting fact about the company you researched.
· One thing you learned about group dynamics, servanthood leadership, or service culture working with your group through this Group Project assignment about Leadership as Service.
· One thing from your working with your group on this Group Project you can apply to your leadership practice now or in the future.
IV. Conclusion: ½ page
1) Summary of what you wrote about in your paper.
V. References: 1 page
You must include at least 6 Citations from a minimum of 3 different sources used in LDRS 300 for this paper.
1. You are expected to use the following sources we have used in LDRS 300 class as references.
1) The three textbooks used in this LDRS 300 classes.
2) Lectures from LDRS 300.
3) Assigned Readings in Moodle for LDRS 300.
4) The Bible
2. Outside academic sources may be used to support your writing, however blogs, social media outlets, Wikipedia, Buzzfeed, Dictionaries, etc. are NOT acceptable sources for references.
FORMAT:
Using APA Style (6th Edition) for paper formatting and references, pay attention to the following:
1. 12pt font, Times New Roman,
2. double spaced,
3. 2.54 cm margins
4. Include page numbers.
5. (Checkout APA 7th APA Paper Template and Resources in Moodle for help with APA)
Your paper will not be graded if the conditions outlined above are not met and deductions (2%) for conditions that are not completely met.
(2% will be deducted for every condition not met in paper)
The Service Culture Handbook
The Service Culture Handbook
A STEP – BY – STEP GUIDE TO GETTING
Part 1: Culture Is the Key to Outstanding Customer Service
Chapter 1
How Corporate Culture Guides Your Employees’ Actions
Chapter 2
Why Culture Initiatives Often Fail
Part 2: Building a Customer-Focused Culture
Chapter 3
Defining Your Culture
Chapter 4
Engaging Employees with Your Culture
Part 3: Changing Your Company’s Service DNA
Chapter 5 Aligning Your Business Around a Customer-Focused Culture
Chapter 6
Setting Goals That Drive Your Culture
Chapter 7
Hiring Employees Who Will Embrace Your Culture
Chapter 8
Training Employees to Embody Your Culture
Chapter 9
Empowering Employees to Support Your Culture
Chapter 10
How Leadership Can Make or Break Your Culture
Chapter 11
A Customer-Focused Example
Chapter 12 Making the Commitment to a Customer-Focused Culture
Acknowledgements
MY FIRST BOOK, SERVICE FAILURE, was published in October 2012. People
almost immediately started asking me when I would write another.
I resented that question at first. It’s hard enough to write one book and I
couldn’t believe people were already talking about book number two. Now, I
appreciate all the people who asked the question. It showed they saw
something that I didn’t—I had another book to write.
Michelle Burke and Adriana Perez are fantastic friends who helped
make this book possible in a roundabout way. They connected me with
representatives of the online training video company lynda.com (now
LinkedIn Learning) at a trade show in 2013. One thing led to another, and I
was suddenly making customer service training videos.
My very first video was filmed in August 2013 and formed the seeds for
this book. It’s called Leading a Customer-Centric Culture, and it outlined
what elite companies do to get employees obsessed with service. (Check it
out at www.lynda.com/JeffToister. You’ll need a lynda.com account to view
the course, but you can get a 10-day trial at www.lynda.com/trial/JeffToister.)
Finally, I owe my wife, Sally, an endless amount of gratitude. Her
encouragement continuously inspires me to write.
http://lynda.com
http://www.lynda.com/JeffToister
http://lynda.com
http://www.lynda.com/trial/JeffToister
Introduction
TONY D’AIUTO WANTED TO CREATE an unforgettable experience.
He’s an Airport Operations Center manager at the Tampa International
Airport. Small children often lose a favorite stuffed animal while traveling
through an airport, so D’Aiuto’s goal was to reunite a child with a lost toy in
a fun and unique way.
His plan was to take photos of the toy in various places around the
airport to make it look like the stuffed animal had gone on a big adventure.
He would then return the toy to the child along with photographs of its
journey. D’Aiuto asked a colleague who oversaw the airport’s lost and found
department to alert him the next time a child lost a stuffed animal.
Once the plan was in place, he waited. And waited. It took two months
for it to happen. D’Aiuto was ready when he finally got the call.
A six-year-old boy had lost his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. The boy and his
Tampa-based family had already boarded their outbound flight when Hobbes
was found, so it was too late to return it to them that day. D’Aiuto jumped
into action.
“Being a hobbyist photographer, I thought I could have some fun and
creativity with the ways I took photos of Hobbes’s adventure during my
lunch break,” said D’Aiuto. He enlisted help from various people around the
airport to photograph Hobbes with airport firefighters, riding on a luggage
cart, by the airport control tower, and elsewhere.
D’Aiuto took his photos to Walgreens, where he used a coupon he had
saved to make a hardbound photo book documenting Hobbes’s adventure. He
then brought Hobbes and the photo book to the airport’s lost and found
department, so the family could retrieve them when they returned from their
trip.
The family had been told that the boy’s stuffed animal was waiting for
them at the airport’s lost and found. They headed there immediately after
their flight landed, eager to reunite Hobbes with their son. It was a touching
reunion, and the boy really enjoyed seeing the pictures of Hobbes on his great
adventure. D’Aiuto’s initiative had taken the traumatic experience of losing a
favorite toy and turned it into something positive and fun. The boy’s mother
was moved to tears at the kindness displayed by D’Aiuto and the rest of the
Tampa Airport staff.
The heartwarming story attracted national media attention. It was
picked up by news outlets such as NPR, CNN, and USA Today.
You just don’t hear customer service stories like this very often.
There are plenty of stories about service failures. Every week, there
seems to be yet another company featured in a news story about shockingly
poor service. Customer service leaders privately tell me they struggle simply
to get their employees to consistently deliver basics such as courtesy,
promptness, and helpfulness.
Why are the stories about outstanding customer service so rare?
It’s not due to a lack of ideas. Bookstores are well stocked with books
explaining how to provide outstanding customer service. Some describe how
companies can create successful service strategies, while others provide tips
and tactics for customer-facing employees.
There are many other places where you can find customer service ideas.
There are conferences, motivational speakers, and seminars galore.
Consultants like me write blog posts, record podcasts, and create videos.
Nearly every customer service professional has attended a customer service
training class at some point during their career.
The stuffed animal photo adventure certainly isn’t a new concept.
D’Aiuto got the idea after reading a similar story about a child who lost a
stuffed lion at a museum in London, England. It’s also been done by a
museum in Canada, and a Ritz-Carlton in Florida did the same thing with a
stuffed giraffe in 2012. The original concept may have come from a story
about a lawn gnome that was stolen from a garden in the mid-1980s and
returned to its owner with a photo album depicting its various adventures. Or
it may have originated from a popular children’s book called Flat Stanley,
which was published in 1964.
I asked D’Aiuto why he went to so much trouble on his own time just to
create a memorable experience for one child. “Tampa International Airport
has a long history of being very people-focused, as opposed to plane-
focused,” he told me. He explained that everyone in the airport, from the
CEO on down, is committed to providing exceptional service. “Our CEO, Joe
Lopano, sets the tone for being efficient and hard-working, but he also fosters
a sense of creativity and fun at the airport which makes employees feel
comfortable enough to take a chance like I did with this little boy’s lost
tiger.”
That’s the real secret that explains why these types of stories are so rare:
Tampa International Airport has done something that few organizations
achieve. The airport has created an environment where employees are
constantly thinking about outstanding service. They proactively look for
ways to make a difference in their customers’ lives, even if it means going far
beyond their regular responsibilities. Employees prioritize passengers over
planes, recognizing that airport operations are really just a means to help
travelers get to wherever they’re trying to go. Perhaps that’s why the airport
is consistently rated one of the best in the U.S. in Condé Nast’s annual
reader’s poll.
In short, employees there are obsessed with service.
The Service Culture Handbook shows you how to create a customer-
focused culture where employees in your organization are obsessed with
service. It’s a step-by-step guide to help customer service teams, business
units, and even entire companies get excited about serving customers at the
highest level.
You’ll get an inside look at companies—like REI, JetBlue Airlines, and
Publix—that consistently rank near the top of their industries for customer
service. You’ll also find profiles of some lesser-known companies that
represent the next wave of legendary customer service organizations. This
book will show you what these elite organizations do that most organizations
don’t.
The Service Culture Handbook is organized into three parts. The first
part examines why creating a customer-focused culture is the key to
outstanding customer service. It also offers some cautionary tales about
companies whose culture initiatives failed.
The second part provides detailed instructions for building a customer-
focused culture. When you use these chapters to clearly define your
organization’s unique culture, you’ll transform the way your employees view
service. The ultimate goal is to get your employees obsessed with
consistently delivering service that’s so amazing it becomes part of your
company’s brand image.
Finally, the third part of the book helps you embed customer focus in
your company’s DNA, so you can sustain the customer-focused culture
you’ve created. Companies that get really good at service will tell you they
have to work at it every day. It’s easy to grow weary or lose focus when
you’ve worked long and hard at achieving a goal. These chapters assist you
in keeping your employees engaged and making outstanding service the way
that your company, department, or team simply does business.
Many chapters contain sample worksheets to help you implement these
concepts. You can download blank copies of the worksheets from this book
at www.serviceculturebook.com/tools. You’ll also find additional tools and
resources on the website, such as access to my Customer Service Tip of the
Week email. You and your employees can sign up for these tips for free.
I recommend that you read each chapter in order, to get a clear picture
of what it takes to create a customer-focused culture. You may be tempted to
pick and choose lessons from this book. Please don’t. This is a complete
recipe for building a customer service culture. Just as you wouldn’t try to
bake a cake without flour or eggs, you shouldn’t try to transform your
organization’s customer service while leaving out an essential ingredient.
Also, it’s a good idea to know exactly what you’re getting into before you
launch a major initiative.
I won’t lie to you. Getting your employees obsessed with customer
service is not easy. It is, however, one of the elements that separates the elite
organizations from the rest. These companies put in the hard work that most
aren’t willing to dedicate themselves to.
Don’t be afraid to use me as a resource as you explore these concepts.
I’m easy to get in touch with:
Call or text: 619-955-7946
Email: jeff@toistersolutions.com
Twitter: @toister
You’ll also find additional analysis, tips, and trends to help you develop
a customer-focused organization on my Inside Customer Service blog at
www.insidecustomerservice.com.
For now, I encourage you to turn to Chapter 1, where you’ll read about
another company whose employees are obsessed with customer service. In
fact, these employees are so customer-focused that they did something that
practically no one else would be willing to do.
Part 1: Culture Is the Key to Outstanding Customer
Service
CHAPTER 1
How Corporate Culture Guides Your Employees’ Actions
THE INTERNAL NETWORK AT RACKSPACE went down and took the phone
system with it. Customers suddenly weren’t able to call. Employees couldn’t
even access the company directory to contact each other.
This was a potential disaster.
Rackspace provides computer hosting services for more than 300,000
customers. These companies run their websites, email, and internal computer
systems on its network. It’s all mission-critical stuff. When there’s a problem,
Rackspace customers need help fast.
A lone technical support agent sprang into action. He tweeted his
personal phone number, letting customers know they could reach him directly
if they needed help. Soon other tech support reps followed suit and tweeted
their numbers, too. For the next four hours, they used Twitter and their cell
phones to serve customers until Rackspace restored its phone service. The
support team typically handles a thousand calls during a four-hour time
frame, so their extraordinary service prevented a lot of unhappy customers.
The stakes were high, but nobody from management told these
employees to tweet their personal phone numbers. It wasn’t part of a
carefully scripted procedure. No one even asked permission. They just did it.
HOW CULTURE CREATES HERO MOMENTS
Imagine the same scenario at nearly any other company. Employees would
feel helpless. A few might lobby their supervisor to go home early. Most
would just sit around and wait for the phone system to come back up.
The corporate communications department might post a message on the
company’s website to let customers know the phones were down. Somebody
might tweet an update on the status of the phone system. That would likely be
the extent of the company’s efforts to alert customers to the problem.
Tweeting personal contact information would be unthinkable. Many
customer service employees are fearful of giving out their last names, let
alone their phone numbers. Employees at the average company would never
take the kind of initiative that happened at Rackspace.
Rackspace isn’t the average company, though. Stories of employees
delivering over-the-top service are common. One rep ordered a pizza for a
customer during a marathon trouble shooting session after she heard him
mention that he was getting hungry. An account manager showed her
appreciation for a visiting client by preparing a home-cooked meal.
The big question is why employees at Rackspace serve their customers
in a way that’s so different from the norm. It’s too simplistic to say that
Rackspace has made a company-wide commitment to provide outstanding
service. Lots of companies make similar claims, but that doesn’t mean they
actually do it.
Their exceptional service isn’t just a product of great training, either.
Training works when you want to show someone how to use a specific skill
or follow a particular procedure. Tweeting personal phone numbers, ordering
pizza for a customer, and preparing a home-cooked meal for a client were all
improvised moves. These actions were neither trained nor scripted.
The real secret to Rackspace’s extraordinary service is their customer-
focused culture. Employees are absolutely obsessed with taking care of their
customers. They have created a unique identity, calling themselves Rackers,
symbolizing the pride employees have in their company. They’ve developed
a special brand of customer service called Fanatical Support® that promises
customers they’ll spring into action and do whatever it takes to help resolve
any issue.
It’s this obsession that leads to customer service hero moments like
tweeting a personal phone number so customers can reach you.
A hero moment occurs any time an employee, a team, or an entire
company rises to the occasion to provide customers with outstanding service.
Hero moments aren’t limited to over-the-top actions. They include everyday
service encounters as well. In his book, Be Your Customer’s Hero, customer
experience strategist Adam Toporek defines it this way1:
“It means being there when the customer needs you and making
your personal interaction with the customer as memorably positive
as possible.”
Let’s face it: the vast majority of customer-service interactions are
unremarkable. They’re neither amazingly good nor frustratingly bad. Think
about the last time you went to the bank, bought a cup of coffee, or ordered
something online. There’s a good chance that nothing particularly
extraordinary happened. It was business as usual.
A few experiences do stand out. We certainly remember the service
failures. But we also remember the hero moments. Maybe you remember a
kind bank teller who helped you avoid a fee. Perhaps there’s a barista at your
local coffee shop who makes you feel special every time he’s there because
he knows your name and your favorite drink. Or there may have been a time
when you were shipped the wrong item, but the friendly customer service rep
made the resolution so easy that you vowed to become a customer for life.
Every customer interaction is an opportunity for a hero moment or a
service failure. Some businesses, like hotels, might have multiple interactions
per day with the same customers. According to the Cornell Center for
Hospitality Research, an average 250-room hotel has 5,000 daily guest
interactions with valets, door people, bell staff, reception, restaurants,
housekeeping, engineering, and other functions.2
The largest businesses might serve millions of customers on a daily
basis. For example, Domino’s Pizza delivers more than one million pizzas
per day, seven days a week. Imagine all the customer service interactions
required to make that happen! About 500,000 of those orders are taken by an
employee (the rest are taken electronically, via their website, smart phone
app, etc.). Employees must also deliver those one million pizzas. That means
Domino’s averages about 1.5 million hero or failure opportunities every day.3
Individual employees at some companies might personally serve dozens
of customers per day. For example:
A typical airline flight might have 150 passengers served by four
flight attendants.
A retail cashier might serve 20 customers (or more) per hour.
A contact center agent might serve 10 (or more) customers per
hour.
It’s impossible for a boss, a policy, or a system to control all these
interactions. Employees must exercise independent discretion at times. This
is a scary reality for customer-service leaders, who worry their employees
will do something wrong.
I’ve spoken to thousands of customer service employees over the years.
Most want to do a good job and make their customers happy. The vast
majority of these employees know how to deliver a hero moment, but they
aren’t actively looking for them. Sometimes the moment arises, but the
employee doesn’t feel empowered to spring into action. These are situations
where the right corporate culture can encourage employees to make good
decisions.
Culture creates hero moments on an individual level, where an
employee strives to deliver the best customer service possible. That employee
feels empowered to do what it takes to makes customers happy and takes
pride in the company he or she works for. You see it in the way the employee
greets customers, solves problems, and goes the extra mile when the situation
demands it.
Culture also creates hero moments on a team level, where a department
works together to serve its customers at a consistently high level. Team
members share a passion for service that’s absolutely contagious. You see it
in their pervasive can-do attitudes and in the way they support each other in a
collective effort to make their customers happy. These employees take pride
in their team, yet always push each other to do even better.
Culture can create hero moments on an organizational level, as well,
where an entire company is dedicated to providing outstanding service.
Strategy, goals, policy, and other corporate decisions are made with the
customer in mind. You see the impact of this customer focus in the legions of
loyal customers who go out of their way to do business with these select
companies.
It’s no wonder that culture is such a hot topic in customer service. So,
what exactly is it?
THE DEFINITION OF CORPORATE CULTURE
Corporate culture can be a nebulous subject. There’s a lot that goes into it,
like mission, vision, and value statements. But while those are some of its
elements, a company’s culture is broader than that.
I turned to Catherine Mattice to get a clear definition. She’s a consultant
and trainer who specializes in helping organizations create a positive
workplace culture. She’s also the author of Back Off! Your Kick-Ass Guide to
Ending Bullying at Work, and her research on the topic has made her an in-
demand speaker at human resources conferences. Mattice has even served as
an expert witness in court cases where corporate culture was a factor.
We met for coffee on a warm, sunny day. The coffee shop had a patio
with just enough shade to make it comfortable. I thought it might be a short
conversation, but we ended up talking for several hours.
We discovered that the challenge in defining culture is that there are so
many valid perspectives. When Mattice helps companies end workplace
bullying, she does so by focusing on their culture. I, too, focus on culture
when I work with companies to help improve customer service. And when
another colleague helps companies with their branding, she begins her efforts
by focusing on their corporate culture, as well. It seems that so many things
companies do can be boiled down to their culture.
Mattice and I agreed that while corporate culture can refer to an entire
organization, it can also refer to a business unit, location, or individual team.
It’s not unusual for groups in different parts of a company to share some
common characteristics, yet also have their own unique identity. You can’t
easily change the entire corporate culture if you’re a store manager for a retail
chain, but you can influence the culture within your particular store.
Mattice shared this definition, which puts it all together:
“Corporate culture is the way an organization’s members think,
act, and understand the world around them.”
Let’s use Rackspace as an example. Rackers certainly think, act, and
understand the world around them differently than employees at most
companies. When faced with an unexpected challenge, such as the phones
going down, Rackers think, “My customers need me. I have to find a way to
help them.” They act to do something about it. Rackers do this because they
understand how critical their services are to their clients’ businesses.
Contrast this to the customer service most of us receive every day.
Many employees think about their job solely in terms of their assigned
responsibilities. They act in accordance with company policies and
procedures, but rarely take initiative. They understand their role, but may not
understand the company’s goals. Or, employees might understand the
company’s goals, but not care about helping to achieve them.
All organizations have a culture. It doesn’t have to be something
intentionally created. In most organizations, culture organically develops over
time through corporate strategy, the decisions of its leaders, the way
employees interact with each other, and many other factors.
It’s natural for a group of people to develop a certain amount of
collective thinking. When you hear people say, “That’s how we do things
around here,” they’re referring to their company’s culture. A few elite
companies, like Rackspace, intentionally strive to cultivate a positive,
customer-focused culture.
That intentionality is what’s missing in many organizations. According
to Mattice, most companies have policies that tell employees what they
should not do. Companies with positive cultures help employees understand
what they should do. Mattice explains that without clear guidance, “People
don’t know how else to act.”
But you can’t tell employees specifically what to do in every situation;
there are too many variables. Instead, an intentionally-guided culture acts as a
compass that consistently points employees in the right direction. That
culture is reinforced when employees encounter a hero moment and make the
right decision.
INSIDE RACKSPACE’S CUSTOMER-FOCUSED CULTURE
Rob La Gesse is the Vice President of Social Strategy at Rackspace. Most
corporate executives in publicly traded companies are hard to contact. Not La
Gesse. I got his phone number when he sent it to me via Twitter.
I asked La Gesse why he shares this information so freely. His
explanation was simple: “I’m in the people business. I want people to find
me.”
He’s not kidding. La Gesse published his cell and home phone numbers
on his blog in 2009. It was 2013 when the Rackspace technical support rep
tweeted his own cell number in order to be accessible to customers in need.
Sharing a personal phone number via social media wasn’t a scripted move,
but it was embedded in the company’s organizational thinking and
exemplified by its leaders.
Accessibility is just one illustration of how Rackspace creates a
customer-focused culture. Another is how it hires employees. According to
La Gesse, the company hires many people who don’t have technical
backgrounds. They come from hospitality, medical, and similar professions
that attract people with natural empathy.
La Gesse shares an example of the type of people they like to hire at
Rackspace. He was attending an offsite meeting at a hotel. The meeting
ended for the day, and the attendees headed off to the hotel’s bar. There were
only three bartenders, who were working like crazy to keep up.
La Gesse ordered a frozen margarita but received a margarita on the
rocks. He was deep in conversation with a colleague and saw the long line at
the bar, so he decided not to bother with getting his order corrected.
A few minutes later, the bartender approached La Gesse with a frozen
margarita. He apologized for the error and told La Gesse that both drinks
were on the house.
La Gesse was impressed. Mistakes can and will happen, especially
during busy times. But it takes a special kind of person to recognize their
mistake and go out of their way to fix it when the customer hadn’t
complained.
He waited for the bar to calm down a bit and then approached the
bartender. La Gesse handed him his business card and said, “You need to be
a Racker.” The bartender was eventually hired by Rackspace. Although he
had no experience working with computer networks, he turned out to be a
perfect fit. He now has a successful career in technical sales.
“I can teach anybody [the computer operating system] Linux,” said La
Gesse. “I can’t teach them to actually care.”
Rackspace specifically looks for people like this, who fit the company’s
customer-focused culture. Here’s a passage from its Fanatical Support
Promise:
We cannot promise that hardware won’t break, that software
won’t fail, or that we will always be perfect. What we can promise
is that if something goes wrong, we will rise to the occasion, take
action, and help resolve the issue.
This isn’t just something that’s tucked into an employee handbook and then
forgotten. This promise is a way of doing business at Rackspace. It’s how
Rackers think, from executive leadership all the way to the employees on the
front lines of customer service.4
Fanatical Support is the first of the company’s six core values:
1. Fanatical Support® in all we do.
2. Results first. Substance over flash.
3. Treat Rackers like friends & family.
4. Passion for our work.
5. Full disclosure & transparency.
6. Committed to greatness.
What truly makes these values special is that they’re ingrained in hiring,
training, and all aspects of guiding the employees’ work. The company even
has a “Culture” page on its website to explain it all:5
“Our Core Values came from us, the employees. They are our
collective thoughts and beliefs encompassed by six values. Our
leadership had no input or vote in them. We wouldn’t even let
them spell check our values. Luckily for us, our bosses are smart
enough to know that telling employees what to think and believe is
a complete waste of time, and just a bad idea all the way around.”
These values truly represent how Rackspace does business. You see this in an
employee tweeting his cell phone number to be accessible to customers in
need. You see it in a bartender who gets hired after going out of his way to
fix a drink order. In fact, you see examples of Fanatical Support® reinforced
every single day at Rackspace.
“You have to constantly work at it,” said La Gesse. “You have to
constantly talk about.”
THE DARK SIDE OF CORPORATE CULTURE
What leaders constantly work at and talk about has a profound impact on a
company’s culture. It shapes how employees think about, act upon, and
understand service. Focus on the wrong things, and a company can
unintentionally develop an anti-customer culture.
Comcast provides a clear warning. It’s generally considered to have
some of the worst customer service in the country. It was rated the worst
internet service provider in the United States by the 2015 American Customer
Satisfaction Index, and third and fourth worst respectively in subscription
television and phone service.6 Comcast also ranked dead last in the 2015
Temkin Customer Service Ratings.7
Comcast has been known to attract national media attention with its epic
service failures. One particular example happened in July 2014. A Comcast
subscriber named Ryan Block called to cancel his service. The customer
service agent inexplicably stonewalled his request. Block was ten minutes
into the call when he decided to record it.8
The recording lasts for approximately eight minutes. On it, you can hear
the Comcast employee repeatedly badgering Block about his decision to
cancel. Block politely asked the agent to cancel his service multiple times,
but the employee continuously tried to talk him into retaining his account.
Block posted the recording online and it quickly went viral. Major news
outlets reported on it. Tom Karinshak, Comcast’s Senior Vice President of
Customer Experience, issued a statement apologizing for the incident:
“We are very embarrassed by the way our employee spoke with
Mr. Block and are contacting him to personally apologize. The
way in which our representative communicated with him is
unacceptable and not consistent with how we train our customer
service representatives.”9
It’s convenient for companies like Comcast to blame a rogue employee for an
embarrassing service failure like this. However, a closer look reveals that the
employee’s actions were completely reflective of Comcast’s corporate
culture.
Canceling an account with Comcast in July 2014 was a difficult task.
The instructions weren’t easy to find on its website. Even searching “cancel
account” failed to point customers to the desired result.
Customers who did find the cancellation instructions were instructed to
call customer support. They could do almost anything online, including
adding services, but Comcast wanted them to call to cancel.
Customers who called to cancel their accounts were transferred to
someone called a “Retention Specialist.” These employees were given
training on step-by-step procedures they were expected to use to discourage
customers from canceling. They received a bonus based on how many
customers they could talk out of canceling their service. The employees
received no bonus if too many customers insisted on canceling anyway.
The Retention Specialist on Ryan Block’s recorded call summarized the
role perfectly. He said, “My job is to have a conversation with you about
keeping your service.”
Comcast designed its entire cancellation process around trying to
convince customers not to cancel. This philosophy was embedded in its
process, and it was integrated into employee compensation. Retention was
what these employees worked at and talked about.
It’s not hard to understand why Comcast is infamous for its poor
service. Let’s go back to Catherine Mattice’s definition of corporate culture:
the way a company thinks, acts, and understands the world around them.
Comcast thinks about its customers in terms of revenue. It acts to do
whatever it can to retain or increase that revenue in the short term. It
understands that a lost account equals lost revenue. None of this focuses on
serving customers.
In an interesting twist to the story, Comcast announced in May 2015
that it was implementing a multi-year plan to create a new corporate culture
focusing on exceeding customers’ expectations. It seems that even Comcast,
at some level, understands the importance of having a customer-focused
culture.
Comcast is hardly the only company whose actions create a culture of
poor customer service. In my first book, Service Failure, I uncovered many
examples of how a company’s culture can lead to poor service.
In one story, a hotel associate deliberately provided her guests with poor
customer service because she was afraid of being ostracized by her co-
workers if she went out of her way to be helpful. The hotel’s poor culture
made it uncomfortable for her to provide great service.
Another story involved a bank employee who signed off on 400 home
foreclosures per day without actually verifying that the homes met the criteria
for foreclosure. He never stopped to consider the customers who owned those
homes because the bank had a culture that encouraged employees to follow
its procedures without question.
A customer service representative at yet another company told me he
routinely lied to customers because he was instructed to do so by
management. He had recently gotten this job after being out of work for a
long time, and he was worried that he’d be out of work again if he didn’t
comply with management’s directives. The company’s leaders created a
culture of fear, intimidation, and dishonesty.
I discovered something else while researching these stories. We would
like to believe that we wouldn’t act the way those people did if we were
placed in a similar situation. The truth is, most of us would.
We naturally take behavioral cues from the people around us. Some are
conscious, like the customer service employee who lied to customers so he
could keep his job. Others are unconscious, like the bank employee who
mindlessly signed off on home foreclosures. They’re both examples of
corporate culture at work.
GETTING CULTURE TO GUIDE EMPLOYEES’ ACTIONS
People see how employees are obsessed with customer service in a company
like Rackspace and think, “Of course! That’s how it should be!” That’s what
makes creating a customer-focused culture so maddeningly difficult. It seems
like it should be easy, but it isn’t.
The challenge is that culture isn’t attributable to just one thing. There’s
no single initiative that will magically get your employees to consistently
make customer service a priority. Culture is the sum of all the things we do in
an organization.
Here are just a few examples of questions whose answers influence how
culture shapes employee behavior:
Are employees given clear guidance on the company’s culture, or
are they expected to just figure it out?
Are employees invited to help shape the culture, or are they
disengaged?
Are strategic decisions driven by culture, or are they made
without regard for customers?
Are goals and metrics aligned with the culture, or do they
encourage shortcuts?
Are business processes customer-focused, or do they put
employees in awkward situations?
Are employees empowered to deliver outstanding service, or are
they constrained?
Do leaders reinforce the desired culture, or do they contradict it?
Addressing these questions isn’t easy. It takes time, energy, and resources.
Building a customer-focused culture is a never-ending journey that tests the
entire organization’s commitment and dedication.
So before showing you how to build a customer-focused culture in your
company, I’ve written the next chapter to explain why so many customer
service culture initiatives fail.
NOTES:
1 Adam Toporek, Be Your Customer’s Hero (New York: AMACOM, 2015).
2 Barbara M. Talbot, “The Power of Personal Service: Why It Matters, What
Makes It Possible, How It Creates Competitive Advantage,” CHR Industry
Perspectives, no. 1 (September 2006).
3 “Facts and figures,” Domino’s Pizza. https://biz.dominos.com/web/about-
dominos-pizza/fun-facts.
4 The full text of the Rackspace Fanatical Support® Promise can be found on the
company website: http://www.rackspace.com/managed-hosting-support/promise.
5 Learn more about the Rackspace culture here:
http://www.rackspace.com/talent/culture.
6 The American Customer Satisfaction Index publishes annual ratings for
Comcast and many of its major competitors on its website: http://www.theacsi.org.
7 The Temkin Group publishes annual customer satisfaction ratings on its
website: http://www.temkinratings.com.
8 Ryan Block. “Ryan Block’s recorded cancellation phone call with Comcast.”
SoundCloud. https://soundcloud.com/ryan-block-10/comcastic-service.
9 Tom Karinshak, “Comcast Statement Regarding Customer Service Call,”
ComcastVoices (July 15, 2014).
“I WANT US TO BE like the Apple Store.”
That’s how a Chief Information Officer (CIO) described the goal for his
customer service project. He worked for a company that provided software
and information services to corporate clients around the globe. He managed
several internal departments, including a help-desk team supporting the
computing needs for several thousand employees spread across six
continents.
The company had an internal customer service survey, and his help desk
wasn’t scoring well. There had even been complaints about service quality
from other executives. The CIO decided he needed to change the culture, and
he wanted to get his employees obsessed about providing the type of
outstanding customer service the Apple Store was known for.
He called me to ask for help. We talked about his situation, and I
pressed him for more details about his vision. “What is it about the Apple
Store that you want your team to emulate?”
There was a brief silence as the CIO thought. Finally, he said, “I like the
Apple Store because they’re good at customer service.”
That was the best description he could muster. The problem was that the
Apple Store and his company’s internal help desk operations were so
different that the comparison made little sense. There was no similarity other
than their focus on computers.
The Apple Store is a gleaming showcase for Apple’s latest technology.
Employees are there to educate customers, help them find solutions, and sell
products. Customers are drawn in by Apple’s latest technology, whether it’s
an iPad, iPhone, MacBook, or another of Apple’s latest gadgets. People also
come to the Apple Store to get help with Apple products they’d purchased.
The CIO’s help desk is an internal department, not a retail store. It
supports operations around the globe by phone, email, and internet. It also
manages the logistics of configuring various computers, parts, and
accessories and shipping them to various offices.
Ironically, the department’s biggest challenge was employees based in
its corporate office, who acted as if the help desk really was an Apple Store.
They often bypassed the company’s work-order system and walked directly
into the IT department to get help. They used their physical proximity to
jump to the head of the line and prioritize their needs over projects at remote
offices.
For example, a corporate vice president might come in looking for help
with her laptop while a help-desk employee was in the midst of getting a
network configured for a new office in Europe. It wasn’t a comfortable
position for the employee. If he dropped everything and helped the vice
president, that could put the network project behind schedule. If he asked the
vice president to follow the appropriate procedure, that could result in the
vice president complaining to the CIO or another executive.
Another challenge was how help-desk employees viewed their role.
They didn’t think of themselves as perky, customer-focused retail associates
like those at the Apple Store. They generally joined the company because
they loved computers and wanted to be near cutting-edge technology. They
viewed their job as fixing computers and setting up networks rather than
helping customers.
The CIO’s customer service project had many warning signs that
suggested it wouldn’t succeed. He was impatient and hoped to find a
shortcut. He knew he needed to change the help desk’s culture, but he naively
thought that could be accomplished through a couple of training classes. He
even signaled that the project didn’t have his full support by delegating it to
one of his managers so he could focus on initiatives he felt were more
important.
The biggest challenge of all was that the CIO couldn’t describe a
successful project outcome. He had a picture in his mind, but it wasn’t fully
formed. The best he could do was point to the Apple Store. This didn’t sound
like a situation where I could be helpful.
I finally asked him, “Have you ever heard of Ron Johnson?” He hadn’t.
RON JOHNSON AND THE TALE OF TWO COMPANIES
Ron Johnson is widely credited for developing the Apple Store and making it
successful. Apple hired him in 2000 to be its Senior Vice President of Retail,
and he worked closely with CEO Steve Jobs to develop the company’s retail
concept.
The Apple Store’s success is undeniable. In 2011, Johnson’s last year
there, its $5,626 in sales per square foot was the best mark for any retailer in
the U.S.10 Apple was also named a J.D. Power Customer Service Champion
for 2012, recognizing the company’s outstanding service from the previous
year.
The Apple Store took a fresh approach to retailing in many ways. Its
stores were full of products that customers were encouraged to try out. It also
had more associates than typical stores, so customers could get hands-on
assistance. There were no cashier lines, either; associates rang up purchases
using a mobile credit-card reader and an app on their phones.
The centerpiece of each store was the Genius Bar, which was something
Johnson invented to help customers get the most out of their Apple products.
Johnson described the Genius Bar in a 2011 interview with Harvard Business
Review: “Imagine a friendly place that dispenses advice and is staffed by the
smartest Mac person in town. He would be like a genius to the customer,
because he knows so much.”11
The Genius Bar concept wasn’t a hit at first, but Johnson stuck with it.
“I had a belief—a conviction—that face-to-face support was going to be
much better for customers than phone and web support, which are often
really frustrating and ineffective,” he explained. “So we stuck with it, and
gradually customers started coming.”
In November 2011, Johnson was hired away to be the CEO of J.C.
Penney. The company was enamored with Johnson’s results at the Apple
Store, as well as his previous success at Target, where he helped build a
strong brand reputation. J.C. Penney’s board of directors thought Johnson
would be able to work his magic once again and transform a venerable retail
brand that had stagnated in recent years.
Johnson felt J.C. Penney’s culture was stuck in the past. The company
was trying to hang on to tradition instead of evolving to meet its customers’
changing needs. Employees had a transaction mindset, where constant sales,
coupon programs, and other discounts were used to drive revenue. Perhaps
worst of all, Johnson felt the company’s leaders were too slow to take action.
Johnson quickly developed an ambitious plan to completely change J.C.
Penney’s culture.
There were massive layoffs at the corporate office. Johnson brought in a
new executive team, many of whom were former Apple colleagues. One of
those executives was Michael Kramer, who became J.C. Penney’s Chief
Operating Officer. Kramer told the Wall Street Journal, “I hated the J.C.
Penney culture. It was pathetic.”12
Johnson instituted an autocratic decision-making approach that did
away with market research and in-store testing. He announced sweeping
changes based solely on his experience and gut instincts. “We didn’t test at
Apple,” said Johnson to one colleague who questioned him.
“Every initiative we pursue will be guided by our core value to treat
customers as we would like to be treated—fair and square,” said Johnson. He
scrapped the company’s traditional discounting programs in favor of an
everyday low price approach called Fair and Square Pricing. Millions were
invested in new store layouts and merchandising agreements with popular
brands that he believed would better resonate with J.C. Penney customers.
Johnson also announced plans to create a section in the middle of each
store called the Town Square. The Town Square would replace the cosmetic
counters and accessories found in the center of a typical department store.
Instead, it would feature various services for customers along with monthly
attractions like free haircuts during back-to-school season. Johnson said the
Town Square concept was similar to the Apple Store’s Genius Bar: “Just like
in the Apple Store, you have to walk through the products to get to the Town
Square.”13
There was one huge group of employees who were missing from
Johnson’s bid to overhaul the company culture: store associates. They held
tremendous influence over the success of the company’s widespread changes
because they interacted with customers on a daily basis. An enthusiastic
response might help convince lifelong customers that the changes were
positive, while a lackluster reception could convince customers to take their
business somewhere else.
The associates largely disliked the changes. Many associates felt
frustrated that they’d had no input into the company’s new direction, and
there were widespread accounts of plummeting morale. One store associate
told Business Insider, “I hate it. I hate the disorder and I hate having my
customers give me that look, that ‘you don’t have any idea what you’re doing
and I hate this place and I’m never coming back’ look.”14
There was also no change in how associates treated their customers.
Customers who walked into a J.C. Penney store just before Johnson became
CEO in 2011 were likely to have been ignored. The transactional culture in
J.C. Penney stores at the time was largely one of indifference to helping
customers on the sales floor. Cashiers believed their job was simply ringing
up transactions. Stock associates believed their job was putting stock on the
sales floor and arranging displays. After Johnson took over as CEO, company
leaders did nothing to change this behavior, and employees still routinely
ignored their customers.
Johnson’s efforts to transform J.C. Penney ultimately failed. The
company’s stock sank 40 percent in his first full year. Sales plummeted. J.C.
Penney’s rating on the American Customer Satisfaction Index fell from 82
when Johnson took over in late 2011 to 77 in 2013.
Johnson was fired in April 2013.
WHY BORROWING ANOTHER COMPANY’S CULTURE DOESN’T
WORK
The software company CIO and Ron Johnson both failed at their culture
initiatives in part because they tried to copy the Apple Store. Their problem
was that neither business was comparable to the one they tried to emulate.
Each had products, operations, and employees that were different. Each had
its own unique history. Even their customers were different.
Johnson built a retail operation from the ground up at Apple. At J.C.
Penney, he was trying to change a company that had been in business for
over a hundred years. Its employees already had a collective way of thinking,
acting, and understanding the world around them. Johnson completely
ignored this when he tried to sweep away the J.C. Penney culture and
unilaterally impose his own.
Trying to copy another company’s culture is an exercise in futility.
Every organization is unique. There are too many things that vary from
company to company, such as business models, target customers, product
line, organizational history, and even the skills and personalities of the
individual employees who work there.
That doesn’t stop companies from trying to borrow other companies’
cultures. Bookstores are stocked with business books that profile service
cultures at famous companies, including:
The Nordstrom Way
The Disney Way
The Virgin Way
The Cleveland Clinic Way
The Southwest Airlines Way
Executives from successful, high-profile companies are fixtures on the
corporate speaking circuit. Some companies—such as Disney, Zappos, and
The Ritz Carlton—have even created business seminars designed to show
other companies the inner workings of their unique cultures. These training
programs all offer valuable insights and takeaways. Unfortunately,
participants mistake the training for a paint-by-numbers blueprint.
People buy the books and attend the trainings hoping to capture the
magic that made those famous companies successful. It’s easy to forget that
the principles and business practices described and discussed weren’t
developed overnight. Instead, they’re a by-product of the unique cultures
these companies developed over time. Getting to where they are today took
an intense commitment over multiple years.
A book or seminar will not change your culture. It can inspire you. It
can give you ideas. But you still have to put in the work to bring your own
organization’s unique customer-focused culture to life.
Employees often refer to copycat initiatives as a “flavor-of-the-month
program.” Their company dedicates training and resources to imitate another
company, but it never really sticks. The other company is just too different.
The other culture doesn’t match how this company’s employees actually
think, act, or understand the world around them. The company’s leaders
inevitably lose interest and move on to chase after another fad.
In a typical example, a company sent its executives and mid-level
managers to a seminar organized by the Disney Institute. The participants
were impressed with what they learned, but they compared all the lessons to
their own organization’s culture. “That sounds cool, but it would never work
for us,” they thought. By the end of the seminar, the participants had only
picked up a few tactics they thought would work.
They returned to their office and set out to implement the few ideas
they’d selected. What they didn’t understand was that Disney developed its
culture by doing all of it. These executives were essentially trying to bake a
cake with only half the ingredients listed in the recipe. Failure was inevitable.
HOW EMPLOYEES GET LOST WITHOUT CLEAR DIRECTION
It’s hard for any corporate initiative to succeed if you don’t first define a
successful outcome. Yet executives like the software company CIO
frequently struggle to describe what they want their organization’s unique
culture to be like. This makes it nearly impossible to get employees aligned
around a common way of thinking about, acting upon, and understanding
customer service.
In 2013, I did a survey to see how many companies had created a clear
definition of outstanding customer service. As you’ll learn in Chapter 3, this
definition forms the basis of a customer-focused culture because it allows
companies to engage their employees in delivering a consistent brand of
customer service. Only 62 percent of respondents said their organization had
created this definition.
There are several reasons why companies don’t define outstanding
service for their employees. One reason is that it seems self-evident: people
know good and bad service when they see it.
The problem with this thinking is that people tend to have very different
definitions of what constitutes great service. On a company level, outstanding
service at the Apple Store is vastly different from outstanding service at J.C.
Penney. Within a company, different departments have different goals and
objectives. Even individual employees have their own ideas and priorities.
Failure to align employees’ collective thinking typically results in
inconsistent customer service.
Some organizations resist creating a customer service vision because
they think of it as a lot of marketing fluff. For example, one company created
a vision statement that was so long it literally covered the entire wall of their
lobby. It was full of impressive-sounding adjectives, but it was also
impossible to decipher. Employees snicker at attempts like this that feel
inauthentic.
Yet employees need clear direction so they know what’s expected of
them. Creating a clear definition of outstanding customer service provides
this direction, which is critical to creating a customer-focused culture.
Chapter 3 gives you step-by-step instructions for developing your customer
service vision. Everything else you do should be based on that vision.
That makes Chapter 3 the most important chapter in this book.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CULTURE BECOMES A SIDE PROJECT
Executives are impatient for results. They look for shortcuts and silver-bullet
solutions. Furthermore, culture initiatives can easily get relegated to side-
project status. Many executives feel these initiatives seem mushy and less
easily defined than other activities whose results are simpler to measure.
Here are just a few of the excuses I’ve heard for delaying a culture
initiative:
“We’re knee deep in implementing a new computer system right
now.”
“We’d like to work on culture, but we don’t have the budget.”
“We’re focused on employee engagement this year.”
These statements reflect a complete disconnect from what culture really is.
Culture should be guiding these initiatives, not taking a back seat. How you
approach a system upgrade should be influenced by your culture. It doesn’t
take a hefty budget to reorient your culture around serving customers.
Employee engagement is, by definition, a culture initiative.
One Chief Financial Officer told me his company wasn’t ready to focus
on culture because they were working on improving customer experience. He
told me his executive team didn’t see a clear connection between internal
culture and customer experience (what a customer thinks and feels about your
business). Of course, this link is critical since it’s the employees who design
and execute the factors that create customer experience.
Some customer service culture initiatives fail because they don’t have
the appropriate level of executive commitment. A 2015 Harvard Business
Review report revealed that 51 percent of customer-centricity initiatives are
led by someone who isn’t a senior executive.15 The same report found that 64
percent of these projects lack a dedicated team and budget.
One explanation for this is that many companies feel they’re already
customer-focused. A 2014 study by Execs in the Know and Digital Roots
showed that 88 percent of companies felt they were generally meeting the
needs and expectations of their customers.
Only 22 percent of customers felt the same way.16
Another explanation is that companies underestimate the level of time
and resources required to build a customer-focused culture. The CEO of one
organization delegated a culture initiative to a project team made up of
several mid-level managers. It’s okay to delegate work, but the CEO
completely removed himself from the loop. He assumed the team would keep
working on the project without his involvement.
Those project team members had other responsibilities as part of their
regular jobs. The CEO focused his communication with these managers on
their normal roles and largely ignored the culture project. The initiative
quickly took a back seat to day-to-day work, and ultimately stalled out
completely. Yet the CEO didn’t realize that it was his management that made
culture seem unimportant.
Some companies think they can change their culture just by sending
frontline employees to training. This rarely works. Training can help
employees develop knowledge, skills, or abilities, but while important, these
are only a few of the many factors that influence an employee’s actual
performance. An employee’s attitude, influence from their co-workers, and
direction from their leaders also play pivotal roles. Likewise, policies,
procedures, tools, and resources all impact an employee’s ability to serve
customers.
I once facilitated a training class for a small organization. It was
supposed to be an all-hands meeting, but when I arrived, I learned the
organization’s leaders had abruptly decided not to attend. Apparently, they
felt they had more important things to do.
Two employees approached me after the class. Both were near tears.
They told me that they had appreciated the training and learned a lot, but they
were concerned that none of it would make a difference. “The people that
really needed to be here were our bosses,” one of them said. “We really want
to serve our customers, but the leaders around here aren’t committed to it.”
This organization’s leaders sent a clear message to their employees that
day by skipping out on training that was mandatory for everyone else. They
demonstrated that they weren’t fully committed. They naively hoped the
training would somehow “fix” their employees when it was really their
leadership that needed fixing.
Culture isn’t a side project. It’s a way of doing business that should be
integrated into everything you do, and it needs unmistakable executive
sponsorship if it’s going to work. Building a strong culture takes time and full
commitment.
Chapters 5 through 10 are dedicated to providing step-by-step
instructions for aligning the most critical aspects of your business with your
culture.
WHY CULTURE INITIATIVES NEED A FULL COMMITMENT
A client invited me to attend her company’s quarterly employee meeting.
Employees gathered to hear updates from the CEO and other top executives
about financial performance, strategy, key initiatives, and other business
issues. The CEO kicked off the meeting by discussing the importance of the
company’s values.
This wasn’t unusual. The CEO talked about the company’s values all
the time. They represented the company’s way of doing business, and the
CEO wanted to emphasize their importance. The values described how they
wanted to treat their customers, each other, and even their vendors.
Culture wasn’t just the CEO’s pet project. Every executive at the
company regarded culture as a top priority. They used their culture to guide
all decisions, whether it was spending money, developing strategy, or training
employees. The company’s strategy gradually changed over the years as it
grew and became even more successful, but the CEO and his top executives
never wavered in their full and open commitment to supporting the
company’s culture. In their minds, it was the culture—above everything else
—that made the company successful.
Employees were constantly reminded of the corporate culture. It was
embedded in the recruiting process, new hire training, employee development
programs, and employees’ discussions with their managers. Alignment with
corporate culture was assessed during the performance evaluation process.
Culture was baked into policies, procedures, and job descriptions.
Culture was deliberately integrated into every aspect of the job.
The company’s service obsession paid off. Its customers were
consistently delighted, which led to greater loyalty and a lot of word of
mouth advertising. At the same time, its employees were highly engaged in
delivering the company’s unique brand of customer service. Even its vendors
embraced the company’s service culture and worked hard to provide the
company with superior value and service. All these factors combined to help
the company achieve a steady growth rate and financial returns well above
average.
Their culture emphasized the expectation that they constantly reinforce
the culture. They thought culture was important, acted to make it important,
and understood it was what helped make them successful.
Other organizations may see some short-term improvement, but find it
difficult to sustain a customer-focused culture over the long run.
The wireless communications company Sprint provides an excellent
example. The company had never really been known for outstanding
customer service, but it sunk to a new low in 2007. That year, it earned a 61
on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which put it well
behind its major competitors AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. The company
lost over 1,000,000 customers that year, including 1,000 customers whose
contracts were infamously terminated for making what the company deemed
to be an excessive number of customer service calls.17
Dan Hesse was hired as Sprint’s CEO in December 2007 to turn the
company around. He immediately set about re-focusing the company on
customer service. This included establishing a set of core values to guide
employee behavior, simplifying pricing plans to make them easier for
customers to understand, and making improved customer service a part of
every employee’s compensation plan. The initial results were promising, with
Sprint’s ACSI rating climbing from a low point of 56 in 2008 (just a few
months into Hesse’s tenure) to an industry-leading 72 in 2011.
Remaining at the top proved difficult as other distractions took the focus
away from service. In late 2010, Sprint announced a multi-year, $5 billion
plan to consolidate its existing network of three different wireless
technologies into a single platform.18 In 2012, SoftBank reached an
agreement to acquire Sprint by purchasing 70 percent of its stock. In 2013,
Sprint and rival T-Mobile began negotiating a merger that never materialized.
By 2014, Sprint’s ACSI rating declined down to 68, and its number of retail
wireless subscribers decreased 5.6 percent from 2012 to 2014. Hesse left the
company by the end of 2014.
A 2013 Towers Watson survey found that only 25 percent of corporate
change initiatives succeed.19 The few companies that do succeed at change
initiatives do so through culture. As the Towers Watson report points out,
“The best actively build a culture to support and drive behaviors aligned with
their business strategy.”
Building the right culture is simply too much work for most companies.
The few that break through work at it every day. They resist the urge to take
shortcuts, and they stick with the initiative for the long-term. These elite few
companies understand that culture isn’t easy, and they embrace that
challenge.
Are you ready for the challenge? Let’s go to Chapter 3 where we’ll start
the process.
NOTES:
10 Don Reisinger, “Another Apple Win: Retail Sales Per Square Foot,” CNET,
August 24, 2011. http://www.cnet.com/news/another-apple-win-retail-sales-per-
square-foot/.
11 “Retail Isn’t Broken. Stores Are,” Harvard Business Review, December 2011.
https://hbr.org/2011/12/retail-isnt-broken-stores-are.
12 Dana Mattioli, “For Penney’s Heralded Boss, the Shine Is Off the Apple,” Wall
Street Journal, February 24, 2013.
13 Dana Mattioli, “J.C. Penney Chief Thinks Different,” Wall Street Journal,
January 26, 2012.
14 Kim Bhasin, “Inside J.C. Penney: Widespread Fear, Anxiety, And Distrust Of
Ron Johnson And His New Management Team,” Business Insider, February 22, 2013.
http://www.businessinsider.com/inside-jcpenney-2013-2.
15 “Making Customer-Centric Strategies Take Hold.” Harvard Business Review
report, 2015.
16 “Supporting the Connected Consumer in a Multi-Channel Environment: A
Comprehensive Survey,” Customer Experience Management Benchmark Series, 2014
Corporate Edition, Execs In the Know and Digital Roots report, February 2015.
17 Tom Ryan, “Sprint Fires Customers,” Retail Wire. June, 2007.
https://www.retailwire.com/discussion/sprint-fires-customers/.
18 “Sprint Announces Network Vision – A Cutting-Edge Network Evolution Plan
With Partners Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Samsung,” Sprint, December 6, 2010.
http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-announces-network-vision-network-
evolution-plan.htm.
19 “Only One-Quarter of Employers Are Sustaining Gains From Change
Management Initiatives, Towers Watson Survey Finds,” Towers Watson, August 29,
2013. https://www.towerswatson.com/en/Press/2013/08/Only-One-Quarter-of-
Employers-Are-Sustaining-Gains-From-Change-Management.
REI’S CUSTOMER SERVICE SAVED CHERYL Strayed’s feet.
In Wild, her bestselling memoir, she chronicles her 1,100-mile solo hike
along the Pacific Crest Trail from California’s Mojave Desert to the Oregon
and Washington border. Halfway through her journey, Strayed developed
constant pain in her feet because her hiking boots were too small. She lost
four toenails from them rubbing against the toe boxes of her boots.
Replacing her hiking boots could have been a major problem. Strayed
was traveling through a remote part of the wilderness and only encountered
civilization every few days. Even then, “civilization” typically meant a
campground or small general store where it was unlikely they’d have hiking
boots for sale. Her journey took place in 1995, before you could readily order
hiking boots, camping equipment, or anything else on the Internet. In any
event, she didn’t have enough money to replace the pair she was wearing.
Outdoor gear and apparel retailer REI came to the rescue. Strayed had
purchased the boots from the retailer, and when a fellow hiker reminded her
of its satisfaction guarantee, she called the company to order a replacement
pair in a larger size. The customer service representative agreed to ship them
to her at no charge.
The timing was incredibly fortuitous. After contacting REI, Strayed still
had to hike in her old boots for several days, while her new boots were being
shipped to the next post office along the trail. One day, she took off her old
boots while resting and accidentally knocked one of them down the
mountainside. Since the remaining boot was useless by itself, in a fit of
frustration, she threw it down the mountain after the first one. Strayed was
forced to walk in camp sandals reinforced with duct tape for the next few
days, but she eventually received her new boots.
This wasn’t the only way REI’s customer service helped Strayed. She’d
never been backpacking before starting on her trip, so she relied on
knowledgeable associates at an REI store to help her get outfitted with the
appropriate equipment. Strayed described her encounters with REI employees
in her book: “Every last one of them could talk about gear, and with interest
and nuance, for a length of time that was so dumbfounding that I was
ultimately bedazzled by it.”20
In 2014, Wild was released as a major motion picture starring Reese
Witherspoon. The film stayed true to the story and highlighted REI’s role in
Strayed’s journey without the company having to pay any product placement
fees. It was terrific exposure for REI, introducing moviegoers to the
outstanding customer service that millions of its customers already knew so
well.
It’s too simplistic to credit REI’s success only to great products and
helpful associates. At the heart of all that REI does so well is a customer-
focused culture that helps people like Cheryl Strayed enjoy the outdoors.
HOW REI PROVIDES EMPLOYEES WITH A CLEAR VISION
One piece of equipment Strayed acquired at REI was a compass. She used it
to help find her way when the trail wasn’t clear.
REI employees have a different sort of compass. The REI mission
statement exemplifies a collective way of thinking that points employees in
the right direction when taking action to serve customers: We inspire, educate
and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship.
This mission is evident throughout the entire company. Associates are
knowledgeable about their products because they’re typically inspired to
explore the outdoors themselves. In fact, many loyal customers get part-time
jobs at REI because they want the employee discount.
REI educates its customers on how to safely tackle new adventures by
offering classes on a wide variety of topics such as hiking, climbing, and
kayaking. Policies—such as the 100 percent satisfaction guarantee—are
crafted to make it easy for people to get outfitted with the right equipment.
The company also invests a great deal of time and money into natural
conservation efforts as part of its commitment to environmental stewardship.
REI’s mission statement is an example of what I call a customer service
vision: a statement that clearly defines the quality of customer service
employees are expected to provide. The statement is the foundation upon
which a customer-focused culture is formed because it describes a collective
way for employees to think about their customers, act to provide outstanding
service, and understand how service enables the organization to succeed.
A customer service vision can take many forms. It might be the
company’s mission statement, like REI, or a customer service guarantee, like
Rackspace’s Fanatical Support Promise. It might be a corporate vision
statement, a set of company values, a customer service slogan, or an internal
guide for employees.
What’s important is that the customer service vision provides clarity on
how to serve customers.
Having a clear customer service vision is a common theme among
companies whose employees are obsessed with delivering outstanding
customer service. Here are just a few examples from companies with strong
customer-focused cultures that you’ll learn about later in this book:
Shake Shack (Chapter 5): Stand For Something Good
Publix (Chapter 7): Where Shopping Is a Pleasure
Safelite AutoGlass (Chapter 9): Achieve extraordinary results by
looking at our business through the eyes of our customers and
making it easy for them to do business with us and ensuring their
experience is memorable.
Note that these definitions are all different. Outstanding customer service at a
retail store that sells outdoor gear isn’t the same as that provided by a fast
casual restaurant, a grocery store, or a windshield repair company. There isn’t
one customer service vision that’s right for every organization. You need
something unique to your organization.
Perhaps you’re not the CEO or owner of a company, but that doesn’t
mean you can’t create a customer-focused culture within your own area of
responsibility. Business units, locations, and even individual teams can each
create their own customer service vision.
The Center for Sustainable Energy is a nonprofit organization that
facilitates clean energy projects for consumers, businesses, and governments.
One example is California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP). The State
of California provides a rebate for the purchase of zero-emission and plug-in
hybrid vehicles. The Center for Sustainable Energy administers the rebate
program on behalf of the state.
The customer service team that supports the CVRP has its own
customer service vision: Make it easy to join the clean vehicle movement.
This vision aligns with the organization’s overall mission statement:
Accelerating the transition to a sustainable world powered by clean energy.
Having a separate-but-aligned team vision gives the CVRP team specific
focus and direction about what they’re trying to do for their customers.
Jennifer Rey is the Senior Operations Manager overseeing the CVRP.
She uses the department’s vision statement to continuously emphasize the
importance of customer service with her team. It guides the way employees
interact with customers, how the application process is designed, and even
the design of the rebate application website. “It has to permeate through
everything that you do,” Rey explained.
One example of this is a video her team made to educate automotive
dealers on the clean vehicle rebate process. Customers often learn details
about the rebate program from the salesperson who sold them their vehicle,
so it’s important for salespeople to provide clear and accurate information.
The training video makes it easy for the CVRP team to deliver a consistent
message to the large network of dealers selling vehicles that qualify for a
rebate.
Culture needs to be clearly defined, whether it’s in a large company
with thousands of employees or a single team within a small nonprofit. As we
discussed in Chapter 2, employees can get lost if they don’t have a shared
customer service vision or the vision isn’t clear.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN THERE’S NO CLEAR VISION
Chances are that your company already has something that could be
considered a customer service vision. There might be a mission statement, a
list of core values, or a set of service standards. Perhaps your organization
has several of these. However, none of them define your company or team
culture unless employees can consistently point to one clear message that
guides how they serve customers.
One restaurant chain wanted to create a customer-focused culture, but it
gave its servers too much to think about. There was a mission statement, an
internal service slogan, a set of four service standards, and a 17-step service
procedure for serving every guest. All these elements pointed to outstanding
customer service, but each sent a slightly different message.
These elements can be called cultural artifacts. A cultural artifact is any
statement, symbol, or physical item that helps define an organization’s
culture. A challenge occurs when an organization has multiple cultural
artifacts that don’t provide a single direction.
The bevy of cultural artifacts at the restaurant chain created confusion
for the servers. Should they focus on the mission, which prioritized creating a
great guest experience? Or should they follow their 17-step service
procedure, which prioritized consistency and upselling?
I was asked to give a presentation about developing a customer-focused
culture at the company’s leadership retreat. The senior leadership team and
the chain’s store managers were all gathered in the room. I displayed a list of
all their cultural artifacts and asked, “Which of these is the most important?”
At first, there was silence. Nobody knew the answer because it was
something they’d never talked about. Until that moment, these leaders had
looked at each cultural artifact individually, but never all together. They
suddenly realized why servers were frequently confused about the best way
to serve their guests.
The CEO fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. It’s not easy being a leader
when your entire team suddenly sees a glaring blind spot in the corporate
strategy. But once that blind spot comes to light, it’s an important aspect of
leadership courage to acknowledge and address the issue head-on.
The CEO turned to the group and asked them to weigh in on which of
the cultural artifacts was the priority. As they talked, it became evident that
the mission statement resonated most strongly with the leadership team. The
group eventually determined that statement should serve as the customer
service vision, emphasized over everything else.
This meeting led to some important changes. The restaurant chain pared
down its 17-step service procedure to just 10 steps. It aligned the service
procedure with the mission statement so the two sent a consistent message.
And it integrated the service slogan and service standards into the service
procedure itself, so the servers had fewer cultural artifacts to keep in mind.
Many organizations have multiple cultural artifacts that have no real
meaning to employees. They have mission statements, vision statements,
corporate values, and brand slogans that send conflicting messages or are
written in such unclear language that employees don’t understand them.
Individual departments have their own service slogans and standards, and
these don’t always align with their corporate counterparts. Employees in
these organizations naturally became confused as to what’s really most
important.
A good customer service vision creates clarity, not confusion. It’s okay
to have multiple cultural artifacts, but they should all support a single
overarching customer service vision that serves as the primary definition of
your culture. Employees at all levels of the organization, from the CEO to the
front lines, need to have agreement on what their organization’s culture
stands for.
HOW TO CREATE A CUSTOMER SERVICE VISION
Many companies over-engineer the process of creating their customer service
vision. Expensive consultants are hired to spend months conducting research
and writing drafts before presenting their recommendations to senior leaders
at an executive retreat. The final product is inevitably so convoluted or out of
touch with reality that it fails to resonate with employees.
It doesn’t have to be that way. A simple, straightforward approach
usually works better. There are three steps to creating a customer service
vision. The first is gathering input from all stakeholders. The second is
writing the vision itself. The third step is validating the vision statement with
key stakeholders.
Let’s take a closer look at each.
STEP I: GATHER INPUT
Creating a customer service vision shouldn’t be an autocratic process driven
by a few executives. You want the vision to feel right to employees if it’s
going to guide their behavior. Therefore, you need to include them in the
process.
Here are examples of employee groups you might want to include:
If you’re creating a vision for a team or department, you might have a
different set to consider:
Employees on your team
Your boss
Key partners in other departments
Customers are the one group you shouldn’t consult in this process because
this is a future-focused exercise. This may seem counterintuitive, but
customers are notoriously bad at telling you what they want. You’ll get their
input later, when you ask for feedback on how well you’re executing the
customer service vision.
Once you’ve identified the stakeholder groups from whom you want
input, it’s time to gather data. Modern technology makes this easy. You can
use an online survey, an internal chat program, or even old-fashioned email.
Even large corporations use this process. In 2003, IBM rewrote its
corporate values by holding an online forum that gave every employee the
opportunity to contribute their perspective. An estimated 50,000 employees
participated from around the world, and the massive discussion generated
nearly 10,000 comments. The entire event took place over a span of just 72
hours.21
When I help my clients create a customer service vision, I usually
gather stakeholder input with an online survey. It’s a fast, easy, and
inexpensive way to gather data from a large group of people. I use Survey
Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com), but there are many other survey
programs available.
You can capture everyone’s input with just one open-ended question:
What would you like customers to think of when they think about the service
we provide?
The question allows participants to weigh in using their own words.
This approach provides a lot of unstructured data in the form of their
comments, but it’s actually very easy to analyze. I use a text analytics
program to create a word cloud, which is a visual depiction of the written
comments. The most commonly used words are large and bold, while
infrequently used words are less prominent.
Premium Survey Monkey users have access to a word cloud feature, but
http://www.surveymonkey.com
there are other free word-cloud programs available. One example is Wordle,
which allows you to create a word cloud in just a few minutes. You can see
some examples and create your own word cloud for free at www.wordle.net.
The word cloud provides a quick visualization of the organization’s
collective thinking around customer service. For example, when I worked
with the Center for Sustainable Energy to create its customer service vision,
the three most prominent words in its word cloud were friendly, like, and
helpful. When the group wrote its customer service vision, members of the
group discussed these words and why they were important. A consensus
quickly emerged: they wanted customers to picture the organization as a
friendly person who was so helpful that customers would actually like the
process of buying a clean vehicle. That discussion led to what became the
organization’s final vision statement: Make it easy to join the clean vehicle
movement. (You can see the team’s word cloud here: http://bit.ly/1PpxPSz.)
It’s also important to gather examples of existing cultural artifacts
relevant to customer service. This may include a company mission statement,
vision, values, customer service slogan, or service standards. These will be
helpful guides when it comes time to write the customer service vision. If
you’re writing a customer service vision for an individual team or
department, having these cultural artifacts handy will help you align what
you create with the organization’s overall culture. In some cases, such as the
restaurant chain I mentioned earlier, an existing artifact might be chosen to
become the customer service vision.
STEP 2: WRITING THE VISION
The next step in creating a customer service vision is to convene a meeting to
draft the statement.
You’ll accomplish two things in this meeting. The first is the actual
writing of the customer service vision; the second is clearly articulating what
the vision means through illustrative examples.
I’ve found through trial and error that the optimal group size for this
meeting is seven to 10 people. With more than that, it’s too hard to integrate
everyone’s opinion while you’re word-smithing; with fewer, you won’t
include enough perspectives.
The composition of the group is also important. It should include a
representative sample of all levels of the organization, including at least one
frontline customer service employee. This will help ensure that multiple
perspectives are represented. I’ve facilitated this exercise many times where a
frontline employee has made an important contribution that never would have
dawned on a mid-level or senior-level leader.
The meeting should last no more than two hours. This is enough time to
write the customer service vision statement while giving people just a little
bit of time pressure. Limiting the time causes people to go with their gut and
avoid overthinking. This is desirable for writing a customer service vision
because we want it to immediately resonate with employees when they read
it.
Figure 3.1 is a sample meeting agenda. You can download the agenda
from The Service Culture Handbook to help write your own vision by visiting
www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.
Figure 3.1 Customer Service Vision Writing Agenda
Time: 2 hours
1. Clarify objectives.
Write a customer service vision statement (share examples)
Identify illustrative examples
2. Review data.
Review survey data (i.e., word cloud)
Review existing cultural artifacts (mission, vision, etc.)
3. Draft vision.
1. Split into two teams
2. Each team drafts a vision statement (15 minutes)
3. Share drafts and compare
4. Edit down to one draft
5. Gut check with the group:
1. Is the customer service vision simple and easily
understood?
2. Is it focused on customers?
3. Does it reflect both who we are now and who we aspire
to be in the future?
http://www.serviceculturebook.com/tools
4. Capture examples.
Identify illustrative stories that exemplify employees living
the vision
The first step in the meeting is to clarify the purpose of the meeting: to write
a customer service vision statement and identify illustrative examples that
help explain what the vision means. Be sure to share a few examples of good
customer service vision statements from other companies, so participants
have an idea of what the end result should look like. (You can find examples
from REI, Shake Shack, Publix, and Safelite AutoGlass earlier in this
chapter, and more examples throughout the rest of this book.)
The second step is to review the data you’ve gathered. I typically do this
by sharing the word cloud representing all the survey results, plus any
existing cultural artifacts pertaining to customer service. We spend just a few
minutes as a group discussing our general impressions of the input. (To save
time, you may want to share this information with the group prior to the
meeting.)
The third step in the meeting is to draft the customer service vision
statement. Some organizations already have something that could pass for a
customer service vision statement; if you have something like this, start there.
As a group, compare the existing statement to the feedback collected to see if
it’s a match. If so, keep it. If it’s close, but not quite there, modify it. If the
existing artifact isn’t a great match, set it aside and start from scratch. (In my
experience, nine times out of ten the group decides to start from scratch.)
Writing even a simple statement is difficult when there are too many
opinions involved. To counteract this, divide the group into two teams of
three to five people. Give them 15 minutes to draft a vision statement
reflecting the input gathered from key stakeholders.
A good customer service vision statement follows these three
guidelines:
1. It’s simple and easily understood.
2. It’s focused on customers.
3. It reflects both who you are now and who you aspire to be in the
future.
Let’s pause for a moment and look once again at REI’s mission statement,
which is also its customer service vision. We inspire, educate and outfit for a
lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship. Notice how it fulfills the three
criteria: it’s simple and direct; it’s implicitly customer-focused, even though
the word “customer” isn’t mentioned; and it’s an accurate depiction of who
REI is now in addition to being an aspiration for the future.
Okay, let’s get back to the writing. Sometimes, groups will finish in less
than 15 minutes, but don’t let them go longer; time pressure sharpens their
thinking. Once both groups have finished, ask them to write their drafts on a
piece of flip chart paper or a white board so you can view both
simultaneously.
At this point, let the group take a short break: a five-minute pause lets
everyone clear their minds, use the restroom if needed, and refill their coffee
or water. Ask them not to work on the vision statement while they’re taking
their break; you want their subconscious brain to take over. Taking a short
break allows the participants’ strongest thoughts and feelings to percolate to
the surface, versus overthinking the process.
When you reconvene, try to reconcile the two team’s statements. One
way to start is by asking members of one team to describe what they like
about the other team’s statement. (This is a brainstorming exercise, so don’t
discuss what’s wrong with it!) Then the other team gets to describe what they
like about the first team’s statement.
Invariably, a few key themes emerge. Sometimes, it’s just a key word or
two that both groups feel are important. Help the groups combine the best
aspects of both drafts until you’re able to edit the two drafts down to one
clear, simple statement.
Then step back and do a final assessment to see if the statement
resonates.
You know you’ve achieved your goal if the entire group is excited that
the customer service vision accurately describes the type of service they’d
like to deliver.
You still have work to do if anyone is uncertain. Even a lone voice of
dissent can signal that something’s not quite right. I’ve often seen groups
discover a weakness in their vision statement because a single person played
the role of devil’s advocate. If this happens, keep making adjustments until
the vision statement clicks with the whole group.
The final step is to develop illustrative examples. These are anecdotes
that clearly define behaviors that are aligned with the customer service vision.
Later, when you share the vision with the entire organization (or team,
department, etc.), the examples will help individuals understand how they can
contribute. (We’ll cover that part of the process in Chapter 4.)
The examples should be true stories because focusing on what people
have already done helps anchor the authenticity of your vision statement. In
my experience, if the customer service vision statement is an accurate
reflection of the culture, the group never has difficulty coming up with
multiple examples.
STEP 3: VALIDATING THE VISION
The final step in the process is to validate the vision with key stakeholders.
This involves sharing that vision with people who weren’t part of the writing
process to get their reaction.
There are two important reasons for doing this. The first is that the
group that wrote the customer service vision statement is susceptible to group
think, a phenomenon where group members naturally start thinking alike in a
subconscious effort to preserve harmony. Validating the customer service
vision with a larger group of stakeholders helps ensure that it clearly
resonates with people who didn’t write it.
The second reason for getting a reaction from key stakeholders is that
these are the people who will help achieve buy-in from the rest of the
organization. For example, the vision needs enthusiastic support from senior
executives since their actions have a significant impact on organizational
culture.
Here are a few groups to consider for an organization-wide initiative:
You may also want to consult union leaders if your employees work under a
collective bargaining agreement.
There are multiple ways to engage stakeholders.
You can accomplish this via one-on-one or small group meetings,
especially with busy people like senior executives.
You can hold focus groups, town hall meetings, or department
meetings to share the customer service vision.
If your group is particularly large, you can use a survey to get
input from your stakeholders.
This process is much simpler if you’re creating a customer service vision for
a single team, department, or business unit. It’s easy to share the vision with
everyone on the team to get their reaction.
You’ll know whether your customer service vision is on target if it
receives enthusiastic support. Ideally, you want people to read the statement
for the first time and think “Yes! That’s us!”
A lukewarm reception generally means there’s something that doesn’t
fully click with employees, which does occasionally happen. If this happens
to you, take time to carefully consider the feedback you receive. Think about
what adjustments you can make to resolve their concerns. The solution is
often as simple as changing one or two words in the statement to get it just
right. In rare cases, you may need to reconvene the vision writing team to
produce another draft.
Once you’ve finalized your customer service vision, you’re ready to
share it with the entire organization (or team, department, etc.). This gives
everyone clear and consistent guidance on how your organization wants its
customers to be served. It will become the cornerstone of your customer-
focused culture.
We’ll cover how to do that in Chapter 4.
NOTES:
20 Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (New
York: Vintage Books, 2013).
21 Paul Hemp and Thomas Stewart, “Leading Change When Business Is Good,”
Harvard Business Review, December 2004. https://hbr.org/2004/12/leading-change-
when-business-is-good.
IN 2016, JETBLUE AIRWAYS WAS honored as the top-rated airline for the
12th consecutive year in global market research company J.D. Power’s North
American Airline rankings. The airline also led all airlines on the American
Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for the fourth straight year. This puts
JetBlue’s customer satisfaction ahead of even the iconic Southwest Airlines.
Leading a competitive industry in customer service for 12 straight years
is an astonishing feat. A company has to consistently do a lot right just to
lead the pack for one year, let alone for multiple years in a row.
JetBlue regularly does many things that delight its customers. For
instance, the airline offers the most legroom in its economy class of any
airline.22 Passengers can access free in-flight television and free internet on
most aircraft. JetBlue is also known for its friendly, caring, and helpful
employees, whose consistency in serving customers has helped cement its
reputation as a customer service leader.
It shouldn’t be surprising that JetBlue’s CEO, Robin Hayes, credits the
company’s culture for its success. “JetBlue’s distinctive culture is a key
competitive advantage. Our 18,000 crewmembers are highly engaged, proud
to work for JetBlue and provide outstanding customer service on a daily
basis. They truly Inspire Humanity.”23
JetBlue has numerous initiatives and programs aimed at helping its
employees engage with the culture. This tremendous level of engagement is a
big part of why JetBlue employees are so obsessed with consistently
delivering outstanding service—and why it earned a Top 10 ranking on
Forbes’s 2016 list of America’s Best Employers. “Our people are the heart of
the special culture that we cherish,” said Hayes. “Our customers feel that—
and it’s what they love about JetBlue.”24
HOW JETBLUE ENGAGES ITS EMPLOYEES
An engaged employee is someone who is purposefully contributing to
organizational success. This is more elusive than you might think.
Before employees can be engaged with providing outstanding customer
service, they must first understand the organization’s customer service vision
and how they can contribute. A 2013 study by the employee engagement
consulting firm BlessingWhite found that the number one employee
engagement driver was “greater clarity about what the organization needs me
to do—and why.”25
Employees also need to be committed to actually achieving the
company’s customer service vision. It’s not enough for them to merely
complete their assigned tasks; they must buy in to the company culture.
Engaged employees regularly look beyond their job description to see how
they can make a difference for their customers.
The company’s customer service vision consists of its mission
statement, Inspire Humanity, and its five core values: safety, caring, integrity,
passion, and fun. In a time when many airline passengers feel like livestock
being herded into an uncomfortable plane by gruff and uncaring employees,
JetBlue’s customer service vision emphasizes connecting with its customers
on a human-to-human level. The airline does much to ensure that its
employees, called crewmembers, understand the company’s customer service
vision and are committed to helping achieve it.
JetBlue is careful to hire people who reflect its culture. In 2015, the
company hired only five percent of the more than 140,000 people who
applied to work there. Job applicants learn about the JetBlue culture during
the screening process, and are selected in part for their compatibility with the
customer service vision.
Once they’re hired, the airline provides crewmembers with extensive
training to ensure that they understand the business and know what’s
expected. All JetBlue crewmembers attend a two-day orientation program
that introduces new hires to JetBlue’s culture and its core business strategies,
so they know right up front how they can contribute. Crewmembers also
receive specialized training for their individual role (flight attendant, gate
agent, etc.), as well as ongoing training that reinforces the importance of the
customer service vision and the company’s strategic priorities.
The company makes a concerted effort to seek input from crewmembers
on managing the business. Executive leaders visit JetBlue locations every
quarter to discuss business updates with crewmembers in person, and the
company conducts both annual and monthly engagement surveys to solicit
crewmember feedback on the quality of their working experience.
JetBlue also has six Values Committees that provide guidance on
workplace policies. Each Values Committee represents a different group of
employees (airport operations, flight attendants, pilots, etc.), and committees
are comprised of crewmembers elected by their peers. The committees
influence company policies, work with executive leadership to resolve
workplace challenges, and help support company culture.26
JetBlue’s individual leaders play a pivotal role in keeping crewmembers
engaged with the Inspire Humanity vision. Laurie Meacham, who leads
JetBlue’s Social Media, Customer Commitment, and Corporate Recovery
Specialist teams, provides a great example. Her teams assist passengers via
social media and email, and help resolve passenger complaints that require
coordination across multiple departments. She emphasizes the JetBlue culture
in nearly everything she does as a leader.
Her teams primarily work remotely out of home offices, but Meacham
keeps everyone connected through daily briefings. She also brings her teams
together once a quarter for a face-to-face meeting, so people can stay
connected on a more personal level while strengthening their commitment to
the culture.”It’s really important to have regular touch points,” said
Meacham. “If you don’t encourage touch points, you risk cultural drift.”
Crewmembers also acknowledge each other for outstanding service
through a peer-to-peer recognition program. “We like to give shout outs to
the team,” Meacham explained. Sharing frequent feedback helps
crewmembers take responsibility for maintaining the culture amongst their
colleagues.
Meacham encourages these interactions between crewmembers because
building relationships is a big part of JetBlue’s Inspire Humanity culture.
“It’s walking the talk,” said Meacham. “We need to do the same thing for our
crewmembers that we do for our customers.”
This translates to a company that’s known for connecting with its
customers. For example, some customers are such aviation enthusiasts that
they regularly track individual planes in JetBlue’s network. When a
passenger posted a picture of a particular plane on JetBlue’s Facebook page
and asked, “Why is this aircraft in San Salvador?” the crewmember who
responded knew the details would be important. The crewmember took the
time to research the answer, even contacting other departments, before
responding. These little details may seem trivial, but they’re hugely important
to the person who asked the question.
A highly-engaged workforce is a common theme among organizations
with customer-focused cultures. Rackspace employees call themselves
Rackers because they’re passionate about delivering Fanatical Service. REI
employees join the company because they’re active people who enjoy sharing
their enthusiasm for the outdoors with others. Employees at the Center for
Sustainable Energy tend to drive fuel efficient cars and carpool to work
because they’re personally committed to the organization’s mission.
Some organizations overlook the importance of employee engagement
because many of the people who serve their customers are not company
employees. A fast food chain might consist of independently-owned
franchises. A start-up consumer products company might outsource its
contact center. A furniture store might contract a delivery company to deliver
furniture to its customers.
Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire provides an excellent example of
how to engage employees who serve your customers, but don’t actually work
for your company. Their customer service vision is: To Create the
Friendliest, Cleanest & Most Enjoyable Fan Experience in Major League
Soccer. In sports, the outcome of a match has a big impact on the fan’s
experience, but there are other factors, too. Nicolette Trobaugh, the Fire’s
Director of Fan Services, says, “We really try to focus on every other aspect
of the game to make it the best experience possible.”
Most of the people who serve fans at a Chicago Fire match don’t
actually work for the soccer club. The concessions are run by a contractor
who uses a combination of employees and volunteers to serve guests. The
stadium itself is owned and managed by the Village of Bridgeview, the town
just outside Chicago where the stadium is located. Trobaugh has only a small
internal team of employees to help ensure everyone serving guests is
delivering a consistent experience.
One factor is making sure staff members are well informed so they can
quickly and accurately answer questions and offer assistance. On game days,
a member of Trobaugh’s team patrols the stadium and quizzes employees on
product knowledge, asking questions ranging from the Fire’s customer
service standards (called Fire Fundamentals) to specific information about
that day’s match. Employees who correctly answer five out of five questions
are given a special chip. Once an employee collects five chips, they can
redeem them for Fire merchandise.
The on-the-spot recognition element is key to this program’s success.
“Nobody likes to be quizzed,” says Trobaugh, “but people get competitive
when they know they can win a prize.” During the 2015 season, more than 50
employees were quizzed at each match with 99 percent of them answering
five out of five questions correctly.
Another way the Fire leverages informal communication to improve
service is through something called Spark Training. This is a short, pre-shift
training session that’s focused on helping a specific department (concessions,
parking, etc.) address a particular problem. Trobaugh and her team comb
through guest survey results to find trends they can address with Spark
Training. They use the training to help the vendor “spark” an immediate
improvement in that area.
Organizations like JetBlue and the Chicago Fire work hard to develop
an engaged workforce. Leaders in these companies understand their success
hinges on getting employees to understand and commit to the customer-
focused culture.
Numerous studies have linked employee engagement to a better-quality
of customer service. For example, Gallup’s 2013 State of the American
Workplace Report revealed that companies with highly-engaged employees
averaged customer satisfaction ratings that were 10 percent higher than
companies with a disengaged workforce.27
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON’T ENGAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES
A lack of employee engagement causes many problems. Companies struggle
to provide consistent service when there isn’t a shared customer service
vision. Employees are less likely to go the extra mile to serve a customer
when they aren’t committed to their organization’s success. And talented
people are more likely to leave a company when they don’t feel passionate
about the culture.
One organization embarked on an employee engagement initiative
designed to get employees to commit to the organization’s goal of being the
best in its industry. Unfortunately, a series of missteps by senior leaders led
to disengaged employees and declining service quality.
One problem was the overall approach. They hired a consulting firm to
conduct an employee engagement survey. Cross-functional committees were
then formed to study the survey results and recommend improvements to the
executive team. This became a bureaucratic process that dragged on for
months, with few changes ever being implemented. Even worse, employees
weren’t surveyed again until 18 months later to see if engagement had
improved. By then, many of the employees who had participated in the first
survey had left.
Meanwhile, the organization experienced massive budget cuts and
layoffs. An initiative designed to help the organization create a customer-
focused culture was put on hold and then cancelled due to lack of funding.
Employees were now being asked to achieve the same results with fewer
resources, and became frustrated and disillusioned with what they saw as
unreasonable expectations from senior leaders. Service quality declined as
experienced employees left the organization.
Organizations struggle to engage their employees with a customer-
focused culture for three reasons.
The first is that a customer service vision has not been clearly
delineated, or employees aren’t aware of it. Employees can’t make a
purposeful contribution if the organization hasn’t sufficiently defined success
and then shared that definition.
The second reason is that employees’ commitment hasn’t been secured.
Amazingly, many organizations aren’t even trying to engage their employees.
A 2015 study from the consulting firm Deloitte found that just 28 percent of
respondents agree that their organization had an up-to-date employee
engagement strategy.28
The third reason companies struggle with employee engagement is that
senior leaders themselves aren’t fully committed. Some companies just focus
on engaging new employees, which can result in the more tenured employees
becoming disengaged. A 2015 study by the employee engagement software
provider Quantum Workplace found that employees who have been on the
job for three to five years are 17 percent less engaged than employees who
are still in their first year with the company.29
Deloitte’s 2015 survey revealed that engaging employees with the
corporate culture was the most important human resources challenge faced by
organizations around the world. The same study found that less than half of
the participants felt their companies were ready to address the issue.
Many companies treat their employee engagement efforts like a side
project rather than an essential part of their business. A typical organization
approaches engagement by administering an organizational climate survey to
employees every 12 to 18 months. These surveys look at core drivers of job
satisfaction, but often don’t assess the two essential elements of engagement:
1. Does the employee understand the customer service vision?
2. Is the employee committed to helping achieve it?
Conducting a survey only every 12 to 18 months makes it difficult to enact
meaningful changes or assess the effectiveness of whatever improvements are
attempted. Most companies following this model appoint a committee to
study the results and make recommendations to the executive team. It
typically becomes a long, drawn-out bureaucratic process where few changes
or improvements are actually implemented.
Engaging employees isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires a lot of work
and commitment that many leaders aren’t prepared for. But if you’re up for it,
you can use the following step-by-step plan to get there.
HOW TO ENGAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES
There are three major steps to getting your employees to commit to a
customer-focused culture:
1. The initial roll-out of your customer service vision.
2. Reinforcing your vision.
3. Assessing employee engagement levels.
Each of these steps is essential to engaging employees, whether your focus is
on the entire workforce or an individual team within an organization.
STEP 1: ROLLING OUT YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE VISION
This step begins with the assumption that you’ve already created a customer
service vision that clearly defines the level of service your employees are
expected to provide. You can’t engage your employees without this
unambiguous statement of purpose, so it’s an important starting point.
(You’ll find a step-by-step guide for creating a customer service vision in
Chapter 3.)
With your vision in place, the first step to getting your employees to
commit to it is to develop a communication plan for introducing it to the
entire organization (or individual team, department, or location if that’s the
scope of your initiative). Start by creating a goal for developing this plan, and
then work backwards to determine how you can accomplish it.
Your communication goal should be to ensure that all employees can
answer three specific questions about the customer service vision:
1. What is it?
2. What does it mean?
3. How do I personally contribute?
You should, of course, know the answers to these questions yourself before
designing your communication plan. If you haven’t done this already, now is
a good time to create an answer key. The answer key should outline the types
of answers you’d expect to see, rather than required verbatim responses. It’s
actually best if employees answer these questions in their own words; this
isn’t an exercise in memorization. What’s important is that employees
understand the customer service vision and know how to use it to guide their
performance.
Creating an answer key for the third question can be tricky because
employees in different roles, departments, or locations generally make
different contributions to customer service. For example, imagine a restaurant
that strives to provide a comfortable, family-friendly experience for guests.
The hosts might say they contribute by making families feel welcome. The
servers might say they ensure families have an enjoyable experience during
their meal. Bussers might say they keep tables clean and glasses filled so
families remain comfortable. The cooks might say they prepare delicious
meals so families enjoy dining out without having to wait too long. All of
these answers tie back to an overarching theme, but in each instance, they’re
also tied to the employee’s specific role.
Once you’ve created your answer key, identify a communication plan to
ensure employees know the answers. There’s no single best way to
communicate your customer service vision. Your specific plan will depend
on how many employees you need to reach, where they’re located, and what
communication systems your company already has in place. There are many
ways to do this, but here are a few examples:
Have the CEO announce the customer service vision in a
company-wide communication.
Leverage existing communication vehicles, such as internal chat
programs, email, employee newsletters, bulletin boards, and
intranet sites.
Produce a short video that explains the customer service vision.
(You can see a great example from Rackspace here:
https://youtu.be/WhhpzZWXBk8)
Create signs, posters, and job aids to distribute to various parts of
the company.
Develop a short training program to introduce the customer
service vision to employees.
Conduct a train-the-trainer session for organizational leaders, so
they’ll know how to introduce the customer service vision to their
teams in a consistent way.
Ask team leaders to meet with their employees as a team or one-
on-one to discuss the customer service vision.
A good communication plan includes both variety and repetition.
You want to communicate through a variety of methods so you capture
your audience’s attention and they don’t tune you out. And you should repeat
the same message through each of those communication methods because
repetition is the key to anchoring new ideas into long-term memory.
You can download a communication plan worksheet at
www.serviceculturebook.com/tools. Figure 4.1 is a sample communication
plan from a mid-sized software company I worked with.
Figure 4.1: Customer Service Vision Communication Plan
Phase One: Announcement
http://www.serviceculturebook.com/tools
A. Share the customer service vision via company-wide
communication from the CEO
B. Reinforce the vision via messaging from the corporate
communications department
C. Display the vision on signage and posters at all company locations
Phase Two: Initial Training
D. Hold town hall-style kick-off meetings at each location to discuss
the vision
E. Create one-page job aids to distribute to all employees
F. Provide employees with mugs, t-shirts, and other items to support
the vision
Phase Three: In-Depth Training
G. Integrate the customer service vision into existing customer
service training programs
H. Have managers follow up with employees after the training to
observe them using the vision to guide their daily work
I. Integrate the vision into an existing employee feedback form used
by managers to coach employees on their performance
The communication plan helped ensure all the software company’s
employees understood the customer service vision and how they contributed.
This translated to higher engagement levels, where employees understood
what made the company successful and took the initiative to solve pressing
customer service challenges on their own without prompting from their
managers.
STEP 2: REINFORCING THE CULTURE
Many customer-focus initiatives fail when there’s a big rollout with a lot of
fanfare but no plan to sustain it. Slowly but surely the initiative fades from
employees’ memories as they’re consumed with daily tasks and work
assignments.
The way to avoid this problem is by continuously reinforcing the culture
with employees long after the initial rollout, consistently reminding them of
the customer service vision and fostering employee commitment.
Just like the rollout communication plan, there’s no one-size-fits-all
solution. The size of your organization, your existing culture, and whether
you’re engaging an entire company or an individual team all have an impact
on how you approach ongoing reinforcement. What matters is that you create
reinforcement programs that are right for your situation.
For example, let’s recap some of the ways JetBlue reinforces its
customer-focused culture with crewmembers:
Reinforcement messages from the CEO in corporate
communications.
Quarterly in-person business updates from executive leaders.
Values Committees that support and reinforce the culture.
A peer-to-peer program where crewmembers recognize their co-
workers.
Leaders like Laurie Meacham who model the culture on a daily
basis.
Companies with highly-engaged employees often use the performance
evaluation process to reinforce the culture. Employees receive feedback on
behaviors that align with the culture, as well as suggestions for improvement.
In some organizations, the performance review process helps ensure
employees are championing the culture before they can be considered for a
promotion.
No matter how much coaching, training, or feedback they get, there are
still some employees who can’t or won’t fit in. Keeping these employees in
the organization can be toxic, since it sends an implicit signal to others that
these employees’ actions are acceptable. Also, sometimes employees who
don’t fit in actively attempt to persuade other employees to undermine the
culture, as well. In this case, it’s imperative to act quickly to terminate these
employees.
This is a true test for many organizations. Some customer service
leaders are willing to overlook an employee who doesn’t fit with the culture,
as long as they’re productive. Other leaders just don’t have the heart to let
someone go, even if their presence is hurting the performance of other
employees or causing good employees to leave the organization. But
companies with highly-engaged employees actively work to remove
employees who can’t or won’t fit with their culture.
Letting an employee go doesn’t have to be heartless. One of my favorite
examples involved a manager named Mike. He was a productive employee
who just couldn’t fit in with his company’s culture. His boss finally reached a
point where it was time to cut Mike loose.
The Human Resources Director at the company knew Mike had the
potential to be a good employee, so he called a colleague at another company
in town where he thought Mike would be a better fit. The HR Director
arranged for Mike to have an interview at the other company later that day.
When Mike was called in to meet with his boss and the HR Director, he was
informed that he was being let go, but he was also told about the interview.
Mike ended up getting the job at the new company, where he became a
terrific employee who was a good fit with that company’s culture.
STEP 3: ASSESSING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
It’s critical that you periodically assess employee engagement. The purpose
of the assessment should be to evaluate existing levels of employee
engagement and identify opportunities to make things even better. The
stronger your employees’ understanding of the customer service vision, and
the stronger their commitment to helping achieve it, the stronger your culture
will be.
Many people instantly think of an annual employee engagement survey,
but there are other options to consider. One alternative is to use the
performance review process to assess engagement, since engagement and
performance are both measures of contributions to organizational success.
This helps you identify individuals and teams whose contributions to the
culture are flagging, and initiate honest dialogue with these people to
understand the reasons why.
One of my clients provided its managers with leadership training to help
them become more comfortable with having these performance discussions
on a regular basis. Individual contributors were also trained in a parallel
program, so they could do a better job of handling their end of the feedback
discussion with their manager. My client then hired me to facilitate meetings
with each of its locations and departments to help managers and their
employees establish team norms for engaging in an ongoing performance
dialogue. As you might have guessed, these discussions were all centered on
reinforcing the company’s culture.
Another option is to rely on direct, informal dialogues with employees.
This approach works particularly well in smaller organizations or on
individual teams. For example, you might have regular conversations with
employees to assess whether or not they have clarity on those three essential
questions:
1. What is the customer service vision?
2. What does the customer service vision mean?
3. How do I personally contribute to the customer service vision?
Nicolette Trobaugh and her Fan Experience team at the Chicago Fire used a
version of this approach with their match day quizzes. Coming up with a fun
way to spot check employees’ knowledge of their customer service
expectations helped generate enthusiasm for the fan-focused culture.
Here are a few suggestions if you decide to conduct an employee
engagement survey. First and foremost, I suggest measuring employee
engagement more than once per year. Imagine measuring anything else that’s
important to the business just once a year! How could you manage your
budget if you only looked at your finances annually? Similarly, how can you
improve customer service if you only ask for feedback on customer service
levels once every twelve months?
The problem is that a survey is just a snapshot in time. Employee
engagement survey results are primarily impacted by an employee’s most
recent experiences. That means a positive or negative experience shortly
before the survey is launched has a disproportionate effect on the results.
There’s even a joke among some managers that the best way to boost your
employee engagement scores is to throw a pizza party for your team right
before the annual survey goes out. A few managers I know have actually held
off on disciplinary action with employees until after the engagement survey
to avoid getting a low score from a potentially disgruntled team member.
The other problem with only doing an annual survey is that if you
implement any changes as a result of the feedback, you won’t know if they’re
effective until a year later. That’s too long to make the survey a meaningful
measurement, since so many other changes will happen during that time. The
economy could rise or fall, the company could launch a new product or close
down a division, or a wave of new employees could join the company.
Variables such as these make it difficult to compare survey results from year
to year.
An alternative for larger companies is to divide your employee base into
12 random groups and survey one group every month. This provides a
monthly snapshot of employee engagement while surveying each employee
only once per year. Or you can survey all employees once per year, but
conduct short check-in surveys with sample groups of employees once per
month.
However you choose to do it, getting engagement data more frequently
than once a year will help you be more responsive to workplace climate
issues, since you’ll be able to compare your progress from month to month.
This may seem like a lot of work, but we’re actually just getting started.
Engaged employees will only stay engaged if they perceive their company
truly believes in the customer service vision. They want to see the
organization and its leaders walk the talk. That’s difficult to do on a
consistent basis, but we’ll lay out a plan for making it happen in Part 3.
NOTES:
22 Most legroom in coach claim,” JetBlue, December 21, 2016.
http://www.jetblue.com/travel/planes/.
23 JetBlue, “Hayes’s letter to shareholders” (excerpt), JetBlue 2015 Annual Report.
24 “JetBlue Named Top 10 Place to Work in Forbes’ ‘America’s Best Employers
of 2016’ List,” JetBlue, March 23, 2016.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160323006015/en/JetBlue-Named-Top-
10-Place-Work-Forbes’.
25 BlessingWhite, Employee Engagement Research Report 2013, 2013.
26 JetBlue, Business, Social, and Environmental Sustainability, 2015.
https://www.jetblue.com/p/JetBlueResponsibilityReport2015 .
27 Gallup, Inc., 2013 State of The American Workplace, 2013.
http://employeeengagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Gallup-2013-State-of-
the-American-Workplace-Report .
28 Dan Brown, Sonny Chheng, Veronica Melian, Kathy Parker, and Marc Solow,
“Global Human Capital Trends 2015,” Deloitte University Press, February 2015.
29 Quantum Workplace, 2015 Employee Engagement Trends Report, 2015.
Aligning Your Business Around a Customer-Focused
Culture
SHAKE SHACK IS A NEW York City institution. It originated in 2001 as a
temporary hot dog cart in Madison Square Park to help fund the park’s
revitalization. The cart became an instant hit, drawing huge crowds and long
lines when the weather was nice.
In 2004, the city decided to replace the hot dog cart and install a
permanent food kiosk in the park. Restaurateur Danny Meyers’s Union
Square Hospitality Group had been running the hot dog cart even though his
company was best known for its fine dining restaurants, including the Union
Square Café and Gramercy Tavern. The company decided to bring its fine
dining expertise to a reimagined version of a roadside burger stand, which led
to the opening of the first Shake Shack, a fast casual restaurant selling
burgers, hot dogs, fries, and frozen custard.
Today, Shake Shack’s popularity is stunning. At this writing, there are
eight locations in New York City alone, and a total of 19 in New York State.
The lines are so famously long at its original Madison Square Park location
that the company installed a Shack Cam so people could go online and judge
the size of the crowd before deciding whether to head over. In 2015, the Wall
Street Journal published an article outlining the optimal times to get in the
Shake Shack line at Citi Field when attending a New York Mets baseball
game. Many tourists who come to New York include Shake Shack on their
“must visit” list.
The chain’s popularity is also growing outside New York City. By
2016, Shake Shack had locations in 14 states, the District of Columbia, and a
growing list of international restaurants in cities such as London, Istanbul,
Dubai, Moscow, and Tokyo.
The company has won a string of accolades as it’s grown. It was named
one of the 25 Most Innovative Consumer and Retail Brands in 2014 by
Entrepreneur.com. And in 2015, Shake Shack won the Wisetail Award,
which recognizes innovators in Learning and Development, for its employee
engagement.
People flock to Shake Shack because of its outstanding food and for the
experience. Employees are friendly, outgoing, and well trained. Despite the
huge crowds, they’re attentive to their customers and keep their restaurants
clean. In some strange way, many people feel that waiting in line at Shack
Shake along with all the other enthusiastic customers is part of the fun.
The company went public in 2015. Its first annual report highlighted the
customer-focused culture as its top competitive strength: “We believe that the
culture of our team is the single most important factor in our success.”30
HOW SHAKE SHACK ALIGNS EVERYTHING AROUND CULTURE
Shake Shack’s customer service vision is Stand For Something Good. This
vision stretches beyond the high level of customer service it tries to deliver:
it’s a strategic guide for managing the entire company.
Shake Shack aligns key operational decisions around its customer
service vision, ensuring that everything it does reinforces the culture. You
can see this alignment in five key areas:
1. Goals
2. Hiring
3. Training
4. Empowerment
5. Leadership
Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
Goals
The company has a goal of adding 10 new domestic company-operated Shake
Shacks per year. Given its popularity, it could easily grow at a much faster
http://Entrepreneur.com
rate. However, the operation has limited its growth rate to ensure it can
maintain focus on its Stand For Something Good culture. It’s concerned that
growing too rapidly could compromise the supply chain, food quality, hiring,
training, site selection, or other factors that give the chain its unique identity.
Every Shake Shack employee is given a stake in the company’s success
through a revenue-sharing program paying one percent of top line revenue on
a monthly basis. The program, called Shack Bucks, adds two dollars per hour
to the average employee’s paycheck.31 The Shack Bucks program helps
every employee stay focused on the company’s overall success.
Hiring
Shake Shack hires employees who embrace its customer service vision. The
company looks for what they call “51%’ers”: people who are warm, friendly,
motivated, caring, self-aware, and intellectually curious.32 The idea is to hire
for fit with the company’s culture and then train employees on the technical
skills required to do their jobs. This hiring practice helps reinforce the culture
because new employees are already known to be a good fit.
The company has a web page that offers extensive information about its
culture, core values, and what it’s like to work at Shake Shack. This makes it
easy for prospective hires to understand exactly what type of person the
company is looking for.
Training
Shake Shack employees receive extensive training, and the first priority for
every new hire is to learn about the company’s culture. Employees are taught
how to incorporate the company’s five core values into their daily work. Of
course, they also receive training on customer service, the Shake Shack
menu, their individual jobs, and food safety.
Shake Shack has a promote-from-within philosophy focused on
developing employees into future leaders who can help others follow its
customer service vision. The company cross-trains employees to help them
learn a variety of skills, and publishes a career ladder showing how they can
advance to higher positions within the company. Leadership training is also
available to help employees develop the skills necessary to move into
management positions.
Empowerment
Employees are empowered to go beyond their normal routine to delight their
customers. The company’s CEO, Randy Garutti, described the company’s
empowerment philosophy to a group of new employees before a store
opening: “Put us out of business because you are so damn generous with
what you give the people who walk in this door. If there’s a kid crying, who’s
going to walk over with a free cup of custard? I challenge you to put us out of
business with how generous you are. Go do it. Give away free stuff.”33
Empowerment involves more than just giving employees the authority
to go above and beyond to serve customers. It also includes processes
carefully designed to make it easy for Shake Shack’s employees consistently
fulfill the vision. Employees receive detailed instructions on best practices for
completing daily tasks, such as food preparation, maintaining restaurant
cleanliness, and serving guests. These processes prioritize quality over speed.
For example, Shake Shack’s burgers are cooked following a highly detailed
procedure that takes far more time and effort than a typical fast casual
restaurant. It’s designed to create the unique flavor that customers love.
Leadership
Finally, Shake Shack’s leaders are fully committed to its vision. Senior
management uses Stand For Something Good to guide all their decisions. The
company provides extensive leadership training so its store-level leaders
know how to use the vision as their guide. Garutti visits multiple locations
every week to reinforce the company’s vision with store managers and
employees. Managers meet with their employees daily to review goals and
discuss opportunities for continued improvement.
Aligning all of these actions around Shake Shack’s Stand For
Something Good vision enables the company to consistently reinforce the
culture. The company even works with external stakeholders, such as
suppliers, to help them understand the customer service vision so they can
operate under the same guidelines when doing business with Shake Shack.
This alignment is the secret to its ability to consistently impress its customers
in a way that bedevils most other companies.
The other customer-service-obsessed companies profiled in this book
follow a similar blueprint. Rackspace hires people who can embrace giving
Fanatical Support and then empowers those employees to consistently go
above and beyond. Bright House Networks, a cable company you’ll meet in
Chapter 9, designed a new process to make it easier for customer service reps
to make judgment calls on giving account credit, and then tasked its
managers with coaching reps to ensure those judgment calls consistently
align with the vision. Zendesk, a software company you’ll meet in Chapter
12, created a customer service vision, and then its senior leaders aligned the
organization’s management philosophy around those values.
Culture at these companies is constantly reinforced by aligning multiple
operational facets around the specific customer service vision. This process is
so rigorous in customer-focused companies that it becomes embedded in the
organizational DNA, making service a fundamental part of how employees at
these companies think, act, and understand the world around them.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOUR BUSINESS AND CULTURE AREN’T
ALIGNED
Alignment can support and reinforce an organization’s culture, but a lack of
alignment can undermine any culture-building efforts. It’s not enough to
develop a clear customer service vision and communicate that vision to
employees. The vision only becomes real if it matches what people are
actually doing. This means it must be constantly reinforced within
employees’ daily work.
Let’s look back at the Comcast account cancellation example from
Chapter 1 to see how misalignment contributed to that company’s dismal
customer service reputation. If you recall, a Comcast customer named Ryan
Block had such a difficult time trying to cancel his account that he started
recording the call halfway through. Block posted the recording online and it
quickly went viral.
We can start by assuming that Comcast doesn’t actually provide poor
customer service on purpose. After all, its public apology to Block described
this situation as an unusual occurrence:
“While the overwhelming majority of our employees work very
hard to do the right thing every day, we are using this very
unfortunate experience to reinforce how important it is to always
treat our customers with the utmost respect.”
However, Comcast’s core business processes in the summer of 2014 were
misaligned with this notion of always treating customers with the utmost
respect. You can see this in a strategy that prioritizes short-term revenue over
long-term customer satisfaction. That’s why the company hired Retention
Specialists whose goal is to keep customers from canceling. These Retention
Specialists have goals and incentives for preventing cancellations, not for
keeping customers happy. They receive extensive training on overcoming
objections and preventing cancellations, not for how they can make the
cancellation process as easy as possible.
The account cancellation process itself was intentionally designed to
make canceling an account difficult. Customers are required to call, even
though they can handle many other transactions through the company’s
online self-service function. When a customer got a Retention Specialist on
the phone, that employee wasn’t empowered to deviate from a process
carefully designed to block cancellation attempts. Respect for the customer’s
time was outweighed by the company’s goal to secure short-term revenue.
Finally, Comcast’s leaders reinforced the notion that capturing short-
term revenue was more important than customer satisfaction. They evaluated
employees based upon their retention statistics, not their service quality.
Bonus programs were implemented to reward employees for talking
customers out of canceling, and employees could actually lose money if they
weren’t successful.
All those things pointed employees toward stonewalling customers who
tried to cancel. An employee who politely canceled a customer’s account
without hesitation would have been violating Comcast policy.
Clearly, the company’s operations were misaligned with the notion of
providing outstanding service.
Comcast is an easy target for this discussion because so many parts of
its operation have been directly opposed to serving customers. Other
companies may have a few business practices pointed towards a customer-
focused culture, but employees still receive confusing messages because the
organization isn’t fully aligned.
One example happens when managers set a target score for a customer
satisfaction survey, and then become fixated on achieving the goal without
regard for how it’s achieved. They implement incentives to encourage
employees to achieve high scores or threaten to punish employees with write-
ups or termination if their scores fall below a certain level. This has the effect
of encouraging employees to manipulate customers into giving them a good
survey score rather than using the survey for its intended purpose of
gathering constructive customer feedback.
Getting too focused on achieving a goal without understanding its
connection to the customer service vision is just one of the potential problems
caused by misalignment. Companies routinely hire employees who are a poor
fit for their culture because leaders are anxious to fill positions at a low cost.
New employees in many companies are given little to no customer service
training, so they can’t possibly know how to fit in with the company culture
or live up to the customer service vision. Processes are frequently designed to
control and standardize behavior rather than empowering employees to
delight their customers. And leaders in many companies spend shockingly
little time coaching and training their teams to reinforce the customer service
culture.
Another misalignment occurs when different departments within an
organization fail to embrace the same customer service vision. This
inevitably causes inconsistent service and harms the company’s reputation.
Customer service channel management provides an excellent example.
A customer service channel refers to the method a customer uses to contact a
company for customer service. Customers typically have multiple channel
options when contacting a company, such as the phone, email, a self-service
website, or one of several social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. A
customer might also be able to visit one of the company’s physical locations
to try to resolve the problem in person.
In many companies, misalignment occurs because these various
channels are managed by different departments. Phone and email could be
operated by a contact center, the website might be run by the marketing
department, and social media by the company’s communications department.
The physical locations could be managed by another department known as
retail operations. If these departments approach customer service differently,
they create an uneven experience for the customer—and that hurts the
company’s brand.
One side effect happens when companies inadvertently encourage
customers to air their grievances on Twitter. A 2016 study by Execs in the
Know, a customer experience networking organization, found that social
media was solely managed by the Marketing or PR function in 46 percent of
companies, with no involvement by the customer service department. The
managers in these departments are often more empowered to resolve issues
than their counterparts answering phone calls, emails, or other contacts.34
This means that angry customers who vent their frustration on Twitter
about a go-nowhere customer service call often get a fast response and a swift
resolution. Many customer service leaders tell me social media complaints
get higher priority than complaints submitted via other channels. Since these
complaints are public, corporate executives worry about a negative image. As
a result, customers soon realize that they can complain via Twitter any time
they need assistance.
This kind of misalignment can create mistrust among employees.
People in one department might blame another team for poor service, and
vice versa. These issues rarely get fixed, and instead are allowed to continue.
A 2016 study by my consulting firm, Toister Performance Solutions, revealed
that 36 percent of contact center employees facing a severe risk of burnout at
work felt their coworkers did not deliver outstanding customer service.35
You can see from these examples that alignment is at fault when a
company espouses a certain brand of customer service while employees act in
a completely different way.
HOW TO CHECK YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE ALIGNMENT
Chapters 6 through 10 detail how to align the five operational cornerstones of
a customer-focused culture: goals, hiring, training, empowerment, and
leadership. Each chapter focuses on a specific concept and provides step-by-
step guidance for aligning that concept with your customer service vision.
For now, a good starting point is to check your organization’s overall
alignment using a short assessment. It’s a quick way to determine areas of
strength and identify opportunities for improvement. I’ve listed the five
assessment questions below, or you can download a copy at
www.serviceculturebook.com/tools. (You can also use this tool to assess the
alignment of an individual team within your organization.)
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Having a customer service vision is a prerequisite for completing this.
You can’t gauge your company’s cultural alignment unless you have
something with which you’re trying to align. If you haven’t done this yet, I
suggest revisiting Chapter 3 for step-by-step instructions on creating your
vision.
Start by rating your organization on the five statements contained in the
assessment. Use a scale of 1 (Almost Never) to 5 (Almost Always). Be
brutally honest about your scores, since an artificially high score will only
hide opportunities for improvement.
1. We set business goals that represent progress toward our customer
service vision.
2. We hire employees who are passionate about our customer service
vision.
3. Employees are given sufficient training to teach them how to
deliver service that fits our customer service vision.
4. Employees are empowered with the authority, resources, and
work procedures they need to fulfill our customer service vision.
5. Organizational leaders reinforce our customer service vision with
their employees on a daily basis.
Tally up your scores to get your total. This gives you a summary alignment
score for your organization or team. Compare your total score to the
alignment key below.
Alignment Key:
A score of 20 to 25 indicates alignment. Your organization is
well positioned to deliver outstanding customer service.
A score of 15 to 19 indicates partial alignment. Many aspects of
the organization are aligned with your culture, but there are some
areas for improvement.
A score of 14 or less indicates misalignment. Your
organization’s lack of alignment may be causing poor customer
service. There are significant areas for improvement.
Looking at your overall score as well as the individual ratings for each
category, try to identify areas where you feel your organization or team is
aligned—and also look for specific areas where there can be improvement.
The categories are there to be helpful, but don’t get too hung up on
where your organization falls. This assessment is meant to be more of a
conversation starter than a definitive analysis of your organization’s
alignment.
It’s interesting to complete this assessment for multiple departments to
see how they compare. Start by assessing your organization as a whole. Next,
complete the same assessment for individual departments that have direct or
indirect customer contact. Compare the results to see if some teams are more
aligned than others.
Now you’re ready to read the following chapters, which give you step-
by-step instructions for each of the five cornerstones of a customer-focused
culture.
NOTES:
30 Shake Shack, 2014 Annual Report
31 Rob Brunner, “Shake Shack leads the better burger revolution,” Fast Company,
June 2015. http://www.fastcompany.com/3046753/shake-shack-leads-the-better-
burger-revolution.
32 Shake Shack, 2014 Annual Report.
33 Rob Brunner, “Shake Shack leads the better burger revolution,” Fast Company,
June 2015. http://www.fastcompany.com/3046753/shake-shack-leads-the-better-
burger-revolution.
34 Execs In The Know, The Corporate Perspective: Exploring Multi-Channel
Customer Care, Customer Experience Management Benchmark Series, February
2016.
35 Jeff Toister, “How to Battle Agent Burnout.” Toister Performance Solutions
white paper, 2016: www.toistersolutions.com/burnout.
SHOPPING FOR A CAR CAN be a daunting task. There is an overwhelming
number of makes and models to choose from, and it’s hard to know if you’re
getting a good deal. That’s why many car buyers use an independent review
site like Cars.com.
Cars.com helps consumers research new and used vehicles and find the
make and model that best fits their needs. They can use the site to get pricing
information and check to see if dealers in their area have the car or truck they
want in stock. Customers also use the website to search for reputable
mechanics.
Cars.com has built a reputation for outstanding customer service. In
2015, it was ranked as the top automotive review site for the third straight
year.36 The company has an industry-leading 85 percent customer
satisfaction rating for its phone support. And its contact center won the
International Customer Management Institute’s 2014 award for best customer
care team in the small-to medium-sized contact center category.
Like other organizations profiled in this book, employees at Cars.com
are obsessed with serving their customers. Cars.com’s parent company,
TEGNA, Inc., defines its customer service vision this way: Empowering the
people we serve to act with conviction and navigate their world successfully.
That’s exactly what its employees try to do for people who are purchasing a
new vehicle. They try to take a complicated and important purchasing
decision and give people the information and tools they need to act with
confidence.
There’s one aspect of building a customer-focused culture where Cars.
com particularly excels: getting employees to buy into its culture by using
goals and metrics to drive behavior.
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HOW CARS.COM USES GOALS TO DRIVE ITS CULTURE
Cars.com measures customer satisfaction, or CSAT, via customer surveys.
Like many companies, Cars.com’s leaders set CSAT goals in an effort to
motivate employees to go the extra mile to help improve service quality.
What makes Cars.com different from most organizations is how they connect
CSAT goals and other metrics to their customer service vision.
Heather Rattin, the company’s Vice President of Operations, runs the
customer care team. She and her team use their survey data to continuously
refine the customer experience and make it easier for car buyers to use their
site. Rattin is careful to avoid fixating on a target CSAT score. Instead, her
goal is to make it as easy as possible for consumers to use the company’s site,
so Cars.com becomes their preferred source for car-buying information.
CSAT survey data alone doesn’t always provide all the answers. Rattin
and her team create a story by combining this data with other information,
such as the volume of customer service inquiries, the specific reasons people
contact customer care, and comments on individual surveys. “We use this
data to catch trends with individual employees, but also with our products,”
she explains. For instance, her team was able to use customer comments from
surveys with low scores to identify and fix a user interface issue on its
website that hadn’t been discovered in testing.
Rattin also looks to her employees to help improve the product and
customer support processes by sharing their feedback. For instance, “We look
at what confuses new hires in training, because they’re coming at it from a
fresh perspective,” Rattin says. At the end of each week of training, the
trainer conducts a roundtable discussion with new hires to discuss things they
think could be improved. Their suggestions and ideas are then shared with the
company’s training team and senior management for consideration.
The customer care team at Cars.com also uses an internal
communication platform, called Chatter, to share ideas for improving service.
Employees are asked to answer two questions when contributing their ideas.
First, why is this better for the customer? And second, why is it better for the
customer care agent? Rattin believes that understanding why things are done
a certain way helps employees become more committed to a process, even if
it requires a little extra effort. It’s easier for them to suggest actionable ideas
for improvement because they understand how a process or procedure fits
into the big picture.
The company has also encouraged employee feedback by helping its
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managers get better at listening. According to Rattin, “A lot of our focus has
been on training managers and team leads to listen carefully to their
employees and get to the heart of issues.”
As an example, managers discuss customer service survey data with
their employees on a daily basis. Rattin believes this dialogue between
managers and their employees is necessary so they can work together to
investigate why metrics like CSAT are trending in a certain way. The
collaboration helps employees feel invested in finding ways to improve
service and then take pride in knowing they helped create the solutions.
Combining CSAT data with other metrics has also helped Rattin make a
business case for investing more in the company’s customer care team. When
the team needed an upgraded knowledge management system, Rattin
combined CSAT data with productivity figures to pitch the investment to the
company’s CFO. A knowledge management system is a database of company
information that makes it easier for employees and customers to answer
questions, and Rattin was able to show how a new system would make
customers happier and also save Cars.com money, since employees would
use the upgraded tool to serve customers faster.
The way Cars.com approaches customer service goals echoes a
common theme at many companies with customer-focused cultures. Like
many organizations, these companies typically have goals for key metrics
like CSAT, customer loyalty, and cost savings. However, customer-focused
companies are careful not to get too focused on meeting any one metric
without considering the overall impact. Leaders at these companies combine
data from multiple sources, share this information with employees, and
involve employees in finding ways to continuously improve. The ultimate
goal is to drive behavior that’s aligned with their customer service vision.
Fidelity’s Workplace Solutions division provides employers with
retirement and benefits solutions for their employees. Its customer service
vision is providing better outcomes, with the ultimate goal of providing the
best customer service in the financial services industry. Like Cars.com,
Fidelity’s Workplace Solutions division sets goals for key customer service
metrics, but those goals are only part of the story.
The division has something called a Voice of the Customer Ambassador
program that’s a cross-functional team of employees tasked with finding
ways to continuously improve service and inspiring other employees to do
the same. Ambassadors are nominated by senior managers and serve on the
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committee for 18 months. They’re expected to spend eight to 12 hours each
month working on customer service improvement projects.
One of the things the team is most known for is “busting rocks.” A
“rock” is the internal term used for issues that contribute to poor customer
service or experiences. Voice of the Customer Ambassadors combine data
from multiple sources to identify rocks, prioritize the biggest rocks, and then
work with other employees across the division’s seven locations to find
solutions.
Bill Schimikowski, the Vice President of Customer Experience for
Workplace Solutions, explains that the Ambassadors are deliberately chosen
from multiple functions so they represent all aspects of the operation.
According to Schimikowski, this helps the team reach across corporate silos
that might otherwise prevent progress. “It’s easy to blame legal when we
can’t do something that would benefit our customer,” he says, “but when you
have a lawyer on the Customer Ambassador team, that person can see both
sides of the issue and propose a workable solution.”
Organizations like Cars.com and Fidelity Investments aren’t satisfied
with simply achieving a certain customer satisfaction score. These
organizations get their employees obsessed with customer service by setting
lofty expectations for customer service, and then use data to find ways to
continuously improve. Leaders in these companies also understand the
danger in focusing too much on making metrics look good without
understanding that the ultimate goal is to serve customers in a way that aligns
with the customer service vision.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN GOALS DON’T ALIGN WITH YOUR
VISION
Companies almost always create goals around customer service metrics. They
set targets for average survey scores, speed of service, and even how closely
employees adhere to their work schedule. The underlying management
philosophy is that goals provide clarity and motivation: clarity by defining
the outcomes they’re expected to achieve, and motivation because people are
generally motivated to put in extra effort when they have goals in front of
them.
The trick lies in getting those goals to align with the customer service
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vision. Otherwise, goals can influence employee behavior in undesirable
ways: employees may do something to achieve the goal that’s not aligned
with their company’s customer service vision.
Employees in one company are expected to achieve a 95 percent
average on a satisfaction survey sent to customers after they finished an
interaction via phone, email, or chat. They’re paid a monthly bonus when
they achieve the goal, which is intended to be a healthy incentive for them to
provide great service. Unfortunately, it also incentivizes these individuals to
game the system to their advantage.
Here’s what sometimes happens when a member of the frontline team
assists a customer who seems upset. The customer service rep knows that if
he continues helping her, she might give him an “unsatisfied” ranking on the
survey, which could jeopardize his monthly bonus. He also knows he has the
option of transferring the customer to an escalations team that handles upset
customers and tricky situations. Transferring the customer means he avoids
getting a bad survey, while his coworker on another team gets stuck cleaning
up the mess.
The manager of the escalations team explained to me how the 95
percent customer satisfaction goal was actually demotivating to her team. She
said achieving the goal was easy for the frontline team that primarily handled
customer inquiries. A customer would contact the company, ask the customer
service rep a simple question, and get a survey to ask if they were satisfied
with the response. Achieving the 95 percent goal was almost a foregone
conclusion.
The escalations team had it much harder because they worked with
customers who were unsatisfied with the initial response they received and
wanted to talk to someone with more technical knowledge or more authority.
These customers were upset to begin with, which makes them predisposed to
giving lower survey scores. Plus, members of the frontline team would often
transfer upset callers unnecessarily to avoid lowering their own scores, which
meant the escalations team had it even tougher.
This structure all but ensured the escalations team would never achieve
the 95 percent target. Meanwhile, their counterparts on the frontline team
received their bonuses every month. It seems unfair to judge the escalations
team by the same goal as the other teams, but that’s exactly what that
company did.
Some organizations set customer service goals without a clear
understanding of how the goals could drive behavior. One customer service
leader I interviewed told me that her company surveys its customers and then
reports the average score to senior management on a monthly basis. That was
the extent of how the business used that data. Senior management might
make a comment or two about the way the scores were trending compared to
the previous month, but absolutely nothing would be done. Apparently this
isn’t unusual—an industry analyst I know estimates that just 10 percent of
companies use their customer service survey data to actually improve service.
That’s the inherent problem with relying solely on metrics without
connecting them to the customer service vision. Heather Rattin and her team
at Cars.com understand this challenge, so they combine metrics with other
sources of data, such as the specific reasons customers need support, to tell a
more complete story. Her goal is always to fulfill the customer service vision
of empowering the people we serve to act with conviction and navigate their
world successfully. This approach is unusual, as the vast majority of customer
service leaders I speak to just look at data points without digging deeper to
understand what can be done to improve.
Survey begging is another type of bad behavior that can happen when
employees get too focused on the goal and lose sight of the customer service
vision. This term describes a situation in which an employee asks a customer
to give a positive score on a survey by explaining how it will directly benefit
the customer, the employee, or both. Some employees offer discounts or even
free merchandise in exchange for a good score. Other employees try to pull
on their customers’ heartstrings by explaining that they’ll get in trouble if
they don’t maintain a high average.
Many employees who beg for survey scores have admitted to me that
they’re selective about the customers they ask to rate them. Unsurprisingly,
they focus on the ones they perceive will give them a good rating. Retail
employees might use a pen to circle the survey invitation on bottom of a
customer’s receipt and write their name next to it while encouraging the
customer to fill it out. On the other hand, if a customer appears to be upset or
grumpy, the employee might tear the survey invitation off the bottom of that
customer’s receipt so they don’t risk getting a bad score.
There are plenty of other poor behaviors that come from employees who
are overly goal focused. For instance, technical support teams often have
targets for how quickly they can close out support tickets. Employees on
these teams make their numbers look good by cherry-picking issues they
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know can be resolved faster. If they encounter a difficult issue, they’ll close
the ticket and mark it as resolved without verifying that the issue is actually
fixed. This forces customers to open a new support ticket to get their issue
handled. It’s an annoying extra step for the customer, but it starts the clock
anew for the employees with a support ticket closing speed goal.
In some cases, employees have even falsified data to achieve their
customer service goals. For instance, employees at one business submitted
fake surveys in an effort to inflate their overall customer satisfaction rating.
Another company caught employees creating loyalty program accounts for
fake customers to help them achieve their goals for loyalty program
registrations. At Wells Fargo, a company we’ll learn more about in Chapter
10, employees created over two million phony bank and credit card accounts
in an effort to meet aggressive sales targets.
All these problems happen when customer service leaders set goals that
cause employees to lose sight of the company’s customer service vision.
They’re bad goals because they encourage bad behavior.
Bad goals have three distinct characteristics:
1. They divert attention away from the customer service vision.
2. They reward individualism.
3. They rely on extrinsic motivation.
Let’s look back at the company that paid a bonus for maintaining a 95
percent survey average. Customer service leaders inadvertently encouraged
poor behavior because they created a bad goal: Customer Service
Representatives who earn a satisfied rating on 95 percent or more of their
customer service surveys each month will receive a $100 bonus.
The cash bonus for achieving the 95 percent average focuses employees
on achieving the score, but not necessarily delighting customers in the
process. Since the bonus is paid individually, employees are encouraged to
fend for themselves by transferring angry customers to someone else, even if
it might hurt the team and the customer. And the cash bonus is an extrinsic,
or external, motivator, which means employees are serving customers to earn
cash, rather than because they’re passionate about helping people.
Companies with strong customer service cultures still set goals for their
employees. The difference is that they never lose sight of the customer
service vision. Metrics such as survey score averages are helpful performance
indicators, but only if the data are primarily used to find ways to continuously
improve.
HOW TO SET GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE GOALS
This section of the chapter will provide you with step-by-step guidance for
setting good customer service goals. We’ll look at the criteria that make a
goal good, the SMART model for setting clear goals, and important
considerations when communicating goals to your team. You can also
download a goal-setting worksheet here: www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.
GOOD GOAL CRITERIA
Good goals have three distinct characteristics that are the opposite of bad
goals:
1. They focus attention on the customer service vision.
2. They reward teamwork.
3. They rely on intrinsic motivation.
Remember the bad goal example from earlier in the chapter? Customer
Service Representatives who earn a satisfied rating on 95 percent or more of
their customer service surveys each month with receive a $100 bonus.
Here’s an example of what that 95 percent goal might look like if we
rewrote it using the good goal characteristics: We will earn a satisfied rating
on 95 percent of our customer service surveys this month.
The first element of a good goal, focusing attention on the customer
service vision, is admittedly tricky. A customer service team could easily fall
into the trap of focusing on getting a good score, rather than using the survey
as a tool for continuous improvement. This is where a strong leader can set
the tone.
Heather Rattin and her customer service team at Cars.com review
survey comments on a daily basis. They’ve made a habit of looking beyond
the score to find out what their customers are really thinking. This daily
communication focuses them on finding ways to serve their customers better,
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rather than on getting a better score. The score is just one indicator of how
well they’re doing; the focus is on continuous improvement that really has an
impact.
The second element of a good goal is rewarding teamwork. Multiple
employees often need to work together to deliver outstanding customer
service. For example, in a typical restaurant, the host, server, busser, and chef
all have an impact on customer satisfaction. Team-oriented goals encourage
everyone to work together and help each other out.
In one organization I worked with, the escalations team shared the same
customer service goal as the first tier team. This caused the first tier team and
the escalations team to work together to prevent customers from getting
transferred. For example, they made a list of the top 10 problems that caused
calls to be transferred to escalations and identified several which could be
handled by the first tier team if they only had a little more information. This
allowed the first tier team to solve more problems quickly. It also freed up the
escalations team to spend more time on the truly challenging issues. The
result for the entire group was improved customer satisfaction.
The third element of a good goal is relying on intrinsic motivation. This
means that employees are internally motivated to achieve the goal. They
believe in the goal and what it stands for, and they’re willing to do what it
takes to get there.
There’s a fundamental truth here that many business leaders fail to
realize: most customer service professionals genuinely want to help their
customers. I’ve spoken with thousands of customer service employees and
have seen this common theme: setting a customer service goal and then
working together as a team to achieve it causes motivation to soar.
Of course, surveys are just one example of a way to measure customer
service. There are many other metrics that can be used. Here are a few
examples:
Customer retention
Word-of-mouth referrals
Ratings on external review sites
First contact resolution
Average response time (emails, chat, social media, etc.)
I liken these metrics to the gauges on a car’s dashboard. Achieving a certain
speed, holding the engine at a specific rate of revolutions per minute, or
maintaining a particular fuel level isn’t the objective. Instead, these gauges all
tell you part of the story about how the car is performing and provide an early
warning signal if something goes wrong. The real goal, of course, is reaching
your destination. In customer service, the destination that customer-focused
companies are constantly heading toward is their customer service vision.
Involving employees in the goal-setting process is one additional
element of a good goal that’s not an absolute requirement, but it is a best
practice. This gives people a greater sense of ownership for the goal since
they helped set it. Getting employee feedback up front can also help you
identify situations when a goal might not be achievable.
THE SMART GOALS MODEL
Those three elements of a good goal are a great starting point, but customer
service goals should also follow the SMART model. There are a few different
versions of the SMART model for setting goals, but here’s my preferred
version:
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Relevant
T = Time-Bound
You can find a SMART goals worksheet at
www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.
Companies often set vague customer service goals that are difficult to
define and measure. For example, I’ve seen more than one company set this
goal as part of their strategic plan: Improve customer service.
The challenge with a goal like this is it’s hard to know what exactly
needs to be improved. Nobody can say for sure how we’re doing now, what
needs to change, nor whether the goal has been achieved.
A SMART goal provides a much clearer blueprint to follow. We will
achieve a satisfied rating on 95 percent of our customer service surveys this
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month.
Let’s take a look at how this fits the SMART model.
We know it fits three of the criteria right away. It’s specific because it
focuses on the customer service survey. The goal can be measured by
counting the percentage of surveys with a satisfied rating. It’s also time-
bound because we’ve set the end of the month as the deadline for achieving
this goal.
Some context is required to know if the goal fits the other two criteria.
You don’t know if it’s attainable without knowing the current survey results
and what needs to be done to achieve the 95 percent result. You might be on
track if last month’s result was 94 percent; you might be wildly off base if
your previous score was 72 percent.
It’s also hard to know if the goal is relevant without comparing it to the
customer service vision. Goals for customer satisfaction scores are typically
relevant, but many companies also set goals that aren’t directly relevant to
outstanding service. Examples include productivity goals, goals for
complying with company policy, and even attendance goals.
COMMUNICATING GOALS TO THE TEAM
SMART goals that meet the good goal criteria can help motivate customer-
obsessed employees. The key is that employees need to be aware of the goals
and understand how close they are to achieving them. It’s the responsibility
of customer service leaders to ensure this happens.
First, you’ll need a scoreboard. This is something that allows employees
to easily access customer service objectives and results. It could be an
electronic display, a physical bulletin board, or something employees can
access on their computers.
One manager I know used a bulletin board to inform employees about
the score for secret shopper reports. The team’s goal was to average an 85
percent score on secret shopper reports each month, so the manager attached
a string horizontally across the middle of the board and put a sign on the
string that read “85%.” As secret shopper reports came in, the manager would
either pin a copy of the report above or below the line, depending on the
score. Employees could quickly see how they were doing in comparison to
the goal and review any report that fell short of the target.
The next thing you’ll need is a regular announcement. This is a formal
reminder to employees about the goal and the results they’ve achieved. It
could be shared in an email update, a monthly newsletter, or in a presentation
from a customer service leader.
The rule of thumb is to share this information as often as you would any
other vital business information. So if you update the company on financial
performance once per month, it’s a good idea to do the same for customer
service. Providing regular, formal updates helps establish customer service as
an important aspect of business performance.
The third part of your goal communication strategy is regular informal
communication from customer service leaders. Think of this as a coach
sharing updates with an athletic team and helping the athletes adjust
accordingly. This includes one-on-one meetings, informal emails, and
informal team meetings.
Let’s go back to Cars.com. Rattin and her managers share customer
service survey results with their teams on a daily basis. That means
employees are receiving constant, consistent updates about what’s going well
and what needs some extra attention.
I have one last reminder about customer service goals. Whatever metric
or metrics you choose to measure customer service, make sure employees
don’t get so fixated on achieving a score that they lose sight of the customer
service vision. The metrics are meant to help you measure progress rather
than being the definition of success.
Goals help customer service leaders and employees alike assess what’s
working well and where there are opportunities for improvement. That’s
because customer-focused organizations never settle for good enough. These
companies are constantly trying to find ways to make their customer service
even better.
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NOTES:
36 Jeanette Cooper, “Digital Air Strike Releases 2015 Social Media Trends Study
for the Automotive Industry,” Digital Air Strike, November 3, 2015.
http://digitalairstrike.com/digital-air-strike-releases-2015-social-media-trends-study-
for-the-automotive-industry/.
AT FIRST GLANCE, PUBLIX SEEMS like an ordinary supermarket. There’s a
produce section, a bakery, and aisles filled with packaged food. The checkout
stands are near the front.
Yet everything feels just a little different. There’s a large, welcoming
customer service desk near the front entrance. The aisles are wider than a
typical supermarket. The restrooms are clean. The produce section even has
signs describing how to select, store, and prepare various fruits and
vegetables.
You might also notice the employees. They’re outgoing, friendly, and
helpful—and there are lots of them. It seems like there’s someone ready to
help everywhere you turn in the store.
The supermarket industry as a whole enjoys high customer service
rankings on sites like the Temkin Ratings and the American Customer
Satisfaction Index. Publix is at the very top. In 2016, it was the top-rated
supermarket chain in the Temkin Customer Service Ratings (#2 among all
businesses) and the top-rated company in any industry in the Temkin
Customer Experience Ratings.37 Publix also earned the #3 ranking among
supermarket chains on the American Customer Satisfaction Index for 2016.
That same year, MSN named the company “America’s Favorite
Supermarket.”38
Publix has developed a strong, customer-focused culture by following
many of the same steps as other organizations profiled in this book. The
company has a clear customer service vision, Where Shopping is a Pleasure,
that guides all aspects of the business including strategic decisions, store
layouts, and employee training. Its leaders work hard to engage employees
with the customer-focused culture by providing ongoing training and
recognizing them for emulating company values.
Above all, Publix does exceptionally well in hiring the right people. The
company builds and sustains a customer service culture by consistently hiring
employees who have a passion for delivering the type of service for which
Publix is known.
HOW PUBLIX HIRES FOR CULTURE FIT
Customer service isn’t a job that’s right for everyone. The qualities we expect
in a customer service professional, such as friendliness, helpfulness, and
empathy, don’t come naturally for many people. That’s why companies need
to be picky about who they hire for customer-facing roles.
Imagine hiring an employee for Publix, a company offering world-class
customer service. An average employee won’t do. You need someone with
extraordinary people skills—someone who enthusiastically embraces the
Where Shopping is a Pleasure customer service vision.
Hiring managers at Publix don’t need to find just one extraordinary
employee. The chain has more than 1,000 stores spread across six states in
the Southeastern United States. This means it must employ thousands of
outstanding customer service professionals who fit in with the company’s
customer-focused culture. To address this challenge, Publix created a
selection process that helps it recruit the right employees.
This selection process begins with a culture page on the company’s
website that provides job candidates with extensive details about what it’s
like to work at Publix. The page includes information about the company’s
mission and values, testimonials from happy employees, job descriptions for
open positions, career paths highlighting advancement opportunities, and tips
for applying for a job. This makes it easy for prospective job applicants to see
if Publix is an organization they’d enjoy working for. (See for yourself at
http://corporate.publix.com/careers.)
Internally, the company defines the qualities of an ideal employee to
make the selection process easier for hiring managers to make consistent
hiring decisions. Marcy Hamrick, its Manager of Talent Acquisition, lists the
top three39:
1. Driven by a need to serve others
2. Passionate about working together as a team
http://corporate.publix.com/careers
3. Capable of great attention to detail
The company’s carefully-designed employee selection process helps hiring
managers evaluate applicants for these qualities. For example, job applicants
who are granted an interview are asked to prepare a short statement
describing how they can help Publix deliver outstanding customer service.
Candidates are asked to deliver their statement at the start of the interview.
The interviewer uses the content of the statement to help assess whether the
applicant is driven by a need to serve others.
Publix has another unusual twist in its selection process. In an age of
online job applications, people who wish to work in a Publix store (versus in
a corporate role) must apply in person. Each store has a kiosk near the front
where people can browse through open positions and complete a job
application.
Instructions on the Publix website make it clear that job applicants for
in-store positions are encouraged to seek out employees with questions about
the working environment or the application process when they come into a
store to apply for a job. Whether or not a candidate uses this opportunity to
engage with potential coworkers is a way of testing whether the person is
passionate about working together as a team.
Yet another element in the selection process is how the candidate
prepares for an interview. The company’s career page offers a list of
interviewing tips to help job seekers put their best foot forward. One tip
advises candidates to thank the hiring manager at the end of the interview,
and then to ask when a decision will be made. Another tip advises candidates
to bring appropriate work samples, so a person applying for a cake decorator
position might bring pictures of cakes they’ve decorated. Observing whether
candidates follow these interviewing tips is a good way for hiring managers
to determine if the candidate is capable of great attention to detail.
Publix also uses behavioral interviews as part of its selection process. A
behavioral interview consists of a set of questions that focus on an applicant’s
prior experience. For example, an interviewer might ask a prospective
employee to describe a situation when he or she served an angry customer.
Asking for specifics requires the candidate to look beyond hypothetical
examples and share a real story. The interviewer can use the response to
assess whether the candidate could easily recall a relevant example, and if the
candidate described an appropriate course of action.
Another essential aspect of hiring for culture fit is the company’s
promote-from-within philosophy. Publix tries to hire internal candidates for
leadership positions whenever possible, because these employees tend to
have a firm grasp of the company culture and have demonstrated their ability
to model it for the people on their team. For instance, Todd Jones, the
company’s CEO, joined Publix in 1980 as a bagger; he spent the next 36
years working his way up, and became CEO in early 2016.
This focus on hiring people who embrace the company culture is a key
trait shared by many customer-focused companies. Rackspace hires people
who come from professions like hospitality that require a lot of empathy,
based on the company’s belief that technical skills can easily be taught, but
empathy is much harder to develop. Shake Shack recognizes that its promote-
from-within philosophy is an essential part of maintaining the chain’s Stand
For Something Good culture as the company grows.
Clio, a company you’ll meet in Chapter 8, gives job applicants a sample
customer email and asks them to write a response. This simple test gauges
several qualities that are part of Clio’s company culture.
1. Applicants must be resourceful enough to find the answer to the
customer’s question (the answers can be found on its website).
2. They must be able to write a response that’s easy to understand.
3. They must demonstrate the ability to use their personality to
connect with the customer via a brief email.
It’s a tall order, and not everyone can do it, but that’s what makes this test an
effective way to screen for candidates who will fit in with the company’s
customer-focused culture.
Many organizations use product advocacy as a way of screening job
candidates for culture fit. The idea is to hire employees who are already
passionate about the company’s products or services. For example, many
people who work at REI are outdoor enthusiasts who view the job as an
opportunity to support their passion through discounts on equipment and
clothing, the opportunity to lead classes, or the chance to share their
enthusiasm with others.
Just one good hire can make a big difference in a company’s or team’s
culture. One client I worked with sold accessories for boats, RVs, and golf
carts. The company had a small team of support professionals who answered
phone calls and emails from customers. None of the support team members
were particularly enthusiastic about boating, RVing, or golfing, so they
sometimes had a challenge connecting with their customers. This changed,
however, when the company hired a new employee who was an avid boater.
The new employee shared her personal knowledge with her coworkers, which
helped them understand their products better. This, in turn, led to an increase
in sales as everyone on the team was more able to enthusiastically help
customers to confidently make a purchasing decision.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HIRE EMPLOYEES WHO DON’T FIT
YOUR COMPANY’S CULTURE
Customer-focused companies like Publix build and sustain a customer-
focused culture by hiring people who are already obsessed with providing
their unique brand of customer service. But what can happen if a company
hires people who don’t fit the company’s culture?
One small company hired a customer service representative named
Brandon, a recent high school graduate who had no previous work experience
and no real ambition. This wasn’t the typical profile for a successful
employee, but he was hired anyway at the owner’s insistence. Brandon
happened to be dating the owner’s daughter, and he wanted to give Brandon
an opportunity. (Or perhaps he wanted to keep a close eye on his daughter’s
boyfriend!)
Brandon immediately clashed with the customer service team’s culture.
The rest of the team had a great deal of enthusiasm for helping customers and
enjoyed learning the intricacies of each new product line. Brandon, on the
other hand, had no enthusiasm for serving others and little interest in learning
about the company’s products.
Brandon’s coworkers began to bristle at how his laziness created extra
work for them. For instance, he frequently promised customers that he would
fix a problem, but then neglected to follow through and resolve the issue. The
customer would inevitably call back angry at the lack of a resolution, and
another customer service rep would have to bear the brunt of it.
The rest of the customer service team was relieved when Brandon quit
after just a few months on the job. The customer service manager was
relieved, too, since the owner had vetoed any corrective action the manager
had suggested to address Brandon’s poor performance.
Unfortunately, the customer service team now had a lingering mistrust
toward management for allowing someone who was so obviously not a fit to
remain part of the team.
This case may be a little extreme, but it illustrates three of the problems
caused by poor hiring decisions:
1. Poor customer service
2. Reduced morale
3. Increased turnover
It’s difficult to provide outstanding customer service when employees lack
enthusiasm for helping others or have no affinity for their company’s
products or services. The sporting goods retailer Sports Authority went out of
business in 2016 after being plagued by a variety of problems, including poor
customer service and disengaged employees. If you visited Sports Authority
to buy camping gear, you’d likely be greeted by an employee whose
helpfulness consisted of pointing to the camping section from across the
store. Contrast this with the same shopping trip at REI, where you’d more
likely be served by an associate who was an avid camper and genuinely
enjoyed helping others gear up for a successful camping trip of their own.
Morale also suffers when poor hiring decisions are made. New
employees disturb team unity when they don’t embrace the culture. Their
inability or unwillingness to serve customers creates extra work for other
employees, who usually resent having to go out of their way to clean up a co-
worker’s mess. Stress levels rise, too: a 2016 study of contact center agents
found that 36 percent of agents who faced a high risk of burnout felt they
could not rely on their co-workers to deliver outstanding customer service.40
Turnover is perhaps the easiest-to-measure problem caused by poor
hiring. A study by the Center for American Progress estimated that replacing
an employee can cost an average of 20 percent of an employee’s annual
salary for employees who make $50,000 or less per year.41 To put that in
perspective, the average annual wage for a customer service employee in the
United States is approximately $27,000.42 Replacing that employee costs
$5,400, assuming the 20 percent replacement cost average.
What goes into that $5,400 figure? It includes increased wages and
overtime needed to cover shifts for the lost employee, recruiting expenses
(advertising, interviewing, background checks, drug screening, etc.), training
costs, new equipment (tools, uniforms, etc.), and administrative costs. You
can calculate the cost of turnover for employees in your organization or on
your customer service team using the turnover calculator found here:
www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.
High turnover plagues many industries employing lots of customer
service workers. Contact centers regularly experience annual turnover rates of
20 percent or higher. Retail stores often face turnover rates of 50 percent or
more. Hospitality industries, such as restaurants, can see as many as 70
percent of their employees leave each year.
It’s incredibly difficult to sustain company culture in a business where
there’s a revolving door of employees.
So why do some companies consistently hire the wrong employees?
Some managers grow tired of the extra work caused by being short-staffed
and simply rush to hire someone without thoroughly vetting their
qualifications. Other managers don’t know how to select the right employees.
In many cases, there’s no company-wide consensus on what qualities make a
job applicant a good fit with the culture.
Some organizations try to address these issues by creating a structured
process to recruit and select new hires. Unfortunately, a hiring process won’t
guarantee that you’ll hire stellar employees. There’s often one of three flaws
standing in the way.
The first flaw is emphasizing experience when recruiting job
candidates. Recruiters look for people who have previously worked in jobs
similar to the one for which they’re hiring. The theory is that people with
similar experience will have developed easily-transferrable skills.
The problem with this approach is that not all experience is necessarily
good experience. An employee may have learned bad habits from a previous
employer, especially if that company wasn’t customer-focused. Or the job
candidate might be leaving a previous job because he or she wasn’t a very
good employee; if so, they’ll likely struggle in the new job too.
The second flaw in many hiring processes is focusing too much on
skills. Skills are necessary in almost every job, whether it’s an interpersonal
skill like empathizing with customers, or a technical skill like the ability to
troubleshoot a software program. However, having the right skills doesn’t
http://www.serviceculturebook.com/tools
mean an employee will be a fit with the company culture. For instance, many
people know how to work as a cashier and ring up customer transactions, but
there are many dour, surly cashiers who would immediately clash with the
customer-focused culture at a company like Publix.
The third flaw is trying to hire for culture fit without clearly defining
what that means. Leaders often make the mistake of using their gut feeling in
an interview to determine if a prospective employee has the proper attitude
and will fit in well with the team. What these leaders end up doing is hiring
people like themselves. A 2012 study by three researchers at the University
of Pennsylvania—Jason Dana, Robyn M. Dawes, and Nathanial R. Peterson
—revealed that just asking random questions to assess a candidate’s future
performance actually results in worse hiring decisions than if the candidate
hadn’t been interviewed at all!43
Rene was an area director for a company with locations throughout the
country. Her company had a well-defined process for hiring customer service
employees, but she also had the autonomy to make the ultimate hiring
decision for employees in her area. Although Rene had a bubbly personality,
she tended to be disorganized and unfocused. When it came to hiring
employees, she routinely hired individuals who had bubbly personalities but
were disorganized and unfocused, just like her. These hires clashed with the
company’s hiring profile that called for organized, conscientious employees
who could anticipate customer needs and resolve issues before they
happened. Hiring employees who didn’t fit with the company culture
ultimately cost Rene her job when her area’s performance couldn’t keep up
with the high standards expected throughout the company.
Adam Grant, author of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the
World, told Forbes Magazine, “Emphasizing cultural fit leads you to bring in
a bunch of people who think in similar ways to your existing employees.”44
His point was that hiring people based on an arbitrary assessment of fit can
lead to stagnation. Instead, Grant suggested that companies should hire based
on what a potential employee can contribute to the culture. Healthy teams
have a diversity of perspectives, personalities, and skills that complement
each other.
Hiring without regard for culture fit is dangerous – but going by gut
instinct to hire for fit can be just as dangerous. So what should organizational
leaders do to hire the right employees to serve their customers? The answer
lies in having a well-designed hiring process.
HOW TO HIRE FOR CULTURE FIT
Publix and other organizations with strong, customer-focused cultures have a
process in place to screen job applicants for both skills and culture fit. The
actual process varies from organization to organization, but there are three
general steps:
1. Create an Ideal Candidate Profile
2. Design test to find Ideal Candidates
3. Commit to the process
STEP 1: CREATE AN IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE
It’s helpful to think of an Ideal Candidate Profile as an enhanced job
description.
Job descriptions typically outline the key responsibilities, as well as the
skills and qualifications required to be successful in a given position. Many
companies use job descriptions as a guide when hiring employees.
An Ideal Candidate Profile takes this a step further by highlighting the
characteristics an employee should possess that would make him or her a
good fit with the company culture. It also separates the qualities a job
applicant must have to be hired from those that would be nice for the
applicant to have, but which they could also develop through training.
The reason for separating the Must-Haves from the Nice-to-Haves is
what recruiters call the Purple Squirrel Problem. There are a lot of things that
are purple and there are a lot of squirrels. But it’s very difficult to find a
purple squirrel! In recruiting, this means it’s difficult to find the perfect
employee with every desirable quality. The more Must-Haves that are listed
on your Ideal Candidate Profile, the harder it is to find that person.
Prioritizing your Must-Haves will help you focus on what you really need.
You can create an Ideal Candidate Profile by separating job
qualifications into these categories:
Organizational Must-Haves
Organizational Nice-to-Haves
Job-Specific Must-Haves
Job-Specific Nice-to-Haves
The Organizational Must-Haves category includes qualities that describe an
employee who is a good fit with your company’s organizational culture. An
employee needs to possess these qualities regardless of their role within the
organization. At Publix, for example, all new hires are required to be “driven
by a need to serve others,” no matter whether they work in the bakery
department, the produce department, or in a corporate role.
The Organizational Nice-to-Haves category consists of qualities that
would be nice for a new employee to possess, but aren’t required. These
qualities might be used to make a final hiring decision if one qualified
candidate has a few more Nice-to-Haves than another, but the company is
also willing to hire a new employee who doesn’t have them. For instance,
Publix looks for job applicants who are current or former employees because
it has a hire-from-within strategy, but external candidates are also considered.
The Job-Specific Must-Haves category is composed of qualifications a
person needs to be considered for a specific job. For example, an applicant
must have prior experience as a Meat Cutter or Meat Cutter Apprentice to
apply for a Meat Cutter position at a Publix store. A person who lacks the
experience of being a Meat Cutter but is still interested in working as one
would be encouraged to apply for a Meat Cutter Apprentice role, since that
position doesn’t require prior experience.
Finally, the Job-Specific Nice-to-Haves category is, like the
organizational Nice-to-Haves, composed of qualifications that might break a
tie between two qualified candidates, but are not absolutely required. For
instance, a Meat Cutter Apprentice working at Publix might have a leg up on
a job applicant with meat cutting experience at another grocery chain, but
working as a Publix Meat Cutter Apprentice isn’t a Must-Have qualification
to become a Publix Meat Cutter.
In my experience helping clients create Ideal Candidate Profiles, the
biggest challenge is separating the Must-Have qualities from Nice-to-Haves.
A good test to see if something is truly a Must-Have is to compare your
existing employees to your Ideal Candidate Profile. If a successful employee
lacks a Must-Have quality (or lacked it when he or she was first hired), then
you know that quality isn’t truly a Must-Have.
Figure 7.1 contains a sample Ideal Candidate Profile for a tasting room
host at a fictitious winery, Sunny Hills Vineyard. I’ve also created an Ideal
Candidate Profile worksheet you can download and use to create your own
profiles: www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.
Customer Service Vision: We make it fun to discover great wine.
Organizational Must-Haves
Enthusiasm for wine
Continuous learner
Team player
Organizational Nice-to-Haves
Understanding of the wine industry
General knowledge of common wine varietals
Familiarity with the unique characteristics of our winery’s
growing region
Job-Specific Must-Haves
A passion for teaching others about wine
Ability to develop rapport with guests
Capable of clear and confident communication
Here’s another tip that can help you save some time. Once you create your
first Ideal Candidate Profile, you can use it as a template to create profiles for
other positions. The first two categories, Organizational Must-Haves and
Organizational Nice-to-Haves, should stay the same for each position, so half
the work is already done.
STEP TWO: DESIGN TESTS TO FIND IDEAL CANDIDATES
Once you create an Ideal Candidate Profile for a position, you need to design
a screening process that tests for each quality in the profile, indicating
whether job applicants fit those particular qualifications. To do this, take each
item in your Ideal Candidate Profile and determine how you’ll tell whether or
not a job applicant possesses that quality.
These tests are the basis of your candidate screening process.
As an example, think about what you might see on a candidate’s resume
or job application that could indicate a good fit with your organization. A
nonprofit that runs music programs for children has applicants list hobbies
and interests on their job application. The recruiter looks for applicants who
play an instrument, sing, or have an avid interest in music, because people
who have a strong connection to music are much more likely to relate to the
music program participants than people who don’t share that passion.
The interview is another important opportunity to test job applicants for
culture fit. The key is to use what’s called a structured interview, where every
applicant for the same position is asked the same standard set of questions.
Each question should connect to at least one quality on your Ideal Candidate
Profile for that role.
Let’s say you manage a tasting room at a winery and want to hire
tasting room hosts who are passionate about teaching guests about wine. You
might test job applicants for this quality by asking each person to share an
experience they had where they learned something about wine that most
consumers don’t know. A good response would be a story where the job
applicant spent time learning about wine and could relate what they learned
in a clear and easily-understood manner.
Many recruiters limit themselves to looking at just three sources of
information: the candidate’s job application, their resume, and their responses
to interview questions. These are all helpful, but there’s no reason to limit
yourself to just these three! A well-structured selection process can test a
candidate’s qualifications in a wide variety of ways.
One of my clients created an Ideal Candidate Profile for employees
working in the parking department on a college campus. They wanted people
who could anticipate potential problems and plan ahead to avoid them. The
way they tested job applicants for this quality was subtle, but effective.
When a recruiter scheduled an interview with a job applicant, the
recruiter did not volunteer to give the applicant directions to the parking
office. (Like many college campuses, finding parking and then navigating to
a specific office was difficult.) Successful applicants did one of two things.
Some would ask the recruiter for directions, in which case the recruiter
readily provided the requested information. Others went on the school’s
website to research transportation options, parking locations, and estimate the
amount of travel time required.
Unsuccessful applicants arrived late for the interview. They would tell
the recruiter they couldn’t find parking or got lost trying to find the office. No
matter the excuse, it was a good test to show the applicant didn’t naturally
anticipate a problem that plagued many visitors to the college campus.
I want to offer one word of caution about the candidate screening
process. Successful candidates will generally be delighted to receive a job
offer. But what about the people who aren’t offered a job? In many cases,
these people far outnumber the people who are hired. It’s important to design
a selection process that treats all candidates with dignity and respect.
Companies frequently waste candidates’ time with multiple steps that don’t
add value to the selection process. Some fail to notify rejected applicants of
their status.
Keep in mind that all job applicants are potential customers. They might
choose whether or not to do business with your company in the future based
on their experience with the selection process. They may encourage or
discourage friends and family members to apply for an open position based
on their impression of your organizational culture. If at all possible, you want
job applicants to love your organization even if they don’t get to join it.
STEP THREE: COMMIT TO THE PROCESS
Impatience may be the biggest reason why companies fail to hire employees
who fit their organizational culture. It takes time to create an Ideal Candidate
Profile for each position. It takes more time to design a screening process that
tests for each quality in the profile. And it takes guts to stick to the process.
Yet many businesses find themselves suddenly faced with an urgent
need to hire customer service employees. A company might be opening a
new location that needs to be staffed. A busy season might be approaching
and extra employees will soon be needed. Or a key person may have left and
must be urgently replaced.
All these circumstances create pressure on hiring managers to fill
positions quickly. In doing so, they might be tempted to skip steps in the
process and hire someone less qualified than would normally be considered
for a position. The danger here is in hiring the wrong employee. Poor hiring
decisions tend to have a cumulative effect on a manager’s time. The
employee needs more training. The manager has to fix the employee’s
mistakes. The rest of the team develops morale issues caused by an employee
who doesn’t fit in. Plus, the manager will soon need to hire and train yet
another employee when the poor hire doesn’t work out.
Companies with strong customer service cultures stay committed to
their hiring process. Hiring great employees creates a self-reinforcing cycle
for customer-focused companies. Your employees will deliver outstanding
service, which makes a strong positive impression on your customers.
Customers see your company as a great place to work, so more people apply
who already love your brand. With more applicants, you can be even more
selective about whom you hire.
NOTES:
37 The Temkin Group, “2016 Temkin Customer Service Ratings,” Temkin Ratings,
2016. http://temkinratings.com/temkin-ratings/temkin-customer-service-ratings-2016/.
38 Janna Herron, “America’s favorite supermarkets, ranked,” MSN, July 18, 2016.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/americas-favorite-supermarkets-
ranked/ss-BBu4jPa?li=BBnb7Kz#image=1.
39 Deena Shanker, “They’re hiring! These great employers have 108,622
openings,” Fortune, March 12, 2015. http://fortune.com/2015/03/05/best-companies-
open-positions/.
40 Jeff Toister, “How to Battle Agent Burnout.” Toister Performance Solutions,
2016: www.toistersolutions.com/burnout.
41 Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, “There Are Significant Business Costs
to Replacing Employees,” Center for American Progress, November 16, 2012.
https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CostofTurnover .
42 PayScale estimates the average hourly wage for a customer service employee in
the U.S. is $13.01 per hour. This works out to $27,060.80 for an employee who
averages 40 hours per week.
43 Jason Dana and Robyn M. Dawes, “Belief in the Unstructured Interview: The
Persistence of an Illusion” (working paper) University of Pennsylvania, August 15,
2012. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~danajd/interview .
44 Dan Schwabel, “Adam Grant: Why You Shouldn’t Hire For Cultural Fit,”
Forbes, February 2, 2016.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2016/02/02/adam-grant-why-you-shouldnt-
hire-for-cultural-fit/#2f71777c56f5.
A CUSTOMER CALLED CLIO’S SUPPORT team with a unique billing request.
She wanted to pay by check even though the company’s software is only set
up to accept credit card payments.
Clio provides legal practice management software that helps lawyers
run their law practices. The software is provided on a subscription basis, and
customers are billed monthly or yearly to access it via the internet. The caller
was a busy lawyer who didn’t want to spend a lot of time dealing with
support to get her issue resolved.
Support calls like this are a common challenge for many software
companies. Customers often want special features or options that aren’t
available, and there’s always a risk they’ll take their business to a competitor
if they can’t get what they want.
Here’s where support agents at a typical company simply tell their
customer, “Sorry, but that option isn’t available.” Then it’s up to the
customer to decide if they want to keep their account anyway or take their
business elsewhere.
Not at Clio. While the support agent was aware that paying by check
wasn’t an option, he didn’t want to lose the customer’s business. He knew
that preventing churn (i.e., retaining customers) was a key part of the
company’s customer service vision: Our goal is to help our customers
succeed and realize the full value of our Product. This results in Evangelists
and less Churn.
The agent listened patiently to the lawyer’s concerns, hoping to find a
way to make her happy and convince her to keep her account. She explained
she was used to paying for services by check and believed this was the
simplest way for her to keep track of her expenses. This insight helped the
support agent understand that the customer’s real need was to keep things
easy and spend as little time as possible managing her Clio account.
So he explained to her how automatic credit card billing was actually
easier than paying by check. It would save her time since the payments were
made automatically, and it would prevent any service disruptions since she
wouldn’t have to remember to mail a check each time her payment was due.
The customer was delighted by the end of the call. She felt like the
support agent had listened to her concerns and understood her needs. Best of
all, she kept her Clio account.
Daily customer interactions like this have helped Clio grow at a 40
percent rate annually. Most of that growth is driven by word-of-mouth
referrals from happy customers who tell other lawyers about the company’s
excellent software and helpful service.
This outstanding service generates incredible customer loyalty. Clio’s
churn rate is just one percent, meaning that 99 out of 100 customers renew
their subscriptions. The company’s customer satisfaction ratings are
consistently in the mid-90 percent range.
This isn’t an accident. Clio’s executives made a strategic choice to use
service as a way to differentiate the company from the competition. A big
part of this strategy is training all Clio employees to embody its service
culture when assisting customers.
HOW CLIO TRAINS ITS EMPLOYEES TO EMBODY ITS CULTURE
It’s not enough to know what the vision says at Clio. Employees are expected
to know what it means and be able to explain how it applies to them. To this
end, they’re given extensive and ongoing training to help them embody
Clio’s culture when serving customers.
Chapter 4 explained how to engage employees with your organization’s
customer service culture. In many ways, this process overlaps with training.
However, there’s one key difference. Engagement is a process of cultivating
employee attitudes so they believe in their company’s customer service
vision and want to use it as a guide in their daily work. Training provides
employees with the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities to turn that desire
into action.
Let’s look at the example of Clio’s customer support rep from the
beginning of this chapter. He was engaged because he had a desire to apply
the customer service vision of helping customers succeed in using Clio’s
software so they’d remain loyal. His training helped him in this quest. The
customer support rep knew what payment methods were available and which
were not. His rapport-building, active listening, and empathy skills allowed
him to have a constructive dialogue with the customer about her reasons for
wanting to pay by check. Finally, his ability to partner with this individual
and propose an acceptable solution ultimately saved the account and created a
happy and loyal customer.
Clio’s customer support team receives a lot of training to reinforce the
company’s vision and develop their ability to embody it in the service they
provide. New hires are introduced to the vision during their initial training.
It’s augmented with training videos from the online education company
Lynda.com to help agents develop specific customer service skills like
rapport building, active listening, and empathizing.
In addition, support agents receive ongoing training on how to actually
execute the customer service vision. This includes one-on-one coaching from
their supervisor to help develop their skills, regular team meetings to
reinforce the vision, and performance feedback based on guidelines reflecting
the vision. This constant training and reinforcement ensures that support
agents never forget the role they play in Clio’s customer service culture.
Training isn’t limited to Clio’s customer-facing support team.
Employees in other departments receive training to ensure they understand
the company’s customer service philosophy. Rian Gauvreau, Clio’s
cofounder and Chief Operating Officer, wants all of the company’s
employees to see their job through the eyes of their customers.
“The way to solve for customer pain is to put your customer first,”
Gauvreau said. One of the ways employees learn to put the customer first is
through what’s called “support ride-alongs.” This is where people from other
parts of the company spend time working alongside support agents to solve
customer issues. “It motivates the staff to know they’re helping customers,”
Gauvreau explained.
The ride-alongs help employees better understand the issues customers
face. For instance, if a product designer is working on a new feature, she can
reflect on the time she spent doing a support ride-along to envision how that
feature will look from a customer’s perspective.
In addition, Clio hosts an annual user conference, giving employees the
opportunity to meet customers face-to-face. User conferences are common
for software companies. They gather existing and prospective clients for a
http://Lynda.com
few days of product training, best practice sharing, and user feedback
sessions. These conferences are generally marketing initiatives aimed at
increasing customer loyalty or enticing new clients. What makes Clio
different is how they use this opportunity to help employees strengthen their
customer focus.
For instance, each year, developers spend the first day of the conference
gathering feedback and suggestions from customers in attendance. By day
two, the company implements changes to the online software based on the
feedback they received on day one! Making changes so quickly demonstrates
the company’s commitment to helping its customers succeed.
Another example of a culture training initiative at Clio was an exercise
called “Know Our Customer.” Every employee in the company participated
(about 200 employees), with each person interviewing at least one customer.
The goal was to create an opportunity for all employees to develop their
empathy skills by spending time learning from a customer. As a result of this
exercise, people in all departments were able to adopt a customer perspective
when doing their jobs.
Training doesn’t always have to be a formal process. In fact, most of the
learning that occurs in the workplace happens through informal experiences.
At Clio, this includes discussing and reinforcing customer focus in all-hands
meetings and one-on-one conversations with a supervisor. The company also
has a peer-recognition program where employees give each other kudos for a
job well done. The only requirement is that the recognition must include a
description of how the employee’s actions aligned with being customer-
focused.
Comprehensive and ongoing customer service training is a common
characteristic among companies with strong service cultures. Zendesk (a
company you’ll meet in Chapter 12) has something similar to Clio’s ride-
along program, where employees who don’t normally work in customer
support spend time responding to customer issues. Shake Shack trains all its
leaders to embody their Stand For Something Good philosophy and reinforce
those values with their employees. JetBlue has all newly hired crewmembers
(employees) attend a two-day orientation to learn about the company culture.
Leaders at customer-focused companies understand that employees can
get lost without the right training and guidance.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON’T PROVIDE CULTURE
TRAINING
Many companies fail to provide employees with specific training on how to
embody the culture. This happens for a variety of reasons. In some
organizations, leaders fail to recognize the need to give employees specific
instructions on how to use the culture as a guide to serving customers. In
other companies, leaders prefer to spend time on other work and don’t make
developing the culture a priority.
In one example, a customer service representative was asked to describe
his company’s customer service philosophy. He knew the company had a set
of five core values, but he struggled to come up with an answer.
The rep knew the five core values were supposed to represent how
people should interact with customers, coworkers, and other important
stakeholders. There was a sign displaying these values in front of the building
where he worked, and another sign hung within sight of his cubicle. He even
had a mug on his desk with the five values written on it, which he’d been
given at a meeting where the values were announced.
What this employee didn’t know was what the values meant, or how
they applied to his daily work. He’d never received any training on this, and
his boss never discussed the values with the team.
The five values were crafted by the company’s corporate
communications team after months of deliberation, focus groups, and word-
smithing sessions with senior leaders. They sounded good, but they did
nothing to guide employees’ actions.
When employees aren’t trained on their company’s customer service
culture, employees can’t consciously use the culture to guide their actions.
Furthermore, individual employees, different departments, and various
company locations are likely to develop their own interpretations of the
customer service philosophy that might or might not complement one
another.
Some companies attempt to train employees on the customer service
culture, but there isn’t full commitment. Many organizations rely on a single
learning event such as a big kick-off party or a one-time training session. The
initial excitement quickly fades as these companies fail to constantly and
consistently reinforce the culture through multiple training programs and
ongoing informal learning opportunities.
The challenge with training through just a single event is that most
information is stored in our brains on a “use it or lose it” basis. For example,
you probably had a combination locker in high school. Most of us could open
that locker in just a few seconds back when we used it on a daily basis. But
what would happen if you stood in front of that same locker today? Even
assuming the combination hadn’t changed, most people wouldn’t be able to
open it. The combination you used to recall instantly has long been forgotten
because you stopped using it.
When I worked for a parking management company, all new employees
learned about the company’s customer service vision in a new hire
orientation session organized by my corporate training department. My team
was also responsible for conducting site audits at our various locations to
evaluate customer service. One of the items on the audit was spot-checking
employees to see if they could describe the customer service vision.
The results varied widely. At high-performing locations, employees
typically had the customer service vision memorized. They could describe
what it meant and explain how they used it as a guide when serving
customers. These employees remembered the vision not just from their new
hire orientation, but also from frequent discussions with their boss and signs
displaying the vision that hung at their parking facility. They also attended
the company’s annual customer service refresher training where they were
reminded about the vision.
The audit results were very different at our locations with poor customer
service performance. Here, most employees had forgotten what they learned
about the customer service vision in their new hire orientation by the time
their location was audited. Their manager didn’t discuss it with them, the
vision wasn’t displayed anywhere at their location, and they didn’t attend the
annual refresher training.
Other companies do a great job of training and reinforcing their
customer service vision among customer-facing employees, but they don’t do
the same thing for employees working in other departments. This creates a
disconnect between employees who view themselves in customer service and
those who don’t.
All employees are ultimately connected to customer service in some
way, whether directly or indirectly. A restaurant server is obviously in
customer service because he or she has direct and frequent contact with
guests. But what about the chef? A guest’s satisfaction will be affected by
whether the chef cooks the meal properly or honors special requests. How
about the dishwasher? This person may never interact directly with a guest,
but a guests’ experience will certainly be impacted by whether or not the
dishes are clean.
The IT support manager for a major retail chain described the danger of
not viewing certain departments as essential to customer service. “Our stores
get it. We do lots of training and continuously support our culture. But it’s
been a slow process in IT. Before I got here, culture just wasn’t something
people talked about it. All the training focused on the technical aspects of the
job.”
Let’s say one of the stores experienced an issue with its point of sale
software, the software used to ring up customer transactions, track sales, and
control inventory. It’s critical to that store’s operations. If the company’s IT
department lacks a customer-focused culture, the IT employees might not
prioritize helping a store manager work through the problem while trying to
minimize the impact it has on customers.
Some companies inadvertently train their employees to actually work
against their desired culture. Remember the Comcast Retention Specialists
we profiled in Chapter 2? The focus of their job was to talk customers out of
canceling their accounts. These Retention Specialists received extensive
training on overcoming customer objections while making it difficult for
customers to get what they wanted.
HOW TO TRAIN EMPLOYEES TO EMBODY YOUR CULTURE
A basic training program should contain three elements: objectives,
instruction, and reinforcement.
Objectives represent what you want employees to know or be able to do
as a result of the training. Instruction consists of the training activities you
use to make sure employees can accomplish the objectives. And
reinforcement is what you offer to ensure that employees don’t forget what
they have learned.
Here’s a step-by-step guide you can use to develop a training program
in your company, department, or team.
STEP ONE: CREATE OBJECTIVES
The first step in developing a basic training program is to create objectives.
Good training begins with clear objectives that spell out what knowledge,
skills, or abilities an employee should possess by the end of the program.
This allows you to measure whether that employee has met the objectives.
Training without objectives is vague, non-specific, and difficult to
measure. A company might design a training program to “help employees
understand our culture.” But what does that mean? How will you know
whether or not employees actually understand the culture?
A training program to prepare your employees to embody your
customer service culture training program should start with this objective:
Employees will be able to correctly answer these questions about
our customer service
vision:
What is our customer service vision?
What does it mean?
How do I personally contribute?
Objectives like this influence how you design your training program. At a
minimum, your training will need to help employees memorize your
company’s customer service vision, understand it well enough to explain it
clearly, and link the vision to their own job duties. Employees should also be
able to give specific examples of how they can embody the customer service
vision on the job.
Of course, you’ll need to answer these questions yourself before trying
to train employees to answer them. Otherwise, it would be like giving
students a test without having an answer key to grade their work.
Let’s go back to Clio for a moment. The example I shared at the
beginning of this chapter provided evidence that the company’s support agent
could answer all three questions about the customer service vision: Our goal
is to help our customers succeed and realize the full value of our Product.
This results in Evangelists and less Churn.
First, the support agent had a card on his desk with Clio’s customer
service vision on it, which he referenced while serving his customer. This
indicated he knew the company’s vision.
Second, the agent showed that he understood what the service vision
meant when he told the customer he didn’t want her to cancel her account
and was committed to finding a solution that would work for her. This made
the customer happy because she felt that he had listened to her concerns.
And finally, the support agent showed that he knew how he could
personally contribute when he took the time to listen to the customer and let
her know he understood her real needs. After the call, he pointed to the
interaction and explained that it was his job to help customers so they
remained happy and loyal Clio customers.
The last question—How do I personally contribute?—is sometimes
difficult for employees to answer if they don’t have direct contact with their
customers. For example, a software developer at Clio might be tempted to
think there’s little she can do to provide outstanding service. However, after
receiving training, that developer should realize there are actually many ways
she can contribute. She can develop new features that solve pressing
customer needs. She can tap into her empathy for customers to design
software that’s intuitive and easy for them to use. And she can be responsive
to the support team when they have questions about a new feature or point
out a bug that needs to be fixed.
All these actions enable Clio to deliver the kind of outstanding service
that makes customers loyal to Clio and enthusiastic about recommending the
software to other lawyers.
You can add other objectives to your customer service culture training
program, as long as they help employees understand and embody the culture.
For instance, this could be an ideal time to introduce employees to customer
service standards or procedures. You might also develop different objectives
for new hires than those for your experienced employees. New hires truly
need an introduction to your company’s culture, while experienced
employees should already have an understanding of the culture and may just
need to polish their skills or acquire some more advanced techniques.
STEP TWO: DESIGN AN INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN
The second step to developing a training program is to design an instructional
plan. This plan helps your employees achieve the objectives you’ve written
for your culture training. You’ll want to create a plan that ensures every
employee can provide examples of ways they personally fulfill the
company’s customer service vision in their daily jobs.
In their book Telling Ain’t Training, workplace learning and
performance experts Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps outline a simple
five-step model that can easily be used to design your culture training
program.45
1. Rationale: Discuss why the training is needed.
2. Objectives: Share the training objectives.
3.
Activities:
Conduct activities to help participants learn.
4. Evaluation: Determine whether the objectives have been met.
5. Feedback: Confirm that objectives have been met and/or coach
employees to improve.
Figure 8.1 illustrates a sample customer service vision training plan for Clio’s
support team. You can also download a training plan worksheet at
www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.
Figure 8.1: Customer Service Vision Training Plan
Company: Clio
Department: Customer Support
Rationale: The purpose of this training is to help Customer Support team
members understand the customer service vision and apply it to their daily
work.
Objectives: Employees will be able to correctly answer these questions about
our customer service vision:
What is our customer service vision?
What does it mean?
How do I personally contribute?
Activities:
http://www.serviceculturebook.com/tools
Self-study: Ask participants to identify places where they see the
customer service vision written and bring a list with them to the
workshop. (Example: signs hung at workstations.)
In class: Have participants take turns describing the customer
service vision in their own words.
Follow-up: Ask each participant to write a Thank You letter to
themselves from an imaginary customer, thanking them for service
that aligned with the vision. Encourage participants to attempt to
earn similar feedback from a real customer.
Evaluation:
Self-study: Verify each participant identifies at least one written
example of the vision.
In-class: Verify each participant describes the vision from their
own perspective.
Follow-up: Verify each participant writes a Thank You letter that
aligns with the vision.
Feedback:
Provide each participant with feedback on the outcome of their
activities evaluations.
Activities, the third step, is where many people get stuck. Here’s what I’ve
learned in over 25 years as a corporate trainer: keep it simple. Many novice
trainers get so excited about adding engaging or creative elements that they
lose sight of the end goal, which is to make sure employees can accomplish
the learning objectives.
The definition of a good training program is one that accomplishes its
objectives on time and on budget. With that in mind, I prefer to follow a
straightforward, three-step model for creating training activities: tell, show,
and do.
Tell the participants what you want them to know.
Show them an example.
Have the participants do something that demonstrates their new
knowledge, skill, or ability.
There are many simple, creative activities you can develop following this
model. Here are three examples:
This simple activity is ideal for one-on-one or on-the-job training:
Tell: Explain the customer service vision.
Show: Give the participant(s) a visual aid with the vision written
on it.
Do: Ask the employee(s) to describe how they see the vision
guiding their work.
Another activity involves exploring an internal or external web page your
company has that describes your organizational culture:
Tell: Walk participants through the web page.
Show: Point out the customer service vision and anything else that
helps explain the culture (video, employee testimonials, etc.).
Do: Give participants some time to explore the web page, and
then follow up by asking each one to describe how he or she
thinks the customer service vision relates to his or her job.
Yet another activity is a photo scavenger hunt; this works well in
environments where there’s ample visual evidence of the customer service
vision:
Tell: Discuss the company’s customer service vision with
participants. Then explain that you’re going to send them on a
scavenger hunt; their goal is to use their smart phones to take
pictures related to the vision. Give them a short but workable time
frame in which to do this.
Show: Provide an example, such as a picture of a poster with the
customer service vision printed on it, so participants know what to
look for.
Do: Have participants complete the scavenger hunt. As a bonus,
divide them into teams and have each team give a short
presentation on what they found, using their pictures as visuals.
(Optional: Provide a list of items for participants to photograph.)
The activities you create are only limited by your budget, allotted time, and
imagination. Just remember to keep it simple. Your training is effective as
long as it accomplishes your objectives.
STEP THREE: PROVIDE REINFORCEMENT
This third and final step in developing a basic training program is perhaps the
most overlooked part of the training process. You must continuously
reinforce the concepts taught if you want the participants to remember them
and regularly apply them to their work.
Customer-focused organizations have made reinforcement part of their
operating DNA. As we discussed in Chapter 5, companies with strong
customer service cultures align key components of their operations (goals,
hiring, training, empowerment, and management) with their customer service
vision. Each of these components naturally reinforces employees’ knowledge
and understanding of the company’s service vision on a daily basis.
Nevertheless, it’s still a good idea to have a specific plan in place to reinforce
your culture training and ensure employees are constantly reminded of the
concepts they’ve learned.
One way to construct your plan is to use the 70-20-10 Rule, originally
created by the Center for Creative Leadership.46
Over time, leadership development experts at the Center noticed that
leaders developed their skills from three primary sources:
70 percent came from challenging assignments
20 percent came from mentors (usually the boss)
10 percent came from formal learning
While there’s little evidence to support 70-20-10 as a hard and fast rule for
leadership development, it’s proven to be a useful guide for structuring
training programs. Let’s see how we can use it to reinforce culture training.
Challenging Assignments (70%). Clio’s “Know Our Customer”
initiative is an excellent example. Employees had to make time to
get to know at least one customer, so they could better understand
how customers used their software. Another example comes from
Cars. com, where Heather Rattin and her team spend time each
day solving problems that cause customer dissatisfaction.
Mentors (20%). Organizational leaders should be the first people
to attend customer service culture training. They need to know
exactly what their employees are being taught, so they can
reinforce those lessons through daily informal interactions, team
meetings, department announcements (emails, etc.), and formal
one-on-one feedback sessions. (We’ll discuss more ways for
leaders to reinforce the customer service vision in Chapter 10.)
Formal Learning (10%). This might include a training class, e-
learning program, one-on-one session, or other learning event used
to initially train employees on how to embody the customer
service culture. Customer-focused organizations like Clio and
JetBlue make sure all new employees receive extensive training on
the company culture. They also provide periodic refresher training
to ensure employees don’t stagnate.
Providing employees with constant training on the culture may seem like a
lot of work—and it is. The effort is well worth it.
Let’s go back to the Clio support agent whose story we shared at the
start of this chapter. What would have happened if he had not been trained to
embody Clio’s customer service vision? The customer might have grown
frustrated and asked to speak to a supervisor, which would take up valuable
time that the supervisor could otherwise have spent coaching and training
employees. And in the end, the client might have cancelled her account since
she couldn’t get what she wanted, which would cost Clio years of reliable
revenue and any potential referrals she would have made to other law firms.
Now, multiply that by the dozens of interactions that single support rep
has with customers each day. Multiply that number again by the 20 agents on
the team. In just one day, there could be hundreds of customers who are
impacted, for better or worse, by employees’ ability to embody the culture.
Fortunately, the support agent was well trained. He was enthusiastic
about Clio’s culture and demonstrated a genuine desire to help his customer
succeed. She ended the call happy with her service and determined to keep
her account. And that made all that training worthwhile.
NOTES:
45 Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps, Telling Ain’t Training, (Alexandria,
VA: ASTD Press, 2002).
46 Ron Rabin, “Blended Learning for Leadership: The CCL Approach,” Center for
Creative Leadership, 2014. http://insights.ccl.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/BlendedLearningLeadership
KANYON HILLAIRE UNDERSTANDS THAT MAKING customers feel confident
goes a long way toward their having a good experience. He’s a Safelite
AutoGlass technician who fixes and replaces broken glass—cracked
windows, dinged windshields—on cars.
It’s annoying for a customer to experience a broken car window. On top
of that, it can be unsettling to have a stranger arrive at your home or business
and ask for the keys to your car.
Hillaire understands he needs to quickly build rapport with his
customers. “Trust is a very big thing,” explained Hillaire. “It takes years and
years to trust somebody, and we have minutes.”47
On a normal service call, Hillaire builds trust by carefully explaining
the procedure before he starts working. However, one day he went to call a
customer to confirm his arrival time and discovered that this customer was
deaf. This meant it would be much harder to provide his normal trust-
building explanation.
Hillaire decided to visit his friend Amanda, who knows American Sign
Language. He recorded a video on his cell phone of Amanda signing
Hillaire’s explanation of the service process. The video began with, “My
name is Amanda. My friend, Kanyon, asked me to help him explain how
today’s appointment will go.” When Hillaire went on his service call, he
showed his customer the video, and it immediately broke the ice.
This simple gesture wasn’t in a Safelite AutoGlass employee training
manual. It was something Hillaire did on his own initiative. He didn’t ask for
permission to record the video or to spend the extra time. He just did it.
I asked Hillaire why he didn’t write down the instructions, instead of
taking all that time to meet his friend and create the video. Hillaire explained
that his goal was bigger than just providing information.
“Customer service for me is allowing that person to feel comfortable
and safe. Then they can trust me, and when I am working on their car or
truck, they want to trust me. So yes, I could have written it down, but I would
have missed out on the joy I saw in my customer’s face as he was watching
that video. I would have missed out on watching the walls drop and watching
the trust begin to grow.”
Stories like this have helped Safelite AutoGlass develop a reputation for
outstanding customer service. The company’s service has been profiled in
books, blogs, and podcasts. In 2016, Safelite won two awards from the
insurer USAA for innovation and supplier excellence in contributing to
USAA’s own outstanding service reputation. This is a big deal, especially
when you consider that USAA is regularly ranked as the number one
customer service company in the United States.48
Like the other companies profiled in this book, Safelite has worked hard
to develop a customer-focused culture. Safelite calls it People powered,
customer driven. One of the keys to its success is empowering employees like
Hillaire to deliver exceptional service.
HOW SAFELITE EMPOWERS EMPLOYEES TO DELIVER
OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE
Some people think of empowerment as the ability to go above and beyond the
call of duty. Hillaire’s choice—to go out of his way to make a connection and
build trust with a deaf customer—is a perfect example of this.
But empowerment means much more. Empowerment is putting
employees in a position where it’s easy for them to provide outstanding
customer service.
Many customer service leaders have told me that the number-one
obstacle to empowerment is getting employees to realize how much they’re
really able to do for their customers. Employees must possess a strong desire
to proactively look for opportunities to deliver outstanding customer service.
So empowerment starts with employees having a service mindset.
Safelite’s customer service vision provides employees with clear
guidance on what they’re expected to do:
Achieve extraordinary results by looking at our business through
the eyes of our customers and making it easy for them to do
business with us and ensuring their experience is memorable.
Hillaire used the vision as a guide when serving his customer. He started with
a desire to make the customer feel comfortable, so he tried to imagine the
service call from the customer’s perspective—i.e., through the eyes of the
customer. Hillaire knew the video of his friend Amanda signing his
explanation of the procedure would make it easier for the customer to
understand the process. By taking the time to create a personal video, he
ensured the customer’s experience was memorable.
This service mindset starts at the top. Tom Feeney, the company’s CEO,
described the empathy technicians are expected to display for customers who
need glass repaired on their vehicles. “There’s a lot of emotion going through
your mind. What we try to do is bring a peace of mind to that experience.”49
But this service mindset is just the starting point for empowerment
because empowering employees means providing them with the resources,
tools, and authority to serve customers at a high level. Safelite uses its
customer service vision to guide the development of processes that enable
employees to succeed.
Consider a typical service appointment. A customer connects with
Safelite either directly or through their insurance company. When they call,
the customer is immediately connected to a live person rather than being
routed through an annoying phone menu. Within a few minutes, the Safelite
customer service rep is able to diagnose the problem, identify the part needed
to fix it, check inventory to make sure the part is in stock, confirm what’s
covered under the customer’s auto insurance policy, and schedule a
technician to come do the repair. Customers can also choose a self-service
option on the Safelite website that guides them through this process.
Most customers don’t realize how much planning and how many
resources are required to deliver this kind of service. Safelite has to staff its
contact center with enough people to answer each phone call with a live
person. Employees need to be trained to ask the right questions to determine
what work needs to be done. The company has to have a robust computer
system capable of checking inventory, connecting with various insurance
companies, and managing technician schedules.
This customer-focused approach continues on to the service call itself.
On the day of their appointment, customers receive an email with a picture of
the technician who will be visiting them, including a brief biography.
Technicians also call or text customers directly to let them know they’re on
their way to the appointment. Once they arrive, technicians must have the
skills to develop rapport with customers and then expertly complete the
repair.
The entire repair process is designed to make it easy for technicians to
serve their customers and fulfill the customer service vision. Emailing
customers a picture and biography of their technician ahead of time to make
them feel more confident is an example of looking at our business through
the eyes of our customers. Allowing customers to quickly schedule an
appointment and have the technician come to them (versus driving to a
service center) is part of making it easy for them to do business with us. And
a unique part of the Safelite process means that the technician will vacuum
the customer’s car and clean all the windows (not just the new one) as part of
the service—which is a powerful way of ensuring their experience is
memorable.
All this combines to help Safelite achieve extraordinary results.
Having a good product or service backed by the appropriate resources,
tools, and processes can empower employees to deliver excellent customer
service most of the time. However, there are still occasions when something
unusual happens, and an employee needs to be able to depart from the normal
routine. A procedure can’t be created for every possible situation, but
employees can be encouraged to use the customer service vision as a
compass to point them in the right direction.
Let’s go back to Kanyon Hillaire. Safelite technicians like Hillaire are
trained to look for ways to connect with their customers and develop rapport.
Shooting a video of his friend explaining the service procedure in American
Sign Language is an example of using that training (and Hillaire’s own
natural instincts) to find a way to connect with a deaf customer.
Customer-focused companies like Safelite also empower their
employees to help the company continuously improve. After his service call,
Hillaire emailed Renee Cacchillo, the Vice President for Customer
Experience and Brand Strategy, to share his story and suggest that a video
like his be created for all technicians to use.
That in itself is extraordinary. Safelite has over 11,000 employees, yet
Hillaire felt comfortable reaching out to a senior leader. That would be
unthinkable in many large companies, where frontline employees jokingly
refer to the corporate office as “the ivory tower” and often don’t even know
the names of key executives.
It was also extraordinary that Cacchillo listened to Hillaire’s feedback.
Like many effective leaders, she knows that great ideas can come from
people doing the daily work. Hillaire’s suggestion made so much sense that
Safelite now equips its technicians with videos explaining the service
procedure in both American Sign Language and Spanish.
Trusting employees to do the right thing is another essential element of
empowerment. Each service appointment involves a one-on-one connection
between a customer and a Safelite employee. That requires the company to
trust people like Hillaire to follow company procedures and use good
judgment with limited supervision.
Like other customer-focused companies, Safelite emphasizes hiring the
right people and then giving them adequate training to understand and
embody the company culture. They also understand that employees naturally
tend to be trustworthy if they’ve bought into the culture and are empowered
to serve their customers.
Another terrific example came from Bright House Networks. It
provided cable, internet, telephone, and home security service to
approximately 2.5 million customers spread out over five states, before the
company was purchased by Charter Communications in 2016. Bright House
Networks’ customer service agents were empowered to issue a customer
account credit of up to $1,000 without seeking permission from a supervisor.
The company had a process where any credit of $250 or higher was
reviewed by a supervisor. The credit had already been issued by the time of
the review, so it was purely intended to ensure that customer service agents
were making good decisions. If an agent made a questionable call, their
supervisor could coach them on how to make a better choice in the future.
During the first year the policy was in place, managers didn’t find a
single credit that was issued inappropriately. The lesson here is that the
customer service agents saved their customers and their company time and
aggravation by issuing credits that supervisors would have eventually issued
anyway.
Empowerment is a major reason for the success of many customer-
focused companies. Clio avoids scripts and encourages customer service
agents to use their own personalities when interacting with customers. REI
has a generous returns policy that enables associates to accept most returns
without any hassle. And you’ll recall that Shake Shack’s CEO, Randy
Garutti, challenged employees at a new store to “put us out of business
because you are so damn generous with what you give the people who walk
in this door.”
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON’T EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES
Employees who aren’t empowered often find themselves in situations where
pleasing customers seems impossible. They might miss opportunities to go
above and beyond because the company culture doesn’t encourage them to
think outside of standard procedures. Or they might feel victimized by a poor
product, a broken process, or an overly restrictive policy that makes it hard
for them to do their job.
One such occasion happened when a winter storm tested employee
empowerment at a hotel in a small town in West Texas. The storm had shut
down the highway east of town. This meant that guests who were scheduled
to check out and drive east extended their stay for another night. Still other
travelers heading east stopped their trip short, since this was the last town
before the roads were closed. The hotel quickly sold out at what was
normally a quiet time of year.
The lone hotel clerk working the front desk was overwhelmed. Guest
after guest arrived without a reservation, but she had to turn them away
because the hotel was out of rooms. To make matters worse, the hotel’s
computer system went down, which meant the clerk had to manage the
check-in process manually.
This caused a problem when a couple with a reservation tried to check
in, only to find their room was already occupied. The hotel clerk panicked.
She had miscounted the rooms where guests had extended their stay, and now
she wasn’t sure which rooms were occupied and which ones were not. She
tried to assign them to another room, but that one, too, was occupied.
It was late and the tired couple was getting frustrated. Meanwhile, there
was a growing line of arriving guests forming in the lobby, waiting to find
out if they would have a place to stay that night. It was so overwhelming that
the clerk burst into tears.
The front desk clerk struggled because she wasn’t empowered. She
hadn’t been taught what to do when an unexpected event dramatically
changed the hotel’s occupancy. The computer, a tool she normally relied
upon to keep track of room assignments, was down. She repeatedly called her
boss for help, but her boss wasn’t answering his cell phone. And the front
desk clerk lacked a customer-focused mindset that would have enabled her to
improvise and find a way to make the best of a bad situation.
Fortunately, a guest with hotel experience intervened. She suggested
that the front desk associate look for reserved rooms where guests hadn’t yet
arrived. It was nearly 11pm, and some guests with reservations simply
weren’t going to arrive because they couldn’t get past the road closures. The
associate found one room that matched the criteria and was able to check the
couple in after walking to the room herself to verify it was indeed
unoccupied.
Operational problems like this make it hard to empower employees. As
of 2016, McDonald’s has spent seven straight years ranked last on the
American Customer Satisfaction Index for limited service restaurants.50 Part
of the company’s challenge is that its menu expanded 365 percent from 1980
to 2014. Each new menu item adds additional processes, equipment, and
employee training requirements, making it challenging for thousands of
company-owned and franchised McDonald’s to implement updates
consistently. This increases the likelihood for errors, which in turn aggravates
customers. For example, a study by QSR Magazine found that a whopping 12
percent of McDonald’s drive-through orders contain an error.51
A lack of empowerment also contributed to the demise of the once-
popular Borders bookstore chain. The company’s inventory management was
so poor that sales associates would often be unable to find a product for a
customer, even if that product was physically located somewhere in the store.
Research conducted by Zeynep Ton from the MIT Sloan School of
Management and Ananth Raman the Harvard Business School revealed that
this happened in approximately one out of six customer interactions when a
customer asked for helping finding an item.52 These sales associates wanted
to help the customer and make the sale, but they didn’t have the ability.
Remember, a key aspect of empowerment is that the employee has all the
right resources available to do their job.
Contact centers also provide an excellent example of how
empowerment impacts service quality. A 2015 study by Mattersight
discovered that 66 percent of customers who call customer service are
already frustrated by the time they get a customer service rep on the phone.53
That’s because, unlike Safelite, the typical contact center requires customers
to wade through a frustrating maze of phone menus and then wait on hold
before someone answers the call.
This puts the customer service rep at a disadvantage since their
customer is already upset, but it often gets worse. A 2015 research report
from the International Customer Management Institute revealed that 74
percent of contact centers don’t fully empower their employees to deliver
outstanding customer service.54
And that feeling of disempowerment can cause employees to give up
and stop even trying to serve their customers. Technical support agents at a
business-to-business software company experienced this when the company
released an update to its software. The new software was confusing to the
small business owners who used it, and it had several bugs that made it
malfunction. This caused such a barrage of customer calls that wait times
sometimes extended up to an hour.
The technical support reps felt victimized. After all, they didn’t create
the confusing software update that didn’t work properly. They weren’t
responsible for staffing decisions that left the support team unable to handle
the influx of calls. It felt fundamentally unfair to the support reps that they
had to face the brunt of customers’ anger for a problem they didn’t cause and
couldn’t fully fix. Many members of the team started feeling hopeless and
resentful and stopped providing the empathetic and thorough service they
normally provided.
HOW TO EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES
Customer-focused companies do two things to empower their employees.
First, the company develops a culture that instills a customer-focused
mindset in employees. Second, the company provides employees with the
tools, resources, and authority to serve their customers at the highest level.
Previous chapters in this book helped you lay the foundation for
creating a customer-focused mindset, where employees are obsessed with
customer service. It starts with having a clear customer service vision, and
then using that vision to point the entire company in the same direction.
Employees must know the vision and understand how it relates to their work.
Goals should be set in alignment with the vision, and employees should be
hired and trained to deliver the type of service that the vision describes.
The second part of empowerment involves putting employees in a
position to succeed. There are a few things you can do to ensure this happens:
1. Invest in resources, tools, and equipment.
2. Define standard operating procedures.
3. Give employees the right authority.
Invest in Resources, Tools, and Equipment
Safelite customers get peace of mind, in part because customer service reps
have the ability to quickly schedule a service call while identifying the right
part, checking for an available technician, and reviewing the customer’s
insurance coverage. The company had to make some big investments in
systems and staffing to make this happen, but customers are more loyal
because of their experience. They’re more likely to tell a friend about
Safelite, which leads to more business. And Safelite can serve its customers
more efficiently, which saves money.
In October 2014, Bright House Networks answered just 50 percent of
customer calls within 30 seconds. Recognizing that this was a problem, the
company invested heavily in a new unified system enabling it to route
customer calls more efficiently between its multiple contact centers, so
employees could provide faster service. One year later, more than 90 percent
of calls were answered within 30 seconds.
Making these sorts of investments isn’t cheap; you’ll need to weigh the
cost of the investment against the potential gain to justify the expense. Areas
to explore include revenue gain (increased customer loyalty, fewer lost sales,
higher average order value, etc.), reduced servicing costs (fewer discounts for
poor service), improved service efficiency (reduced cost per contact,
improved first contact resolution, etc.), and improved reputation (increased
word-of-mouth referrals, better ratings on review sites, etc.).
Let’s say you invest $100,000 in a new computer system for your
customer service team. You calculate that the new system will help your team
serve customers faster and more accurately, which will result in an additional
$40,000 in repeat business per year. If you divide the $100,000 expense by
the $40,000 gain, you can see how long it will take for your investment to
pay off:
$100,000 ÷ $40,000 = 2.5 years
It’s ultimately up to you (and your CFO, CEO, etc.) to decide if an
investment is worthwhile, but this is a helpful exercise.
And you can’t expect your employees to consistently deliver
outstanding service if they’re using outdated or non-functioning systems and
tools.
Define Standard Operating Procedures
Having a standard way of doing things may seem counter to empowering
employees, but it’s an essential step. Remember that empowerment means
enabling employees to provide outstanding customer service. Standard
operating procedures help employees serve their customers consistently
across the whole team. These procedures should reflect the best known way
of doing things while still giving employees the flexibility to adjust to
unusual circumstances.
At Safelite, it’s standard procedure to email a customer a picture and bio
of their technician to help build trust and confidence. The technician is then
expected to personally contact the customer to confirm their arrival time. And
the standard procedure calls for the technician to spend a few minutes
building rapport with the customer while he or she explains the repair
process.
All these standards combine to create a consistent experience,
regardless of who the service technician may be. When a customer has a
good experience with Safelite, they’ll likely call the company a couple of
years later when a rock dings their windshield again. It’s important that the
customer has the same great experience, even though it’s likely to be a
different technician who does the work. Standard operating procedures help
ensure that’s what happens.
It’s also easier to manage employees when there’s a set way of doing
things. New hires can learn from clearly-documented practices that are
proven to be successful. Managers can supervise their employees in a
consistent manner.
Companies like Safelite have also discovered that standards can’t
always be created from the top down. Best practices in customer-focused
companies are often identified by frontline employees. For instance, Kanyon
Hillaire took the initiative to create a video for a deaf customer, but he went
even further to share his idea with senior leadership. As a result, the company
created videos in American Sign Language and Spanish that are now part of
the standard procedure for interacting with customers whose preference is
one of those languages.
One customer service leader shared a common-sense approach to setting
standards and best practices. Before putting a procedure in place, he has
employees test the procedure to make sure it actually works as well as
intended. Getting employee input improves employee buy-in, but it also
prevents broken processes or unrealistic expectations from being
implemented.
Give Employees the Right Authority
A process or procedure can’t be designed for every eventuality. There are
many customer service situations that are unique, unusual, or unprecedented.
In other situations, it’s simply more efficient to give employees the discretion
to make decisions that a supervisor would make anyway. Requiring an
employee to seek approval before taking a common-sense action only wastes
the customer’s and employee’s time, and can make the employee feel inept or
untrusted.
There are three keys to empowering employees with the appropriate
authority to serve their customers.
The first is to develop clear red lines that cannot be crossed. The $1,000
limit for customer account credits at Bright House Networks is a good
example. This means a $975 credit is up to the customer service rep’s
discretion, but a $1,005 credit is not allowed without permission. These red
lines make it clear what employees are and are not allowed to do.
The second key is to allow employees to operate in the gray area
between a standard operating procedure and a red line without fear of
punishment. This is where employees must be able to use their own
discretion.
Let’s say a manager discovers an employee issued a $500 account credit
that he disagrees with. That credit is well below the $1,000 red line, so the
manager should not discipline the employee in any way for using what the
employee believed to be appropriate judgment. The fastest way to
disempower an employee is to give them grief for doing exactly what you
previously told them they could, and even should, do.
That leads us to the third key to empowerment: coaching. If a manager
disagrees with an employee’s decision to issue a $500 credit, he shouldn’t
punish her for exercising her own judgment, but he should still engage the
employee in a conversation. The goal is to understand why the employee
made that decision and help the employee understand how to make a better
decision in the future.
Figure 9.1 shows a sample empowerment procedure for valet parking
attendants working at a hotel. You can download an empowerment procedure
worksheet at www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.
Figure 9.1: Sample Empowerment Procedure
Title: Courtesy Discount Procedure
Purpose: Our motto is “Clean, fast, and friendly service.” Valet parking
attendants may use this procedure to offer hotel guests a discount anytime our
service falls short of our motto.
Procedure:
1. Identify a guest service issue. It’s better to notice something
before a guest does (ex: a dirty car windshield), so you can fix it
quickly. You can also use this procedure if the guest complains
about our service.
2. Resolve the issue. You may offer the guest a courtesy discount up
to the full value of the parking charge. Keep in mind that there
may be other ways to resolve the issue to the guest’s satisfaction.
For example, a dirty windshield can be quickly cleaned.
3. Record the discount. After serving the guest, note the courtesy
discount in the Courtesy Discount Log. Be sure to indicate the
reason a discount was given.
Step number three is critical. Your manager will review all discounts and
may have some follow-up questions for you. The purpose is to identify any
http://www.serviceculturebook.com/tools
service trends that need to be addressed. For example, five discounts for dirty
windshields in two days may signal that we need to find a better way to keep
our guests’ windshields clean!
One big concern with empowering employees is that they’ll give away
too much. The opposite is frequently true. Managers often have to spend time
encouraging employees to do more for customers, not less.
Another big concern is making sure employees make consistent
decisions. That’s where coaching comes into play. A manager who frequently
discusses empowerment with employees in both an individual and team
setting will help calibrate the team so they all have a similar understanding of
the best way to handle certain situations.
Recall that empowering employees means putting them in a position to
succeed. It’s a combination of the right resources, clear standards to follow,
and the authority to use their discretion. It’s also imperative that leaders
monitor their operations to ensure that empowerment is working.
Here’s an example. A hotel advertised that its airport shuttle arrived
every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, shuttles actually took closer to 30 minutes
to arrive. This meant that shuttle drivers weren’t empowered to meet the 20-
minute promise.
Measuring how the shuttle’s performance stacked up against what
guests expected was a key first step, so hotel managers talked to shuttle
drivers to get their input. They rode the shuttle and timed each leg of the
journey to understand where time was spent. Then, through a collaborative
effort between managers and shuttle drivers, new procedures were
implemented. The shuttle route was adjusted to be more efficient, and
additional shuttles were added during peak times. All these steps finally
empowered shuttle drivers to meet the 20-minute standard.
You can do the same thing with your customer service operation. Look
for opportunities to improve. Collaborate with frontline employees from
various teams to identify problems and get everyone on the same page. Fix
problems that prevent employees from helping their customers.
There’s one last step in the empowerment process.
It’s essential that customer service leaders share empowerment stories
with their team. These stories spark imagination by reminding employees
what can be done and help them maintain an empowerment mindset.
Safelite does an excellent job of this. Let’s go back to Kanyon Hillaire,
who took the initiative to create a video explaining a repair process to a deaf
customer. Safelite posted a short video on YouTube and the company website
detailing Hillaire’s story as an example of a creative way to connect with a
customer.
Examples like this inspire other employees. They reinforce the concept
of employee empowerment by showing how someone used their resources,
tools, and authority in a creative way. Celebrating examples such as Hillaire’s
also makes it safe for other employees to overcome obstacles and find a way
to achieve the company’s customer service vision.
NOTES:
47 You can see more of Hillaire’s perspective in this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbsyEMtUGEk.
48 Bradley Lehman, “USAA Awards Companies for Innovation, Veteran Support
and More,” USAA, June 9, 2016. https://communities.usaa.com/t5/Press-
Releases/USAA-Awards-Companies-for-Innovation-Veteran-Support-and-More/ba-
p/93517.
49 Tom Feeney interview with Rob Markey, “Net Promoter at the heart of a
cultural transformation: How Safelite turns hassles into smiles,” Net Promoter System
Podcast, March 2015. http://www.netpromotersystemblog.com/2015/03/10/net-
promoter-at-the-heart-of-a-cultural-transformation-how-safelite-turns-hassles-into-
smiles/.
50 The American Customer Satisfaction Index publishes these ratings on its
website: http://theacsi.org.
51 “The Drive-Thru Performance Study: Order Accuracy,” QSR, accessed
December 21, 2016. https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/drive-thru-performance-
study-average-service-time.
52 Zeynep Ton and Ananth Raman, “The Effect of Product Variety and Inventory
Levels on Misplaced Products at Retail Stores: A Longitudinal Study” (working
paper), Harvard Business School, June 2004.
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~gjanakir/Ton_and_Raman6-10-04 .
53 “Please Hold for a Reality Check: The Real Reasons Consumers are Fed Up
with Call Centers,” Mattersight, 2015. http://www.mattersight.com/resource/please-
hold-for-a-reality-check-real-reasons-consumers-are-fed-up-with-call-centers/.
54 “Own the Moments! Understanding the Customer Journey,” ICMI Research,
2015. http://www.icmi.com/Resources/Webinars/Own-the-Moments-2015-ICMI-
Research-Findings.
IN OCTOBER 2012, HURRICANE SANDY descended on New York City.
Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered evacuations and declared a state of
emergency.
While most New Yorkers worried about their safety or the damage
caused by the storm, Anthony Casalena worried about websites.
Casalena is the CEO and founder of Squarespace, a company that
makes it easy for people without programming experience to build a website.
Artists, bloggers, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and many others use Squarespace
because of its intuitive features, beautifully designed templates, and
outstanding customer support.
The data center housing Squarespace’s servers was in New York City.
The hurricane knocked out the power, which normally wouldn’t interrupt
Squarespace’s service because the building had a backup generator that could
keep things going for three or four days. But then the building’s basement
flooded, shutting down the fuel pump that sent fuel from the basement tank to
the generator on the 17th floor.
Casalena received a message from the data center telling him the
generator only had 12 hours of fuel left. This meant Squarespace, and all the
websites it powered, would soon go offline. Jesse Hertzberg, the company’s
Chief Operating Officer at the time, posted an update on Squarespace’s
website telling customers to expect the site to go down soon. “We will do
everything in our power to get Squarespace running as soon as possible, and
we will remain online for as long as it is safe.”
Casalena knew he had to do something, so he hurriedly left his SoHo
apartment and walked to the data center. He later explained his thought
process in an interview with The Observer. “I am really, really proud of
Squarespace’s uptime and everything we accomplished. So, sitting there in an
apartment where there’s no electricity or anything else—I mean, I would
have to be, like, so lame not to walk down to the data center and just try and
help. What am I going to do, sit at home in my apartment? That’s just
absurd.”55
When Casalena arrived, he realized that the generator on the 17th floor
was working fine. The problem was getting fuel there to keep it running. So
Casalena organized a bucket brigade to manually haul fuel to the generator.
Employees from Squarespace, Peer1 (the company that hosted Squarespace’s
servers), and Fog Creek (Peer1’s parent company) worked through the night
to maintain the generator’s fuel supply.
Miraculously, Squarespace managed to keep its service running, which
meant that thousands of customer websites stayed online. Casalena reflected
on the team’s herculean efforts. “It’s okay to care about things, you know?
Even things as silly as websites.”56
This was an extraordinary situation, but it was also a reflection of
Squarespace’s customer-focused culture. The enterprising spirit that Casalena
displayed that night permeates throughout the entire company.
HOW SQUARESPACE LEADERS REINFORCE THE CULTURE
Casalena wasn’t working alone to keep the data center running during
Hurricane Sandy. He pushed the initiative and modeled the necessary
commitment, but other employees were needed, too. Employees found fuel
drums on craigslist that were used to haul the fuel. They manually carried the
drums up to the 17th floor, which was a challenging physical task. Still more
Squarespace employees were required to run normal operations. Others kept
customers informed by posting frequent updates on the Squarespace status
page and Twitter, and answering customer emails. A few more brought food
to those working nonstop to keep the data center running.
Leadership is an essential element of creating a customer-focused
culture. Leaders provide employees with direction, guidance, and inspiration,
which means leaders must model the customer-focused culture. It’s unlikely
that Squarespace’s employees would have shown this extraordinary level of
commitment and dedication during a natural disaster if their CEO wasn’t
leading the way.
Casalena and his senior leaders consciously help employees connect
with the company’s customer service vision. The vision consists of
Squarespace’s mission statement framed by six core values. The mission is
Squarespace makes beautiful products to help people with creative ideas
succeed, and the six core values are:
Be Your Own Customer
Empower Individuals
Design Is Not a Luxury
Good Work Takes Time
Optimize Towards Ideals
Simplify
Casalena’s hiring philosophy is a great example of how to hire people who
are aligned with the mission and values. Casalena explained to the venture
capital blog First Round Review that when you hire for culture fit, “You have
people you can trust to make the best decisions without you while remaining
aligned with your vision.”57 We learned about the importance of hiring for
culture fit in Chapter 7, but it’s Casalena’s insistence that ensures
Squarespace includes culture fit as a key part of its employee screening
process.
A tangible example of how hiring for culture fit impacts service is the
support team’s ability to understand and empathize with customers. Jesse
Hertzberg, Squarespace’s former COO, told me, “Everyone who works here
is a customer.” They all have Squarespace websites of their own, whether it’s
a personal blog, a side business, or some other online presence, thereby
fulfilling the Be Your Own Customer core value.
This empowers technical support agents to quickly respond to customer
issues with helpful and thorough suggestions. Support agents can create a
personal connection with their customers because they know what it’s like to
use the product.
Casalena himself models the value that every employee is a
Squarespace user. He started the company in 2004, when he wanted to find
an easier way to build a website. He built the original software and spent the
next several years personally supporting customers who needed assistance.
As the company grew and he had to build a customer support team, Casalena
was careful to ensure that support employees could serve customers with the
same level of empathy that he did.
Casalena and the rest of the Squarespace leadership team have made
several strategic decisions that reflect the company’s customer focus. In
2012, the company decided to streamline its pricing plans (part of the
Simplify core value). The new pricing scheme meant that some existing
customers who had pre-paid for a year of service were now paying more for
their service than new customers. To address this inequity, Squarespace
generously offered existing customers a credit for the price difference when
they switched to one of the new plans.
Most companies wouldn’t forego all that revenue in the name of
customer goodwill, but Squarespace’s leaders understood that the credits
helped engender long-term customer loyalty. It also prevented the company’s
support team from having to field a barrage of complaints from existing users
who were angry about paying more than new customers.
Another customer-focused strategic decision came when Squarespace
upgraded its product from version 5 to version 6. Squarespace 6 was such a
radical product redesign that Squarespace 5 customers who wanted to use it
would have to completely rebuild their websites. Most software companies
who upgrade their products like this give customers a grace period to make
the change before they pull the plug on the old version. Squarespace decided
to do things differently.
First, the company announced that they’d continue supporting
Squarespace 5 indefinitely. Customers running the old version could continue
to do so without having to completely rebuild their websites using
Squarespace 6.
Second, the company gave every Squarespace 5 user the ability to build
a new website on Squarespace 6 for no additional charge. This meant
customers could experiment with the new product and rebuild their site on
Squarespace 6 at their own pace. Then they could choose to make the switch,
or they could stick with their existing Squarespace 5 site.
The decision to run two versions of Squarespace simultaneously
reflected a strong customer focus. Leaders like Casalena had an intimate
understanding of what it’s like to build and run a website, and how much
hassle it is to have to re-build an existing site. They wanted to give their
customers all the upside of the new product without the downside of being
forced to make the switch.
Throughout this book, we’ve seen other leaders reinforce the customer-
focused culture in their organizations.
Rob La Gesse at Rackspace reinforced the ideal of being available to
customers by publishing his personal contact information in a blog post, so
perhaps it was no surprise when support reps tweeted their personal numbers
to customers when the phone system was down. (Taking a page out of La
Gesse’s book, my phone number is 619-955-7946 and my email is
jeff@toistersolutions.com.)
Jerry Stritzke, REI’s CEO, decided to close all REI stores on Black
Friday in 2015, the busiest retail shopping day of the year. Instead, REI
created a marketing campaign called #OptOutside to encourage REI
employees and customers to spend time outdoors. This might have hurt short-
term profits, but it was squarely aligned with REI’s mission of helping people
enjoy the outdoors. It sent a clear message that Stritzke truly believed in the
company’s customer focus.
Recall Kanyon Hillaire, the Safelite AutoGlass technician introduced in
Chapter 9, who took the initiative to make a video that explained the
windshield replacement procedure in American Sign Language for a deaf
customer. He shared his idea with Renee Cacchillo, Safelite AutoGlass’s
Vice President for Customer Experience and Brand Strategy, who made a
similar video available to all Safelite technicians. Cacchillo reinforced
Hillaire’s decision-making, so it felt safe for Hillaire and other technicians to
take similar customer-focused initiatives in the future.
Leaders in customer-focused companies realize that employees look to
them to set a positive example. They model the culture in their daily
activities, so people understand that any executive pronouncements about
culture are more than just lip service. They make strategic decisions using the
culture as a guide, even when it means sacrificing short-term profits in favor
of long-term customer relationships.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF LEADERS DON’T REINFORCE THE
CULTURE
Many companies would have you believe that they’re customer-focused even
when they’re not. Senior leaders extol the virtues of their unique and special
culture in corporate communications and create lofty slogans to inspire
employees. Meanwhile, these leaders often undermine attempts at true
mailto:jeff@toistersolutions.com
customer focus.
Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the U.S., provides a cautionary
tale. In 2016, the bank was fined $185 million after it was discovered that
employees had opened more than two million phony bank and credit card
accounts over a five-year period. The accounts were opened in the names of
existing customers—by bank employees struggling to achieve aggressive
sales targets—without the knowledge or consent of those customers.
John Stumpf, the bank’s CEO, had publicly championed the notion of
Wells Fargo’s customer-focused culture. He was quoted on the Wells Fargo
website as saying, “Everything we do is built on trust. It doesn’t happen with
one transaction, in one day on the job or in one quarter. It’s earned
relationship by relationship.” Even his message to employees announcing the
fines for the widespread fraud maintained that the company was still
customer-focused. “Our entire culture is centered around doing what is right
for our customers.”58
The reality was very different. Employees were encouraged by bank
leaders to ignore the needs of their customers and do anything they could to
open new accounts, even if it meant committing fraud. “I had managers in my
face yelling at me,” said Sabrina Bertrand, a former Wells Fargo banker.
“They wanted you to open up dual checking accounts for people who
couldn’t even manage their original checking account.”59
Wells Fargo’s example proves that executive pronouncements about
culture are meaningless if they don’t match what leaders and employees are
actually doing. The intense pressure to open unauthorized customer accounts
overrode any notion of “doing what’s right for our customers.” The
company’s real culture was pressure-driven and deceitful.
Even seemingly small decisions can send a symbolic message to
employees. One vice president at another company undermined her
organization’s customer-focused culture initiative when she refused to let a
manager discipline or fire an employee who consistently provided poor
customer service. The employee’s productivity numbers were so good that
they elevated the rest of the team’s, and the vice president was scared that
letting the employee go would reflect poorly on her business unit’s results.
Allowing an employee to be misaligned with the culture, and preventing the
employee’s manager from addressing it, sent a clear message that this senior
leader favored short-term productivity over long-term customer relationships.
Some leaders are afraid to publicly demonstrate their commitment to the
culture. One company president was so uncomfortable interacting with
frontline employees and customers that he went to great lengths to avoid both
groups. When he made site visits to the company’s various locations, he
quickly sequestered himself in an office with that location’s general manager
while completely ignoring other employees. This president’s aloofness sent
the message that he considered himself too important to speak to frontline
employees, which undermined his desire for employees to provide warm and
friendly service.
Another challenge faced by executive leaders is relying too much on
data to manage the business without having a firm grasp of what’s really
happening. For example, a retail store received its weekly stock shipment on
Saturday mornings. Corporate leaders scheduled the stock truck to optimize
the truck’s routing without considering how the timing of a shipment affected
the store’s operations. This was the busiest sales time of the week, but the
store manager wasn’t allowed to add extra staff to handle stock duties plus
the heavy sales-floor activity.
Corporate leaders had set a strict limit on the number of employees who
could work the Saturday shift, based on historical sales data—but without
taking into account increased sales that could be gained by adding sales staff
during the Saturday morning rush. The store manager shared these insights
with his boss, the chain’s area manager, and explained how a few changes
could dramatically improve sales. But the company’s senior leaders stuck to
their plan, despite the store manager’s request because they trusted their data
more than they trusted the manager who had intimate knowledge of the
store’s operations.
It’s helpful to acknowledge that leaders face enormous pressure to drive
business results. They’re human, like everyone else, which means that
leadership decisions are often guided by the same swirl of emotions—like
optimism, fear, and a longing for acceptance—that drive frontline employee
behaviors. The big difference is that all eyes are on the leadership team.
Leaders can quickly undermine the customer-focused culture they hope
to create if they make the wrong decision or model the wrong behavior.
That’s why it’s critical for organizational leaders to recognize their role in
reinforcing the culture, and for them to have a clear plan to fulfill that role.
HOW TO REINFORCE YOUR CULTURE WITH EMPLOYEES
Employees look to their boss, company executives, and other “higher-ups” in
an organization for leadership on the culture. In organizations with a
customer-focused culture, leaders consistently act as culture champions.
There are three primary ways they do this: they model the culture
themselves, they use the customer service vision to guide strategic decisions,
and they consistently communicate the culture to employees.
Here’s how you can incorporate each of these practices into your own
leadership activities.
Model the Culture
Anthony Casalena, Squarespace’s CEO, modeled the customer service vision
by helping keep the data center open during Hurricane Sandy. He didn’t
merely dispatch a group of employees to take care of it; Casalena was there
personally. His leadership demonstrated the caring and passion for customers
that he expects of his employees.
As a leader, you have to show employees what customer focus looks
like. Your behavior sends a strong signal to people that you’re either
committed to the culture (like Casalena at Squarespace), or you’re not (like
John Stumpf at Wells Fargo).
One of the best ways to do this is to be visible. Spend time connecting
with employees, so they see your commitment to the culture. This is
especially important in large organizations with many locations spread across
a wide geographical area.
Shake Shack’s CEO, Randy Garutti, provides an excellent example by
frequently visiting Shake Shack locations to review the operation and
encourage employees. Unlike the company president I mentioned earlier, he
doesn’t hide in a back office. When employees observe Garutti (and other
executives) interacting with employees and customers in a positive way, they
understand that these leaders are truly committed to the culture.
In some organizations, leaders periodically spend time directly serving
customers. They might answer customer questions in the contact center, ring
up purchases in a retail store, or greet guests in a hotel lobby. Employees are
inspired to use the organization’s customer service vision as a guide to serve
customers when they see their leaders doing the same thing.
Let Your Culture Guide Strategy
Your strategic decisions must be aligned with the culture and the customer
service vision if you want a customer-focused organization. All too often,
leaders unconsciously undermine the culture they’re trying to create by
making a decision that doesn’t fit the culture. This is almost always done to
chase some sort of short-term financial advantage.
Wells Fargo’s fake account scandal happened in part because the
company’s executives pushed something called the “Gr-eight” initiative. The
goal was to get customers to hold an average of eight financial products at the
bank. The initiative led to unrealistic sales goals and unrelenting pressure
from Wells Fargo managers that encouraged employees to open fraudulent
accounts. The strategic decision to push the “Gr-eight” program created a
direct conflict with the “do what’s right for our customers” culture that CEO
John Stumpf promoted.
Customer-focused leaders frequently forgo short-term profits to
reinforce the company’s culture in the long term. These enlightened leaders
realize that the continued business and positive word-of-mouth from loyal,
happy customers more than makes up for any temporary set-backs.
You’ve seen a few examples so far in this book. JetBlue leaders made
the strategic decision to provide all crewmembers (employees) with training
on the airline’s culture and business operations, since the resulting
crewmember engagement far outweighs the cost of the training. Executives at
Clio know the annual software user conference is more than just a marketing
boondoggle; they use the event to actively seek client feedback, so they can
make improvements to the product. Safelite AutoGlass’s leaders made the
strategic decision to have a live person answer customer calls, even though it
requires extra staffing in their contact center.
One of my clients devised an ingenious tactic to get her CEO to look
past short-term cost savings in favor of supporting the company culture. My
client was the Vice President of Human Resources for a rapidly-growing
company. She was convinced that she needed to add additional office space
to accommodate the training needs of the company’s expanding employee
base (her internal customers), so she put together a business case for the
company’s CEO.
The CEO rejected the plan because she felt the cost of leasing additional
office space was too high, but the vice president was undaunted. She invited
the CEO to attend a new hire orientation session and say a few words to the
company’s new employees. When the CEO arrived, she was horrified to see
the small conference room uncomfortably crowded with people, some of
whom were sitting on the credenza in the back or leaning against the wall
because there was nowhere for them to sit. Many of these employees had
specialized skills and training and had been heavily recruited with generous
compensation packages. The CEO was dismayed to see that their first
impression as employees of the company was to be packed like sardines into
a tiny conference room.
The CEO approved the new office space lease shortly after attending the
new hire orientation. The business case wasn’t nearly as compelling as seeing
a situation that was clearly misaligned with the way the company wanted to
treat its employees.
Communicate the Culture
Leaders in customer-focused organizations spend a lot of time
communicating the culture to employees. They remind people of the
customer service vision, emphasize its importance, and share inspirational
stories of employees using the vision as a guide to deliver outstanding
service.
Employees understand something’s importance based on how often
leaders talk about it. In customer-focused companies, leaders constantly talk
about service. Here are just a few opportunities where you can do the same
thing:
Company-wide newsletters
Town hall meetings
Posters and signage
Site visits to individual locations, departments, or teams
Your direct reports
Repetition and alignment are key. Senior leaders should use a variety of ways
to repeatedly reinforce the customer service vision and company culture. This
sends a clear signal that the culture is important.
Middle managers and frontline supervisors must also align their
employee communication around a similar message. Employees will
remember and understand the customer service vision when it’s reinforced by
multiple leaders and in multiple ways. They’ll quickly discard it as irrelevant
to them if the CEO makes an occasional announcement about customer
focus, but their direct supervisor never mentions it.
Leadership teams must have a shared understanding of the company
culture so they can reinforce the culture in a consistent way with employees.
I’ve worked with many companies where culture initiatives struggled because
senior leaders all had very different ideas about what the culture entailed and
never shared those ideas with each other to make sure they were all on the
same page.
I recommend that company leaders quiz each other on the same three
questions all employees should be able to answer about the customer service
vision (from Chapter 4):
1. What is the customer service vision?
2. What does the customer service vision mean?
3. How do I personally contribute to the customer service vision?
The answers to these questions need to be consistent among your
organizational leaders if you expect your employees to answer them
consistently. This also means that senior leaders, like all employees, must
either embrace the culture or be asked to leave. Squarespace’s Anthony
Casalena told First Round Review that leaders don’t have to be in 100 percent
agreement, but they do need to be closely aligned. Senior leaders who
consistently disagree with the customer service vision, or who act counter to
the company culture, do more harm than good. “If you think you’d have 80%
disagreement with some leaders, then some people probably shouldn’t be at
the company.”
NOTES:
55 Kelly Faircloth, “Why Did SquareSpace’s CEO Haul Diesel Up 17 Flights of
Stairs? Anything Less Would be ‘Lame’,” Observer, November 5, 2012.
http://observer.com/2012/11/squarespace-diesel-peer1-wall-street-hurricane-sandy-
data-center.
56 Ibid.
57 “How Squarespace’s CEO Pivoted to Scale for Millions,” First Round Review
(blog). http://firstround.com/review/How-Squarespaces-CEO-Pivoted-to-Scale-for-
Millions.
58 John Stumpf, “Perspective on Sept. 8 settlement announcement,” Wells Fargo,
September 2016. https://stories.wellsfargobank.com/perspective-todays-settlement-
announcement/?cid=adv_prsrls_1609_102495.
59 Matt Egan, “Workers tell Wells Fargo horror stories,” CNNMoney, September
9, 2016.
NONE OF THE CUSTOMER-FOCUSED COMPANIES profiled in The Service
Culture Handbook wanted to be in Chapter 11. It’s understandable, given the
connection in the United States between “Chapter 11” and bankruptcy or
going out of business.
These companies are my customers because they’ve helped me
highlight the steps necessary to develop a customer service culture. So, we’ll
just skip this chapter and go straight to Chapter 12.
CHAPTER 12
Making the Commitment to a Customer-Focused Culture
MOST COMPANIES FEEL PRESSURED TO provide outstanding customer
service. Keeping customers happy is an important part of earning repeat
business and maintaining the company’s brand reputation.
But serving customers isn’t always easy. Products break, processes
don’t always work as intended, and getting every employee on the same page
is an enormous challenge.
Now imagine the pressure your company would face if your business
was developing customer support software.
That’s Zendesk. Its software is used by thousands of companies to serve
their own customers. All the back-end stuff most of us don’t think about runs
through Zendesk: keeping records of customer contacts, capturing notes from
customer service agents, and routing contacts from multiple channels (phone,
email, chat, etc.) to the correct person. Zendesk can even send out customer
service surveys to help companies generate Voice of the Customer feedback.
The company has developed a reputation for providing outstanding
customer service to the companies using its software. Its customer
satisfaction rating hovers around an astounding 95 percent. It’s not
uncommon for customer service leaders to get excited when they talk about
Zendesk and gush about how the software makes it easier for their company
to deliver service. More of my clients use Zendesk than any other customer
support software platform.
Customer focus initially came easily for Zendesk. The company was
founded in 2007 by Mikkel Svane, Morten Primdahl, and Alexander
Aghassipour. They wanted to make customer support software that was easy
to use, so customer focus was a driving principle behind the company’s
creation. In the beginning, the three founders were closely involved with all
aspects of the operation and had direct contact with their clients.
Like many startups, the real challenge was maintaining the culture as
the company grew. In just seven years, Zendesk expanded from a three-
person startup run out of Mikkel Svane’s kitchen into a global, publicly-
traded organization with customers in 150 countries and territories and more
than 1,500 employees.
Zendesk executives realized the company needed a more formal
approach. Accordingly, in 2014, Zendesk made a commitment to formalizing
and growing its customer-focused culture.
HOW ZENDESK MADE THE COMMITMENT TO CUSTOMER FOCUS
The initiative started with the customer support team, which Zendesk calls
the Customer Advocate team. Greg Collins was hired as the Vice President of
Global Customer Advocacy in 2014, just a few months after Zendesk had its
initial public stock offering. The company already had a great product,
passionate customers and employees, and a proven track record. Collins was
brought in to help sustain and grow the culture of customer advocacy as the
company grew.
“The challenge was we were growing so fast,” says Collins. “It was
tough to keep everyone rowing in the same direction.”
The first step in making a formal commitment to customer focus was
ensuring that senior leaders supported it. The initiative would start in the
Customer Advocate team, but Collins wanted it to permeate throughout the
entire company.
Fortunately for Collins, the idea of formalizing the company’s customer
service culture resonated with executives because many critical elements
were already in place. Customer focus was a core reason the three founders
had started the company, and Zendesk leaders were already careful about
how customer service was positioned to employees. For instance, the term
advocacy was used for customer support, meaning that support employees—
known as Customer Advocates—understood that they were there to be
advocates for the customers they served.
The next step was creating a customer service vision that would serve as
a shared definition of outstanding service for all Customer Advocates. As
we’ve seen throughout this book, a customer service vision is the cornerstone
of a customer-focused culture. It acts as a compass to get every employee
pointed in the same direction, which was exactly what Collins had been hired
to do.
Collins solicited input from every member of the nearly 200-person
Customer Advocate team, encouraging Customer Advocates from around the
world to share and discuss ideas with each other via an online portal. The
team ultimately created a set of four values unified by a vision statement, all
of which were directly aligned with Zendesk’s corporate mission: to help
organizations and their customers build better relationships.
Serve: Putting Service in ‘Customer Service’
Lead: Lead by Example
Innovate: Don’t Fear the Banana
Have Fun: Smile, Dammit
The vision: to be the benchmark of a people-first Support Experience
Some clarification is in order to avoid confusion.
I use the term “customer service vision” to describe a shared definition
of outstanding customer service. Zendesk’s customer service vision includes
four values and a vision statement. For the rest of this chapter, I’ll use the
term “customer service vision” to reflect the overall definition and “vision” to
refer to the Customer Advocate team’s vision statement.
Second, “Don’t Fear the Banana” references a parable about a group of
monkeys placed in a cage. The story is often passed off by keynote speakers
as a real scientific experiment; it’s not.
Five monkeys are placed in a cage with a ladder in the middle. On top
of the ladder is a banana. Whenever a monkey tries to get the banana, the
other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. The monkeys quickly learn to
attack any monkey that tries to get the banana.
Next, one by one, the monkeys are replaced in the cage with new
monkeys—who are promptly attacked by the group as soon as they go for the
banana. This behavior persists in the cage even when there are no monkeys
left that had been sprayed with cold water when another monkey went after
the banana. The lesson is that it’s easy to accept the status quo without
understanding why things are done a certain way.
“Don’t Fear the Banana” was already part of the Zendesk culture when
the Customer Advocate team created its customer service vision. Mikkel
Svane, the company’s CEO, was fond of saying it when he wanted to
encourage people to challenge the status quo. As part of the newly-created
value statement, “Don’t Fear the Banana” incorporated the existing culture
into a codified value system.
A customer service vision, whether it’s a set of values, a mission
statement, or another type of cultural artifact, is much more powerful when it
clearly reflects an organization’s already-existing culture.
The third clarification has to do with the vision: to be the benchmark of
a people-first Support Experience. This means that Advocates and customers
are equally important to Zendesk. It’s common for customer support teams in
software companies to become overly focused on process or technology
where support agents feel unempowered to serve their customers because
they’re constrained by tightly-scripted procedures that don’t provide enough
flexibility to address each customer’s unique needs. The result is that
customers may feel like the support agent is talking down to them and not
truly empathizing with their frustration, or even worse, customers suspect the
company is using automated technology to save money by preventing them
from connecting with a live person. Zendesk’s Customer Advocate team
emphasizes a people-first philosophy to instill the idea that serving the person
is more important than focusing on the technology.
“Process and technology are very valuable,” says Collins. “Yet these
strategies serve people.”
Collins emphasizes that the values are listed in priority order and are
collectively unified by the vision. This is an important point because
employees can easily get confused if there are too many cultural artifacts
(like values, a vision statement, a mission statement, etc.) to memorize and
follow. Zendesk Customer Advocates know their number-one priority is
Putting Service in ‘Customer Service,’ which means developing healthy
relationships with customers by providing clear, concise, and helpful support.
Once the values and vision were created, Collins hung them on signs in
every Customer Advocate office. He spent time discussing them with
Customer Advocates to ensure that every person knew what they were, what
they meant, and how the customer service vision should guide their daily
work.
The entire process took just a few months, from gaining executive
support for the culture initiative, to working with Customer Advocates to
create the values and vision, to rolling out the final customer service vision to
the team. Many leaders would check the project off their to-do list at this
point and move on to another initiative. For Collins, the work was just
beginning.
He set about incorporating the values and vision into every aspect of the
Customer Advocate team’s daily work. They were incorporated into new-hire
training, and every new Customer Advocate gets a personal email from
Collins explaining the values and vision and their importance. The values and
vision are mentioned in every all-hands meeting and in one-on-one
conversations with employees.
The team is also encouraged to use the values when interacting with
their coworkers. For instance, Customer Advocates can recognize each other
for outstanding service. The only catch is they have to mention which one of
the four values they’re recognizing their colleague for emulating.
Collins implemented a quarterly Advocate Satisfaction survey to help
provide a barometer of how well Zendesk is creating a people-first Support
Experience for its support agents. The survey asks, “How much do you like
or dislike your current job at Zendesk?” The results are boldly shared on a
website where the current Agent Satisfaction Score is 91.5 percent.60 “I
believe that motivated, happy, and engaged Advocates is how you get
motivated, happy, and engaged Customers,” says Collins.
Customer Advocates now review feedback from customer satisfaction
surveys on a daily basis. Positive surveys are celebrated, while negative
feedback is dissected to identify opportunities for the team to improve. All
this feedback is shared with the rest of the company to help other departments
understand where they can contribute to increasing customer satisfaction.
Collins has invited people from other parts of the company to share in
the Customer Advocate team’s vision. The company has a Support
Experience Program, where people from other departments can spend time
working with Customer Advocates to resolve customer issues. The intent is
to help employees develop customer empathy, so they can understand how
their work impacts Zendesk’s customers.
Irina Blok, a Zendesk product designer, described her participation in
the Support Experience Program as a new employee. “Before this experience,
I thought it would be easy to be an advocate. But it’s a very hard job. Not
only do you have to know the product completely, you have to be a people-
person.”
Blok continued, “Not only did I get to learn about the Zendesk product,
I developed hands-on knowledge of what Zendesk is built on: helping
customers solve problems.”61
Two things really stand out about Zendesk’s story. The first is that this
wasn’t a one-time project. Collins makes it clear that aligning all Customer
Advocates around a shared customer service vision is a way of doing
business. This is a true long-term commitment to building, growing, and
sustaining a customer-focused culture.
The second thing that stands out is that the steps Collins took to
formalize the Customer Advocate team’s culture are remarkably similar to
what other companies profiled in this book have done. I didn’t ask Collins a
set of predetermined interview questions designed to elicit responses that fit
my model. We just talked. And the more he talked, the more I heard
similarities with other customer-focused companies.
Collins started by getting support from his executive leadership team.
Senior leaders champion the company culture in every customer-focused
company profiled in this book. You can’t get employees to commit to
something that senior leaders won’t commit to themselves.
The next step was developing a customer service vision. Every
customer-focused company profiled in this book has one. They all look
different, but every one of them provides a clear definition of outstanding
customer service for employees to follow.
The third piece is aligning daily work around that vision. Goals, hiring,
training, processes, and leadership are all focused on delivering outstanding
customer service. Progress is reviewed relentlessly, and employees soon
come to realize that this is the most important aspect of their jobs. This is
when they become obsessed with service.
Making a commitment like this isn’t a short-term project. Collins
continues to work on culture two years after he joined Zendesk. Clio, the
software company you met in Chapter 8, started its culture initiative in 2013
and continues to diligently work on it today. In 2015, REI started its
#OptOutside campaign to close its stores on Black Friday and has now turned
it into an annual event.
Culture requires senior leaders and their employees to be in it for the
long term. It’s incredibly difficult to maintain a customer-focused culture
without this true commitment.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON’T COMMIT TO CUSTOMER
FOCUS
Many leaders follow what employees jokingly refer to as a “flavor of the
month” plan. A new initiative is introduced, project teams are formed,
everyone spends a lot of time on it, and then it just goes away. Soon, another
new initiative takes its place. People are always working on something new,
but nothing seems to stick.
One company wanted to develop a customer-focused culture, but senior
leaders weren’t willing to make a full commitment. The first year, the
company president approved an initiative to create a customer service vision,
but then quickly stopped the initiative in order to refocus her leadership team
on cost-cutting in an effort to improve year-end profits. A few months later,
the president was fired by the company’s ownership group, in part because
the company was delivering poor service.
A new president was hired and expressed his commitment to restarting
the culture initiative. First, though, he wanted to focus the company on
employee engagement, not realizing that culture and engagement go hand-in-
hand. The company ran through the same process that many companies use:
conducting an employee satisfaction survey, forming committees to review
the results, and then ultimately doing very little to make improvements.
The next year, the president expressed interest in the culture initiative,
but held off to focus on customer experience. He took the same approach as
the employee engagement initiative: a one-time survey was conducted,
committees were formed, and nothing really happened.
Once again, the president missed the connection between culture,
employee engagement, and customer experience. He could have been doing
all three at the same time! Unfortunately, these flavor of the month initiatives
gained very little traction, and very little changed because there was no real
commitment. By now, the original culture ideas had been forgotten.
A major reason this company struggled was because neither president
fully committed to any initiative that would fundamentally change how the
organization operated. They wasted inordinate amounts of employee time and
spent large sums of money on consultants to start new projects, but the
promised benefits never materialized because they didn’t stick with it.
Some leaders try to make customer focus an initiative just for frontline
employees. As we learned in Chapter 10, this approach doesn’t work either.
Employees follow the example set by their leaders. This means leaders need
to model the culture themselves, use the culture to guide strategic decision-
making, and consistently communicate the culture to employees.
One customer service executive lamented that she wanted to build a
customer-focused culture, but her company’s CEO “didn’t go for that touchy-
feely stuff.” The harsh reality is that a culture initiative can only go as high as
the most senior person supporting it. She realized that she wouldn’t be able to
get the entire company to focus on service until the CEO made it a priority,
but she also understood that she could have a positive impact on areas she
controlled directly. So she set out to develop a customer-focused culture
among the people who reported to her.
Impatience can also sink a customer-focus initiative, because executives
often severely underestimate the time and effort required to change a
company culture. It seems like every year a research firm produces a survey
that shows customer focus is a top priority for corporate executives, only to
replace that prediction with a similar one the next year.
For instance, a 2013 study by the research arm of the computer
networking firm Oracle revealed that 93 percent of senior executives felt
improving customer experience was a top priority for 2014.62 A study
released in February 2015 by Oracle and Forbes Insights, the research group
for Forbes magazine, showed that 88 percent of customer service executives
felt their organizations were making good progress toward meeting the needs
of their customers.63 Meanwhile, the American Customer Satisfaction Index
declined for eight straight quarters during this same time period, from Q1
2014 to Q4 2015.64
One organization wanted to develop its culture and began by following
the steps outlined in this book. The organization’s leaders developed a
customer service vision, and employees in individual departments received
training on what the vision meant and how they could contribute.
Unfortunately, executives soon became impatient and lost focus on the
initiative.
The first sign of trouble came when leaders didn’t make time to support
the initial implementation. Senior executives were scheduled to attend vision
rollout training programs to express their support for the customer service
vision, but each one found an excuse to cancel their participation. Some
departments were allowed to skip the rollout training altogether because the
department leader was under pressure from a senior leader to focus on other
tasks. Make-up classes were promised but never materialized.
A budget freeze halted the vision rollout entirely just a few months into
the initiative. The organization wanted to reallocate spending to focus on
other projects that were considered higher priority than building a customer-
focused culture. Meanwhile, employee morale worsened and customer
satisfaction survey scores declined as employees perceived that yet another
program had been started and then quickly abandoned.
Many leaders struggle to grasp the concept of true commitment. It’s not
something you can change with an executive announcement, a few training
classes, or by hiring a team of consultants. Companies like Zendesk succeed
in developing customer-focused cultures because their leaders worked for
many years to include customer focus as a part of the culture. The culture
initiative that Greg Collins and his team at Zendesk led simply codified and
grew what was already there.
HOW TO COMMIT TO A CUSTOMER-FOCUSED CULTURE
Take a moment to answer the following questions. These are gut-check
questions, so answer them honestly. Involve other leaders if necessary, or
start by taking an introspective look at your part of the organization.
Question #1: Can you identify how outstanding customer service is
valuable to your business? It’s not enough to say “Yes” to this question
because you have a general idea of how service is important. Commitment to
customer focus almost always wavers unless there’s a clear understanding of
how customer service directly drives business outcomes. A “Yes” to this
question means you have a specific answer connecting service to financial
results. Here are just a few examples:
Can you sell more products at a higher price point, like REI?
Can you earn loyalty from a specific customer base, like JetBlue
does with leisure travelers?
Can you generate amazing revenue per location, like Shake
Shack?
Can you become a leader in a competitive market, like Cars.com?
Can you improve efficiency through incredible employee
retention, like Publix?
http://Cars.com
Can you decrease customer churn, like Clio?
Can you save time and money by empowering employees, like
Safelite AutoGlass?
Can customer-focus make your products more appealing to
customers, like Squarespace?
Zendesk was ready to make this change because the company needed a way
to maintain its culture as it continued to grow. The market for customer
service software is incredibly competitive, so the company would either gain
or lose market share based on how well it served its customers.
Question #2: Are you willing to be a different leader? Shaping a
culture, whether at an organizational or team level, is an incredible leadership
challenge. It takes grit to stay the course when others might question you.
Discipline is required to prioritize culture when it seems like a million other
tasks need your attention. Humility is another important trait, since we’re all
human and sometimes make mistakes.
Zendesk’s Greg Collins shared an impressive example about
accountability. He told me that every employee is expected to speak up and
say something if they see someone who isn’t living the values or vision. That
rule even applies to him: employees are encouraged to let him know if they
think he’s making a decision that’s not aligned with the culture—and they
do!
Question #3: Are you willing to fundamentally change the way your
business operates? This is a tough test for many leaders who want to achieve
customer focus but aren’t ready to put in the work to make it happen. The
customer-focused companies profiled in this book succeed because they do
things differently than most organizations.
Some of the steps outlined in this book may represent significant
changes. You’ll need to use metrics differently, hire differently, train
differently, give employees more empowerment than ever before, and change
how leaders work with their teams. Even your strategies, tactics, and policies
may need to change as you align everything around a customer service
vision.
Zendesk has made core changes as its culture continues to evolve. In
2011, the company relocated its headquarters to San Francisco’s Tenderloin
District, a redeveloping neighborhood where companies receive tax breaks
from the city in exchange for investing in the community. Mikkel Svane saw
this as an opportunity to develop the company culture. “I think [moving] has
helped us create a richer, more well-rounded company, where people think
not just about the code, or the product we built, or the customers we serve,
but also about our part in the neighborhood. I think it makes our employees
smarter and better employees, and gives a meaning for their life and job.”65
You’re probably ready to make a commitment to a customer-focused
culture if you can truthfully answer “Yes” to all three questions.
There’s still some work to do if any of the questions is a “No” for you.
Perhaps you’re not the CEO or company president. You might be
wondering how to get your senior leadership on board with a culture
initiative.
Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. I, too, am still searching for a
secret technique that will get executives to suddenly make a full commitment
to developing the right culture. But the reality is that your executives need to
be able to answer “Yes” to those same three questions if you want to effect
organization-wide culture change.
All is not lost if you can’t make that happen. What you can do is focus
on the area within your control. If you manage a contact center, then make it
the most customer-focused contact center you possibly can. If you manage
one location in a company that has many, then help your location develop a
reputation for outstanding service. If you lead a department that provides
internal service (like Human Resources, Finance, IT, Logistics, etc.), then
make your department everyone’s favorite go-to department in the company.
There are two things to keep in mind if you truly believe you can make
the commitment to a customer-focused culture.
The first is that the process laid out in chapters 3 – 10 is a step-by-step
guide. Being committed involves sticking to that process and not skipping
steps.
The second thing to remember is that developing your culture takes
time, and there will be bumps in the road along the way. You’ll need a plan
to keep everyone energized and focused.
I recommend creating an annual calendar of activities promoting the
customer-focused culture to help you, your employees, and the entire
organization remain focused. It’s good to break this calendar down into
yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily activities. Here are some
suggestions:
Yearly Activities
Review the customer service vision to make sure it still resonates.
Use the customer service vision as a guide during strategic
planning.
Engage employees in recommitment activities such as refresher
training.
Quarterly Activities
Hold an all-hands meeting (including your senior leadership!) to
discuss the state of the business and reinforce the vision.
Recognize employees for their contributions to the culture.
Conduct training activities to build new customer service skills.
Monthly Activities
Review customer-focused metrics and generate insight for
improvement.
Identify the biggest issues that hurt customer service and then
solve them.
Meet one-on-one with employees to give feedback and reinforce
the customer service vision.
Weekly Activities
Review customer feedback and generate insight for improvement.
Hold team-level meetings to discuss top customer service
priorities, resolve challenges, and reinforce the customer service
vision.
Conduct micro-trainings to reinforce one specific customer
service skill. (You can use my free Customer Service Tip of the
Week email for ideas. Sign-up at
www.serviceculturebook.com/tools.)
http://www.serviceculturebook.com/tools
Daily Activities
Use ad hoc employee feedback opportunities to reinforce the
customer service vision.
Put out fires, and then identify and fix whatever caused the
problem.
Model the customer service vision to set an example for
employees.
You can find a template to create your own customer-focused activity plan at
serviceculturebook.com/tools.
Customer service leaders often ask me whether these never-ending
customer-focus activities ever get stale. The answer to that is no …and
sometimes.
On an organizational level, the commitment should never waver. That’s
because organizations must constantly evolve to address new opportunities in
the market and solve complex challenges to improve the business and serve
customers even better. There’s always some sort of change going on, which
keeps things from getting stale.
On a team, location, or department level, customer focus shouldn’t get
stale, either. That’s because each part of the organization must also
continuously change and adapt as the organization itself evolves. New
employees will join the team, and it takes work to help them learn about the
culture and understand how they, too, can help promote it.
On an employee level, the relentless customer focus can get stale in
certain situations. Some employees will consider their job a career and relish
the opportunity to grow, so feeling stuck in the same role for years on end
can feel dreary. Others will enjoy the time they spend in your organization,
but it won’t be part of their long-term plan, no matter how exciting you make
it. The important job for a customer service leader is to ensure that all
employees are committed to the culture for as long as they’re there.
The companies profiled in this book maintain a customer-focused
culture in part because their employees are obsessed with solving problems.
They want to serve each customer better than the last one. It’s a constant
challenge that always presents some new wrinkle or obstacle. Employees are
energized because they know the entire organization is focused on driving
http://serviceculturebook.com/tools
business results through outstanding customer service.
It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of something like that. My hope is
that you can use this book as a guide to create that magic in your
organization.
NOTES:
60 The score is periodically updated. You can view the latest results here:
https://www.zendesk.com/customer-experience/customer-service/#customer-service.
61 Irina Blok, “A day in the life of a Zendesk advocate,” Zendesk (blog), February
2016. https://www.zendesk.com/blog/day-life-zendesk-advocate.
62 Oracle, “Global Insights on Succeeding in the Customer Experience Era,” 2013.
63 Jake Sorofman and Laura McLellan, “Gartner Survey Finds Importance of
Customer Experience on the Rise – Marketing is on the Hook,” Gartner, 2014.
64 The American Customer Satisfaction Index is updated quarterly.
http://theacsi.org/national-economic-indicator/us-overall-customer-satisfaction.
65 Heather Somerville, “Four years after Mid-Market tax break, Zendesk wins over
community,” The Mercury News, February 20, 2015.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part 1: Culture Is the Key to Outstanding Customer Service
Chapter 1 How Corporate Culture Guides Your Employees’ Actions
Chapter 2 Why Culture Initiatives Often Fail
Part 2: Building a Customer-Focused Culture
Chapter 3 Defining Your Culture
Chapter 4 Engaging Employees with Your Culture
Part 3: Changing Your Company’s Service DNA
Chapter 5 Aligning Your Business Around a Customer-Focused Culture
Chapter 6 Setting Goals That Drive Your Culture
Chapter 7 Hiring Employees Who Will Embrace Your Culture
Chapter 8 Training Employees to Embody Your Culture
Chapter 9 Empowering Employees to Support Your Culture
Chapter 10 How Leadership Can Make or Break Your Culture
Chapter 11 A Customer-Focused Example
Chapter 12 Making the Commitment to a Customer-Focused Culture
PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION
“One of our world’s great problems is egocentric, self-serving leadership—leaders
who think people exist for their benefit, instead of vice versa. In stark contrast,
Jesus modeled servant leadership, leading by example. He said, ‘I came to serve,
not to be served.’ Now, two thousand years later, Jesus has over 2.1 billion
followers, which makes Him the undisputed greatest leader of all time. No one else
comes close! This is why you need to know how to lead like Jesus. He is the only
flawless example. That’s why you should read this book!”
—Rick Warren, Author, The Purpose Driven Life Named One of
“America’s Twenty-five Best Leaders” (U.S. News and World Report)
“I had the pleasure of hosting at our church one of Ken Blanchard and Phil
Hodges’s Lead Like Jesus Celebrations. What an impactful day that was for those
who participated. I know they will never think about leadership in the same way
again. Reading Lead Like Jesus will provide you with that kind of experience.
Don’t miss learning from the greatest leadership role model of all time.”
—Bob Russell, Bob Russell Ministries; Retired Pastor, Southeast Christian
Church
“Ever since writing Leadership by the Book with Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges,
I’ve watched them grow in their depth of understanding of what the Bible reveals
about how Jesus would have us lead others. The best thinking the Lord has
revealed to them, to this point, can be found in this book. If you want to be the
servant leader that Jesus mandated His followers to be, then read Lead Like Jesus.
It will change your life and the lives of people you are able to influence.”
—Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church
“You’ll find few men better qualified to address this topic than Ken Blanchard. His
favorite name is Jesus and preferred verb is lead. Let him do for you what he’s
done for me and millions of others—help you lead like Jesus.”
—Max Lucado, Minister of Preaching, Oak Hills Church; Bestselling
Author
“Finally. Finally. Finally. A definitive guide to the connection between our faith
and our work—one that is both theoretically elegant and immensely practical. This
is, without a doubt, the most important management book I have ever
encountered.”
—Patrick Lencioni, Author, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
2
“Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges continue to lead us deeper into the gold mines of
God’s Word to the treasured truth of life. Lead Like Jesus promises a refurbishing,
applicable perspective from the leader of all time!”
—Dan T. Cathy, President and COO, Chick-fil-A, Inc.
“For those who seek to lead like Jesus, this book is an important reflective tool in
helping to better understand—who we are, where we are going, and why it is
important for people to follow. It is a reminder to all of us that leadership is only a
means. To what end is the ultimate question.”
—C. William Pollard, Chairman, Executive Committee, Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association; Former Chairman, ServiceMaster
“There is no greater leadership model than Jesus, and Blanchard and Hodges have
taken years of experience identifying the leadership characteristics of Jesus that
will affect your life and leadership. They have hit the nail on the head with Lead
Like Jesus.”
—John C. Maxwell, Founder of the John Maxwell Company, the John
Maxwell Team, EQUIP, and the John Maxwell Leadership Foundation
“Millions of people wish everyone could lead like Jesus. Ken Blanchard and Phil
Hodges have dedicated their time and energy, insights and professionalism, to
make it happen. Read this book and ponder the questions raised, the ideas
presented, and ask yourself if you too can take up the challenge in your own life.
It’s not just what would Jesus do, but especially, how would Jesus lead? This book
will help you find the answers.”
—Laurie Beth Jones, Author, Jesus, CEO; The Path; Jesus: Life Coach;
and The Four Elements of Success
“Ken has a divine passion for leaders to let Jesus live out His life through them in
servant leadership. His book, Lead Like Jesus, is an extremely timely book that is
both thorough and God-honoring. I highly recommend it to all who lead others.”
—Henry Blackaby, Author, Experiencing God
“Lead Like Jesus is a gift to the sincere and a beacon of light to the lost. May the
knowledge conveyed in this teaching help spread the message of truth around the
world. It has spoken to my heart as well as my mind.”
—Mary Anne Shula, Shula Enterprises
“Lead Like Jesus transcends all relationships and cuts to the heart of the matter—
leading like Jesus will change you and the lives you touch. Choose this book today
to be challenged and motivated to lead at a higher level everywhere! You’ll never
be or lead the same again!”
3
—Marjorie Dorr, Independent Director, Pharmerica Corporation; Former
Chief Strategy Officer, WellPoint, Inc.
“In Lead Like Jesus we learn that it is intimacy with Jesus that transforms our lives
and leadership. The difference between this and other leadership books is that the
focus on Jesus encourages the leader to actually learn, grow, and change behavior.
There is no more effective way to becoming a great leader.”
—Vince Siciliano, President and CEO, New Resource Bank
“A path-breaking book in every way. This book shows you how to live your faith
in your world—without ducking, without offending. Follow the path and be
changed in every way.”
—Bob Buford, Author, Halftime and Finishing Well Founder, Leadership
Network
4
CONTENTS
Ebook Instructions
Introduction
PART I: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ON LEADERSHIP
Chapter 1: Are You a Leader?
Chapter 2: The Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time
Chapter 3: Jesus the Servant
Chapter 4: Is Jesus a Relevant Role Model for Us Today?
Chapter 5: A Transformational Journey That Begins on the Inside
Chapter 6: The Four Domains of Leading Like Jesus
PART II: THE HEART OF A GREAT LEADER
Chapter 7: What Does Leading Like Jesus Look Like?
Chapter 8: I Want to Lead Like Jesus, but My Heart Does Not
Chapter 9: The Results of a Heart Out of Order
Chapter 10: Warning Signs on the Path to Edging God Out
Chapter 11: A Heart Turnaround
PART III: THE BEING HABITS
Chapter 12: The Habit of Accepting and Abiding in God’s Unconditional
Love
Chapter 13: The Habit of Experiencing Solitude
Chapter 14: The Habit of Practicing Prayer
Chapter 15: The Habit of Knowing and Applying Scripture
Chapter 16: The Habit of Maintaining Supportive Relationships
PART IV: THE HEAD OF A GREAT LEADER
Chapter 17: Developing Your Own Compelling Vision
Chapter 18: Jesus’ Compelling Vision
Chapter 19: Creating a Compelling Team/Organizational Vision
Chapter 20: Implementing Your Compelling Vision
PART V: THE HANDS OF A GREAT LEADER
Chapter 21: The Leader as a Performance Coach
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Chapter 22: The Work of the Carpenter
Chapter 23: The Way of the Carpenter
Chapter 24: The EGO Factor
PART VI: THE DOING HABITS
Chapter 25: The Habit of Obeying God and Expressing His Unconditional
Love
Chapter 26: The Habit of Grace
Chapter 27: The Habit of Forgiveness
Chapter 28: The Habit of Encouragement
Chapter 29: The Habit of Community
Chapter 30: Leading Like Jesus Begins in You
PART VII: NEXT STEPS TO LEADING LIKE JESUS
Chapter 31: Leading Positive Change
Chapter 32: EGOs Anonymous: Taking the First Step Toward Exalting
God Only
Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus: Checklist
Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus: Resource List
Discussion Guide
Acknowledgments
Notes
About the Authors
Index
Scripture Index
8
Ebook Instructions
In this ebook edition, please use your device’s note-taking function to record your
thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your
Response]. Use your device’s highlighting function to record your response
whenever you are asked to checkmark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your
answer(s).
9
INTRODUCTION
The world is in desperate need of a different leadership role model. Written a
decade ago, the original Lead Like Jesus book begins with this statement, which
we believe is still true today.
Our experiences and learnings in the last ten years have continued to remind us
that the most important thing in leadership is the leader; the most important part of
the leader is his or her heart; and the most important connection to a leader’s heart
is God.
Most leadership resources focus on management techniques, competencies,
strategies, and tactics while ignoring the most important part of leadership—the
leaders themselves. At Lead Like Jesus, we believe that real, lasting change starts
on the inside. When a leader chooses to allow Jesus to transform him or her from
the inside out, that choice will have an effect on everyone and everything that
leader influences. We are clear: you can’t lead like Jesus without Jesus!
A tremendous benefit happens in the lives of people who lead like Jesus:
freedom. Jesus is the only one who offers a model of leadership that’s built on
freedom and complete security in Him and His power at work within us. While the
world continues to throw solutions at us that are built on self-empowerment, self-
reliance, competition, peer pressure, and performance, leading like Jesus frees us to
reach heights of influence we never would be able to reach on our own. When we
are free from pride and fear, free to humbly accept feedback and admit our
mistakes, and strong enough to overlook offenses and forgive the errors of others,
we can lead people and help them reach their full potential.
Still, in the perspective of some leaders, leading like Jesus is “soft” or
impractical; for this reason, many leaders continue to bypass it. The results of this
way of thinking are clear: continued struggles, dissatisfied employees, frustrated
leaders, broken families, split churches, and chaotic, poorly performing teams and
organizations.
Try to imagine leaders who lead like Jesus. Leaders who love those they
influence so much that they help them get from where they are to where God
would have them go. Leaders who hold people accountable, encourage them daily,
confront challenges, and bring authenticity, character, and integrity to every
interaction. Leaders who want to guide others on the same path. Imagine a world
full of those leaders!
There is no need to search further. We have the perfect leadership role model in
Jesus. We simply need to follow Him and allow Him to work in us and through us.
Even though we have been declaring for many years that Jesus is the greatest
leadership role model of all time, we have not realized the full extent of the
10
leadership gifts He offers us. Jesus is not only the greatest servant leader but also
the greatest visionary, the greatest team builder, the greatest team motivator, and
the greatest change agent of all time. In fact, we cannot think of any attribute of
leadership that Jesus did not model for everyone as He trained His disciples. Now,
more than two thousand years later, Jesus still has more followers than any leader
the world has ever had.
We have also learned—or relearned—that leading like Jesus is love-based
leadership. In fact, God intends the primary outcome of our leadership and
influence to be showing people Jesus’ love. Leading like Jesus is essentially a
matter of the heart. It is also the highest thought of the head, it is the principal
work of the hands, and it is both expressed through and replenished by the habits.
The formula Everything – Love = Nothing is not of our making. It is the
irrefutable law of the kingdom of God, perfectly fulfilled by Jesus. It is also the
defining characteristic of the leadership model of Jesus: leading like Jesus means
loving like Jesus.
These timeless words of the apostle Paul have much to say to those who are
leaders and teachers, who influence the lives of others:
If we speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love (as our
purpose), we have become noisy gongs or clanging cymbals. If we have the gifts
of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge (about how to lead
people); and if we have all faith (in our leadership), so as to remove mountains,
but do not have love, we are nothing. And if (we engage in selfish acts of self-
promotions and) we give all our possessions to feed the poor and if we surrender
our bodies to be burned, but do not have love, it profits us nothing. (1
Corinthians 13:1–3, paraphrased)
In this book we will dig deeper into what it means to “love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and to “love your
neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39). We will explore how our formal and
informal influence on others can encourage them to develop a closer relationship
with God and help them see the love He has for them—the love so beautifully
demonstrated through His Son, Jesus.
Included are the following new or expanded lessons we’ve learned during the
past ten years:
• If a leader’s heart and motives are not right, all the brightest thinking and
most skilled leadership cannot progress beyond the limits of artful, self-
serving exploitation and manipulation.
• The Being Habits and the Doing Habits of Jesus provide practical ways to put
into action the desire to lead like Jesus.
• Connecting powerful personal testimonies with biblical truths brings added
relevance and authenticity to the Lead Like Jesus message for people of
different generations and cultures.
• Leadership is about change: initiating change, responding to change, guiding
11
the process of change, reinforcing change, and modeling change for others.
• To lead like Jesus calls for engagement in an interactive personal relationship
with God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Ken and Phil are excited that Phyllis Hendry, our dear friend, our sister in
Jesus, and the president/CEO of the Lead Like Jesus ministry, is joining us as a
coauthor. Her passion for the Lead Like Jesus message and her personal experience
of the power of love and leadership greatly enrich this book.
Our prayer is that this book will strengthen your relationship with Jesus and
that you will accept Him not only as your Lord and Savior but also as your
leadership role model. As you are transformed, people around you will be
influenced and drawn to the same model whether they are leading a business, a
nonprofit organization, a community initiative, a church, or a family.
No matter how difficult your leadership role may seem, remember what Jesus
said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”
(Matthew 11:28). Jesus’ invitation is still open. And it is open to you.
We invite you to become part of the movement so that someday everyone,
everywhere, will be impacted by someone who leads like Jesus.
On the journey with you,
KEN BLANCHARD
PHIL HODGES
PHYLLIS HENDRY
12
PART I
A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ON
LEADERSHIP
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body
you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell
among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom
through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with
gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do
it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him.
Colossians 3:15–17
People often see leadership based on an “It’s all about me” approach. In all kinds
of organizations and institutions, the rewards of money, recognition, and power
increase as an individual moves up the hierarchy. Self-promotion (pride) and self-
protection (fear) dominate today’s leadership style. Many leaders act as if the
sheep are there only for the benefit of the shepherd. In personal relationships,
leadership based on mutual respect, loving care, self-sacrifice, and openness is
often undermined when pride, fear, and indifference replace intimacy with
isolation. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that there is a better way. This alternative approach to
leadership is driven by four basic beliefs that have become central to our ministry:
• Leadership happens anytime we influence the thinking, behavior, or
development of another person.
• Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time.
• Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership that Jesus validates for
His followers.
• Effective leadership begins on the inside, with our hearts.
As you explore these four beliefs, we hope you will gain an entirely different
perspective on leadership. May you come to see leadership as a journey that begins
with your own transformation and progresses to your leading another person, then
to leading a small number of people, and finally to leading an organization. May
you also see that leadership is the alignment of four essential domains: the heart,
13
the head, the hands, and the habits.
Let’s get started!
14
1
ARE YOU A LEADER?
Jesus called [his disciples] together and said, “You know that those who
are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high
officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever
wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever
wants to be first must be slave of all.”
Mark 10:42–44
In our Lead Like Jesus workshops, we often ask, “How many of you think of
yourselves as a leader?” We are amazed that only about 20 to 25 percent of the
people raise their hands, even though our audiences are always predominantly
made up of managers and supervisors at every level of a business, an educational
institution, a government agency, or a faith-based organization. The reason most
people don’t raise their hands is they assume that leadership has to do with a
workplace position or title. Many people feel they are not high up enough on the
organizational chart to say that they are leaders.
We always follow up our first question by asking people to think about the
person who has had the most significant impact on their lives, the person who has
played a major role in who they are today as human beings. Then we ask, “How
many of you named a manager or a supervisor you’ve worked for over the years?”
Hardly a hand goes up. Then we ask, “How many of you identified your father,
your mother, a grandmother or grandfather, aunt, uncle, or friend?” Almost every
hand in the room goes up. Why is that? Because in reality, every human being is a
leader in some part of his or her life—because leadership is an influence process.
We believe that anytime you seek to influence the thinking, behavior, or
development of someone in your personal or professional life, you are taking on
the role of a leader.
As a result, the only way to avoid leadership is to isolate yourself from the
outside world.
Leadership can be as intimate as speaking words of guidance and
encouragement to a loved one or as formal as passing instructions along extended
lines of communication in an organization. Leadership can be nurturing character
and self-worth in children and promoting greater intimacy and fulfillment in
personal relationships, or it can involve distributing resources in an organization to
reach a specific goal or accomplish a given task.
15
Thus, there are two types of leadership: life role leadership and organizational
leadership.
As a spouse, parent, family member, friend, or citizen, you have multiple life
role leadership opportunities every day. What leadership role could be more
important than these? Consider some examples:
• a husband and wife who seek mutual agreement on day-to-day finances
• a mother who teaches her toddler how to eat with a spoon
• a son who provides aging parents with advice and guidance about living
arrangements
• a person who risks alienation when confronting a friend about a moral failure
• a citizen who helps find housing for the homeless
Different from life role leadership, organizational leadership usually comes
with an official position or title that empowers you to serve the perceived needs of
an organization. Again, examples might help:
• a corporate executive who rejects offers of insider information that would
give his company a competitive edge
• a middle school teacher who excites curiosity in her students
• a rehabilitation nurse who patiently handles a stroke victim’s anger
• a pastor who comforts a grieving member of his church
• a high school football coach who focuses more on molding his players’
character than on winning games
A key difference between life role leadership and organizational leadership
involves the permanence of the relationships involved. Life role leaders function in
enduring relationships as parents, spouses, siblings, friends, and citizens; duty and
obligation cannot be easily relinquished or discarded.
Organizational leaders, on the other hand, operate for a season in an
environment of temporary relationships and fairly constant change. People can
come and go very quickly for all sorts of reasons. This lack of stability in
organizations often breeds a degree of reserve and qualified commitment evident in
competitive office politics.
Most of the significant leadership that shapes our lives does not come from
leaders with titles on an organizational chart; it comes from leaders in life role
relationships. It is instructive to note that in the early church, a candidate’s life role
leadership was a prerequisite for assuming organizational leadership. In 1 Timothy
3:1–7 we read this:
Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble
task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate,
self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness,
not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage
16
his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a
manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own
family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert,
or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He
must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into
disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
One person who exemplified servant leadership in Jesus’ life was His mother,
Mary: “I am the Lord’s servant. . . . May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke
1:38). She passed on to her Son a legacy of obedience, submission, faith, and
service. Mary epitomized the essence of a servant heart. In her life role as a
mother, she was positioned to have strategic influence on the life and spirit of her
Child. The relationship between mother and Son—between a soul already tested
and found willing and a Soul to be nurtured, between a spiritual teacher and a
Student—was part of God’s plan to prepare Jesus for leadership.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Take a moment to think about the people who have most influenced your
thinking, your behavior, and your life path. As you recall their names and
faces, you will realize that leadership titles and positions of organizational
authority are only part of the leadership landscape—and usually not the
most significant part.
17
2
THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP ROLE
MODEL OF ALL TIME
“Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45
The reality is, all of us are leaders. So, as you lead, who is your role model? We
feel the greatest leadership role model of all time is Jesus.
When we tell people this, we get a lot of raised eyebrows. People want to ask
what evidence we have—and we’re glad when they do.
A few years ago at a Lead Like Jesus teleconference broadcast from Atlanta,
Georgia, Ken asked his cohost, the well-known pastor and author John Ortberg,
“Why would you travel all the way across the country from your home church in
Menlo Park, California, to teach people that Jesus is the greatest leadership role
model of all time?”
Ortberg, a gifted storyteller, smiled at the audience and said, “Let’s assume for
a moment that two thousand years ago you were a gambler. I know a number of
you don’t like gambling, but bear with me for a moment. Let me ask you, who
would you have bet your money on to last: the Roman Empire and the Roman
army, or a little Jewish rabbi with twelve inexperienced followers?” Everyone
smiled as John went on to say, “Isn’t it interesting that all these years later we are
still naming kids Matthew, James, Sarah, and Mary, and we call our dogs Nero and
Caesar? I rest my case.”
While John got a big laugh, his point was well taken. Clearly, Jesus’ leadership
was effective: His church exists today; the Roman Empire doesn’t. Put differently,
the important thing about leadership is not what happens when the leader is
present, but what happens when the leader is not there. As a parent, it’s not too
difficult to get your children to do what you want them to do when you’re hovering
over them. But what do they do when you’re not there? A business leader deals
with the same issue. You can’t micromanage your people’s every move, much less
their every thought or idea. So great business leaders today empower their people
to bring their brains to work and make good decisions on their own. When given
this opportunity, those people tend to be fully engaged in their work.
Initial proof that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time came to
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Ken when he was asked to be on Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power after The One
Minute Manager was released in the early 1980s. Ken recalls that when Reverend
Schuller interviewed him, he asked, “Do you know who the greatest One Minute
Manager of all time was?”
Ken gave him a blank stare.
Then Schuller said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
“Really?” said Ken, never having thought of Jesus as a great leadership role
model.
“Absolutely,” said Reverend Schuller. “After all, He was very clear about
goals. Isn’t that your first secret—One Minute Goal Setting?”
“Yes,” Ken responded.
Schuller then smiled and said, “You and Tom Peters didn’t invent management
by wandering around. Jesus did. He wandered from one village to another. If He
caught someone doing something right, He would praise or heal that person. Isn’t
that your second secret—One Minute Praising?”
“Yes,” said Ken.
“Finally,” said Schuller, “if people stepped out of line, Jesus wasn’t afraid to
redirect their efforts. After all, He threw the money lenders out of the temple. Isn’t
that what your One Minute Reprimand is all about?”
Ken laughed, realizing Schuller had a point.
This reality was reinforced when Ken learned that Bill Hybels, founding pastor
of Willow Creek Community Church, was teaching the leaders on his staff
Situational Leadership®,1 a concept Ken had first developed in the late 1960s with
Paul Hersey. When Ken asked Bill why he chose Situational Leadership, Bill was
quick to say that Jesus was the greatest situational leader of all time, using
“different strokes for different folks” depending on the situation. When, for
instance, Jesus first took on His disciples as “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19 ESV)
and sent them out, He provided some specific instructions about where to stay,
what to wear, and what to do. But the disciples grew and matured over time: soon
they weren’t enthusiastic beginners who needed specific direction, and Jesus
changed His style accordingly. At the end of His ministry on earth, Jesus was able
to issue to His disciples this general directive: “Go and make disciples of all
nations” (Matthew 28:19).
As Ken and Phil began to study the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
—as well as the book of Acts, they became fascinated with how Jesus transformed
twelve ordinary and unlikely people into the first generation of leaders of a
movement that continues to affect the course of world history some two thousand
years later. In fact, Ken and Phil soon realized that every idea and truth about
leadership they had ever taught or written came from the Bible and was evident in
how Jesus led His disciples.
Followers of Jesus have more in Jesus than just a spiritual leader; we have a
practical model of effective leadership for all organizations, for all people, for all
situations.
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PAUSE AND REFLECT
Have you ever thought of Jesus as a great leadership role model? If not,
why not?
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3
JESUS THE SERVANT
“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I
delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the
nations.”
Matthew 12:18
Having accepted that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time,
consider now some specifics about His leadership approach. The best description
of Jesus’ leadership is found in Matthew 20. John and James’s mother had gone to
Jesus and essentially asked if, in heaven, one of her sons could sit at His left hand
and the other one at His right hand. She obviously thought leadership was all about
the hierarchy. After Jesus told her that her request was not for Him to grant, He
approached the other ten disciples, who were miffed because this mother had asked
for those places of honor before they themselves did!
Jesus called [his disciples] together and said, “You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, 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.” (Matthew 20:25–28)
We added the emphasis on Not so with you in that verse. Why? Because Jesus’
call to servant leadership is clear and unequivocal. His words leave no room for
plan B. He placed no restrictions or limitations of time, place, or situation that
would allow us to exempt ourselves from heeding His command. For followers of
Jesus, servant leadership is not an option; servant leadership is a mandate. Our
servant leadership is to be a living statement of who we are in Jesus, an identity
evident in how we treat one another and how we demonstrate the love of Jesus to
the whole world. If this kind of leadership sounds like serious business with
profound implications, it is.
The exciting part of leading like Jesus is that He never sends us into any
situation alone or with a plan that is flawed or sure to fail. Jeremiah 29:11–14 tells
us:
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“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me
and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the
LORD.
Whatever subject He addressed—and in Matthew 20 it is leadership—Jesus
spoke about what is right and effective. We can trust that His Word is an
expression of His unconditional and sacrificial love poured out for our eternal well-
being. As followers of Jesus, then, we can trust Him and His instructions to us
regardless of our circumstances. We can also freely ask Him to give us wisdom in
all things, including our leadership roles. James 1:2–8 reminds us that Jesus wants
to be intimately involved in all aspects of our lives:
When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers,
don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realise that they
come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let
the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you
have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence. And
if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem
he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them
feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will
be given him. But he must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to
whether he really wants God’s help or not. The man who trusts God, but with
inward reservations, is like a wave of the sea, carried forward by the wind one
moment and driven back the next. That sort of man cannot hope to receive
anything from God, and the life of a man of divided loyalty will reveal
instability at every turn. (PHILLIPS)
A friend of ours once had a counselor who kept reminding him, “Your
intelligence has gotten you into this.” You see, in a variety of situations our friend
thought he was smart enough to figure it out on his own, but he wasn’t.
Furthermore, he was trying to gain the approval of various audiences, including
some that had conflicting views of what he ought to be doing and how he ought to
be living his life. As a result he ended up pleasing no one. He had yet to learn that
he had but One as his audience, and that One is God.
In addition to being the only audience that matters, God is also the director of
our lives. God will guide us to do exactly the right thing—if we let Him. Our hope
is that you will let Him direct you, guide you, and teach you to lead.
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4
IS JESUS A RELEVANT ROLE
MODEL FOR US TODAY?
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
A common barrier to embracing Jesus as a leadership role model is skepticism
about the relevance of His teaching to specific twenty-first-century leadership
situations. In many ways, we are in the same kind of situation that Peter was when
Jesus asked him to take some highly unusual and unorthodox steps as he conducted
his fishing business. Here was the situation as described in Luke 5:1–11:
One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds
pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at
the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.
Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon [Peter], its owner, to push it
out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is
deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a
thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” And this time their nets
were so full of fish they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in
the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of
sinking.
When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before
Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be
around you.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as
were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
were also amazed.
Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for
people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
(NLT)
What do you think was going through Peter’s mind when he replied, “Master,
we have been fishing all night and we haven’t caught a thing”? It sounds as if Peter
might have been thinking something along these lines: I’ve listened to Jesus
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address the crowds and speak with great power and wisdom. I really respect His
knowledge of God’s Word and His skill as a teacher. But now He has asked me to
do something that goes totally against my own knowledge and instincts about how
to run my fishing business. Jesus doesn’t know fishing; I know fish and fishing.
That’s my business, and what Jesus asks is not practical. Besides, doing what He
says will probably be a waste of time and energy—and my workers are going to
wonder if I have lost my mind!
However, Peter’s skepticism did not prevent him from taking the step of faith
—the step of obedience—because the instructions had come from Jesus. Because
Peter exercised his faith in this way, he experienced miraculous results, but he was
overwhelmed by the gap he perceived between himself and what Jesus would
require of him.
Jesus sought to calm Peter’s doubts and fears, and then He invited Peter to
come and be transformed for a higher purpose. And Jesus is issuing the same call
to us. Jesus knows fish, and He also knows your business, whether it is in the
service of an organization or in a life role.
So consider applying the same criteria to Jesus’ knowledge, experience, and
success that you would to the hiring of a business consultant. Take a few minutes
to think about Jesus’ earthly ministry. Would you hire Jesus as your leadership
consultant for your life role leadership or organizational leadership positions?
Reflect on the following leadership challenges you might be facing and then ask
yourself, “Does Jesus have any practical knowledge or relevant experience dealing
with leadership issues like these that I face every day?”
• working or living with and caring for imperfect people
• training, developing, and delegating
• being under constant scrutiny by competitors
• continually having your commitment and integrity tested
• handling opposition, criticism, and rejection
• facing conflicting demands from friends and foes
• being tempted by instant gratification, recognition, and misuse of power
• facing serious personnel issues, including turnover and betrayal
• communicating effectively in a multicultural environment
• challenging the status quo and established hierarchy to bring about change
• trying to communicate a radically new vision of the future
• calling attention to poor leadership, even at great personal risk
• putting career or relationships on the line to serve a higher purpose
Chances are, you answered yes about every situation. Why? Because Jesus
absolutely did face every situation you face. The book of Hebrews says this of
Jesus:
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who
are being tempted. . . . We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize
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with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just
as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time
of need. (2:18; 4:15–16)
In addition to His leadership experience, Jesus knew from years of personal
experience the challenges of daily life and work. Although Jesus was God, He was
not ashamed to do a man’s work. He spent the first thirty years of His life on earth
as a working man: He was a carpenter in Nazareth. Jesus knows the difficulty of
making ends meet. He knows the frustration of ill-mannered clients who won’t pay
their bills. He knows the pressure of meeting deadlines and pleasing customers. He
knows the challenges of living in an ordinary home and being part of a big family.
He knows the problems that beset us in the everyday world.1
Now think about how Jesus would do your job differently than the way you are
doing it. As the following scriptures suggest, Jesus wants to do His work in you
and through you.
• “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you
will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
• “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your
good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
• “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
PAUSE AND REFLECT
If you are skeptical about adopting Jesus as your leadership role model,
write down your reasons. What about Jesus is causing you to doubt
leading as He leads? And what about you is causing you to hold back?
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5
A TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY
THAT BEGINS ON THE INSIDE
“Live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit
in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”
Colossians 1:10
So you have recognized the ways you are a leader: leadership happens anytime we
influence the thinking, behavior, or development of another person. And, aware of
Jesus’ rich life experience in general and His expert leadership experience in
particular, you are willing to follow Him as your leadership role model. The early
disciples needed to make that same decision when Jesus extended to them this
invitation: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19 ESV).
Jesus’ simple statement here clearly communicated right at the start that following
Him would mean becoming a different person. As they followed Jesus, He would
transform them: Jesus would nurture, grow, and refine them. In other words,
leading like Jesus is a transformational journey. This transformational journey
begins with the willingness to do whatever Jesus commands, with a heart
surrendered to doing His will, and with the commitment to lead the way He leads.
Transformation happens—for good or bad, to one degree or another—as we
interact with people. Your sovereign God will of course oversee that
transformation for your good and His glory, and people you lead will be tools He
uses in that transformational process. So let’s look at who we are leading. As the
diagram below illustrates, examining yourself is the first step: this exercise is at the
core of leading like Jesus in all of your spheres of influence. You can’t lead like
Jesus until you accept the fact that only Jesus can lead you. Jesus attested to this
truth when He said in John 5:19: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by
himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father
does the Son also does.” Think about it: we hear this principle of starting with self
every time we hear a safety demonstration on an airplane. The flight attendant tells
us to put on our own oxygen masks before we place a mask on someone else. This
principle applies in leadership too. Let’s look carefully at our spheres of influence.
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SELF
We believe that leaders who desire to lead like Jesus must first examine themselves
by answering these two questions:
1. Whose am I?
2. Who am I?
Your answer to Whose am I? defines the ultimate authority and primary
audience for your life. Your ultimate authority and most important audience is the
one you trust and look to above all else. Your decision about whose you are
changes everything. If you choose to follow Jesus, you are no longer your own.
You are not living to please yourself or other people. Instead, Jesus is the only
authority and only audience for every life decision you make.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Jesus is the perfect example of living for God and for Him alone. After
Jesus was baptized but before He began His season of leadership on earth,
He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. There, the evil one
tempted Jesus to turn from God’s will and instead give in to self-
gratification (turning stones into bread), public recognition (jumping off
the temple), and the misuse of His power (ruling over all the kingdoms of
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the world). Each time, Jesus stood strong: He demonstrated submission to
His Father and complete commitment to His Father’s way. Jesus knew
whose He was: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his
power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God” (John
13:3). Jesus came from love and knew He would return to love, so He was
secure in whose He was.
Knowing whose you are can help you stand strong in your ministry
and is foundational to leading like Jesus. Knowing you belong to God
gives you the incredible freedom of completely trusting your life to Him.
Will you trust God with your life?
The answer to Who am I?—the second question that prompts healthy self-
examination—defines your identity and life purpose. We are told in Ephesians 2:10
that we are “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” You
were born with a God-given purpose and plan for your life, and you were created
perfectly to fulfill that purpose. Your core identity is rooted in the forgiving,
saving, and redeeming work Jesus did on your behalf when He hung on the cross.
In 2 Corinthians 5:21, we learn that “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for
us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Scripture is full of
descriptors of your identity: “dearly loved” (Colossians 3:12), forgiven (Romans
4:7), chosen (John 15:19), “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9), the apple of God’s
eye (Psalm 17:8), “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), heirs with Jesus
(Romans 8:17), friends (John 15:14), and many more. Jesus clearly showed His
commitment to His life purpose in Luke 19:10 when He said, “The Son of Man
came to seek and to save the lost.”
PAUSE AND REFLECT
In what ways would your leadership be different if you truly believed that
you are the person God says you are?
Choosing God as your ultimate authority and audience as well as choosing to
believe your identity as described in Scripture results in a transformation of your
perspective. Your answers to Whose am I? and Who am I? will change how you
see everything, and you will lead others from that new point of view.
LEADING ANOTHER
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After leaving the wilderness—after standing on God’s Word and resisting Satan’s
temptations—Jesus called into service those He would lead for the next three
years, and He poured His life into training His disciples. Your first test of leading
like Jesus will be leading another person. This person may be someone you work
with every day, or it may be your child. The desired outcome is a relationship built
on trust. Remember in Matthew 14 when Peter jumped out of the boat and began
walking on water to join Jesus?
But when [Peter] saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began
to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,”
Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” (vv. 30–31 NLT)
Jesus spent three years building a culture of trust with His disciples, including
Peter. So when this bold and impulsive follower started to drown, he called out to
Jesus for help.
In our life role relationships, trust is the stream by which vulnerability, caring,
commitment, and grace flow between parents and children, husbands and wives,
brothers and sisters, friends and fellow citizens. Trust is extended first by loving
hearts committed to serve and support one another, and trust grows with promises
kept, encouragement and appreciation expressed, support and acceptance offered,
repentance and apologies received, and reconciliation and restoration established.
Yet the stream of trust has a fragile ecological balance: once it is polluted, it will
take time and effort to restore it.
The always present power to restore intimacy and broken trust is love. Without
love we are nothing and we gain nothing. Read the following words from the
apostle Paul, and ponder the cleansing and healing properties of love:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a
resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can
fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move
mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor
and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain
nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the
truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1
Corinthians 13:1–7)
PAUSE AND REFLECT
• List three ways you nurture trust as you lead.
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• List two things you do that put at risk people’s trust in your leadership.
• Think of a time when you lost trust in someone who was leading you.
How did you feel? How long did you feel that way? When did you
forgive the person—and why?
LEADING OTHERS
The ability to develop and sustain the trust of the people you lead produces
community. Jesus modeled this perfectly in John 13:13–14:
“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now
that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one
another’s feet.”
Jesus created a community by empowering His followers to serve and then
trusting them to do exactly that. Effective leaders realize they are to be good
stewards of the energy and efforts of those they lead; they honor the power of
diversity and acknowledge the power of teamwork. As the saying goes, “None of
us is as smart as all of us.” Jesus sent out His disciples to minister in teams of two
(Mark 6:7). In doing so, Jesus empowered them to act on His behalf in support of
one another as they accomplished the work He had trained them to do.
Without trust, these relationships cannot be developed, and community will
never happen. Individuals in a group will not empower one another to accomplish
an assigned task if they do not trust each other. A leader’s failure to empower
others is one of the key reasons some teams are ineffective.
Family leadership can be really challenging, especially when the leader’s
efforts and aspirations to serve the best interests of others directly conflict with the
leader’s own priorities and immediate demands. For example, a father could be
running late for work but must stop to make the most of a teachable moment when
he hears his daughter ridicule her little brother. The most rewarding results of
family leadership are apt to be the subtle fashioning of loving relationships and the
slow development of personal character.
Finally, to be good stewards of the efforts of those committed to work with
them, effective leaders must honor the power of diversity and acknowledge the
power of teamwork.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
How do you think the people you lead at work and at home would
describe your leadership in the following situations?
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• a time of crisis
• a time of failure
• a time of victory
• a time of plenty
• a time of want
Do you think you would like what you would hear? What weaknesses
do you think might be identified—and what might you do to strengthen
those traits?
LEADING AN ORGANIZATION
The quality of a leader’s influence on a broader organizational level depends on the
transformed perspective, trust, and community attained in the leader’s first three
spheres of influence (self, one person, a small group). Leading like Jesus in an
organization creates a new culture that affects all relationships and every result.
When people know the leader cares about them and wants to help them grow, a
new culture of trust and community develops, resulting in both high performance
and great human satisfaction.
By valuing both relationships and results, Jesus created a culture for an
effective organization. In His own life, He aligned Himself with the purpose His
Father had for Him. Then, in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission,
Jesus clearly identified the purpose He had for His followers and their
organizations. He equipped His disciples for their work in the first three spheres of
influence, and then He sent His Holy Spirit to guide them at the organizational
leadership level, a process we see in the book of Acts.
When Jesus called the disciples, He said: “Follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19 ESV). And at the end of His ministry, He said, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18–19).
Jesus passed the baton to us. Wherever we live or work, whether we are
influencing at home, at church, or in an organization, our paramount task as leaders
is to create a culture that reflects Jesus’ core value: love. This kind of love
shepherds people and organizations from where they are to where God would have
them go—and that process usually is not easy!
Leading like Jesus requires leaders to be shepherds and servants, who value
each person as an integral part of the organization. These leaders adopt as their
core values the principles and practices of Jesus and incorporate those in the
organization’s training, policies, and systems. When a challenge comes, leaders
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examine their self-leadership before investigating possible organizational
weaknesses.
Joni and Friends, a Christian ministry for people with disabilities and their
families, is a perfect example of an organization whose culture has been changed
by people who lead like Jesus. Company leaders had no idea what kind of long-
term impact this way of leading would have on the organization. What started out
as the leadership team’s onetime opportunity to learn to lead like Jesus has become
an ongoing approach to business that now involves all levels of the organization.
Today, Joni and Friends incorporates the concepts of leading like Jesus into every
aspect of its operations, including the interview process, new employee training
and orientation, and even its conflict resolution policy.
“Leading like Jesus is the cornerstone of our culture,” explains Doug Mazza,
president and COO of Joni and Friends. “It affects everything we do.”
The impact of Lead Like Jesus transformed the organization’s culture. “New
employees come on board at Joni and Friends, and they are stunned,” explains Joni
Eareckson Tada, founder and CEO. “They’re amazed that we offer Jesus-centered
leadership training. It’s so unique for any place of business. In every situation, we
want our employees to Exalt God Only, and I think leading like Jesus has really
helped us infuse that in our culture.”
A word of warning: we often think outside the home when we think of an
organization. Frankly, no organization is as important as your home. Our life role
relationships are based on loyalty and commitment for a lifetime. We can fall into
the trap of relying too much on both the resilience of these relationships and our
ability to regain lost ground, lost intimacy, and lost love. Life role relationships
require daily renewal and nurture; we never know when or how they will end.
People in a culture that leads like Jesus will keep their “I love you’s” up to date.
Now that we have introduced how to lead in your spheres of influence, let’s
proceed to the second aspect of leading like Jesus, which provides the framework
for the rest of this book: to learn about the four domains of leadership and live out
what we learn.
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6
THE FOUR DOMAINS OF LEADING
LIKE JESUS
My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that
they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they
may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:2–3
The first aspect of leading like Jesus is understanding that such leadership is a
transformational journey. The second aspect of leading like Jesus involves aligning
our hearts, heads, hands, and habits. When these four leadership domains are
aligned, our perspective is changed, we gain people’s trust, communities develop,
and the organization’s culture is transformed. When these areas are out of
alignment, our work is unfocused, relationships are broken, communities dissolve,
and the organization’s culture is unhealthy and unproductive. The books of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts all offer rich examples of how Jesus
functioned in each of these four domains with all of them in alignment.
HEART
Leadership is first a spiritual matter of the heart. Whenever you have an
opportunity to influence other people’s thinking and behavior, you first need to
decide whether to act out of self-interest or to benefit those you are leading. Simply
put, the heart question is this: Are you a serving leader or a self-serving leader?
Whether He was teaching with words (calling His disciples to serve in Matthew
20:25–28) or with actions (washing the disciples’ feet in John 13:3–5), Jesus
clearly and consistently modeled leadership as service. Identifying the subtleties of
our hearts and the veils of justification we place over self-serving motives requires
brutal honesty. As John Ortberg wrote in The Life You’ve Always Wanted, “The
capacity of the human for duplicity is staggering.”1
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HEAD
The journey to leading like Jesus starts in the heart as you consider your
motivation. This intent then travels to the internal domain of the head, where you
examine your beliefs and theories about leading and motivating people. All great
leaders have a specific leadership philosophy that defines how they see not only
their roles but also their relationships to those they seek to influence. Throughout
His season of earthly leadership, Jesus taught and emphasized His point of view.
As Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve
others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (NLT).
HANDS
You show what is in your heart and head in what you do with your hands: your
motivations and beliefs about leadership affect your actions. If you have a serving
heart, you will help others reach their greatest potential by establishing clear goals,
observing their performance, and following up by praising progress and redirecting
any inappropriate behavior.
Jesus poured Himself into His disciples for three years so that when He left His
earthly ministry and returned to heaven, they would be fully able to carry out His
vision. The principles of establishing clear goals and measuring performance are
common concepts for all types of organizations—and are just as relevant and
effective in life role leadership relationships. In a family, these principles apply to
everything from establishing values and defining guidelines for behavior to
describing for a preoccupied teenager what a clean room looks like.
HABITS
Your habits are those activities you do in order to stay on track with God and
others. Jesus modeled two types of habits for us: Being Habits and Doing Habits.
As a leader committed to leading like Jesus, you must make time to replenish your
energy and refocus your perspective. Jesus did this through His five Being Habits:
solitude, prayer, study of God’s Word, the application of Scripture to real life, and
supportive relationships—all of which are rooted in and fueled by accepting and
abiding in God’s love. Jesus expressed obedience to His Father and shared the
Father’s love for His disciples through His Doing Habits of grace, forgiveness,
encouragement, and community.
Since the Being Habits reinforce the good intentions and character of your
heart, they will come after the section titled “The Heart of a Great Leader” in this
book. Since the Doing Habits reinforce the hands aspect of leading like Jesus, they
will be described following the section titled “The Hands of a Great Leader.” As
leaders desiring to lead like Jesus, we are encouraged to engage in both the Being
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Habits and the Doing Habits.
ARE YOU WILLING TO LEAD LIKE
JESUS?
If you understand that leading like Jesus is a transformational journey and if you
learn to lead like Jesus in your heart, head, hands, and habits, your leadership will
be radically transformed and its impact magnified. We confidently make this claim
not because of any brilliance on our part, but because of the One who is at the
center of this effort: Jesus.
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PART II
THE HEART OF A GREAT LEADER
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23
Most leadership books and seminars focus on the leader’s behavior, style, and
methods. They attempt to change leaders from the outside. Yet, as we have taught
people to lead like Jesus, we have found that leadership improves when there is
first a change on the inside: leadership is primarily a heart issue. We believe that if
we don’t get our hearts right, we simply won’t ever lead like Jesus.
What does your heart have to do with leadership? Everything! In the heart is
your why. Within your heart lies the reason you do what you do; your heart is
home to your intention and motivation. It is the core of who you are.
Romans 10:10 helps us understand: “It is with your heart that you believe and
are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” It
is therefore in your heart that your beliefs about Jesus are stored, and your belief
that He is God’s Son and your Savior changes everything. As a favorite statement
by A. W. Tozer reminds us, “What you believe about God is the most important
thing about you.”1
What we believe about God affects how we deal with life and its challenges, as
illustrated in a phone call Phyllis received at the Lead Like Jesus home office. The
caller, named Debbie, explained that she worked as a bookkeeper at her church.
The night before, she and her husband had been invited to dinner at the home of
her boss and his wife.
Debbie said that at one point during dinner, her boss had said, “We’re hiring a
new church administrator, and he will be doing your job.”
Debbie said to Phyllis, “I’m so angry! I’ve seen other people treated this way at
my church. It isn’t right, and it isn’t fair.” She was devastated and furious. She
wanted to lash out and give the elders a piece of her mind. Then she asked Phyllis
to pray with her.
Phyllis said, “Before we pray, Debbie, may I ask you some questions?”
“Sure,” said Debbie.
“Is God good?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe He has a plan and purpose for your life?”
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“I did believe that.”
“Do you believe anyone or anything can change God’s plan for you?”
“No.”
“Does God love you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe God will use everything in our lives—that He will use even
this—for His glory and our good just as He promised? Do you believe you can
trust Him with all the details of your life?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Let’s pray.”
Have you, like Debbie, faced a challenge so big that you had to go back to the
core of what you believe about God? Those beliefs are stored in your heart, and
they shape you and every relationship in your life.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
As you reflect on Debbie’s story, how would you answer her questions
today?
• Is God good?
• Do you believe He has a good plan and purpose for your life?
• Do you believe anyone or anything can change God’s plan for you?
• Do you believe God loves you?
• Do you believe God will use everything in your life for His glory and
your good just as He promised?
• Can you trust Him with all the details of your life?
As Scripture confirms, the beliefs in your heart set in motion your why. In
Scripture we learn that the heart is so important in our leadership because love is
stored in the heart (1 Peter 1:22). We also forgive one another from the heart
(Matthew 18:35); words are banked in our hearts (Luke 6:45); Scripture is stored in
our hearts (Psalm 119:11); and it is with the heart that we seek and find God
(Jeremiah 29:13). The heart includes the will, determination, and soul. It is the seat
of all desires; it is the essence of who we are. No wonder we are told to guard our
hearts above all else (Proverbs 4:23).
When leaders want to change, they usually focus on their behavior—but
behavior can’t change until the heart changes. Think about your last resolution to
diet or exercise. You focused on your behavior: This time I’m gonna do it! But
nothing changed until you focused on why you wanted to make this change.
Whatever the specific situation, remembering what motivates you can result in a
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change of behavior.
A changed heart means a changed leader. Consider this real-life example. Steve
Cartin is both a dental practice consultant and a pastor. Initially, he came to Lead
Like Jesus for help with his small church in rural South Carolina, but God had
more planned for him. As Steve put it, “Learning to lead like Jesus started
changing my ministry; then it changed my business; then it changed my
relationship with my wife and my relationships with my adult children. By
changing me, leading like Jesus changed everything I touch.”
The truth is, leading like Jesus begins with the heart.
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7
WHAT DOES LEADING LIKE JESUS
LOOK LIKE?
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
”
Matthew 22:37–39
What does leading like Jesus look like? In a word, love—but not the soft and easy
kind of love that allows those you lead to do whatever they want, neglects strategic
thinking, and fails to focus on results. Of course not! That kind of leadership would
be easy, but hardly effective. In contrast, leading like Jesus—leading with love—is
very difficult. It requires that you love those you influence so much that you help
them move from who they are to who God wants them to be, and that process can
be painful. Not often seen in the media, the love we are talking about becomes the
core value of your life. It influences everything you say and do as a leader and
enables you to stand up when everything else falls down around you.
The greatest description of what love looks like is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4–
7, which we shared earlier. This beautiful passage describes God’s love and
reminds us of what love does and does not do. As leaders who desire to lead like
Jesus, we—like Jesus—need the core value of love to be the why, how, and what
of all we do.
As a Jesus-like leader, you acknowledge as you lead that God created every
person, that He loves them as much as He loves you, and that He has great plans
for their lives. As a leader, you need to pour yourself into your relationships with
other people just as Jesus did with the disciples. Jesus loved them, served them,
and thereby helped them develop into the people God called them to be.
LOVE-BASED LEADERSHIP IN ACTION
Leading like Jesus means that relationships and results are intertwined. It means
being committed to both developing others and achieving results in a way that
honors God and reflects your core beliefs about whose you are and who you are.
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We know many business leaders who lead like Jesus in their everyday work lives.
One of the first who comes to mind is James Blanchard (no relation to Ken).
Throughout his career, Jimmy never saw any separation between faith and work or
between being a servant and being a leader. He chose the Bible as his favorite
leadership handbook and Jesus as his role model.
For thirty-four years, Jimmy served as chief executive officer of Synovus, a
financial services company based in Columbus, Georgia. During his tenure, the
company experienced its greatest growth and prosperity. Perhaps even more
significant to this discussion, for several years in a row, Synovus was named by
Fortune magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For in America.”
Jimmy is a business guy—a great visionary and skilled strategist who never takes
his eyes off the numbers—but he loves people and enjoys helping them grow and
develop.
Jimmy always led by serving. “We run our company this way simply because
it’s right, because every person who works here has great worth and deserves to be
treated so,” he said. “Our company is built on these values. They define who we
are.”
In 2005 US Banker magazine named Jimmy one of America’s “Twenty-Five
Most Influential People in Financial Services.” He has won numerous awards but
believes his greatest award is being married to his wife, Sis, and enjoying their
three children and eight grandchildren. Throughout his career, Jimmy has created
great relationships and enjoyed great results. God has honored Jimmy for leading
and serving from his core value of love.
Jimmy likes to ask people to read 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 and put their names in
place of the word love in the passage. He often suggests with a smile, “If you
notice tightness in your throat in an area, maybe that one needs some work.”
Jimmy’s story is a great example of a business leader living out his faith in
corporate America.
A MOTHER’S SELFLESS LOVE
Our next story is an example of a life role leader, a single mom named Karen, who
showed incredible tenacity in loving a son who was hard to love. She established
boundaries and expectations that were good for him and important for his life, but
even as a little boy, Thom pushed the envelope. As he grew, Thom tried everything
—he ran away, dropped out of school, lived on the street, and used illegal drugs.
During those years, Karen knew that God loved her son more than she did and
that He had a plan for Thom’s life. Karen decided that her responsibility was to be
a faithful, loving, and prayerful mother.
Thom’s behavior continued to spiral downward. One day, after exhausting all
other possibilities for helping her son straighten up, Karen swore out a warrant for
Thom’s arrest for stealing from her home. Karen and Thom lived apart for many
years, but gradually things appeared to improve. Unfortunately, the change did not
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last long, and Thom left his wife and children.
Karen continued to pray for Thom, but she heard from him only sporadically.
She repeated the same prayer many times a day: “Lord, I know You love Thom
even more than I do. I ask that You protect both his physical body and his heart for
You so that someday he might become the man You want him to be. Do whatever
it takes to make this change happen—and give me the strength to endure the wait
and the pain. In the name of Jesus, amen.”
After thirty years, God answered Karen’s prayers. Today Thom is the man God
intended him to be: he is a devoted husband to his faithful wife and a loving dad to
his two daughters.
Leading like Jesus is not just saying, “I will pray for you” or “God will be with
you.” Leading like Jesus is loving your spouse, your child, or your friend even
when that love requires you to stand in the gap. Leading and loving like Jesus
requires a vulnerability and an authenticity that close the chasm between saying
and doing. It requires holding loved ones accountable while at the same time
extending grace and forgiveness.
The rewards of love-based leadership are long-lasting relationships and
incredible transformations that bring glory to the One you follow. This kind of
leadership requires a model who transforms you as well as those you influence. His
name is Jesus.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
The relationships and settings in these stories reflect the core of leading
like Jesus: leading with love. In which of your relationships is leading and
loving like Jesus a challenge? Continue to think about those relationships
as you read this book and consider how to apply what you learn.
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8
I WANT TO LEAD LIKE JESUS, BUT
MY HEART DOES NOT
I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me
that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is
still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from
this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 7:22–25 NLT
You are a leader who truly wants to lead like Jesus, the greatest leadership role
model of all time—but you don’t. Why?
Paul had the same problem. He articulated his frustration perfectly in Romans
7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do.” Does this
sound familiar to you?
What is in the heart determines why we do what we do; our hearts are the
source of our motivations. What motivates you to lead others? Is your leadership
about you? We continue to see that the most persistent barrier to leading like Jesus
is a heart motivated by self-interest.
We come into the world focused on ourselves—and some of us never outgrow
it. A heart motivated by self-interest looks at life as a “give a little, take a lot”
proposition. People with hearts motivated by self-interest put their own agendas,
safety, statuses, and gratifications ahead of others’. Cutting people off on the
freeway or in the church parking lot, punishing those who disagree with you or
challenge your position, and exploiting the weaknesses and fears of others in order
to get what you want are actions that come from a heart motivated by self-interest.
YOUR HEART’S EGO—EDGING GOD OUT
The greatest barrier to leading like Jesus is Edging God Out of our lives (EGO).
We believe you can Edge God Out in three ways: you can replace Him as the
object of your worship; as the source of your security, self-worth, and wisdom; and
as the audience for and authority over your daily work and life story.
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Putting Something in God’s Place
You Edge God Out as the object of your worship by putting other things in His
place. Whenever anything becomes more important to you than God, that idol
becomes your answer to the question, Whose am I? You are worshiping something
or someone other than God. You may choose to worship an object (money, a
house, a car, a business), a person (a spouse or a child), or a desire for power,
recognition, or appreciation. A habit that becomes an addiction—exercising,
watching sports, eating, sleeping, surfing the Internet—can also Edge God Out and
be an idol. You can also find yourself caring most about yourself, your own sense
of significance. In Revelation 2:1–7, Jesus called the church at Ephesus to task
with the complaint that despite their good deeds and perseverance, they had
“forsaken the love [they] had at first” (v. 4). They were no longer passionate about
the God they had once worshiped wholeheartedly. Whatever you are worshiping
other than God is not worth Edging God Out of your life.
Trusting in Something Other Than God
Another way to Edge God Out is to trust in something other than the character
and unconditional love of God as your source of security and self-worth. When you
put your sense of security and self-worth in your intellect, your position, your
performance, your possessions, or your business and personal contacts, you’re
counting on things that are temporary and fallible. Instead, place your trust in that
which is sure and eternal: God’s care for you and the wisdom He provides you.
In his book The Search for Significance, Robert S. McGee said, “If Satan had a
formula for self-worth it would be: Self-worth equals our performance plus the
opinion of others.”1 Yet our performance is not great all the time, and people are
fickle; you can’t count on their approval. When we seek to build a secure sense of
self-worth on the shifting sands of personal performance and the ever-changing
opinions of other people, we end up being tossed about in a sea of self-doubt and
anxiety. We don’t have any security at all.
Valuing Others as the Primary Audience for
and Sole Authority over Our Lives
A third way to Edge God Out is to put others in His place as the primary
audience for and authority over your daily work and your life story. To whom are
you playing from the stage of your life? God wrote your story before the
foundation of the world, and you have the privilege of His guidance through all of
your life if you let Him be your audience and authority.
One of our favorite old stories beautifully illustrates who our audience should
be if we are followers of Jesus. A famous opera singer was invited to give a
command performance in a grand theater in front of a large audience. He rehearsed
for months. When the night arrived, every seat was filled with fans and admirers.
As the singer finished his performance, he was greeted with a standing ovation and
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made several curtain calls. When he finally came off the stage, his manager
embraced and congratulated him. But instead of acknowledging the praise, the
singer told his manager that he had failed.
In disbelief, the manager asked, “How can you say that? You received a
standing ovation and three curtain calls!”
The singer said, “But a person in the front row wasn’t standing or applauding.”
“Why do you care about one person’s opinion when everyone else loved your
performance?” asked the manager.
The singer replied, “The person who wasn’t applauding was my teacher.”
The singer had wanted to please his teacher above all others. That’s how we
need to feel about pleasing God.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Whose praise and affirmation do you seek? Why?
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9
THE RESULTS OF A HEART OUT OF
ORDER
“A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart,
and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.”
Matthew 12:35 NLT
EGO PROBLEMS: PRIDE AND FEAR
Edging God Out as the One you worship, as your source of security, self-worth,
and wisdom, and as your primary audience results in two EGO problems: pride and
fear. When false pride and toxic fear enter a relationship, they poison it. When they
become the driving force in your leadership decisions, they render you ineffective.
When leaders are filled with pride or fear, they react to things that happen to
them. They spend little time considering what is in the best interest of others or
their relationships. They shoot from the hip and sometimes end up shooting
themselves in the foot. Pride-filled or fear-filled people are quick to judge, quick to
take offense, quick to speak, quick to blame, and quick to accept praise.
People who want to lead like Jesus, on the other hand, respond to things that
happen to them. Before taking action, they choose to step back from the emotion of
the moment, even for just a second or two, and, desiring to love and serve, run
some value checks on the situation. People who lead like Jesus are quick to listen,
slow to judge, slow to become angry, and quick to let someone else receive the
praise.
Pride
Pride promotes self. It is more . . . than thinking. Anytime you find yourself
thinking you are more educated than . . ., better trained than . . . , or superior to . . .
in any way, the seed of pride has become lodged in your heart. It can take root,
grow, and fully bloom if you allow it. As Paul put it in Romans 12:3, pride is
“[thinking] of yourself more highly than you ought,” and that is not at all like
Jesus.
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Here are some of the ways you can tell that pride is at its destructive work. See
if any of them seem familiar:
• When you are engaged in a discussion, you resist acknowledging that the
other person’s idea is actually better than your own.
• You do all the talking, take too much credit, demand all the attention, boast,
show off, or, because of your position, demand special treatment and expect
better service.
• You judge the value of an idea based on who said it rather than the quality of
the thought.
• You treat people as too far below you in position or credentials by choosing
not to seek their input on issues that affect them.
• Your compensation becomes more important as a mark of success than the
ethical and relational price you pay to attain it.
The Bible has much to say on the subject of pride. Proverbs 13:10 tells us,
“Where there is strife, there is pride.” Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before
destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” And Proverbs 16:5 declares, “The LORD
detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.”
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Identify the last time pride got in the way of your leadership. What action
or statement triggered your pride? How did you feel? How did the people
around you react to your prideful actions or words? What was the result
of your prideful behavior? Invite God to guide your thinking about the
situation—and then follow His lead.
Some people reading about pride will say, “Oh, that’s not me. I don’t have any
false pride. I know that everything I am and everything I have comes from God and
is on loan to me.” Understanding that is great. But often there is a subtler way in
which we Edge God Out—fear. Most people don’t normally recognize fear as a
way to Edge God Out, but fear is at the root of many seemingly prideful behaviors.
Fear
The capacity to experience fear is a gift from God. When heeded, fear protects
us. Yet what we actually do with fear when we experience it can prevent us from
enjoying the good it can bring. So instead of enhancing life, fear has poisoned
human relationships ever since man first stepped outside of God’s will. Consider
the consequences of Adam and Eve’s eating the forbidden fruit: they immediately
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became self-conscious, covered their nakedness, and hid from God in fear. Human
beings have been hiding ever since, because we fear that our weaknesses and bad
behavior will be found out. The irony is, God already sees those weaknesses and
knows all about our bad behavior.
Still, every day we face the risk of contracting toxic fear—that dark force that
can color our relationships and permeate our souls. Toxic fear is a complete anti-
God state of mind. It is a good thing turned bad.
In both the Old and New Testaments, the fear of God and the fear of man are
held up as the extremes of good and evil. We are called to hold God in life-giving,
reverent awe as the ultimate source of our security and judge of our worth. At the
end of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon made this definitive statement: “Fear God and
keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind” (12:13).
This fear or awe of the holy God is appropriate and even necessary in our faith
—and very different from the toxic fear of man. To avoid that toxic fear, we first
have to understand its root cause: our addictive dependence on things and others
for our security and self-worth.
A good definition of addiction is “an ever-increasing desire for something that
has an ever-decreasing ability to satisfy.”1 Addictions start as voluntary attempts or
choices to experience something desirable, but they end up as compulsions that
continually grow stronger and can eventually become completely out of control.
When we seek refuge from pain and loss of self-esteem in things like our
possessions and our positions, we are vulnerable to having anxiety and fear be key
drivers of our thoughts and behaviors.
When something we are addicted to is at risk, toxic fear can poison our daily
decisions and relationships in a variety of ways. Here are some examples:
• Rob is a workaholic who is afraid to slow down and look at the condition of
his life. He feels trapped when his wife or kids ask for help or when he is
forced into a period of inactivity due to illness. He keeps up a schedule of late
hours and early mornings to avoid the gnawing feeling of emptiness.
• Janet is a control freak who is afraid of failure, so she chooses personal
exhaustion rather than training people and delegating tasks. By
micromanaging and keeping other people dependent on her for information,
she seeks to protect herself from becoming obsolete or losing her source of
power.
• Craig is a fitness addict who goes into an emotional and relational tailspin at
the first sign of his own illness or aging—or the illness or aging of someone
he identifies with.
• Cynthia is an approval addict who fears rejection and broods over a 2 percent
negative rating on a feedback form or an overheard bit of unfavorable gossip.
• Tracy is a sixteen-year-old relationship junkie who will do bad things with
bad people rather than face being alone.
Each of these examples of toxic fear is a variation on a central theme: looking
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for approval from everything and everyone except God.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think of a time when the fear of rejection or failure prevented you from
doing or saying something that might have helped someone else avoid an
impending mistake. What excuse did you tell yourself to justify letting
your fear control your inaction? Was yielding to your fear worth the
consequences?
THE RESULTS OF PRIDE AND FEAR
It is interesting to see how false pride, fear, and self-doubt play out in
organizational leaders. When leaders are addicted to any of these EGO afflictions,
their effectiveness drops dramatically.
Leaders dominated by false pride are often called controllers. Even when they
don’t know what they are doing, they have a high need for power and control.
They keep insisting they are right, even when it’s clear to everyone that they are
wrong. They don’t want someone else to look capable for fear others might think
that person should be the manager. That is why controlling bosses seldom support
their people. If everyone is upbeat and confident, the controller puts an end to it.
Still, controllers support their bosses more than they support their workplace peers
because they want to climb the hierarchy and be part of the boss’s crowd.
At the other end of the spectrum are the do-nothing bosses, who are often
described as “never around,” “always avoiding conflict,” and “not very helpful.”
Plagued by fear and self-doubt, these leaders often leave their direct reports alone,
even when those people are insecure or don’t know what they are doing. Do-
nothing bosses don’t seem to believe in themselves or trust their own judgment.
They value other people’s thoughts—especially the thoughts of those with more
authority—above their own. As a result, they rarely speak out or support their own
people. Under pressure, the do-nothings defer to whoever has the most power.
If any of this makes you squirm a little, don’t be alarmed. Most of us have
traces of both false pride and self-doubt, because the issue is really the EGO: we
Edge God Out as our primary focus in life.
The three primary results of letting our pride and fear Edge God Out of our
lives are separation, comparison, and distortion of the truth. Let’s look at each of
these results.
Separation
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Pride and fear always separate us from God, from one another, and even from
ourselves. Here are some common examples of the separating power of pride and
fear:
Separation from God
We become . . .
• too ashamed about failure to talk to God
• too arrogant to pray
• too afraid of what the answer might be to ask God a question
• too passionate about our own agendas to wait for God to reveal His agenda
Separation from Other People
We become . . .
• too prideful to say we need help or we don’t understand
• too fearful of rejection to take a stand on an issue
• too fearful to say no when that is the right answer
• too fearful of losing control to share information or power
• too convinced of our own opinions to consider conflicting information
Separation from Ourselves
We become . . .
• too sensitive about other people’s opinions to listen to our own hearts
• too busy fixing others’ problems to look at the mess inside us
• too ready to make excuses for our failures and unhealthy or unwise choices
• too resistant to introspection
• too obsessed with our own schedules to wait for God’s timing
One of the greatest challenges in seeking to lead like Jesus is the intimacy with
Him that this approach requires. The biggest barrier to intimacy is a fear of
vulnerability—the fear of having to admit you don’t know all the answers, that you
may need help, and that your abilities as a leader may be questioned. Here, false
pride is fear in action.
When you lose intimacy with God and you distance yourself from His
unconditional love, you fear intimacy with others. Like the wizard behind the
curtain in Oz, you hide behind intimidating false fronts and place barriers around
yourself rather than risk exposing your inadequacies and needs. The isolation
created by the fear of intimacy leaves leaders vulnerable to being blindsided by
changing times and circumstances.
Fear of intimacy can weaken a relationship or an organization like a virus.
When this fear enters an organization through the heart and actions of a leader, it is
particularly nasty and hard to cure.
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Comparison
In addition to causing separation, pride and fear bring about unhealthy
horizontal comparisons. Instead of measuring success in terms of how well you are
following God’s plan for your life, you constantly look around to see how you
compare with others, usually on a material basis.
Comparing yourself with others and drawing comfort from feeling superior to
others are signs of false pride, insecurity, and fear of inadequacy. Seeking to learn
from others and aspiring to emulate good role models are signs of healthy humility.
Yet EGO issues and the toxic impact of envy, jealousy, or low self-esteem have
been polluting human relationships ever since Cain slew Abel. When leaders foster
competition and rivalries among coworkers as a way of driving performance, both
performance and relationships suffer. “A little friendly competition” rarely stays
little or friendly when the leader makes the rewards for winning too great and the
price of failure too high.
When you seek to determine your level of self-worth and security by
comparing yourself to others, the end result is either complacency or anxiety. In a
larger sense, making comparisons devalues the promises and provisions of God,
who has affirmed your value and guaranteed you security based on His
unconditional love. You are His beloved.
Distortion
The third result of addiction to false pride and fear is distortion of the truth. The
root cause of toxic fear is the lie that we are not safe living God’s way and we are
going to miss out on something good. We believe the lie because of FEAR—False
Evidence Appearing Real. When pride and fear isolate you from everyone else,
including God, your view of reality becomes increasingly misguided, and your
decisions are more prone to error.
One of the key distortions affecting leader effectiveness is an EGO-driven
fixation on short-term results at the expense of long-term integrity. In today’s
business world, faster access to information brings with it a demand for faster
decisions and faster results. Setbacks are less and less tolerated. Annual reports are
ancient history; real-time data streams and analysis make quarterly estimates and
weekly performance metrics obsolete. Expectations and anxiety built on instant
access to data can turn everything into either a crisis or an exhilarating high for an
EGO-addicted leader. Direct reports feel as if they have to be on duty 24/7 and
immediately inform the boss of any progress.
Jesus spoke of the perils of the distorted and false sense of security and self-
worth that comes when we Edge God Out. He said, “Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in
and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin
do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21).
EGO-driven distortion is also manifested in an overblown view of your ability
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to control events. When you think and act as if everything depends on you, you’re
setting yourself and your followers up for failure in the long run. The truth is, as
fallible human beings, each of us works within certain limitations. Factors beyond
our control and even beyond our awareness can determine success and failure. That
fact does not diminish the importance and value of your efforts, but it puts them in
perspective, freeing you to extend grace and lead with humility.
This diagram summarizes the concepts of Edging God Out:
EDGING GOD OUT
As the object of my
worship
As the source of my
security, self-worth,
and wisdom
As the audience and
authority over my daily work
and life story
EXPRESSES ITSELF THROUGH:
PRIDE
An overly high opinion of yourself;
exaggerated self-esteem
FEAR
An insecure view of the future, resulting in self-
protection
“Do not think of yourself more highly than
you ought” (Romans 12:3).
“The fear of human opinion disables” (Proverbs 29:25
THE MESSAGE).
PROMOTING SELF
• Doing all the talking
• Taking all the credit
• Boasting and showing off
• Demanding all the attention
PROTECTING SELF
• Intimidating others
• Hiding behind position
• Withholding information
• Discouraging honest feedback
LEADS TO:
SEPARATION
from God, from other
people, and from
yourself
COMPARISON
with others; discontent
DISTORTION
of the truth; false sense of
security
Now that you understand how your heart Edges God Out and often prevents
you from leading like Jesus, we will look at a few of the warning signs of Edging
God Out. Let these signs alert you to stop and examine your heart.
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PAUSE AND REFLECT
When was the last time you Edged God Out? What was the result?
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10
WARNING SIGNS ON THE PATH TO
EDGING GOD OUT
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard,
so that we do not drift away.
Hebrews 2:1
Warning signs are important: a light on your car’s dashboard; the sound of a siren
behind you when you are driving; distant thunder before a storm hits. Doctors take
your temperature and blood pressure to look for warning signs about the state of
your health. We also must check for signs to alert us that our hearts may be out of
alignment with God.
What are the warning signs that we may be falling into the trap of pride or fear?
And what safeguards can we leaders put in place to prevent this from happening?
WARNING SIGN #1: THE I FACTOR
During a session in which he was receiving counseling, a pastor expressed
excitement about his transition to executive pastor of a multisite church. His wife,
however, had recently pointed out to him that his tone was curt and his patience
was short. She told him his “inner grump” was alive and well. He acknowledged
that this was his typical first line of response to challenging circumstances: he was
afraid that he was not good enough to do everything the new position required.
His counselor had noticed that, as he was initially describing the situation,
almost every sentence he spoke had begun with I. The heaviness in his voice
indicated he felt great pressure to have all the answers and to not disappoint
anyone: “I’ve got to . . .” “I can’t let people down.” “I have to work long hours,
and my family doesn’t understand.” The I factor warning sign was there,
suggesting that this pastor was depending on himself instead of on God.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
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Listen for the I factor in your conversations. Note any words or thoughts
that depict you as less than (fearful) or more than (prideful). Notice
whether you too often direct a conversation back to yourself or you
interrupt someone’s story to tell your own. Are your conversations laced
with I, my, or me? Are you others-focused or self-focused? If the latter,
consider this a warning sign that you may be on the path to Edging God
Out.
A Challenge of Leadership
The following true story tells of an encounter between Abraham Lincoln and
one of his army officers.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln was visited by Colonel Scott, a
commander of the troops guarding the capital. Scott’s wife had drowned in a
steamship collision in Chesapeake Bay. He had appealed to regimental command
for leave to attend her burial and comfort his children, but he was denied. He took
his request to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who also refused. In his ultimate
appeal, Scott was the last visitor allowed to see Lincoln in the presidential office
late on a Saturday night.
As Scott recalled, Lincoln listened to his story and exploded. “Am I to have no
rest? Is there no hour or spot when or where I may escape these constant calls?
Why do you follow me here with such business as this? Why do you not go to the
War Office where they have charge of all matters of papers and transportation?”
Scott told Lincoln of Stanton’s refusal. The president replied with equal fervor
that, during this time of war, everyone had burdens to bear. He sided with Stanton
and denied Scott’s request. Lincoln again suggested Scott go to the War
Department and if they didn’t help him, Scott was to bear his burden until the war
was over. Colonel Scott returned to his barrack, brooding.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Reread the last two paragraphs and notice whether Lincoln’s words and
suggestions were self-focused or others-focused.
Early the next morning Colonel Scott heard a rap at the door. It was the
president. He took Scott’s hands and apologized, saying, “I had no right to treat a
man with rudeness who has offered his life to his country, much more a man in
great affliction. I have had a regretful night and now come to beg your
forgiveness.” He had arranged with Stanton for Scott to go to his wife’s funeral.1
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PAUSE AND REFLECT
We are prone to making poor decisions when we are Hungry, Angry,
Lonely, or Tired. So we need to HALT when any of these factors are
present. In the Lincoln case, consider the following:
• What were the internal and external forces that caused Lincoln to first
respond in a self-serving way? Note which of the HALT factors might
have been present.
• Describe a time when you faced a similar leadership decision. What
was your response? Were you a serving leader or a self-serving leader?
Why?
• What had caused Lincoln to change his mind by the next morning?
WARNING SIGN #2: THE MINE
PERSPECTIVE
Have you ever thought, I would rather do this myself? Sometimes it seems much
easier to do something ourselves than to try to teach someone else to do it. But a
critical role for leaders is preparing others to carry on when their own seasons of
leadership end. Our leadership legacies are not limited to what we accomplish:
they also include what we leave behind in the hearts and minds of the people we
work with and teach.
We don’t leave much good behind if one of our operating principles is summed
up in the word mine. The first word of many children is mine, and sometimes we
don’t outgrow that thinking.
Perhaps you haven’t thought of your leadership position as a season. But if you
reflect on your experience, you probably can see that you have had several seasons
of leadership influence in your family, your career, or your volunteer activities.
Your personal succession planning efforts speak volumes about your motives as a
leader. It is unlikely that anyone involved in the promotion and protection of self—
Edging God Out—is going to spend much time training and developing a potential
successor. One mark of EGO-driven leaders is this failure to groom someone to
take their place. Also limiting the development of those we lead are such behaviors
as hoarding information, refusing to empower coworkers to make decisions, and
failing to recognize people’s contributions.
During His time on earth, Jesus modeled a sacrificial passion for ensuring that
His followers were equipped to carry on the movement He had begun. Jesus lived
in intimate relationship with the very people He wished to empower by His words
and example. In his book Transforming Leadership, author Leighton Ford notes,
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“Long before modern managers, Jesus was busy preparing people for the future.
He wasn’t aiming to pick a crown prince, but to create a successor generation.
When the time came for Him to leave, He did not put in a crash program of
leadership development—the curriculum had been taught for three years in a living
classroom.”2
Whom are you developing in your living classroom?
WARNING SIGN #3: NEGATIVE
RESPONSE TO FEEDBACK
Do you appreciate feedback? When we ask that question, most people say, “Yes,
but . . .” We hear, “Yes, but not from someone I don’t respect” or “Yes, but only
from certain people.”
Maybe you often receive feedback graciously, but in some situations it may not
be helpful or it may be out of alignment with your purpose and mission. Everyone
likes positive feedback, but you may have a difficult time with negative feedback
—especially if your security and self-worth are based on public image, reputation,
position, competitive performance, possessions, or personal relationships. If you
sense a threat to any of those things you cherish, you may react to criticism in a
fearful, defensive way. You may also wrongly conclude that negative feedback
means people don’t want you to lead anymore. That’s not always the case.
Sometimes the biggest fear is not failure; it is the fear of losing your power and
position. The fear is intensified if you have based your self-worth and security on
your leadership position and power.
With some honest self-evaluation, you may come to realize that you, too, have
an EGO problem. That’s the bad news. The good news is twofold: you are not
alone, and what you are struggling with is a treatable condition. In 1 Corinthians
10:13 we read:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God
is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when
you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
In his classic book Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald says
there are two types of people in the world: driven people and called people.3
Driven people think they own everything. They own their relationships, they
own their possessions, and they own their positions. In fact, they perceive their
identity as the sum of their relationships, possessions, and positions. As a result,
driven people spend most of their time protecting what they own. We see this in a
family when a father or mother demands that everyone cater to his or her wishes
without questioning that person’s authority. Driven people believe “the one who
dies with the most toys wins”—and if you mess with any of their toys, you’re in
trouble. The possessions of driven people become an important expression of who
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they are, and sometimes their possessions end up possessing them.
Called people, on the other hand, believe everything they have is on loan to
them from the Lord. They believe, for instance, that their relationships are on loan
and are to be cherished; they know there is no guarantee they will see those they
love tomorrow. Called people also believe their possessions are on loan and are to
be held lightly, to be enjoyed and shared with an open hand. Finally, called people
believe their positions are on loan from God, as are the people they are leading and
influencing. Rather than protecting what they own, called leaders act as good
stewards of the resources and people who have been loaned to them. They are
therefore prone to see feedback as more of a gift than a threat. Even if feedback is
hurtful or given in a negative way, leaders grounded in God’s unconditional love
will move beyond the negative emotions and seek to find truth that will help them
improve their leadership.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Have these warning signs helped you diagnose a heart problem? The first
step toward wellness is admitting that you are Edging God Out with pride
or fear. Ask yourself these questions:
• When you consider the I factor, do you Edge God Out more because of
fear or pride? Give specific evidence.
• Have you overcome your mine perspective? Be honest and offer
specifics.
• What is your first reaction when somebody criticizes you or disagrees
with your decision? Why? Do you become defensive? If so, why?
• In your positions of leadership, do you have feedback rules? Who can
give you feedback? When can they give you feedback? And do those
you’re leading know these rules?
• What do your answers to these questions show you about your
leadership?
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11
A HEART TURNAROUND
Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24
Leading like Jesus is not easy. It demands intentionality and commitment as well
as an ongoing relationship with the model you are trying to follow. Frankly, it can
be easy to lose focus due to hectic schedules and great demands on your time. The
temptation to put something else in God’s place—to choose another source of
security, self-worth, or wisdom and another audience and authority for your life—
is constant. A life intentionally lived with a focus on Jesus and a deep commitment
to Him will help you move from Edging God Out to Exalting God Only.
CHOOSE GOD AS THE OBJECT OF YOUR
WORSHIP
We know we should place God above everything else, but we don’t always do so.
Ensuring God is in His right place and you are in yours is always a heart issue.
Adam and Eve thought they knew better than God and became the first people
to Edge God Out. Your beliefs about God are stored in your heart, but shiny things
can pull you away. We can too easily fall into worshiping, for instance, success,
power, money, family, education, reputation, and good works, instead of God.
Only when you really know God will He truly be the object of your worship.
When you know God is good, when you know He loves you with no strings
attached, and when you know that He will never leave you, then you can trust Him
above all others and you will worship Him more freely. When you are in deep
trouble and the only One you can call on is your heavenly Father—the One who
put the stars in place, who loved you first, who created you, and who has a perfect
plan for your life—then you will worship Him more wholeheartedly. We come to
know God through our experiences with Him, and our worship of God increases
and is enriched as we come to know Him better.
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PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think about a time in your life that seemed hopeless. Maybe you
experienced the death of someone you loved, a divorce, a job loss, or
separation from friends or family. We often come to know God in a
deeper way when we experience Him in the hard moments of our lives.
Now think about a time when life was so good that you couldn’t find
words to express your gratitude. Maybe the blessing was the birth of a
child or grandchild, a promotion you worked toward for a long time, or
your child’s marriage to a wonderful, God-honoring person. Knowing
God better also happens as our gratitude at seeing His goodness
overflows.
Finally, when did you experience a time when you tried to find things
and people to fill you up, but your tank stayed empty? Knowing God
better happens when you learn that nothing can truly satisfy you except a
relationship with Jesus.
Scripture reminds us:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these
he has given us his very great and precious promises. (2 Peter 1:3–4)
As Peter proclaimed, God has given us everything we need for living a godly
life, a life of worshiping Him more fully as we come to know Him better. So if we
want to lead like Jesus, we will be intentionally focused on knowing God. This
intimate knowing will prompt us and enable us to worship Him with our lives as
we spend time with our families, at work, or serving at church or in the
community.
CHOOSE GOD AS THE SOURCE OF YOUR
SECURITY, SELF-WORTH, AND WISDOM
Choosing God as the source of all you need changes your perspective, your
purpose, and your goals. Believing that your security and self-worth are not up for
grabs every day and that He will give you wisdom in every moment of your life
brings peace and freedom.
Everyone wants to feel secure in this world of uncertainty. You have a sense of
how your life will unfold; you think you know pretty much what it will look like.
But then something changes—your spouse wants a divorce, you lose your job, or
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you are diagnosed with a life-changing or life-threatening disease—and you have
to reframe your ideas and expectations. You will no longer feel secure unless the
source of your security is God. When you Exalt God Only, you answer the
question Can I trust God? with a definite yes. You have come to know Him
intimately, and you know you can trust Him no matter what the circumstances of
your life. God is the source of your security, and He will never fail you.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust
in the name of the LORD our God.” Where do you place your trust?
Self-worth is not just feeling good about yourself; it comes from a healthy
sense of your identity and purpose. When you Exalt God Only, you are mindful
that you belong to God. You trust Him with your life, and you trust that you are
who God says you are. You find your purpose and identity in Him: you are
beloved, forgiven, righteous, holy, acceptable, and more. Your purpose is sure
because you trust God to keep the promises made in Scripture. Ephesians 2:10
reads: “We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we
can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (NLT). When God is the source
of your self-worth, you are no longer imprisoned by the pressure to do more and
try harder. You can actually be a human being, not a human doing, and you can
relax in who God has made you to be. In doing so, you exalt God.
Choosing God to be the source of your wisdom means you are no longer
focused on the world’s view. You have a different perspective and set of priorities.
Scripture says you have the mind of Christ, and you recognize the Bible as the only
playbook for your life. When you Exalt God Only, you are focused on Him: you
lean in to Him in order to hear His wise counsel. You have come to trust God
enough to wait for His answers. You understand that in the waiting, He is growing
you to trust Him more.
Jesus is the supreme example of how to depend on God the Father as your
source for everything—including self-esteem and security. Jesus said:
“The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father
doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves
the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater
works than these, so that you will be amazed. . . . By myself I can do nothing; I
judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but
him who sent me.” (John 5:19–20, 30)
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CHOOSE GOD AS THE AUDIENCE FOR
AND AUTHORITY OVER YOUR DAILY
WORK AND LIFE STORY
Choosing God as your audience means that your eyes are on God, not on people.
He is your Audience of One; like you, everyone else is a member of the cast. The
scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day didn’t play to the Audience of One, however,
and Jesus was scathing in His judgment of them. He called them hypocrites
because they did their good deeds to be seen by men:
“Everything they do is done for people to see. . . . They love the place of honor
at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be
greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”
(Matthew 23:5–7)
When you choose God as the authority for your life, obedience to His Word is
your standard. The first step in living out this choice is to return to Him the love He
has shown us, and that means obeying Him. Jesus put it this way: “Anyone who
loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to
them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). Now, that is a great deal!
Our obedience is born out of our love of God. We Exalt God Only when we
choose to live in His love. That choice is easier when we remember that God has
already chosen us and, through Jesus, made Himself and His love known to us.
Exalting God happens when we understand that Jesus is the gift that becomes our
audience and authority.
RESULTS OF EXALTING GOD ONLY:
HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE
If God is the object of your worship, the source of your security and self-worth,
and your audience and authority, then humility and God-grounded confidence will
replace false pride and fear. Instead of Edging God Out because we are driven by
pride and fear, our relationships and leadership will be renewed with humility and
God-grounded confidence as we seek to Exalt God Only. The challenge is first to
understand the nature of the journey we must travel and then to commit to taking
the initial steps.
Humility
Leading like Jesus means leading with humility, the first attribute of a heart
that Exalts God Only. Humility requires knowing whose you are and who you are.
You are called to be a good steward of your season of influence, remembering
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there is a plan that was set in motion long before you were born. By God’s grace,
your influence will extend beyond your tenure in the hearts and minds of those the
Lord entrusted to your care.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself
with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of
you. (Romans 12:3)
As a leadership trait, humility is a heart attitude that reflects a keen
understanding of your limitations and even inability to accomplish something on
your own. When a victory is won or an obstacle overcome, humility gives credit to
people and forces other than your own knowledge and effort. According to Jim
Collins in his book Good to Great, a leader with a humble heart looks out the
window to find and applaud the true causes of success and in the mirror to find and
accept responsibility for failure.1 A leader who does that is not suffering from low
self-esteem! In fact, as Ken and Norman Vincent Peale said, “People with humility
don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.”2
Leading like Jesus also requires humbly accepting and honoring the
nonnegotiable boundaries He has set so you can accomplish true and lasting
results. Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you
remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
nothing” (John 15:5).
There is, however, a difference between putting on the appearance of humility
before others and being truly humble in the presence and before the purposes of
God. You are not to be piously humble about what He has given you or what you
have done. In Breakfast with Fred, Fred Smith said it well: “People with humility
don’t deny their power; they just recognize it passes through them, not from
them.”3
Humility is realizing and emphasizing the importance of other people. It is not
putting yourself down; it is lifting others up. It is saying to yourself and to others,
“I am precious in God’s sight—and so are you.”
The humility Jesus demonstrated did not rise from a lack of self-esteem, love,
power, or ability. His humility came from the fact that He knew whose He was,
who He was, where He came from, and where He was going. That understanding
freed Him to treat people with love and respect.
God-Grounded Confidence
Humility rooted in a secure relationship with His Father allowed Jesus to
approach every situation with God-grounded confidence, the second attribute of a
heart that Exalts God Only. Jesus always knew His Father unconditionally loved
Him. That gave Him confidence to stay focused on the reason He had come to
earth.
Minister and author Norman Vincent Peale often said the toughest test of self-
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esteem is bowing your head, admitting to God that you fall short of perfection, and
accepting Jesus as your Savior. Norman told Ken that at times people would say to
him, “Christianity is for weaklings.” Norman said when that happened, he would
reply, “That’s furthest from the truth. The human EGO does not want to admit any
weakness.” Moving from self-confidence to God-grounded confidence takes a big
person and an even bigger, loving God.
One of the by-products of God-grounded confidence is the “peace of God,
which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Jesus promises to give us
this peace when we surrender our lives to Him: “Peace I leave with you; my peace
I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
Clearly, Exalting God Only will make you a different kind of leader. Humility
and God-confidence will mark your leadership and have an impact on those you
influence. Pride and fear no longer hold you captive: you don’t have to prove
anything to anyone, and you can rest in knowing and worshiping God, trusting
Him as your source, your audience, and your authority. Jesus came to set the
captives free, and freedom comes when we give ourselves totally to God and exalt
Him only.
When we Exalt God Only, our perspectives change. Edging God Out separates
us from God, from others, and from ourselves; prompts us to compare ourselves to
others; and offers only a false sense of security. But when we Exalt God Only, we
move toward community and transparent relationships rather than toward
separation and isolation; from comparisons of ourselves to others to contentment
with whose we are and who we are; and from distorted thinking about God and
about ourselves to the truth of God’s love for us as a basis of decision making and
leading.
EXALTING GOD ONLY
As the object of
my worship
As the source of my
security, self-worth, and
wisdom
As the audience and judge of
my life decisions
EXPRESSES ITSELF THROUGH:
HUMILITY GOD-GROUNDED CONFIDENCE
Something to hope for but never claim;
something to observe in others
Resting assured in God’s nature and goodness;
proceeding in faith one step at a time
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit. Rather, in humility value others
above yourselves” (Philippians 2:3).
“So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I
will not fear; what can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:6
ESV).
Looking out the window, not in the mirror, Promoting others
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to praise
Protecting others
A kingdom perspective
LEADS TO:
COMMUNITY
Drawing near to
God and to others
CONTENTMENT
Being satisfied in all
circumstances
TRUTH
as a basis for decision making
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Imagine sitting down with Jesus just before He sends you off to represent
His kingdom where you work and in all your personal relationships. Here
are some questions Jesus might ask to make sure you are ready to head
out:
• Do you love Me?
• Do you trust Me?
• Will you serve Me by serving others?
• Do you believe that I will always love you regardless of your
performance or the opinions of others?
• Are you willing to set aside recognition, power, and instant gratification
to honor Me by doing the right thing?
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PART III
THE BEING HABITS
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not
see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation
of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8–9
How can you Exalt God Only? It seems so easy for other things, people, or
circumstances to crowd out your priorities and take over as the object of your
worship. When the world so loudly and persistently shouts out its promises, what
can you do to better rely on God as your source of security, self-worth, and
wisdom and to more consistently choose Him as your audience and authority?
You have heard messages since you were a child about what it takes to be a
success—whatever success means in a given context. You have been bombarded
with commercials and social media messages that define for you the right career,
the right kind of car, the right look, power positions, success, and the home of your
dreams. What can you possibly do to guard your heart and exalt God when the pull
to choose differently is so strong?
As Jesus moved through His season of earthly leadership, He experienced
constant pressure and ongoing temptation to stray from the path God had set out
for Him. We learn a lot by reading in Scripture what Jesus did to stay on track with
His mission. We find five key Being Habits that countered the negative forces in
His life; habits that we ourselves can adopt.
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You’ll notice that the central habit is accepting and abiding in God’s love. The
other four habits—experiencing solitude, practicing prayer, knowing and applying
Scripture, and maintaining supportive relationships—are all ways to help you
accept and abide in God’s unconditional love.
Adopting these habits is essential for those of us who seek to follow Jesus as
our role model for leadership. He led with these five habits—and if we want to lead
like Jesus, we will too.
Why are these habits essential?
Practicing the Being Habits gives you peace. If peace sounds like a strange
characteristic for a leader, think about how Jesus, the Prince of Peace, exhibited it
throughout His ministry. Peace is an attractive trait in a leader, and many leaders
rise to power on their promises of peace. Jesus knew peace in His Father, and He
lived out peace even when everything around Him seemed in conflict or chaos.
When people sense a leader’s solid self-control, they have greater faith in what he
or she is doing.
As Rick Warren observed in The Purpose Driven Life, “Your character is
essentially the sum of your habits.”1 So if we want to develop a character like
Jesus’, we have to look carefully at His habits. And if we want to become more
like Jesus, there is only one way: choose to set aside time to be with God.
You may spend this time in solitude, prayer, or the study of Scripture, but the
focus of your time with God is to nourish, strengthen, and grow your relationship
with Him. Your time with God will help you get to know Him better and to
understand more fully His love for you. Your choice to be in close relationship
with God is the one choice that both transforms you and consequently affects
everyone around you.
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Furthermore, the truth is that you can’t keep your heart in its right place by
yourself. The One who created you for His great purpose, who loves you more than
anyone else does, who knew your last day before your first day began, is the One
who calls you to be with Him. It is in being with Him that you become more the
person God created you to be: you become more like Jesus.
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12
THE HABIT OF ACCEPTING AND
ABIDING IN GOD’S
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives
in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:16
It is hard to imagine that the God of the universe actually seeks a love relationship
with you and me. It is hard to imagine because we know ourselves all too well. We
know what we are capable of: we know we can be prideful, fearful, mean-spirited,
and worse. And we understand conditional relationships, but this powerful love
with no strings attached is hard to comprehend. Ephesians 3:17–19 says:
Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will
grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power
to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and
how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too
great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness
of life and power that comes from God. (NLT)
What a promise! Your relationship with Jesus is built on the truth that we love
because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). When you choose to set aside time to be
with God, you will come to know Him better, the foundation of your relationship
with Him will grow stronger, and you can come to more fully accept and more
completely abide in His unconditional love.
There are not, however, four or five easy steps to accepting and abiding in
God’s love. This habit has nothing to do with how many times you attend church in
a month, how often you pray each day, how much money you give to missions, or
how many business deals you complete in a week. This habit has nothing to do
with your success as a parent, pastor, or business leader. God’s love is a gift.
Accepting and abiding in His love requires the foundational belief that His love for
you is possible. Believing that it is possible for God to love you will lead you to
Him—and He enables us to believe He loves us by His Son’s death on the cross
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and His Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think of a time when you felt loved by God. What were the
circumstances? Were you alone with God, in a group, listening to music,
reading Scripture, seeing your child walk for the first time, opening your
new business, or watching a sunrise?
What steps could you take to feel His love now? One step is simply to
ask your heavenly Father to reveal His love to you.
Love draws us into relationships. In fact, you and I are most often drawn to
people who love us, especially those who love us not because of what we do for
them, but because of who we are. Maybe you have experienced a child or
grandchild running to meet you with open arms. There is tremendous joy in the
open arms of a child who loves you.
Phyllis recently had an experience in a fast-food restaurant that reminded her of
what it is to love without conditions. She was walking toward the drink machine
and saw a little girl of about three waiting while her dad filled their cups. The girl
saw Phyllis and ran to her, smiling, and Phyllis smiled back. The girl’s dad walked
over and explained that his daughter had never run up to a stranger that way before.
Phyllis said she must look like someone the girl knows. The little girl walked away
with her dad but then turned and ran back to Phyllis, this time wrapping her arms
around Phyllis’s legs. Surprised, her dad came back and apologized, saying he had
no idea what would make the girl behave like this. He picked her up and carried
her off. Phyllis felt blessed to be the proxy for whomever the little girl loved so
much. The experience felt like a gift to her after a very long day. She chose to
believe God sent a little child to remind her of His love for her.
Perhaps the greatest earthly picture of unconditional love is a parent’s love for
a child. At our seminars, when we ask parents to raise their hands if they love their
kids, all the hands go up. When we ask how many of them love their kids only if
they’re successful, all the hands go down. You love your kids unconditionally,
right? But some human relationships have taught us about conditional love and left
us broken and wounded. This experience can color our relationship with our
heavenly Father.
God’s love, however, is not like any other love. Read the following promises
of God and personalize them by inserting your name in the blank.
• ____________, I know you by name.
• ____________, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
• ____________, I gave My life for you.
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• ____________, I have great plans for you.
• ____________, nothing can separate you from My love.
• ____________, I will wipe away every tear from your eyes.
• ____________, ask and you will receive.
• ____________, I want you to have life and have it to the full.
• ____________, I take great delight in you.
• ____________, I am with you wherever you go.
• ____________, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
We live in a world that fuels pride and fear. Through fads, fashion, and societal
pressure to acquire more, we are lured into believing we can secure for ourselves a
sense of meaning and safety. In absolute contrast to these temporary, always-at-
risk places to put our trust are the unconditional love and never-failing promises of
God. Only in relationship with God can we find and be assured of a never-ending
supply of what we need to live and lead like Jesus.
Knowing God’s love for you offers assurance of whose you are and who you
are. You are God’s—His chosen, who is beloved, forgiven, righteous, and more.
Accepting and abiding in God’s love means recognizing that every gift you have is
a gift from God. No pride can exist in the face of such grace and generosity, and no
fear can grab you from the safety of His unconditional love.
If God’s love for you were based on your performance—on how well you lived
up to His standards of righteousness—you would never be free of anxiety. The
alternative is to accept God’s unconditional love for you: admit that you can’t earn
enough, achieve enough, or control enough to get any more love from Him. In
Jesus you already have access to all the love you need and infinitely more. That
truth is so powerful. Once you believe that you are completely and unconditionally
loved by God, you won’t be misled by earthly things that offer love, peace, safety,
and security.
Accepting and abiding in God’s love, though, is not a onetime decision. It is a
habit to be practiced, day by day, hour by hour, even minute by minute. When the
world tells you that you are not enough, when fear paralyzes you because failure
seems imminent and inevitable, the habit of accepting and abiding in God’s love
will help you remember that you are unconditionally loved. Soak in those
scriptures that remind you of God’s love, listen to music that reinforces God’s
love, and spend time with people who share God’s love with you. Whatever it
takes to anchor that understanding in your heart, do it.
You will be able to lead like Jesus only if you have received the gift of God’s
love. His love for us is the foundation of our Jesus-like leadership. We cannot give
to others love, peace, hope, or security if we ourselves have not received it first.
You might be thinking, Why are you talking about accepting and abiding in
God’s unconditional love in a book on leadership? Good question. The answer is
this: God’s love will change you and, by extension, change your leadership. You
will see leadership differently: it becomes less about power and control and more
about the stewardship of the people you touch and of the work God has given you
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to do. You will see people differently, too: rather than seeing them as a means to
accomplish the results you want, you realize that God has the same love for them
that He has for you. Work becomes an act of worship and your workplace an
outpost of God’s kingdom. You are no longer threatened by feedback; you no
longer lead out of fear or cause others to be fearful of you. Accepting and abiding
in God’s unconditional love changes you and lays the foundation for the four other
Being Habits that will help you lead like Jesus.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
At the beginning of this chapter, we said it is hard to imagine that God
could love us unconditionally because we know ourselves. Pause for just
a few minutes, put your doubts aside, and imagine fully embracing the
truth that you are unconditionally loved by Almighty God. Accept that
you can’t earn that kind of love, you don’t deserve it, and you can’t add to
it or lose it. What in your life would you be doing differently if you lived
with absolute confidence in God’s love for you?
Now think of a time when, beyond a shadow of doubt, you
experienced God’s unconditional love for you so personally and
specifically that only He and you knew the moment’s true significance.
How did you feel at the time? How do you feel now as you think back on
that moment? What do you want to say to God?
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13
THE HABIT OF EXPERIENCING
SOLITUDE
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the
house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Mark 1:35
Of the habits we are going to discuss, solitude is by far the most elusive in our
modern world of noise, busyness, and 24/7 communications. Solitude is truly
countercultural and therefore a challenging behavior to adopt. Furthermore,
solitude draws us into the very place so many of our activities seem designed to
help us escape: being truly alone with God and without an agenda. It is a rare and
often unsettling feeling to stop doing and just be. Yet as strange as it feels to
actively seek opportunities to “cease striving” (Psalm 46:10 NASB), the result of
doing so consistently can be life changing. We can find clarity in the silence.
Let’s define solitude as being completely alone with God, away from all human
contact, for an extended period of time. Solitude is stepping out the back door of
your noisy life of to-do lists and demanding relationships and breathing in some
fresh air. Solitude is being refreshed and restored by the natural rhythms of life that
God Himself established. And solitude is taking time to listen for the “still small
voice” (1 Kings 19:12 KJV) by which God speaks to your soul and tells you that
you are His beloved. Sometimes, doing nothing is the best thing you can do for
your people and for yourself.
Jesus modeled solitude as an integral strategic component of His leadership.
Consider the following:
• When preparing for the tests of leadership and public ministry, Jesus spent
forty days alone in the desert (Matthew 4:1–11).
• Before Jesus chose His twelve apostles from among His followers, He spent
the entire night alone in the desert hills (Luke 6:12–13).
• When Jesus received the news of the death of John the Baptist, He withdrew
in a boat to a solitary place (Matthew 14:13).
• After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, Jesus went up in the hills
by Himself (Matthew 14:23).
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When He was preparing to lead, needing to make important decisions, grieving,
and dealing with praise and recognition, Jesus modeled for us the value of
spending time alone to stay on track with God.
Spending daily time with God in solitude enables you to make the difficult
choices of leadership. Jesus used the solitude of the early morning hours so that He
could receive the Father’s guidance for His ministry to determine the best use of
His time. In Mark 1:32–38, we read:
That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-
possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who
had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the
demons speak because they knew who he was.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house
and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions
went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is
looking for you!”
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can
preach there also. That is why I have come.”
Did you notice these words? “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark,
Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” This
action strengthened Jesus’ resolve to spend His precious time doing the primary
work for which He had come—preaching the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation
with God—rather than doing the good and popular things of healing and driving
out demons. Imagine Jesus’ intense compassion for the sick and the demon-
possessed people He would have to leave. Imagine the strong temptation to stay
and use His healing powers to the delight of all and to bring comfort to His heart,
so burdened as it was for lost and suffering humanity.
We believe that Jesus was able to resist doing merely good work and stay
focused on His God-given mission because of the time He spent alone with His
heavenly Father. In solitude and prayer, away from the hopes and hurts of those
who looked to Him with high expectations, Jesus received guidance and strength
from God.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
When was the last time you intentionally spent a significant amount of
time with God in solitude—and that means without a to-do list or prayer
list? When was the last time you sat quietly in God’s presence and
listened for His “still small voice”? If you can’t remember, consider that a
clue as to why your life and leadership may seem stuck and unsatisfying.
If you can remember and it was more than a week ago, you need to spend
time alone with God in the immediate future.
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In fact, take a few minutes to be alone with God right now. Put your
hands on your knees, palms down. Think of the concerns you have at this
moment. When a concern comes to mind, imagine laying it at the foot of
the cross. When no more concerns come to mind, turn your hands palms
up in a posture of receiving what God wants to give you. Contemplate
some aspect of His character, such as His mercy, His love, His grace, or
His power. Listen for His voice. Recite Psalm 46:10 in this way:
Be still, and know that I am God.
Be still, and know.
Be still.
Be.
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14
THE HABIT OF PRACTICING
PRAYER
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his
disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his
disciples.”
Luke 11:1
Solitude may be the most elusive of the five Being Habits for us to develop, but
prayer is the habit that requires the most unlearning and revising of old patterns
and ways. So maybe it is no real surprise that, of all the things the disciples could
have asked Jesus to teach them, their only request recorded in Scripture is “Teach
us to pray” (Luke 11:1). The disciples saw the power that came when Jesus prayed,
and they longed for their prayers to yield the same kind of results. But—as the
disciples needed to learn—prayer is not a technique; it is simply a conversation
with God.
Prayer is also an essential act of the will that demonstrates whether we are
really serious about living and leading like Jesus. Without prayer, we will never be
able to either connect our plans and leadership efforts to God’s plan for His
kingdom or engage the spiritual resources that Jesus promised when He sent His
Holy Spirit. Seeking God’s will through prayer, waiting in faith for an answer,
obeying His instruction when it comes, and being at peace with the outcome will
make your leadership a lot like Jesus’.
The power of prayer in one’s life truly is immeasurable. Oswald Chambers
wrote, “If you will swing the door of your life fully open and pray to your Father
who is in the secret place, every public thing in your life will be marked with the
lasting imprint of the presence of God.”1 We will see the public results of a life
spent in prayer as we consider the example Jesus gave us to follow.
JESUS’ PRAYER IN GETHSEMANE
Nowhere in the Bible is found a more powerful model of praying like Jesus than in
the dark hours in Gethsemane the night He was betrayed. This was a time of almost
unbearable pressure and stress:
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Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them,
“Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he
said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay
here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My
Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as
you will.” (Matthew 26:36–39)
Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is an excellent example for leaders.
Let’s look at four instructive aspects.
1. Where did Jesus pray and why? He went off by Himself for prayer. Alone
with God, Jesus could freely pour out His heart to the Father, knowing the
Father understands the broken language of sighs and groans.
2. What was Jesus’ posture in prayer? Jesus fell on His face before His Father,
indicating His agony, extreme sorrow, and humility. At other times Jesus
prayed kneeling or looking up to heaven with His eyes open. The posture of
the heart is more important than the posture of the body, but prostrating our
physical selves before God helps our heart posture.
3. What did Jesus ask in prayer? Jesus asked, “If it is possible, may this cup be
taken from me” (v. 39). He was asking if He could avoid the suffering of the
cross. But notice the way Jesus couched His request: “If it is possible.” He left
the decision to the Father when He said, “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (v.
39). Although Jesus was keenly aware of the bitter suffering He was to
undergo, He freely subjugated His desire to the Father. He based His own
willingness upon the Father’s will.
4. What was the answer to Jesus’ prayer? God’s answer was that His will—the
will of the Father—would be done. The cup of suffering on the cross did not
pass from Jesus, for He had presented that petition with the willingness to
defer to His Father’s will. God answered Jesus’ prayer and then fortified Him
for the mission He had come to fulfill: “An angel from heaven appeared to
him and strengthened him” (Luke 22:43).
As a leader, doing the right thing for the right reasons might require you to
drink a bitter cup of ridicule, rejection, or anger. Your human tendency will be to
try to avoid that pain. Leading like Jesus will call you to lean in closer to hear from
Him how you are to proceed in faith. He will fortify you, enabling you to trust Him
to provide you with the courage you need to do the right thing and finish the task.
THE POWER OF PREEMPTIVE PRAYER
When we want to lead like Jesus, prayer becomes our first response, not our last
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resort. Preemptive prayer is our most powerful, most immediately accessible, most
useful resource for responding to the moment-to-moment challenges of life.
Phil’s poem shows the possibilities of prayer.
Just Suppose
Just suppose, when I pray, there really is someone listening who cares about me
and wants to know what is on my mind.
Just suppose, when I pray, it changes me and my view of how the universe
operates and who is involved.
Just suppose I put my doubts aside for a minute and consider the possibility that
someone who knew me before I was born loves me, warts and all, without
condition or reservation, no matter how badly I have behaved in the past.
Just suppose a prayer was my first response instead of my last resort when
facing a new challenge or an old temptation.
Just suppose I lived each day knowing that there is an inexhaustible supply of
love for me to pass along to others.
Just suppose.
We believe all of these just suppose things are true. Just suppose they are true
for you too.
THE ACTS METHOD OF PRAYER
People often ask us how to pray. Again, prayer is not a technique; it is essentially a
conversation with God. We all need to develop our own style of conversing with
the Father. For those of you who would like a framework to get started, we suggest
the ACTS approach. The simple acronym ACTS can help you remember four basic
parts of prayer: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. In
addition to helping many beginners in prayer, this method has also served as a
compass for weather-beaten veterans. Try it for a few days.
Adoration. All prayer should begin with adoration. Tell the Lord that you love
Him and appreciate Him for who He is: “Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the
power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and
earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all” (1
Chronicles 29:11).
Confession. When we come into the presence of a holy God, we recognize our
sins: we all fall short of God’s glory. Therefore, our first response to adoring God
is confession: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is our heartfelt expression of gratitude to God for
all He has done in creation and in redemption. Thank God specifically for all that
He has done for you. As the old hymn says, “Count your blessings, name them one
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by one. Count your many blessings; see what God has done.”2 What if tomorrow
you only had the things that you thanked God for today? Toothpaste, air, water,
clothes, family, job—you name it. Take note of the scripture: “Sing and make
music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for
everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19–20).
Supplication. Finally, we get to the part of prayer where most of us start and
too often never get past. Supplication is asking for what we need. Start by praying
about other people’s needs and then ask God to meet your own needs. It’s okay to
have a big wish list. According to God’s Word, we can ask with confidence: “Ask
and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).
PAUSE AND REFLECT
One of the most revealing questions we can ask a leadership candidate is,
“How is your prayer life?” The answer will speak volumes about where
and how the leader might lead.
Here’s a question for you: How is your prayer life?
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15
THE HABIT OF KNOWING AND
APPLYING SCRIPTURE
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16–17
It is through Scripture that you come to know God and His ways. In the pages of
His Word, God invites you to know Him and experience His love. In Scripture you
discover that God loves you, He has great plans for you, and He created you
perfectly to accomplish a specific purpose. The study of Scripture equips us to
fulfill God’s plan for us. Scripture also instructs us how to treat one another, how
to love as we have been loved, and, yes, how to lead like Jesus.
Consider now these five practical ways you can cultivate the habit of knowing
and applying Scripture: hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating.
We pray that today you will begin the adventure of knowing God through
Scripture.
HEAR THE WORD
One way to receive the Word is to hear it from someone else. Even a child or a
person who cannot read can hear the Bible. Jesus said, “If anyone has ears to hear,
let him hear” (Mark 4:23). Hearing with our ears leads to hearing with our hearts.
Later, Paul wrote this: “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is
heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17). Among the many
opportunities to hear God’s Word today are audiobooks and a variety of social
media.
The parable of the sower, found in Matthew 13:3–23, lists four kinds of hearers
of the Word. The apathetic hearer hears the Word but does not understand it (v.
19); the superficial hearer receives the Word temporarily but does not let it take
root in the heart (vv. 20–21); and the preoccupied hearer receives the Word but lets
the worries of this world and the desire for other things choke it out (v. 22). The
reproducing hearer, though, receives the Word, understands it, and bears fruit (v.
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23). Which kind of hearer are you?
PAUSE AND REFLECT
One way to apply what you hear is to ask yourself the following questions
after you hear each Scripture passage and jot down your thoughts.
• What did God say to me?
• How does my life measure up to God’s standards and instructions?
• What actions will I take to align my life with His message?
• What truth in the passage do I need to study further?
• What truth can I share with another person today?
READ THE WORD
The second way you learn God’s Word is to read it: “Blessed is the one who reads
aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to
heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). Be sure to
allow time for reflection after you read.
Choose a short passage of Scripture. If you read too much at once, you may
find it challenging to reflect on its meaning or allow God to speak directly to you
and your situation. Start with a passage of manageable length, like these verses
from Psalm 103: “Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy
name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (vv. 1–2).
Balance your reading of the Word. Be sure that your reading of God’s Word
includes both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God will speak to you
through every word in His Word. Jesus said, “ ‘Everything must be fulfilled that is
written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he
opened [the disciples’] minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke
24:44–45). The Bible contains many passages that point to Jesus. You will want to
read about Him in the sections mentioned in Luke as well as throughout the Bible.
Apply the Word to your life each day. Ask God to show you what His Word means
to you and for your life. Jesus instructed, “If you love me, keep my commands”
(John 14:15).
Every time you apply the Word of God to your life, you grow closer to Him.
Every time you fail to apply it, you leave the Word, like scattered seed, beside the
road, where Satan can steal it. When you read God’s Word, respond to it with
prayer and obedience. Scripture teaches us that obedience is always about our love
for our heavenly Father.
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STUDY THE WORD
Studying the Word means learning more about its meaning and application.
Knowing God’s Word more deeply will enable us to follow this New Testament
example: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in
Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the
Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).
With study, you begin to handle God’s Word more effectively. Bible study is
an in-depth look into the Scriptures: the goal is to learn more than you would
during a simple overview or in a devotional reading. Study involves, for instance,
comparing one Bible passage to another or searching through the Scriptures for the
answer to a question. Bible study often includes gaining additional information
through commentaries and study helps.
MEMORIZE THE WORD
When you commit God’s Word to memory, it lives in you, you live in it, and
God’s promises become your possessions. The psalmist recognized this truth:
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your
word. . . . I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”
(Psalm 119:9, 11).
In the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11), Jesus
set the example for us. He used Scripture as the sword of the Spirit against Satan,
even when Satan misused Scripture to fuel the temptation. In addition to helping
you gain victory over sin, memorized Scripture helps you answer people who have
questions about your faith. Being able to recite Scripture verses by heart also helps
you to reflect on them and gives you direction for your daily life at any moment.
Finally, memorizing scriptures enables us to obey this God-given command:
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the
reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).
When Phyllis was eight years old, a group came to her school and offered
students a chance to go to a two-week summer camp—with swimming, tennis,
campfires, and s’mores—and it wouldn’t cost them a cent. The only cost was
memorizing three hundred Scripture verses.
Phyllis was up to the challenge. Her parents agreed it was a good commitment
to make and offered to help. So Phyllis got up at 6:00 a.m. each day, memorized a
passage, and recited it to her father, who was pastor of a church. Every morning he
would pray, Lord, help Phyllis remember these scriptures. Plant them as seeds in
her heart. At the end of each week, Phyllis would recite all the week’s verses for
her father, who would sign a form to verify that she had memorized them.
By the end of the school year, Phyllis had memorized all three hundred verses
and earned two weeks at camp. But she had not considered two key things: First,
she had never been away from home. And second, no one else at her school had
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memorized the verses, so she wouldn’t know anyone at camp.
On Wednesday of the first week, Phyllis called home in tears and begged her
mother to come get her. Her mother persuaded her to stay until Saturday. When
Phyllis got home, she was disappointed that she had worked so hard and not
enjoyed the reward.
Phyllis didn’t yet know that her real reward was learning—among many other
things—that she never had to be afraid. In Isaiah 43:1 she had learned that God
knew her by name, and she was His. She had learned in Jeremiah 33:3 that God
would answer her and tell her “great and unsearchable things.” In Ephesians 3:20
she had learned that God would do “immeasurably more” than anything she could
“ask or imagine”—and she had a big imagination.
Eight-year-old Phyllis had no idea how God would use those seeds she had
worked so hard to plant in her heart. Many years later, though, when her husband
of twenty-two years collapsed in front of her, Phyllis had in her mind the words of
Jeremiah 29:11, a verse she had memorized as a child: “I know the plans I have for
you . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.”
Sitting with her daughter in a waiting room, Phyllis looked up as the doctor
came to the doorway and said, “I am sorry. Sometimes the first sign of heart
disease is fatal.”
Immediately Phyllis heard, “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This
doesn’t feel like hope and a future, she thought. Then, almost like a movie playing
in her mind, Proverbs 3:5–6 appeared: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will
make your paths straight.” She said out loud, “It is about trusting You.”
Phyllis never could have imagined that a little more than three years later, she
would marry again. Throughout the next nineteen years, she depended on Scripture
to teach her about loving unconditionally, blending a family, and serving them.
Then the news came that her second husband had lung cancer. How could that be?
He was not a smoker, and he looked healthy. Phyllis leaned on God for the next
several months as her big, strong husband went from walking alone to walking
with a cane, using a walker, needing a wheelchair, and then resting in a hospice
bed. Every day she reminded herself of what she knew about God from Scripture:
He loves me; He has great plans for me; He will never leave me. When her
husband was released to his new life, Phyllis knew she could still trust God with all
her heart. It is amazing that, beginning when she was eight years old, God used His
Word to prepare Phyllis for every part of her journey. Her father’s prayer was
answered: those verses planted in her heart were seeds of truth that took deep root
in her life.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
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1. Choose a few verses that have touched you.
2. Write each verse on a note card and place it in a prominent place so
that you can review it while you do other tasks.
3. Turn it over in your mind; savor every word.
4. Review it often for as long as it takes you to store the message in your
mind. Then move to another verse.
MEDITATE ON GOD’S WORD
Another way you live in the Word and the Word lives in you is to think about it or
meditate on its truth. As the psalmist said, “Blessed is the one . . . whose delight is
in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Psalm 1:1–
2).
You meditate on God’s Word when you focus on a specific verse of Scripture
in order to more fully understand all that it says. Select a key verse in a passage
you have just read. Ask the Holy Spirit for His revelation as you meditate.
Here are some practical ways to meditate on God’s Word:
1. Read the verses before and after your selected verse to establish the theme
and setting. That information will aid you in interpretation. Write a
summary of the passage.
2. Write the verse(s) in your own words. Read your paraphrase aloud.
3. Now read the verse over and over again, emphasizing a different word
each time. For example, in the verse “I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV), first emphasize the word I,
then the word can, and so on. This exercise helps each word yield its full
impact.
4. State the opposite meaning of the verse. For instance: “I can’t do anything
if Christ does not strengthen me.” What impact does the verse have on you
now?
5. Write at least two important words from the verse. To relate the Scripture
to your current life situation, ask a few of these questions about the two
words: What? Why? Where? Who? How? For example: “What can I do?”
All things. “Why?” Because Christ strengthens me. “Who strengthens
me?” Christ.
6. Personalize the verse. Ask the Holy Spirit to use its truth to speak to a
need, a challenge, an opportunity, or a failure in your life. Then determine
what you will do in response to this verse as it relates to your life. Be
specific.
7. Repeat the verse back to God in your prayer time with Him. Put your own
name or situation in the verse.
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8. Refer to other passages that emphasize the truth of the verse. List any
thoughts you might not understand or ideas you might have difficulty
applying in your life. Seek out instruction or help in these areas.
9. Write out a way you can use the verse to help another person—and then do
so.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Are you actively seeking God’s guidance by spending time reading the
Bible? What is He currently saying to you?
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16
THE HABIT OF MAINTAINING
SUPPORTIVE RELATIONSHIPS
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of
three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
Among the twelve men He called out to be His apostles, Jesus had a small group of
three—Peter, James, and John—with whom He seemed to have a particularly close
relationship. He took these three with Him to the Mount of Transfiguration, where
He revealed to them, in confidence, the true nature of His being (Matthew 17:1–9).
These same three men were present when Jesus raised from the dead the daughter
of a synagogue leader (Mark 5:21–43). And the most poignant episode involving
this circle of friends occurred on the night Jesus was arrested and began His final
journey to the cross: Jesus asked them to follow deeper into the garden with Him
(Matthew 26:37–38). But Peter, James, and John—invited along to support their
Friend in His agonizing anticipation of the cross—fell asleep.
As this last scene so powerfully illustrates, leadership can be a lonely business
filled with great amounts of soul-draining human interaction but little soul-filling
intimacy. Leaders need safe-harbor relationships in which they can lay down all
the armor and weapons they need to face the world and can relax in confidential
and unguarded conversation. Without these safe relationships, leaders become
vulnerable to two debilitating frames of mind and spirit: the victim and the martyr.
Allowed to blossom into either resentment or a justification for seeking EGO-
soothing instant gratification, these twin demons have been the downfall of many a
leader in every walk of life.
Jesus emphasized the importance of communion of spirit when He prayed for
His followers to attain the joy that He Himself had in His unity and fellowship with
His Father. In John 15:9, 12–15 Jesus told His disciples:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. . . .
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no
one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you
do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not
know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything
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that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
When we rely on our own perspectives of how we are doing, we are bound to
slip into convenient rationalizations or unknowingly encounter blind spots, both of
which can quickly undermine our integrity as well as the trust of those we lead.
TRUTH TELLERS
We all need trusted truth tellers—preferably people not directly affected by our
leadership—who can help us keep on course. If you can’t name any active truth
tellers in your life, or if you have avoided or undervalued the ones you have, it’s
time to make a change. Truth tellers are probably your greatest resource for
growth. Ken’s father used to tell him, “I learned in the navy that if you don’t hear
from your people about any problems, watch out, because you are about to go over
the side. You have mutiny on your hands, because the people around you don’t feel
valued—and therefore they have cut you off from the truth.”
Too often a self-serving leader will silence valuable feedback by killing the
messenger. Eventually the leader is fired. Although people were available who
could have given the leader helpful information, the leader cut off the workers’
opportunity to grow and to communicate ideas that would have improved the
leader’s own skills.
Feedback is a gift. If somebody gives you a gift, what do you say? “Thank
you!” Then ask more questions in order to understand what is being said and why:
“What made you think that?” “How long has this been an issue?” “Don’t name
names, but can you tell me more about how your coworkers are feeling?” “Whom
do you suggest I talk to about this situation?” And maybe even “Why hasn’t
anyone approached me before now?”
Truth tellers are willing to be honest if they know you are going to listen. Your
listening doesn’t mean you have to do everything they say, but they want to know
you have heard them. If you let yourself be a bit vulnerable in the process, the
give-and-take can be rich and valuable.
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either
of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has
no one to help them up. (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10)
We encourage you to contact people you know and form an accountability
relationship or group that meets for regular times of truth telling.
Being open to feedback from other people is not the only way to grow; being
willing to disclose our own vulnerabilities, flaws, and sins to other people is
another. All of us fall short of being who God wants us to be; we fall short of being
who we want to be! So don’t be afraid to share specific points of vulnerability.
Being open is one of the most powerful ways to build relationships with the people
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you’re leading. They know you’re not perfect, so don’t act as if you are. More
times than not, they know your imperfections long before you reveal them. Colleen
Barrett, president emerita of Southwest Airlines, puts it this way: “People admire
your skills, but they love your vulnerability.”1
However, disclosing your vulnerabilities doesn’t mean divulging all your inner
thoughts. Rather, you want to share only task-relevant information or struggles you
are working on as a leader. If a truth teller says you’re not a good listener, it’s
wonderful to go in front of the team and say something like this: “Bill was kind
enough to share feedback with me about my listening. I didn’t realize that when
you say things to me, I jump right into my own agenda. But now I know—and I
would like to improve. The only way I can listen better is if you help me.” As
Proverbs 27:6 says: “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies
kisses.”
SMALL-GROUP FELLOWSHIP
In Leadership by the Book—which Ken and Phil wrote with Bill Hybels—one of
the central characters explains how he got into trouble after a successful start at
becoming a leader: “When I boil it down, it was a combination of ego and self-
imposed isolation.”2
As we commit to becoming more like Jesus in the way we lead, it is vital to
note how He combated the loneliness and isolation that often come with
leadership. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus had all kinds of relationships
with all kinds of people. Hundreds, even thousands, of people flocked to Him
everywhere He went. Yet He chose twelve men as disciples to entrust with His
mission and, from those, three inner-circle confidants—Peter, James, and John—to
lean on in crucial times.
If you are to grow in your daily walk as a Jesus-like leader, you need similar
supportive relationships. The temptations and challenges to be an EGO-driven,
fear-motivated leader are going to continue and will probably intensify. The value
of having safe-harbor relationships of support and accountability cannot be
overemphasized. As one New Testament writer put it, “Let us consider how we
may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting
together . . . but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24–25).
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Name the special people in your life who love you enough to tell you
what you need to hear. What are you doing to nurture and strengthen
those special relationships? Who in your life needs you to hold them
accountable? Do you love them enough to tell them what they need to
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know? Listed below are sample questions for inner-circle accountability
conversations:
• Where do you see or sense God at work in your life right now?
• What truth, command, or redirection has God been making clear to you
lately?
• What is something you need to start doing? What’s holding you back?
• What is something you need to stop doing? What’s keeping you from
stopping?
• What gaps—if any—exist between your saying and your doing?
WHAT DECISION WILL YOU MAKE?
The world needs to see God, and the only way some people will see Him is if they
see God through us. That’s why each of us has a decision to make: Will we choose
to lead like everyone else, or will we choose to lead like Jesus by practicing the
five Being Habits?
When former professional football player Rosey Grier spoke at a Lead Like
Jesus event, he shared a compelling personal example of the importance of being
prepared to lead like Jesus:
You know what I wanted to do as a football player? I wanted to carry the ball.
But the Giants wouldn’t let me because I was too big. I played in five world
championship games with the Giants and then got traded to the LA Rams. They
wouldn’t let me carry the football either—they put me on defense.
One day we’re playing the Green Bay Packers. They drove from their five-
yard line down to our five-yard line, so we called a time-out. Our guys huddled
up and said, “They’re going to score on us. Let’s run a blitz.”
Now, they didn’t know we were going to run a blitz. So the quarterback
struts out and says, “Everybody go down!” Then Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen,
Lamar Lundy, and I start coming after him. While he was fading back with the
ball, he closed his eyes. Deacon, Merlin, and Lamar jumped on him, and there
was no place left for me to jump on him.
Then the football popped up, just like that. I’m looking up at that football.
All my life I’ve been wanting to carry that football. I heard a voice in my head
say, “You’re supposed to yell out, ‘Ball!’ ” But the week before, I had yelled
out, “Ball!” and Merlin got the football and started running down the sideline. I
was so mad! I caught up to him and said, “Say, Merlin, let me carry the football
some.” He said, “No, man, I’m carrying it all the way!” So I didn’t block for
him—and he didn’t make it either.
So I’m looking at that football, and I have to make a decision. I don’t want
to say, “Ball!” because I want to run ninety-five yards for a touchdown myself.
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But as I’m standing there, with my hands up in the air, that old voice in my head
says, “Can you catch?”
You know what? I had never practiced catching. When I had an opportunity
to run ninety-five yards for a touchdown, I wasn’t able to do it because I was not
prepared.
Today is the day to make your decision if you haven’t already. Will you decide
to lead like Jesus? If so, will you choose to get prepared to run the leadership race
by putting into practice the five Being Habits that Jesus modeled?
PAUSE AND REFLECT
How ready are you to lead like Jesus today? Answering the following
questions about the Being Habits will give you an idea.
• Accepting and Abiding in God’s Unconditional Love—Do you sense
God’s unconditional love for you today? If not, why do you think that’s
the case?
• Solitude—Are you ready to be alone with Jesus on a regular basis? If
so, what’s your plan for being consistent? If not, why do you think
you’re hesitant?
• Prayer—What will you do to strengthen your prayer life and
communicate with Jesus on a regular basis?
• Bible Study—Are you actively seeking the Lord’s guidance by
spending time studying His Holy Word? If not, why not?
• Supportive Relationships—Do you have a small group of like-minded
friends with whom you can be open and vulnerable? If not, where might
you look? If so, what do you do to nurture and strengthen those
relationships?
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PART IV
THE HEAD OF A GREAT LEADER
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2
The journey of becoming a great leader starts in the heart with motivation and
intent. If you don’t get the heart right, your leadership will never reflect how Jesus
led. Then, when we realize that God is our primary authority and audience and that
we are here to please Him alone, our good intentions travel to our heads. That is
where we store our perspectives on life and leadership: specifically, all great
leaders know not only whose they are, but also who they are. They are aware that
the purpose of their lives is already embedded within them, put there by God. As
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
So we will start this section on the head of a great leader by helping you
develop a compelling vision for your life that will tell you and those you influence
who you are (your purpose), where you are going (your picture of the future), and
what will guide your journey (your values).1
Once we have focused on you and how the vision for your life will have an
impact on others, we will turn our attention to the need for developing a
compelling vision for your team or organization. Of course, throughout our
discussion we will be focusing on Jesus’ intentions for Himself and for us.
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17
DEVELOPING YOUR OWN
COMPELLING VISION
When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach.
1 Corinthians 9:16
The goal of this chapter is to help you develop a compelling vision for your life.
This vision will be important in guiding and aligning the efforts of those who are to
follow you so that their relationship with you is not built on a false foundation of
who you are.
Our experience tells us that few people have a clear, compelling vision for
themselves, even though God has one for each of us. And how do you make a
decision about what you are going to do with your time if you don’t have a
compelling vision that tells you your purpose, reflects your picture of the future,
and reminds you of your values?
YOUR LIFE PURPOSE
We all share a common purpose: “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”
(1 Corinthians 10:31). But each of us also has a specific purpose, a personalized
reason for being. Note that a purpose is different from a goal, in that it does not
have a beginning or an end; your purpose is the meaning of the journey of your
life, not the destination. Your purpose is your calling, the reason you were created,
the place where your passion and giftedness meet. In the context of leadership,
your purpose must include serving the best interests of those you lead, or your
“leadership” becomes manipulation and exploitation, the absolute opposite of
leading like Jesus.
The following is a simple process that will help you create a good first draft of
your life purpose.1 First, list some personal characteristics you feel good about.
These are God-given traits that are unique to you.
Use nouns like these:
patience sales ability energy
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enthusiasm intellect artistic ability
physical strength charm role model
wit problem-solving ability creativity
sense of humor diplomacy teaching ability
For example, Ken chose sense of humor, people skills, teaching skills, and role
model.
[Your Notes]
Next, list ways you successfully interact with people. These have to do with
your unique, God-given personality. Use verbs like these:
teach encourage love
inspire plan coach
produce stimulate help
manage act write
educate lead
motivate sell
Ken picked educate, help, inspire, and motivate.
[Your Notes]
Finally, visualize what your perfect world would be—one that would make
Jesus smile. What would people do or say? Write a description of this perfect
world.
To Ken, a perfect world is where everyone is aware of the presence of God in
their lives and realizes they are here to serve, not to be served.
[Your Notes]
Now, combine two of your nouns, two of your verbs, and your definition of
your perfect world, and you’ll have a good start on a definition of your life
purpose.
Ken’s life purpose is to be a loving teacher and role model of simple truths who
helps and motivates myself and others to be aware of the presence of God in our
lives and realize we are here to serve, not to be served.
[Your Notes]
Remember, this is your first draft. Share it with important people in your life
and see how they respond. Feel free to make changes; determining your life
purpose is an ongoing process.
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YOUR PICTURE OF THE FUTURE
Your picture of the future is all about where you are heading in your life and, in
many ways, how you’d like to be remembered. In fact, the essence of your picture
of the future might be the epitaph on your tombstone. While it might sound
morbid, it is actually helpful to think of your own obituary as your picture of the
future.
We first got this idea when we read about Alfred Nobel’s experience in the late
nineteenth century. Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite. When his brother
Ludvig died in France, a newspaper mistakenly printed an obituary about Alfred
instead of Ludvig. As a result, Alfred had the unusual experience of reading his
own obituary. To his dismay, the focal point of the piece was the destruction
brought about through his invention of dynamite. Devastated to think he would be
remembered that way, Alfred gathered friends and loved ones around him and
asked them, “What’s the opposite of destruction?” The almost unanimous reply
was “Peace.” As a result, Alfred redesigned his life and set aside the bulk of his
estate to establish the Nobel Prize so that he would be remembered for peace, not
destruction.
To determine your picture of the future, we want you to write your own
obituary. This is not something you can put together as quickly as you did the first
draft of your life purpose. We suggest you spend some time on it and then share it
with some of your loved ones—not to scare them but to get their feedback. Ask
them, “Is this the way you would like to remember me?”
To give you an example, the following is an obituary Ken wrote about himself.
When he shared it with his wife, Margie, at first she thought he was getting a little
dark, but then she got into it and helped him write it.
Ken Blanchard was a loving teacher and living example of simple truths whose
books and speeches on leadership, management, and life helped motivate
himself and others to awaken to the presence of God in their lives and to realize
they are here to serve, not to be served. He continually inspired, challenged, and
equipped people to live, love, and lead like Jesus. He was a loving child of God,
son, brother, spouse, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, friend, and colleague
who strove to find a balance between success, significance, and surrender. He
had a spiritual peace about him that permitted him to say no in a loving manner
to people and to projects that got him off purpose. He knew full well that BUSY
stands for Being Under Satan’s Yoke. He was a person of high energy who was
able to see the positive in any event. No matter what happened, he could find a
lesson or message in it. Ken Blanchard trusted God’s unconditional love and
believed he was God’s beloved. Ken valued integrity, walked his talk, and was a
185-pound lean and mean golfing machine. He will be missed, because
wherever he went, he made the world a better place.
Ken recognizes that some of the things mentioned in the obituary are goals or
hoped-for outcomes, such as being able to say no in a loving manner to both people
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and projects that get him off purpose: Ken admits he still has never heard a bad
idea. As for being a 185-pound lean and mean golfing machine, that is also an
ongoing aspiration.
So have fun writing your obituary. Share your truth about yourself as well as
some hoped-for results of your life.
YOUR CORE VALUES
It has been said that the most important thing in life is to decide what’s most
important. Your values are the beliefs you find most important: you feel strongly
about them and choose them over other alternatives.
When you were a kid, your parents and other adults tended to define your
values, but at some point in life we all choose what is most important to us. Your
leader at work might value results more than people, and you might be the
opposite. People don’t all value the same things. Some people value wealth and
power, and others are more concerned with safety or survival. Success is a value;
integrity and relationships are values as well. The following is a sample list of
some personal values. If the list doesn’t include things you value, write them in the
blank spaces.
truth originality security
wisdom service resources
power respect love
commitment freedom excellence
courage order fun
recognition integrity responsiveness
excitement spirituality relationships
learning peace success
creativity cooperation _____________
honesty loyalty _____________
happiness humor _____________
When you turn your life over to the Lord, He will give you a different
perspective on what you value. Given that fact, circle the ten values from this list
that are most meaningful to you. If you have trouble narrowing down your top
values, combine a couple. For example, Ken combined two words and included
spiritual peace as an important value for him.
As you try to determine what your values are, we want you to start with a long
list of ten. But fewer than ten is better, particularly if you want your values to guide
your behavior. Some maintain that more than five values is too many and can be
immobilizing.2
Now look at those ten circled values and underline the five values that are more
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meaningful to your life than the rest. Take your time. Making these choices can be
difficult.
Now here’s the part that may take you even longer. Study those five remaining
values and rank them from most important (#1) to least important (#5).
Your number one value is your core value, something you want to be true about
you no matter what you’re doing. If, for example, your number one value is
integrity, living without integrity is not an option.
Why did we want you to rank your values? Because values exist in dynamic
tension with one another. For example, if you value financial growth but integrity
is your core value, you will look at any activities that could lead to financial gain
through the lens of integrity, because you value integrity more than profit.
Ken ordered his values like this: spiritual peace, integrity, love, and joy.
How do you know if you’re living according to a particular value? First, you
have to define that value as specifically as possible. If you don’t define each value,
it will have little meaning to you or to anyone else. A value like justice, for
example, can be defined differently by different people. For one, it might mean
“equal opportunity.” For another, it might mean “fair process.” For the third, it
might mean “getting my due share.”
So take some quiet time to define each of your values, and for each one decide
how you would finish this statement:
“I value ________, and I know I am living by this value anytime I . . .”
One of Ken’s values is joy, a concept some might think is difficult to define.
Ken has written the following:
I value joy, and I know I am living by this value anytime I . . .
• let my playful child express himself;
• wake up feeling grateful for my blessings, for the beauty around me, and for
the people in my life;
• smile and am happy and laugh and kid; and
• get into the act of forgetfulness about myself.
Once you have a good grasp of your purpose, your picture of the future, and
your values, write them down in a place where you can read them every morning.
Doing so will help to set your vision for the day. At night, review the list to see
how well you did.
We understand that you might feel intimidated by people who write in their
journals in four different colors and include poetry. But at the end of the day, after
reviewing your compelling vision, make a simple journal entry. Write affirmations
of what you did well that day. Then write redirections regarding what you wish
you could do over. (That could mean making an apology or two the next day.) In
other words, don’t create a compelling vision and then never look at it again.
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GOALS
You might be wondering where goal setting fits in with developing a personal
compelling vision. Goals are not normally considered part of a compelling vision
for one’s life, but they do help you determine what you want to accomplish on a
day-to-day basis.
When it comes to goal setting, you need to remember two things. First, don’t
establish too many goals. Three to five are the most any individual can focus on at
any one time. We believe in the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of what you want to happen
in your life comes from about 20 percent of what you focus your attention on. So
set goals in the 20 percent that will give you the greatest impact.
Second, make your goals observable and measurable. If you can’t measure
something, you can’t manage it. You need to know what good behavior looks like.
The action your goal focuses on needs to be observable. For example, if you are
interested in losing weight, you need to know your present weight and your desired
weight. Then, on a weekly basis, you can track how well you are doing and either
cheer yourself on or redirect your efforts and get back on track.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
In this chapter we gave you a lot of work to do as well as a lot to think
about. Study the answers you came up with and review what you have
learned about yourself. Remember that assessing your life purpose, your
picture of the future, your values, and your goals is an ongoing process.
Finally, consider these two questions: In what specific way(s) can
your recently crafted compelling vision be used for the greater good?
And what can you do to glorify God in the context of fulfilling your
vision?
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18
JESUS’ COMPELLING VISION
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:10
A key insight into Jesus’ compelling vision for His life is contained in His prayer
for His disciples, recorded in John 17. Jesus stayed focused on what He was sent to
accomplish in His season of leadership. He told His Father, “I brought glory to you
here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4 NLT). In total
obedience and commitment, Jesus stayed on task. He did not seek to take on other
projects or the agenda others hoped He would fulfill.
One of the greatest services that leaders can provide followers is constancy of
purpose. When the going gets tough, when temptations to short-term success arise,
and when distractions or setbacks come, people will look to their leaders to see
how they respond. Will they stay on course and remain true to their mission and
values, or will they give up and give in to the pressures of the moment?
PAUSE AND REFLECT
List the three things that are most likely to pull you off course as a leader.
What impact would changing course or direction have on the morale of
the people you lead?
Jesus took responsibility not just for proclaiming God’s truth but also for
equipping His followers with a full understanding of what they needed to know to
carry out their mission: “Now [my disciples] know that everything I have is a gift
from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it
and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me” (John 17:7–8 NLT).
When leaders fail to take the time and effort to ensure that what they have in mind
is understood and accepted, they leave themselves open to frustration, an
unfulfilled mission, and bewildered and discouraged followers.
It is profoundly significant that the last lesson Jesus taught His disciples on the
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night of His betrayal was the same one He began with—what it means to be a
servant leader. In Luke 22 we read:
[Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to [the disciples in the
upper room], saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of
me.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the
new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” . . .
A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be
greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and
those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are
not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest,
and the one who rules like the one who serves.” (vv. 19–20, 24–26)
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think about the depth of character and the patient love Jesus displayed in
that intense moment with His disciples, who within hours would abandon
and deny Him. Jesus did not despair over their slowness to grasp what He
had repeatedly taught them about leadership. Instead, as the ultimate
Servant Leader, Jesus provided what the disciples needed most to develop
in their ability to fulfill their mission, and that meant teaching them about
servant leadership one more time.
Jesus also felt responsible for the ongoing protection of His followers
as, for the last time before His death, He inspired and equipped them for
their mission. He told His Father, “While I was with them, I protected
them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost
except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be
fulfilled” (John 17:12).
The more difficult and perilous the journey, the more willing leaders must be to
maintain constant vigilance regarding the health and safety of their followers. This
attentiveness can mean making sure they are properly trained and equipped for
their mission. It can mean providing a clear set of operating values and then
modeling how to use them as a guide in making decisions when the leader is not
there. A leader’s vigilance can mean standing up for followers in the face of
opposition or unjustified criticism. It can also mean being a good guardian of their
trust by telling them the truth and being willing to serve them in areas they are not
yet able to tackle on their own. Finally, in Jesus’ case, as the Good Shepherd of His
followers, Jesus laid down His life so that none might perish (John 10:11, 28).
Looking beyond His time of earthly leadership, Jesus sought to provide for His
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followers, who would continue to implement the mission He had called them to
fulfill. On the last night of His ministry on earth, Jesus prayed:
“Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am
coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them
by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. . . . I’m not
asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil
one.” (John 17:11, 15 NLT)
A truly great and enduring vision will extend beyond an individual’s season of
leadership. Ideally, a leader seeks to send out the next generation of leaders to meet
the challenges of their own season with all the wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual
resources the leader can provide them. That is the fruit of great leadership.
Therefore, it is of the greatest significance and encouragement that the prayer
Jesus offered on behalf of His first disciples, He offered as well for those who
would come after them—including those of us who follow Him today: “My prayer
is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their
message” (John 17:20).
The “tyranny of the or” suggests that you, as a leader, have to choose results or
people. Yet Jesus modeled a “both/and” approach. In His daily interactions, Jesus
elevated the growth and development of people to the status of an end goal that
was every bit as important as other results. Jesus did exactly what His Father called
Him to do, and He also focused on the development of the people around Him.
And, true to His compelling vision, Jesus glorified God as He did both.
In your own season of leadership, you are called to engage in the same dual
purpose. Your family, organization, community, or office needs to accomplish
certain things. That’s one purpose. Following Jesus and leading as He led is
another: you are serving a higher purpose and being held accountable to a higher
standard, and neither may be universally understood or applauded. At the same
time that you attend to the tasks at hand, you will do as Jesus did and focus on
serving people by helping them grow and develop.
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CREATING A COMPELLING
TEAM/ORGANIZATIONAL VISION
Jesus came to [the disciples] and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18–20
While it’s important for you to have a personal compelling vision that tells you
who you are (your purpose), where you are going (your picture of the future), and
what will guide your journey (your values), it is also important to create such a
vision for the teams and organizations you lead.
The focus of leading a team is developing a sense of community and
emphasizing that none of us is as smart as all of us. Organizational leadership is
more complicated, because you are leading a number of teams or divisions, and the
focus is on developing a culture—a pattern of behavior that reflects your approach
to your business. Every organization has a culture. If you don’t create one that
facilitates what you want to accomplish, a culture will develop on its own and
could become dysfunctional or work against your purposes.
When we mention that leaders are meant to serve rather than to be served,
people often think it means that the leader is trying to please everyone. Yet that is
not at all what Jesus means by servant leadership. Did Jesus try to please
everyone? When He washed the feet of the disciples and sent them out as His
ambassadors, was He commissioning them to do whatever the people wanted them
to do? Of course the answer to both those questions is no.
Jesus was completely focused on pleasing His Father, who truly was His
Audience of One. And pleasing the Father meant proclaiming the gospel and dying
on the cross in order to bring salvation to humankind. Jesus sent His disciples to
help people understand the good news and then live according to the values of
God’s kingdom, not just do whatever they wanted. Jesus made it very clear that
what He was asking His followers to do, in His name, would not please everyone.
Jesus told the disciples up front that they would be subject to all kinds of resistance
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and persecution for telling people the truths that they did not want to hear.
THE TWO ROLES OF LEADERSHIP
People skeptical about our approach to great leadership contend that the words
servant and leader don’t go together. How can a person both lead and serve?
People who think that way don’t understand the two parts to the great leadership
that Jesus exemplified:
1. The visionary role—setting the course and the destination—is the leadership
aspect.
2. The implementation role—doing things the right way with a focus on serving
—is the servant aspect.
Some people think leadership is about vision while management is about
implementation, but when such a distinction is made, management seems to get a
second-class status. We prefer not to distinguish between the two because we
consider both to be important leadership roles.
Our point of view is that vision and implementation are two sides of the same
coin and are therefore equally important. To maximize results for everyone
concerned, you must lead by setting the course and direction, and then flip the coin
and serve by empowering and supporting others in implementation.
THE LEADERSHIP ASPECT OF GREAT
LEADERSHIP
Effective leadership begins with a clear vision. If your followers don’t know where
you are going or where you are trying to take them, they will have a hard time
getting there. In the classic story Alice in Wonderland, Alice learned this lesson
when she came to a fork in the road. She asked the Cheshire cat which way she
should go. When he asked where she was going, Alice replied that she didn’t
know. The cat concluded matter-of-factly, “Then it doesn’t matter which way you
go.”1 Without clear direction, leadership doesn’t matter.
A compelling vision provides clear direction and focuses everyone’s energy on
getting where they are headed. As we said in the introduction to this section, a
compelling vision has three parts:
1. Your purpose. Who are you? What business are you in? What is your family
all about?
2. Your picture of the future. Where are you going? What will your future look
like if you are living out your purpose?
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3. Your values. What will guide your journey? What do you stand for? On what
principles will you make decisions?
DEVELOPING A COMPELLING VISION
Your Purpose
What business are you in? What are you trying to accomplish? What is your
mission statement? Jesus was clear about what business He and His disciples were
in. He called His disciples, not just to become fishermen, but to a greater purpose
—to become fishers of men.
An effective mission statement should express a higher purpose for the greater
good and give meaning to the efforts of each individual in your organization. When
Walt Disney started his theme parks, he knew how to excite people. You could say
Disney was, and still is, in the happiness business. Wouldn’t you rather be in the
happiness business than the theme park business? Being in the happiness business
drives everything Disney’s cast members (employees) do with and for their guests
(customers).
Even if an organization states its mission, if that statement does not support a
higher purpose, it will not motivate people. For instance, one congregation said
they wanted to be a twenty-four-hour-a-day church. They had a nice facility, and
they wanted to keep the rooms busy. But attendance went down because the
mission wasn’t something the people got excited about. Your purpose needs to
inspire people.
At another church, the purpose is more inspiring to the congregation. At the
beginning of every service, the minister says, “We believe that a close encounter
with Jesus of Nazareth can transform lives. Our mission is to make Jesus smile.”
Backing up that statement are clear theological values. Attendance has gone up.
It’s a place where a community comes together with the main purpose of making
Jesus smile.
A clear purpose tells you what business you are in. At the Lead Like Jesus
ministry, our purpose is “to glorify God by inspiring and equipping people to lead
like Jesus.” If your organization does not have a clear purpose, if your mission
statement is not worded so that everyone understands it, or if people are not excited
about your mission statement, your organization or family will begin to lose its
way. As the Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs
29:18 KJV). In other words, without guidance from God, law and order disappear.
Without vision, the people perish.
Your Picture of the Future
The second element of a compelling vision is your picture of the future, of
where you are going. What will the future look like for your team or organization if
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things run according to your plan?
Jesus outlined His picture of the future for His disciples when He charged
them, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20).
Walt Disney’s picture of the future was that guests should have the same smile
on their faces when they leave the park as when they entered. After all, when
you’re in the happiness business, you want to keep people smiling.
The picture of the future that Doug Erickson, of Hastings Automotive in
Hastings, Minnesota, had is that his business would truly honor God and that other
people would grow beside him. He says, “We’ve held [six Lead Like Jesus]
Encounters, and we continue to use the principles of Lead Like Jesus. I never saw
this in my vision, but God continues to do His thing. . . . We’re watching
transformation. When you open the door and let God in, wild and crazy things can
happen. . . . Jesus is making miracles happen here!”
Your picture of the future is what you would like to happen if you live
according to your purpose and everything goes well. Do you have a clear picture of
the future? What does a good job look like? What will the future look like if events
unfold as planned? Providing specific answers to these questions is important both
to your people and to your organization.
When Warden Burl Cain assumed leadership responsibility for the Louisiana
State Penitentiary at Angola, it was known as the bloodiest prison in the country.
The largest maximum-security prison in the United States, it covers an area larger
than the island of Manhattan and houses more than 5,100 men whose average
sentence is eighty years. Warden Cain’s picture of the future was that the culture in
Angola would be transformed from one of violence to one of peace. As he
explained, five things were needed to accomplish his vision: decent food, good
medical care, meaningful work, significant pastimes, and the opportunity for moral
rehabilitation.2 The last element required access to faith-based resources and
training.
Part of a compelling vision is a view of the future that inspires passion and,
when communicated, builds commitment for the long haul. As a result of Cain’s
vision, some of the inmates expressed the desire to become godly fathers despite
their incarceration. To meet this desire, the Malachi Dads program was created.
The theme of Malachi Dads is Malachi 4:6: “He will turn the hearts of the [fathers]
to their children, and the hearts of the children to their [fathers].”
It is a startling fact that more than two million children in the United States
have at least one parent who is incarcerated, and these children are seven times
more likely than their peers to end up in prison.3 The goal of Malachi Dads is to
reverse this trend within the families of inmates.
The Malachi Dads have used Lead Like Jesus as an integral part of the
leadership training element of their two-year curriculum. In 2013, Phil traveled to
the prison to witness the graduation of several Malachi Dads from the New Orleans
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Baptist Theological Seminary. One of these men is now serving as an inmate
missionary in another prison. It’s amazing what can be accomplished in the lives of
many when even just one leader is committed to God’s vision.
At the Lead Like Jesus ministry, our picture of the future is that someday
everyone, everywhere will be impacted by someone who leads like Jesus. To
accomplish that, we envision the following:
1. Jesus is adopted as the role model for all leaders.
2. All people are being drawn to Jesus by the positive impact of Christians
leading like Jesus.
This kind of picture of the future keeps people going when times are tough and
prevents the organization from stopping short or arriving at the wrong destination.
In every picture of the future, it is important to distinguish between goals and
vision. A goal is a specific event that, once achieved, becomes a piece of the
organization’s history and, as such, is superseded by a new goal. In contrast, a
vision is an ongoing, evolving, hope-filled look into the future that excites people
even though they know they will never see its complete fulfillment.
In 1961 President John F. Kennedy challenged the American people with the
goal of putting a man on the moon and returning him home safely by the end of the
decade. When the moon landing was accomplished, NASA lost its purpose until it
established a new goal.
In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged America to pursue a vision in
his “I Have a Dream” speech. He painted a verbal picture of a spiritually
transformed nation. More than forty years after his assassination, Dr. King’s vision
continues to stir passion and commitment.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus continually talked about the kingdom of God—
its values, teachings, parables, miracles, and final fulfillment. He gave the disciples
a clear picture of the future, and they committed themselves to that future—just as
Christians do today.
Your Values
The third element of a compelling vision is values—those intangibles that will
guide your journey and govern how you want people to behave in your
organization. From our experience, very few organizations around the world have
clearly defined values written down for their members.
Many companies that have spelled out their values either have too many values
or do not have their values ranked. Why is it important to state and prioritize your
values? Because when conflicts arise, people need to know which values are most
important. Without guidelines, people do their own prioritizing, and that may lead
them away from fulfilling the desired organizational purpose and picture of the
future.
As we identify and prioritize our own values, it is important to know and
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understand what Jesus set before us as His nonnegotiable priorities. When, for
instance, the Pharisees sought to test Jesus with the question “Teacher, which is the
greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”
(Matthew 22:36–40).
Notice that Jesus rank-ordered two values:
1. Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Even if they are rank-ordered, however, values will not drive the
accomplishment of a purpose or picture of the future unless they are translated into
behaviors. That’s what Jesus did throughout His three-year public ministry.
Clarifying how values are lived out in behavioral terms allows for accountability
and the measurement of progress.
Walt Disney seemed to sense the importance of having only a few values and
rank-ordering them when he prioritized his organization’s four operating values,
which Disney identifies as its “quality standards”: safety, courtesy, the show, and
efficiency.4 Most people, when they think about Disney, would probably put
courtesy as the number one value, followed by efficiency, because they think that
making money would be next in importance. Then safety might be third and the
show, fourth.
Actually, Disney’s first priority is safety. “Ahead of courtesy?” you ask. Yes,
because leaders realized that if guests were to leave the park on a stretcher, they
would not have the same smiles on their faces leaving the park as they had when
entering the park. When you reflect on the fact that Disney employees are in the
happiness business, this ranking makes sense.
Imagine that a cast member (Disney employee) is enjoying a conversation with
a guest when they hear a scream. To follow Disney’s values, the cast member will
excuse himself immediately and focus on the number one value—safety. If these
values were not rank-ordered, the cast member might say, “People are always
yelling in the park,” and then continue talking to the guest. A manager might
confront the cast member by saying, “You were closest to the scream. Why didn’t
you react?” The cast member could respond, “I was being courteous.” Cast
members know that safety takes precedence over courtesy.
Why is it important to know that efficiency—having a well-run and profitable
organization—is ranked fourth? First of all, it indicates that efficiency is indeed a
value. But, second, because it is ranked fourth, Disney employees who are
following their company’s values will do nothing to save money if it compromises
safety, courtesy, or the show. These three values are all ranked higher than
efficiency.
At the Lead Like Jesus ministry, we have established these as our rank-ordered
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values:
1. Glorify God in all we do.
2. Honor Jesus as the greatest leadership role model of all time.
3. Build relationships based on trust and respect.
4. Create biblically sound content and teaching.
5. Practice wise stewardship of time, talent, treasure, and influence.
Then each of these values is operationally defined. For example, we will know
that we are glorifying God in all we do when we do the following:
• Give God all the credit.
• Relinquish all problems to His care.
• Seek His face by worshiping together, studying together, and praying
together.
• Love one another as He loves us: we are loving truth tellers, honoring one
another’s commitment to the Lord and encouraging one another’s spiritual
health and well-being.
• Express love to one another through our patience, kindness, generosity,
courtesy, humility, good temper, guilelessness, and sincerity.
• Proceed boldly in living the Lead Like Jesus message in our personal and
professional lives.
True success in leadership depends on how clearly the organization’s values are
defined, ordered, and lived out by the leader.
Everyone is watching. If leaders live their values, then others are ready to
follow suit. Jesus lived His values of love of God and love of His neighbor all the
way to the cross: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for
one’s friends” (John 15:13).
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Imagine you were being interviewed by your ten-year-old daughter, and
she asked you the following questions:
• “Why are we called a family?”
• “If we were considered a really good family, how could we tell?”
• “What are the four most important values in our family?”
What would your answers be?
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MAKING TOUGH VALUE CHOICES
Many of us work in organizations that have established—either intentionally or by
default—a set of operating values. Conflicts between these organizational values
and someone’s personal values are a reality. What do you do when the values of
the organization do not align with your own? You may realize this only over time
as you notice gaps between the established purpose and values and what is acted
out on a day-to-day basis. You are faced with a choice: you can stay and
compromise your values, you can stay and seek to be an active influence for
change in the organization, or you can leave.
Leading like Jesus means not letting the organization change your values or
force you to compromise them. If the temptation to compromise your values does
arise, it is likely to stem from EGO issues—particularly toxic fears, such as fear of
rejection, fear of poverty, fear of ridicule, fear of confrontation, or fear of lost
position. Jesus dealt with this dynamic of choice when He spoke of the
impossibility of serving two masters at the same time: “No one can serve two
masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to
the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke
16:13).
Jesus posed the ultimate challenge for His followers when He spelled out the
long-range price of compromise: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole
world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luke 9:25). Jesus also told us that
we can trust in His promise never to leave us alone or outside the range of His care
and concern for us.
Leading like Jesus means you may have to make a choice to be an agent of
change or to seek an environment more aligned with your values. The appropriate
response for your circumstances will depend on what God has in mind for you.
Life and leadership are all about choices. Choices are made based on your
values. You are in fact a monument to the choices you have made over the course
of your life. If you want to change your life, embrace the values of Jesus, the
Servant Leader.
ESTABLISHING GOALS
Once your vision is set, you can then establish goals to answer the question What
do you want people to focus on now? A compelling vision gives goals real
significance.
As we said earlier, don’t have more than three to five main goals. This way you
will be able to focus on the goals you think will make the biggest difference in
fulfilling your vision.
An important part of goal setting is making sure everyone knows what good
behavior looks like. Anyone who has attempted to get a teenager to pick up his or
her room knows the general instruction “Clean up your room” is not effective.
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When you go back two hours later, the teen is standing proudly in the middle of a
four-foot-square clean zone surrounded by undisturbed chaos, claiming proudly to
have done what you asked.
Sometimes in the haste of the moment, leaders conclude for the sake of
personal convenience that they have been perfectly clear about what they want in
their initial instructions, and then hold their listeners accountable for perfect
comprehension, perfect retention, and perfect execution. Serving people well as a
leader means testing for understanding—and repetition, repetition, repetition. Great
leaders almost become like third-grade teachers.5 They communicate their vision,
values, and goals over and over and over again until people get them right, right,
right!
PAUSE AND REFLECT
What’s your purpose? What is your preferred picture of the future? What
are your values? What are your goals? If you can’t answer those
questions, you don’t have a clear vision. Without a clear vision, the rest of
your leadership skill and effort won’t matter.
As a leader, if you cut people loose without specific directions and
well-understood guidelines, they will lose their way and the organization
will suffer. Guidelines are boundaries that—like riverbanks—channel
energy in a certain direction.6 If you take away the banks, there won’t be
a river anymore; there will be a large puddle, devoid of momentum and
direction. What keeps the river flowing are its banks.
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20
IMPLEMENTING YOUR
COMPELLING VISION
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can
preach there also. That is why I have come.”
Mark 1:38
The traditional pyramid hierarchy is effective for the visionary aspect of
leadership. People look to the leader for both vision and direction. As the following
diagram suggests, although the leader may involve experienced people in shaping
direction, the ultimate responsibility for establishing a compelling vision remains
with the leader and cannot be delegated. Once the vision is set, the rest of the
organization is expected to be responsive to the vision, to live according to its
guidelines.
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As soon as people clearly understand where you want to take them and why,
the emphasis switches to the second role of leadership: implementation. As the
leader, you now become, in a sense, a servant of the vision: you serve the people
you lead, the people whom you have asked to act according to the vision and to
accomplish the stated goals.
When the leader becomes the servant, as the following diagram suggests, the
traditional pyramid hierarchy must be turned upside down so the frontline people
who are closest to the customers are at the top, where they can be responsible—
able to respond—to their customers. In this scenario, leaders serve: leaders are
responsive to their people’s needs, training and developing them to accomplish
established goals and live according to their vision of the customer experience.
When Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, He was transitioning His focus
from the visionary or leadership role to the implementation or servant role. He
turned the organizational pyramid upside down. In the process, He demonstrated
the true essence of great leadership and challenged His disciples to do the same.
When we talk with leaders and managers about being a serving leader, they
often are concerned about losing their positional power. Notice what Jesus said to
His disciples after He had washed their feet. Jesus reclined at the table and said this
to them:
“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me
‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for this is what I am. Now that I, your Lord
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and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I
have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John
13:12–15)
Did Jesus imply here that He had lost His positional power? Absolutely not. As
a Jesus-like leader or manager, you still maintain your power, but your
effectiveness soars because you are responding to the needs of your people.
Unfortunately, some managers—in churches as well as businesses—fail to respond
because they are more interested in protecting their positions than in serving
others.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
What an experience that must have been for the disciples as their Lord
and Teacher humbled Himself and performed such a personal and
intimate act of service! Imagine being one of the disciples: having Jesus
wash your feet would have been powerful and humbling.
Now think of your own life. When did someone you know perform an
act of humble leadership? What was the act? What were your thoughts
and feelings as you witnessed this?
As the ultimate Servant Leader, Jesus gave His disciples clear direction before
He sent them out to serve. The vision Jesus cast was clear, and He had heard it
from the top of the hierarchy—His Father. As fishers of men, the disciples were to
“go and make disciples of all nations,” focusing first on loving God and then on
loving their neighbors (Matthew 4:19 ESV; 28:19; 22:37–40). And when it came to
implementing this vision, Jesus wanted the disciples to be servant leaders who
helped others understand and believe the good news that Jesus came to earth, lived,
died, was resurrected, lives in us, and is coming again.
The implementation stage of effective leadership is where most leaders and
organizations get in trouble. They keep the traditional hierarchical pyramid alive
and well, but then all the energy moves away from the customers, up the hierarchy,
because people feel they must please their bosses. The neglected customers are at
the bottom of the pyramid. In an organization like this, as we have said earlier,
self-serving leaders assume that the sheep are there for the benefit of the shepherds.
Jesus spoke against this authoritarian hierarchy when He said, “Not so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant”
(Matthew 20:26).
If you don’t turn the pyramid upside down when you start implementing the
vision, you end up with a duck pond. When there is conflict between what the
customer wants and what the boss wants, the boss wins. You have people
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responding to customers like ducks: “It’s our policy.” (Quack, quack.) “Don’t
blame me; I just work here.” (Quack, quack.) “Would you like to speak to my
supervisor?” (Quack, quack.) But when the frontline customer contact people are
treated as responsible owners of the vision, they soar like eagles rather than quack
like ducks.
Jesus was often confronted with quacking Pharisees and synagogue leaders,
who were more interested in protecting rules and regulations than in hearing Jesus’
message of love, grace, and forgiveness. Consider this interaction:
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was
there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over
and could not straighten up at all. When
Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set
free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she
straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader
said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those
days, not on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the
Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?
Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept
bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound
her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were
delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. (Luke 13:10–17)
If you desire to lead like Jesus, being a great servant leader is crucial during
implementation, when your job is to be responsive to your people and to help them
live according to the team or organization’s vision, accomplish its goals, and take
care of its customers.
APPLICATION BEYOND FORMAL
ORGANIZATIONS
While we have focused on the two roles of great leadership in a formal
organizational context, we want to be clear that these same two aspects of
leadership play out in your life role leadership position in your family, church, or
volunteer organization. For example, in a family, the parents are responsible for
setting the vision and establishing the goals for the family. As the kids get older,
they can become involved in this process, but initially and ultimately it is the
parents’ responsibility to provide the visionary aspect of great leadership.
Unfortunately, many parents do not focus much attention on defining a
compelling vision for their family that every member can understand. As a result,
kids learn more about what not to do than about how to do the right thing in the
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right way. A great source of frustration in families is what we call bring-me-a-rock
syndrome. It occurs when parents issue a nonspecific instruction like “Bring me a
rock” but fail to test for understanding, and then become annoyed when the results
don’t meet their expectations. Implementation can only be effective if the
important visionary work and goal setting are done first and communicated clearly.
Only then can parents move to the bottom of the hierarchy and serve the family as,
together, they pursue the vision.
For those who follow Jesus of Nazareth, the command for each and every
person has been established by the Father and clearly communicated to all His
children: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as
yourself” (Mark 12:30–31).
In the realm of family relationships, leading like Jesus means your vision is
committed service in the best interest of every family member. Committed service
does not selfishly exploit a person’s weaknesses and shortcomings but seeks to
encourage the best in each member of the family.
THE VISION OF GREAT LEADERSHIP
When Ken was a college professor, he would be in trouble with the faculty when
he gave out the final exam questions on the first day of class—and he did so every
semester. When the faculty found out, they asked Ken, “What are you doing?”
He calmly responded, “I thought we were supposed to teach these students.”
“We are—but we don’t give them the final exam ahead of time!”
Ken continued: “Not only will I give them the final exam ahead of time, but
throughout the semester I’ll teach them the answers to the exam questions so that
when they get to the final, they’ll get As.”
Ken still feels strongly that life is about helping people get As, not forcing them
into a normal distribution curve. Did Jesus believe in a normal distribution curve?
Absolutely not! In the Great Commission, when He sent His disciples out into the
world, He said to them, “Make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). He
wanted everyone to become part of God’s family.
Bob Buford, founder of Leadership Network and author of the book Halftime,
believes that all of us who name Jesus as Lord are going to face a “final exam”
when we stand before God at the end of our lives. According to Buford, the two
questions on God’s final exam will be What did you do with Jesus? and What did
you do with the resources you were given in life?1
When you know the questions ahead of time, there is no excuse not to get an A.
Most teachers have their students guess what will be on the final exam. Not so with
Jesus. He was clear about the final exam and ready to help His followers get the
right answers. He wants everyone to get an A.
Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matthew
20:28). What did He come to serve? Jesus came to serve the people and prepare
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them to go out and share the news of forgiveness and salvation.
Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, once preceded Ken at a
conference and pointed out in his speech, “All the kings and queens in history sent
their people out to die for them. I only know one King who decided to die for His
people.” And dying on our behalf is the ultimate in servant leadership. Jesus isn’t
asking us to literally die for people, but He is saying, “Not so with you,” regarding
the world’s traditional leadership (Matthew 20:26). Jesus mandates that we
establish clear visions for our organizations, visions that will in one way or another
shine His light into this dark world.
The vision has to be something bigger than you, bigger than the company, the
organization, or the church. Once that vision is defined, the Lord mandates servant
leadership that helps people live according to that vision.
When we put the heart and the head together in a Lead Like Jesus perspective,
other people become more important to us, and we take a backseat. Jesus knew His
people intimately, and He equipped them to be competent and confident servant
leaders. Jesus was also the preeminent spokesperson for God’s vision—the
purpose, the picture of the future, and the values that God created us to live out and
fulfill. Turning a vision into reality requires leaders who have servant hearts and a
strategy for both developing and empowering others to live according to the Lord’s
established vision, values, and goals.
Jesus was clear about why He came (to die on the cross as payment for our
sins), what the good news was (Jesus defeated sin and death: we can be forgiven
and enjoy eternal life with Him), and what He wanted people to do (name Jesus as
Savior and Lord—and then share the news of His victory, His love, and His
promises). Jesus also modeled great leadership—servant leadership—that others
may benefit from, learn from, and emulate.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think for a moment about how well you serve those around you. Do you
help your people pass the final exam? Do you help them live according to
the Lord’s, the church’s, the organization’s, or the company’s vision?
Leadership is not about power. It’s not about control. It’s about helping
people live according to the vision.
Now we are ready to address the next domain of great leadership. We will
examine the hands—the public leadership behavior—of a great leader in the next
section.
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PART V
THE HANDS OF A GREAT LEADER
“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.”
Matthew 20:27–28
We believe great leadership—servant leadership—is an inside-out job that begins
with this key question: Are you here on earth to serve or to be served? Answering
this question involves your head: in your mind you formulate your beliefs about
leadership. However, people won’t have a clue what those beliefs are until you
start to do something.
GREAT LEADERS INSPIRE GREATNESS
IN OTHERS
Hands provide a powerful symbol of the doing aspect of leading like Jesus. The
Bible is filled with vivid images of Jesus’ hands at work. With His hands, Jesus
healed the sick, cleansed lepers, fed the hungry, overturned the tables of the money
changers, washed the feet of His closest disciples, and hung from a cross to save
sinful human beings. With His hands, Jesus rescued the fearful, reassured the
doubting, restored the fallen, and beckoned the already occupied to a higher calling
and a special personal relationship with Him.
As varied as the work of Jesus’ hands was, it was always motivated by the
same purpose: to point people to the holy and loving God; to help them recognize
their sin; and to encourage them to name Jesus as their Savior and Lord, to know
His love, His forgiveness, and eternal life. Jesus’ servant leadership was grounded
in the grace He extended to those He called to follow Him. He accepted people
where they were, regardless of their past behavior and their sin. He committed
Himself to their spiritual growth and the fulfillment of their highest purpose. As
Jesus glorified God in His life, He got His hands dirty. In fact, He went beyond
merely proclaiming what others should do to yield to God as Lord, to die to self,
and to serve others; He demonstrated with His very life His willingness to serve.
At the end of His season of earthly leadership, Jesus summed up the work of
His hands in His prayer to His Father: “I have brought you glory on earth by
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finishing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). That work included teaching
His disciples His message of grace, forgiveness, hope, and eternal life until they
fully understood; protecting them from both external dangers and internal
weaknesses; promoting unity and loving community; and preparing and equipping
them to continue the work that He began in them.
In the next section we will show you how to become the servant leader Jesus
wants you to be: you will learn what it takes to be a performance coach who
produces great results and helps others find great human satisfaction. What
distinguishes leading like Jesus from the philosophies of other performance
management systems you might follow is the focus on helping people you interact
with at home, at work, and in your community know the very real love of Jesus.
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THE LEADER AS A PERFORMANCE
COACH
[Jesus] said to [Simon and Andrew], “Follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men.”
Matthew 4:19 ESV
An effective Jesus-like leader acts as a performance coach. An essential duty of
servant leaders is their ongoing investment in the lives of their followers.
Jesus was the preeminent performance coach, and He changed His leadership
style appropriately as His disciples developed individually and as a group. When
Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, He pledged them His full support and
guidance as they became fishers of men. Jesus also empowered His followers to
carry on the work of sharing the salvation message after He was gone. Through His
hands—His effectiveness as a Servant Leader—Jesus was able to communicate to
His disciples what was in His heart and His head about servant leadership.
So what does being a performance coach involve? These are the three basic
components: performance planning, day-to-day coaching, and performance
evaluation. Performance planning is the leadership aspect of servant leadership:
providing direction and setting goals. Day-to-day coaching focuses on the servant
aspect of servant leadership. That involves helping people win—accomplish their
goals—by observing their performance, praising their progress, and redirecting
their efforts when necessary. The third part of performance coaching is
performance evaluation: servant leaders sit down with people and evaluate their
performance over time.
Which of these three leadership activities do you think gets most of a
manager’s attention? Most people guess performance evaluation—and, sadly, that
is the truth.
Yet performance evaluation is often a flawed practice. If leaders rate all their
people high, they would be accused of being too easy, and they themselves would
be rated low. As a result, the normal distribution curve is alive and well. Managers
are expected to rate only a few people high, a few people low, and the rest as
average performers. When we ask managers, “How many of you go out and hire
losers so you can fill the low spots?” everyone laughs. Of course leaders hire either
winners—people who already have a good track record in what the managers want
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them to do—or potential winners—people who the managers think can become
winners with proper coaching. Managers don’t hire losers. Why, then, do leaders
have to give a certain number of people low ratings?
In Ken’s teaching example, performance planning means giving people the
final exam ahead of time. In this goal-setting stage of performance coaching, the
traditional hierarchical pyramid can stay upright: if there is a disagreement over
goals, the leader wins because he or she represents the organizational goals.
When Moses went to the top of the mountain to get the Ten Commandments,
he didn’t take a committee with him. Otherwise, he would have come down with
three commandments and seven suggestions. Similarly, Jesus didn’t involve His
disciples much in formulating the goals He came to accomplish. He had received
those from the top of the organizational hierarchy—from His Father.
These two examples, however, do not mean that in our work in the home,
community, and office we shouldn’t involve others in setting goals. You certainly
can collaborate at work, with experienced people, and at home when the kids get
older. When goals are established, though, the organizational or life role leader is
responsible for making sure the direction is clear. In their life role leadership in a
family, parents have to take responsibility for setting goals and objectives. We all
remember times when we would say to our mothers, “All the other kids are doing
it.” If your mother was like Ken’s, her response was always quick: “That’s because
their name isn’t Blanchard.” Our parents were in charge of performance planning
for us, their kids.
We can’t emphasize enough the importance of clarity of purpose in the
performance planning role of a servant leader. If there is not clear communication
of what a good job will look like when it is accomplished, somebody will end up
frustrated—the leader, the follower, or both.
Some organizations do a good job of performance planning. Unfortunately,
after goals are set and distributed, they often are filed away and forgotten until it’s
time for managers to evaluate their people’s performances. Then everyone runs
around frantically, trying to find the goals. To avoid this situation, leaders must
engage in the most important element of servant leadership—day-to-day coaching
—in which servant leaders help people reach their goals.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think back to a time when you were involved in a failure in
communication resulting in a vast difference between what was expected
and what was delivered. Recall the frustration and wasted energy that
could have been avoided by initially testing for understanding.
When it comes to day-to-day coaching, the pyramidal hierarchy turns upside
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down, and servant leaders begin to work for their people. Now that the goals are
clear, this aspect of being a performance coach is about teaching people the right
answers—in other words, helping them accomplish their goals—so that when they
get their performance review, it really will be a review. This principle also holds
true in the family: after family goals are established and communicated, parents
can serve their kids by being their cheerleaders, encouragers, and supporters as
they work to accomplish their goals.
Whether organizational or life role leaders, servant leaders are all about helping
people get As. Servant leaders aren’t threatened by people around them who
perform well, because their confidence is secure in the unconditional love of God.
Being rooted in God’s love permits servant leaders to see and respond to the
success of others in a different way: they celebrate it rather than fear it.
A perfect example of someone who helps people get As is Garry Ridge,
president and CEO of WD-40 Company. After Garry heard about Ken giving his
students the final exam questions at the beginning of the semester, he decided to
implement the “Don’t Mark My Paper; Help Me Get an A” philosophy for his
company’s performance review system, because that philosophy aligned with
Garry’s beliefs about leading and motivating people.
At WD-40, every manager meets with each direct report annually to discuss the
essential responsibilities set forth in that person’s job description. Their discussion
begins with the question “Is this still what you understand your job to be?” Once
both parties are clear on the essential functions of the job, they work together to
establish three to five observable, measurable goals for the coming year. This
partnership aligns and clarifies expectations for both parties. Next comes day-to-
day coaching—a key step in the process. The leaders continually diagnose their
direct reports’ development level for each goal and adjust their leadership styles to
ensure they are giving the direct reports the appropriate amount of direction and
support. If people attain their goals at the end of the year and live the company
values as they do so, they will get an A.
When managers have come to Garry to tell him someone isn’t working out and
needs to be fired, Garry’s first question is “What did you do to help that person get
an A?” If the manager can’t document the “Don’t Mark My Paper” process, it’s
likely that Garry will fire the manager rather than the direct report. He has had to
do that only a few times. Now managers all understand that their major role at
WD-40 is to help people get As. Not only do the direct reports win, but so do the
managers and the company.
Has this kind of performance planning and day-to-day coaching made a
difference? In the last several years, WD-40 has had the highest stock price in
company history. In its most recent employee satisfaction survey, filled out by 98
percent of the employees, the highest-rated statement was “I am proud to tell
people I work for WD-40.” Do you think the employees respond that way just
because of their job responsibilities, or is it because they are in a work environment
that makes people feel good about being involved? What a great example of how to
achieve both great results and human satisfaction!
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PAUSE AND REFLECT
In this chapter, the emphasis has been on helping people become high
performers. But leading like Jesus is much more than that. To Jesus,
getting an A is beyond doing or performing. It is about being a person
who models His character by serving others from a loving heart yielded to
Him.
Read 1 Corinthians 13 and reflect on doing without being. The math
is pretty simple: Everything – Love = Nothing!
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THE WORK OF THE CARPENTER
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his
brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?”
Matthew 13:55
Nothing about the life of Jesus was random or purposeless. His birth, death, and
resurrection fulfilled messianic prophecy and thereby testified to a divine and
perfectly executed plan. And, as with every aspect of His life, it was not by chance
that Jesus spent thirty years in obscurity, learning all that God wanted Him to know
while working as a carpenter. Evangelist Henry Drummond said, “What was Jesus
doing in the carpenter’s shop? Practicing.”1
What was the significance of this season of practice and preparation? In what
ways did working as a carpenter help prepare Jesus for His role as Messiah and,
among other roles, performance coach?
We sought similarities between the work of a good carpenter and the work of a
good leader, similarities that we could learn from and apply to our own leadership.
Here is what we discovered:
• Good carpenters and good leaders must be able to envision something that does
not yet exist and then commit to do what it takes to create it. Good leaders must
have a compelling vision that they are passionate about and that provides
direction for those who follow.
Application: Have you established a clear direction for your people? Do
they understand what business the company is in (the purpose), where it is
headed (the picture of the future), and what will guide the journey (the
organization’s values)? Have you established goals? Have you communicated
clearly enough that people know what to focus on right now?
• Good carpenters and good leaders must be good judges of raw material.
Application: The raw materials of leadership are people; therefore, good
leaders must be able to assess both the current condition and the future
potential of their people. How well do you know the people you lead? When
was the last time you consciously updated your knowledge of them? It is easy
and often convenient to operate under outdated assumptions about people, to
instead focus time and energy on immediate concerns despite their short-term
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results. Investing regularly in your people, however, will have long-term
positive results.
Also, the longer you rely on assumptions about people, the more prone you
are to becoming isolated from the truth about them and ineffective in your
leadership. What are some of the assumptions you have that, if inaccurate,
could harm your working relationship?
• Good carpenters and good leaders must consider the cost before the work
begins. Good leaders are realistic about the price of success, and they
themselves must be willing to pay it, in full, before asking others to do the same.
Application: Jesus never downplayed the cost of following His leadership:
He talked about dying to self, picking up a cross, and being persecuted. In His
own acts of sacrifice and obedience, Jesus demonstrated His willingness to pay
the price. Good leaders never ask anyone to do something they are not willing
to do themselves.
• Good carpenters and good leaders have a carefully defined plan for producing
specific results. A good leader serves the mission and values of the organization
by focusing the means, materials, efforts, and development of people on the
achievement of a specific goal and the fulfillment of a clearly communicated
purpose.
Application: The plan Jesus has for producing the highest good remains the
same two thousand years after He walked this earth: transform, inspire, and
equip people to go forth into the world in His name, guided in love by the Holy
Spirit, to make disciples of all nations.
• Good carpenters and good leaders apply accurate measurements and standards
of success to their work. Good leaders accept responsibility for setting standards
that reflect a balance between producing practical results and building healthy
relationships.
Application: For Jesus, the measurement of His success was both to glorify
His Father and to obey His Father’s will. Public perception of leadership
performance does not tell the whole story: few would have seen a man hanging
on a Roman cross as the supreme example of servant leadership. A true test of
leadership, however, is the impact the leader has on the spiritual well-being of
those he or she influences.
The standard to which Jesus calls all His followers in the relationships they
have with one another is their relationship with Him yesterday, today, and
forever: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another” (John 13:34).
• Good carpenters and good leaders must be able to master the use of a variety of
tools and know when and how to apply them to get the best results.
Application: A good performance coach realizes that people are not all at
the same level of development. Some need a lot of direction, others need a lot
of support, and still others need both direction and support.
• Good carpenters and good leaders must be willing to be both lifelong learners
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and lifelong teachers.
Application: Leaders who maintain a teachable spirit and stay alert to
changing times and conditions will also maintain their effectiveness in guiding
others. The resource Jesus provides to all His followers is access to the
indwelling and counsel of the Holy Spirit. The challenge to all who lead in the
name of Jesus is this: Are you willing to listen and learn?
• Good carpenters and good leaders know when their work is completed.
Application: In John 16:7 Jesus said to His disciples: “It is for your good
that I am going away.” Jesus knew He had completed His season of earthly
leadership, and He commissioned His disciples to carry on His work.
How did Jesus’ leadership of His disciples line up with these insights about
carpentry and leadership? First, Jesus did indeed develop a compelling vision for
His disciples that motivated them after His physical time on earth ended: “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).
Second, Jesus saw beyond current credentials to the long-range potential of
those He called to become fishers of men. Getting to know His people was a key
element of His leadership. Although He spent time teaching crowds of people and
interacting with all sorts of individuals, Jesus spent most of His time with those
who would comprise the next set of leaders in the movement He inspired. The
Bible tells how Jesus walked with them, ate meals with them, and got to know their
strengths, their weaknesses, and their individual personalities. As Jesus learned
about His followers, they learned about Him.
People are not born good carpenters or good leaders. They need someone to
help them grow and develop. Jesus Himself learned carpentry skills from His
earthly father, and He learned to be a Master Carpenter from His heavenly Father.
He also learned leadership skills He would need to develop in His disciples—not to
help them become good carpenters, but to help them become fishers of men.
Our next chapter highlights the fact that leaders are made, not born. It will help
you become an even better performance coach as you learn about the variety of
leadership styles Jesus used to help His disciples accomplish what He was telling
them to do.
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THE WAY OF THE CARPENTER
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants
to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find
it.”
Matthew 16:24–25
The big question people ask Lead Like Jesus is, “How do you help people get As?”
In other words, how do you develop people into high performers? For the answer
to that question, we can trace how Jesus transformed His disciples from untrained
novices to masters/teachers and apostles for God’s kingdom. We will also consider
the developmental process that Jesus surely experienced as He learned the
carpenter trade from His earthly father, Joseph.
A FOCUS ON PETER
As we examine how Jesus guided His disciples from call (“Follow me, and I will
make you fishers of men”) to commission (“Go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”),
we will focus our attention on Jesus’ interactions with Peter. In his wonderful book
Twelve Ordinary Men,1 John MacArthur provides a compelling case for using the
relationship between Jesus and Peter as an intimate case study of the
transformational journey from call to commission:
Peter’s name is mentioned in the Gospels more than any other name except
Jesus. No one speaks as often as Peter, and no one is spoken to by the Lord as
often as Peter. No disciple is so frequently rebuked by the Lord as Peter; and no
disciple ever rebukes the Lord except Peter (Matthew 16:22). No one else
confessed Christ more boldly or acknowledged His lordship more explicitly; yet
no other disciple ever verbally denied Christ as forcefully or as publicly as Peter
did. No one is praised and blessed by Christ the way Peter was; yet Peter was
also the only one Christ ever addressed as Satan. The Lord had harsher things to
say to Peter than He ever said to any of the others. All of that contributed to
making him the leader Christ wanted him to be.2
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There is another reason for focusing on Peter: we can see his transformation as
we look at his own words.
At the beginning of his relationship with Jesus, Peter said, “Go away from me,
Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). During his apprenticeship, Peter challenged
Jesus and was told, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).
Shortly after this startling incident, Peter was one of three disciples privileged
to hear the audible voice of God say about Jesus, “This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5).
After following Jesus for years, Peter said, “I don’t know the man!” (Matthew
26:72).
Later in life Peter wrote: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3).
As we observe Peter in his transformational journey with Jesus, we see not only
his pride and his fears on display, but his courage and his faith as well. What we
see in Peter will give us an opportunity to examine how Jesus moved him from call
to commission.
THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY FROM CALL
TO COMMISSION
When Jesus first called the disciples from their ordinary occupations to become
fishers of men, each brought his unique life experiences and skills to this new task
—but absolutely no practical knowledge of how to fill this new role. During their
three years under Jesus’ leadership, the disciples were transformed from untrained
novices to fully equipped, divinely inspired, and spiritually grounded leaders able
to fulfill the Great Commission to go to all nations with the good news of Jesus
Christ’s death, resurrection, and love.
What did Jesus do to facilitate the disciples’ transformation, to move them from
call to commission? Although miracles were involved, the process was not
miraculous. It simply entailed the perfect execution of a process familiar to leaders
personally committed to accomplishing a goal through the growth and
development of those they lead. We believe the experience Jesus had learning the
trade of carpentry provided Him with a practical model for helping people grow
and develop, a model that He used to guide the learning experience of His disciples
and move them from call to commission.
As He learned the carpenter craft, Jesus probably walked through these four
normal stages of learning a new task: novice (someone just starting out),
apprentice (someone in training), journeyman (someone capable of working
independently), and master/teacher (someone highly skilled and able to teach
others). Jesus brought to His leadership a clear, firsthand understanding of the
journey from dependence to independence.
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THE NEEDS OF A NOVICE
Novices are just starting to perform a particular task or to work toward an assigned
goal. They need basic information about what to do, how to do it, when to do it,
where to do it, and why it is important. Novices come in all sizes, shapes, and
attitudes, from enthusiastic beginners excited about the opportunity to reluctant
recruits being forced to learn. Novices also bring different personalities and
learning styles. The one thing novices all have in common is the need for a leader
who welcomes them into the learning process and gives them the information they
need to get started.
Consider the following two examples of novices:
An excited pupil is a fifteen-year-old girl learning to drive. The day she gets
her learner’s permit, she is very enthusiastic, but she has little knowledge about
driving a car. She needs someone to instruct her in the correct sequence of things to
do before she turns on the ignition for her first drive. She doesn’t need much
motivation, because she already has a positive picture of what it will be like when
she can drive herself and her friends anywhere she wants to go.
A reluctant recruit is a fifty-eight-year-old man learning to use a three-legged
cane after suffering a stroke. The day he meets the rehab nurse who will teach him
to walk with a cane, he is filled with anger and embarrassment at having to learn to
do something he has been doing all his life but now has to do in a new and
unattractive way.
Both novices have to follow instructions that may be new or awkward. The
teenager with a glamorized view of driving her friends to the beach the day she
gets her license may be overconfident and impatient with the learning process. The
stroke victim, faced with a new and unappealing view of the future, may bring
resentment and frustration into the learning process. He needs someone to provide
a realistic view of rehabilitation and establish the sequence and the timing of the
steps involved in reaching his goal.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think of a time when you were an untrained novice facing a new task or
role. What did you need most from someone? Did you get what you
needed? If not, what was the result?
Jesus and Peter the Novice
As [Jesus] walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is
called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were
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fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of
men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:18–20
RSV)
Jesus saw in these hardworking fishermen the raw material for the future
leaders of His ministry, which He would leave in their care when His season of
earthly leadership was completed. In their enthusiasm, Peter and his brother
Andrew literally dropped what they were doing when Jesus called them. Although
he was enthusiastic, Peter had no idea how to accomplish this new task. At this
novice stage of learning, Peter and the other disciples needed Jesus to teach them
about their new work, and Jesus told them what to do and how to do it. When He
sent the disciples out for the first time to preach the good news, for instance, He
gave them extensive basic instructions on where to go, what to say, what to do, and
how to do it:
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among
the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of
Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come
near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out
demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
“Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—no
bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his
keep. Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person
and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your
greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your
peace return to you. . . . I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:5–13,
16)
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Too often leaders in churches and other organizations set people up for
failure and disillusionment when they do not respond effectively to the
needs of novices. During this orientation and learning stage, show you
care by providing specific direction to new recruits. Doing so makes a
powerful statement about what you value—your people.
THE NEEDS OF AN APPRENTICE
Apprentices have not yet mastered all the information and skills they need in order
to work independently. They need a performance coach to set goals, provide
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learning opportunities, observe performance, and provide feedback in the form of
praise for progress and redirection when required. Apprentices also need someone
to put their progress in the right perspective so they don’t become overconfident
with early success or discouraged with initial failure.
At the apprentice level, the teenager learning to drive has fastened her seat belt
and started the car. As she pulls out into traffic and is startled by a car that seems to
come out of nowhere, she begins to cry. Her instructor should praise her for
fastening her seat belt and turning on the car correctly, but he also needs her to
repeat back to him how the mirrors are to be adjusted and how she must look both
ways to observe the flow of traffic.
At the apprentice level, the stroke victim learning to walk with a three-legged
cane starts off well enough, but then he becomes frustrated and angry at the fact
that it takes him many minutes to travel a distance he could previously cover in
seconds. The rehab nurse needs to praise him for what he has accomplished so far
and put his rate of progress in perspective even as she directs him to continue to the
other side of the room.
It is vital that leaders provide clear direction and information and that they do
so in a caring manner. Patience is a key aspect of love in action, an aspect essential
to leading people through the apprentice stage. Keep the end result in mind and let
the process of praising people for nearly correct behavior complete its work.
One more thing: the quickest way to stop the learning process is for the leader
to grow impatient. Be obvious about the love you have for your followers, and
always let your desire to lead like Jesus direct your behavior and fuel your
patience.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think of a time when you needed someone to push you beyond a failure
or an easy early success to get to a higher level of understanding and
performance. Now think of a time when you quit because nobody was
around to help you step up to the next level.
Your direct reports, family members, or volunteers may experience
those same feelings when they confront a task or a goal they failed at
earlier.
What do these scenarios say to you about your role during this phase
of training apprentices?
Jesus and Peter the Apprentice
There was a time during Peter’s apprentice training when he got something
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very right and then followed it up with something very wrong.
In Matthew 16:13–17, we read the following account:
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not
revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
Then, just four verses later, we read:
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and
the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised
to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This
shall never happen to you!”
Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling
block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human
concerns.” (vv. 21–23)
It is interesting to note that Jesus was teaching Peter in both these instances. In
the first scene the teaching came in the form of high praise for getting something
right (Peter identified Jesus as the Messiah and living God) and a realistic
assessment of how the achievement was accomplished: God the Father had
revealed the truth. In the second incident the teaching was delivered in bold
language (“Get behind me, Satan!”) that highlighted the seriousness of Peter’s
erroneous thinking and behavior that, if repeated, would disqualify the learner.
Despite the high drama of that moment of correction, Peter’s learning process
continued in an even more dramatic fashion six days later.
In Matthew 17:1–9 we read:
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured
before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the
light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put
up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from
the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.
Listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
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But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When
they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell
anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the
dead.”
There would be many more dramatic moments in Peter’s transformation—tests
and trials that increased his knowledge of God and strengthened his faith, and
experiences that God used to make him the anointed and effective leader he
became. The constant throughout this transformational process was the loving
commitment of the Leader to His follower during his apprenticeship.
THE NEEDS OF A JOURNEYMAN
It is easy to assume that journeymen—people who have acquired some skills for
performing a task or role—have progressed to a point where all they need from a
leader is to be told when and where to apply their skills. The fact of the matter is
that journeymen may periodically become cautious, lose confidence, or have a
diminished sense of enthusiasm for their jobs. If ignored by inattentive leaders,
journeymen may quietly drift into apathy or retreat from taking risks due to a sense
of lost competence or a weakened connection to their callings.
In addition, journeymen who lose their skills or desire to perform may become
disillusioned critics who poison the attitude of those working around them. Leaders
who ignore the journeymen’s need of appreciation, encouragement, and inspiration
do so at the peril of the organization.
One example of a leader meeting the needs of a journeyman is the parent who
lets the teenager regain her driving privileges after an accident that she admits she
could have avoided.
Similarly, the rehab nurse is meeting the journeyman’s need of encouragement
when she reminds the stroke victim of how far he has come in gaining his new skill
and how proud she is of him as he prepares to use his cane in front of his family
and friends.
Jesus and Peter the Journeyman
Peter exhibited behaviors characteristic of a journeyman when he walked on
water:
When the disciples saw [Jesus] walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a
ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
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Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward
Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried
out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:26–30)
Peter at this moment is a great illustration of someone capable of performing
the task at hand. It took a tremendous amount of faith for him to step out of the
boat and onto the churning water. So often we focus on Peter’s cry for help that we
forget that Peter actually did walk on water. In fact, he is the only one besides
Jesus who has ever done such a thing. Peter’s problem, though, came when he took
his eyes off Jesus and began to worry about the storm. When Peter’s confidence
moved from high to low, his already demonstrated competence sank into the water
with him.
Even though Peter had demonstrated the ability to walk on water, Jesus was
there to provide the support Peter needed when he started to sink: “Immediately
Jesus reached out his hand and caught [Peter]. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why
did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down” (vv.
31–32).
What can we learn from the response of Jesus as Leader when Peter started to
sink? First, we notice that Jesus acted immediately. He did not let Peter sink into
the water and think about his mistake. Jesus let Peter know immediately that He
was there to help him and support him.
Next, we observe that Jesus “reached out his hand and caught him” (v. 31).
Jesus used a personal touch to save the floundering apostle. Jesus knew that Peter’s
primary need was support, so He used His own hand to save him. Then Jesus
reinforced His continued support of Peter when He said, “You of little faith . . .
why did you doubt?” (v. 31). In other words, Jesus reminded Peter—and us—that
He is always there when His followers need Him.
It is also important to remember that after Jesus caught Peter, they were still
outside the boat. Imagine Jesus wrapping His arms around Peter and walking him
back to safety. Providing support to the people around us is key to their continual
development, whether in the office, the home, or the community.
THE NEEDS OF A MASTER/TEACHER
Masters/teachers have fully developed skills as well as the confidence and
motivation to independently produce excellent results; they also possess the
wisdom and insight necessary to teach others. The masters/teachers you lead need
to be given the opportunity and challenge to pass on what they know to the next
generation of learners—and they need your blessing.
Examples of masters/teachers include the former driving student a few years
later, riding along with her younger brother, who has his learner’s permit, and
educating him on the rules of the road; and the stroke victim, now walking on his
own as he visits the rehab facility to encourage new patients who are on the same
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path to independence that he traveled.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). Commissioning
followers to go and teach others is the highest form of recognition a
teacher can give a student. Fulfilling the commission is the highest
compliment and act of gratitude a student can give a teacher. What are
you doing to pass along to the next generation that which has been given
to you?
Jesus and Peter the Master/Teacher
The disciple’s training was complete, but a final set of questions had to be
answered before this student could be certified as a master/teacher ready to lead
others in the Teacher’s name. Listen to the conversation:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John,
do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?”
He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger
you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will
stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you
do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter
would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21:15–19)
PAUSE AND REFLECT
The connection between loving God and leading others in His name is
irrefutable. You can’t do one without the other in a way that would honor
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God and provide the best in both results and relationships.
On the last day of His earthly season of growing and developing His disciples,
Jesus had some final instructions before sending them out in His name:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18–20)
How successfully Jesus had prepared His disciples for this high calling is
evident when we read about Peter spreading the good news in Acts 2:36–41:
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and
the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off
—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save
yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were
baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
We can look at Peter here and see how, under Jesus’ mentoring, he had been
moved from call to commission. He demonstrated his ability as a master/teacher
when he spoke to a crowd of thousands, and three thousand people chose to be
baptized that day. Peter had the knowledge he needed to effectively share the
message of Jesus, and he also exhibited a high level of commitment as a
master/teacher. Notice the boldness and authority with which Peter shared the
message of Jesus. He truly was a fisher of men.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
What is your desire for the people who look to you for leadership? More
specifically, what do you want to be able to do for frustrated individuals
who do not have the competence or commitment to accomplish an
assigned task? And what do you want to do for those people who not only
are able to do the task on their own but also can teach others? How can
your organization most benefit from people who not only are good at
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doing their jobs but who also are willing and able to teach others?
Sending out someone to act on your behalf is the highest form of trust in that
individual’s competence and commitment. When Jesus gave the Great Commission
to His disciples, He considered them masters/teachers ready to perform on their
own. While Jesus would not be physically present to direct and support the
disciples as He had for three years, He did not turn His back on them. He
promised, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
One more comment about a master/teacher’s needs. Delegating and abdicating
are very different. Leaders who abdicate turn their backs on their now-trained
people, walk away from the relationships they have established, and only become
involved again if they happen to hear bad news. But leaders who delegate stay in
the information loop and are ready to help if they are called. Jesus delegated when
He issued the Great Commission, but He did not abdicate. Jesus knew His disciples
would need Him in the future, and He remained ready and available to support or
direct them whenever they called.
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LEADER-FOLLOWER PARTNERSHIP
For individuals to advance from novice to master/teacher, as this diagram3
illustrates, they need leadership partners who can give them whatever direction and
support they need to progress to the next stage of learning. A successful learner
development process depends on the mutual commitment of leader and follower.
Furthermore, we need to remember that no one is totally a novice, apprentice,
journeyman, or master/teacher in all the things he or she does. For instance, at any
one time in our work lives, we could actually be at all four learning stages. You
could be a novice on the new computer program, an apprentice in budgeting, a
journeyman when it comes to people development, and a master at planning. As a
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result, a leadership partner not only must learn to use different strokes for different
folks but will probably end up using different strokes for the same person,
according to the different aspects of their organizational development.
For a leader-follower partnership to be effective, certain things have to take
place. Both leader and follower must
• understand the learning stages and the follower’s needs at each stage;
• agree on goals and objectives for the follower;
• identify together the follower’s learning stage for each goal;
• determine together what the follower needs at each stage for each goal and
how the leader will provide it; and
• be aware when the follower is shifting to a new learning stage and what that
means to their leader-follower relationship.
When leaders follow these steps, they are better able to help their people
become high performers in their areas of responsibility.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think about these leader-follower partnership steps. Have you done
anything similar to the actions listed above to help your people become
high performers? If not, what can you do to begin to make your
relationship with your people a true partnership? Identify the first step
you want to take and decide when you will implement it.
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24
THE EGO FACTOR
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that
you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6
To be an effective coach, you have to meet people where they are. Yet, whether in
the office, at home, or in the community, a servant-hearted leader confronted with
a self-focused follower faces the twofold challenge of ministering to the heart of
the follower as well as moving the learning process along. When your leadership is
challenged or your motives and methods are mistrusted, keeping your EGO—your
Edging God Out tendency—in check can be a daunting chore. Reacting out of
pride, making decisions based on fear, or resorting to using position-driven power
to exert your will can easily shortcut the learning process.
On the other hand, a servant-hearted follower confronted with a self-focused
leader faces the challenge of being a positive witness to the leader while continuing
to acquire the skills and experience needed to be productive and grow. It can be
done, but it may be an uphill climb. An EGO-driven leader can create
disillusionment and cynicism in even the most servant-hearted follower, resulting
in an ineffective learning process.
For a leader, the quickest remedy for the EGO factor in leader-follower
relationships comes with acknowledging and combating the propensity toward
pride and fear. Furthermore, the leader’s spiritual health encourages a follower’s
trust and commitment. If you seek to inspire and equip others to attain higher
standards of performance and commitment, the best first step is modeling integrity
in your own journey.
For followers whose self-worth and security are grounded in God’s
unconditional love and promises, it is important to keep a big-picture perspective
of what is to be gained or lost by responding to poor treatment by an EGO-driven
leader. If both leader and follower are willing to share their vulnerabilities and
support each other in keeping on track, the best of all results is possible—the true
win-win-win situation. The leader wins, the follower wins, and God wins!
THE EGO FACTOR IN LEADER-
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FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIPS
When grace abounds, results and relationships flourish. When there is strife, results
and relationships suffer. Whoever extends grace promotes grace in the lives of
others, and everyone benefits.
The true test of great leadership comes when the EGO of the leader and the
EGO of the follower engage one another. How well they recognize and overcome
the pride and fear in their relationship will determine whether they move toward
the mutual satisfaction of commonly held goals—or share in frustrations of their
own making.
The following diagram is an effective tool for understanding the EGO factor in
leader (L)–follower (F) relationships. When things are not going well in a
relationship, the diagram can help identify potential roadblocks to unity of purpose.
THE MOST FAVORABLE LEADER-
FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIP
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A Servant-Hearted Leader + A Servant-Hearted
Follower = Results and Relationships
The ideal relationship between leader and follower is characterized by mutual
service and trust. Creativity and learning can occur, blind spots can be uncovered,
and potential misunderstandings can be avoided. This is the true win-win-win
situation.
Example: A mother and teenage daughter exchange information and reach a
compromise on something.
Example: After sharing different opinions about the necessary level of training
for a new skill application, the leader makes the final call and commits to changing
his leadership style as the training progresses.
Example: A coach and a star player discuss a situation at the end of a game and
agree on a plan to score the winning point. Both the coach and the player have their
EGOs under control and are ready to listen and learn; both commit to
implementing the final decision.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
The ultimate example of a leader-follower relationship operating with a
bond of mutual service was played out in the Garden of Gethsemane
between Jesus and His Father: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup
be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
FOUR LEADER-FOLLOWER
RELATIONSHIPS THAT ARE ALWAYS
INEFFECTIVE
Undesirable patterns occur when pride and fear commingle.
1. A Prideful Leader + A Prideful Follower = Conflict
and Competition
When both leader and follower bring their pride into a relationship, a test of
wills can result. Then, instead of cooperating and making concessions, the parties
seek to promote their positions by winning arguments and showing off their
strength.
Example: A championship coach with a ball-control strategy for winning meets
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a young superstar known for his brilliant individual skills.
Example: A father and son are too proud to say, “I’m sorry . . .” or “I need . . .”
2. A Fearful Leader + A Fearful Follower = Isolation
and Paralysis
When a leader and a follower are both fearful, they will be looking for early
warning signs that their fears are justified. Initial evidence of goodwill is looked
upon with suspicion, and reluctance to share information can be a barrier to facing
problems as they arise.
Example: An insecure leader who fears loss of position and a follower afraid of
being taken advantage of engage in a superficial exchange of mutual compliments
and guarded responses to questions about the current state of things.
3. A Prideful Leader + A Fearful Follower =
Exploitation
When leaders impose their will and their way on their followers as a
demonstration of their self-importance, it can play on the insecurities of the
followers—leading to results that are not likely to be for the common good.
Example: A results-driven pastor intimidates his congregation into voting for a
new sanctuary.
4. A Fearful Leader + A Prideful Follower =
Manipulation
When an insecure leader makes unwise concessions or tries to exert position
power to gain the cooperation of a strong-willed follower, the results are damaging.
Example: A micromanaging team leader who fears losing control meets a
prideful journeyman who responds with malicious obedience by complying with
instructions he knows are faulty.
Example: A parent who is afraid of being embarrassed by a child’s temper
tantrum allows the child to keep the bag of cookies taken off the shelf in a grocery
store.
FOUR LEADER-FOLLOWER
RELATIONSHIPS THAT CAN BE
IMPROVED
Four combinations of leader and follower EGOs present specific challenges, but
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these relationships can be improved if one party is willing to serve as an agent of
change. When that person is a leader, being the change agent is a ministry
opportunity. When that person is the follower, it is a witnessing opportunity.
1. A Servant-Hearted Leader + A Fearful Follower =
Ministry
A servant-hearted leader remains patient with followers who act on their
insecurities: the leader offers sincere reassurance by praising progress and honest
effort.
Example: A physical therapist responds with patience and encouragement to
outbursts of frustration and fear by a stroke victim learning to walk with a cane.
Example: A parent is patient with a child having a temper tantrum.
2. A Servant-Hearted Leader + A Prideful Follower =
Ministry
Servant-hearted leaders not only model humility and strength of purpose, but
they also are willing to enforce standards and withstand challenges to their
leadership.
Example: When His prideful disciples argued about who was greatest among
them, Jesus responded by washing their feet.
3. A Prideful Leader + A Servant-Hearted Follower =
Witness
The follower is willing to risk a negative response from the leader in order to
uphold a principle or correct an error.
Example: The prophet Nathan confronted King David regarding his misconduct
with Bathsheba.
4. A Fearful Leader + A Servant-Hearted Follower =
Witness
A follower responds to the leader’s insecurities with humility and respect
without forgoing principle.
Example: While being pursued by a fear-driven King Saul, David decided not
to kill him when he had the chance.
Example: A college-bound daughter is patient with a parent who is fearful
about her going away to school.
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THE EGO FACTOR IN THE FOUR
LEARNING STAGES
As we have emphasized, we all fall short of perfection. Every day we have to
confront our own EGO issues that can get us off purpose and affect the leader-
follower relationship. Let’s see what EGO issues leaders and followers might face
at each of the four learning stages.
Novice Stage
Learner/Novice EGO Issues Teacher/Leader EGO Issues
Fear of failure Impatience when teaching
fundamentals
Fear of inadequacy Frustration with slow progress
Fear of looking foolish Temptation to delegate prematurely
False pride in position Quick judgments of learners’
potential
False pride due to prior performance Fear of failure
Lack of trust in leader or in method of
training
Apprentice Stage
Learner/Apprentice EGO Issues Teacher/Leader EGO Issues
Discouragement with the lack of progress Fear of failure
Impatience with the learning process Frustration with lack of enthusiasm
Loss of faith in the learning process Unrealistic expectations of people
Fear of failure Fear of other people’s opinions
Fear of inadequacy Fear of criticism
Loss of faith in the leader Fear of losing position
Diminished enthusiasm for the task
Journeyman Stage
Learner/Journeyman EGO Issues Teacher/Leader EGO Issues
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Fear of failure when moving into
new situations
Lack of sensitivity and lost enthusiasm
Fear of success in expanded use of
skills
Impatience
Burnout: loss of enthusiasm and
vision
Fear of the intimacy required to deal with
an individual’s issues
Fear of obsolescence Fear that the learner will surpass the teacher
Fear of competition
Fear of being confronted about
slips in performance
Fear of being exploited
Master/Teacher Stage
Learner/Master EGO
Issues
Teacher/Leader EGO Issues
Complacency with current
knowledge of skills
Fear of personal competition from the completely
inspired and fully equipped follower
Unwillingness to take
criticism or direction
Fear of personal obsolescence when the learner can
do what the teacher does
Arrogance Unwillingness to share information or recognition
Misuse of skills for self-
serving purposes
Fear of losing control
Aware of the potential EGO barriers in their relationship and willing to address
them, leader and follower can seek individually and together to overcome these
barriers through personal preparation, open communication, and a mutual
commitment to serve one another and their relationship.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
What kind of performance coach are you? Do your people know what you
expect them to accomplish? Once you are sure your goals are clearly
understood, do you focus all your efforts on helping your people win,
accomplish their goals, get an A? Are you able to maintain a servant’s
heart even though some of your people are driven by false pride or fear?
Be honest.
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PART VI
THE DOING HABITS
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted
to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be
lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful
in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s
people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 12:9–13
Over the last ten years we have realized that a relationship with Jesus is critical to
leading like Jesus. We will not lead differently until we become different people
through the transformation that results from a relationship with Jesus. We can’t
lead like Jesus without following Jesus. We have also come to recognize that
leading like Jesus is not possible by ourselves. We just can’t do it alone. Only
through an intimate relationship with Jesus and experience with the habits that
allow us to be with Him and focus on Him are our hearts transformed, our minds
informed, and our behavior changed. What we do as leaders is a direct result of
what has happened in our hearts and minds when we’ve spent time in the
transforming presence of God.
In Part III we talked about the Being Habits of experiencing solitude, practicing
prayer, knowing and applying Scripture, and maintaining supportive relationships
—all practices that reinforce the central habit of accepting God’s love and abiding
in it.
As we have continually said, if we want to lead like Jesus, we need to become
more like Jesus. When we look at Jesus not only as our Savior and Lord, but as the
One whom God wants us to emulate every day, we realize that we leaders must
practice certain habits. In the book of James, for instance, we are encouraged to be
“doers of the word,” and not merely “hearers” of it (1:22 ESV). In other words, we
must move from being to doing. This shift is particularly important since we
believe the next great movement in Christianity must be not just proclamation; it
must be demonstration.
If we want people to believe what we believe, we must behave differently than
nonbelievers do. Jesus put it this way: “In the same way, let your light shine before
others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”
(Matthew 5:16).
If we model our leadership after Jesus, it makes sense for us to look closely at
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five habits that characterized His interactions with people.
You’ll notice that obeying God and expressing His love is the central Doing
Habit. The other four habits—grace, forgiveness, encouragement, and community
—are His people’s expressions of God’s unconditional love.
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THE HABIT OF OBEYING GOD AND
EXPRESSING HIS UNCONDITIONAL
LOVE
As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each
other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against
someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put
on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Colossians 3:12–14
We are often asked, “What does love have to do with leadership?” The simple
answer is . . . everything. Love is a core value of leadership, especially for a Jesus-
like leader. The question in every situation where we have influence becomes,
“What is the most loving thing to do?” As a leader, you always have the choice of
responding in a loving way—and that option is not usually the easiest way.
Sometimes love will require you to let go of your pride and fear and do the hard
thing of holding a staff member accountable. Leaders sometimes shy away from
those conversations, but love requires you to speak the truth in a way that helps
someone move forward. There are also situations when the most loving thing to do
is to set someone free. As leaders, we are to ensure that even removing people
from our staff is done with grace, dignity, generosity, and, yes, love.
We also must ask, “What is the most loving thing to do?” when we are leading
our families. Sometimes we are kinder, more loving, and more thoughtful to
complete strangers than to the people we love most. Creating an environment of
love in our homes will develop people who love. In fact, as leaders, we are to
create an environment of love, grace, and thoughtfulness everywhere we have
influence.
God’s Word is very clear about this call to all of His followers. The concept of
love appears throughout Scripture. The two greatest commandments are to love
God with all that we are and to love other people as we love ourselves (Matthew
22:36–40). And in 1 Corinthians 12:31 Paul wrote, “You should earnestly desire
the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all”
(NLT). He continued:
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If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I
would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy,
and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if
I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be
nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I
could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
(13:1–3 NLT)
Did you get that? If we don’t love, we are nothing and we gain nothing. As we
have said, leading like Jesus is leadership based on love. Leading like Jesus will
always mean putting love into action in various ways.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
In his book The Greatest Thing in the World, Henry Drummond identifies
nine elements in what he calls the “spectrum of love.”1 Using 1
Corinthians 13:4–7 as his source, Drummond lists patience, kindness,
generosity, courtesy, humility, unselfishness, good temper, guilelessness,
and sincerity.
For those of us striving to lead like Jesus, a challenging exercise is to
study these aspects of love and then ask ourselves these questions about
each one:
• When do I demonstrate this aspect of love in my life?
• When do I struggle to demonstrate this aspect of love in my life?
The more insight you have into how you express these elements of
love, the better you can integrate them into the day-to-day choices you
make, and the more easily you can become a love-based leader.
As God’s people we are “rooted and established in love” (Ephesians 3:17)—in
His love. God loved us first, and He expressed that love by coming to this earth as
Jesus, who died on the cross for our sin. That is love!
What we have received, we can give away to others. So we who have received
God’s love can share that love with others. And the power of God’s love changes
everything. The kind of love we are writing about can’t come from us; it is a love
that seeks a person’s good even when it costs us. It is a love that is committed to
helping people move from where they are to where God wants them to be. This
love speaks the truth boldly and at the same time holds hands gently. How do you
love like that? Again, you can’t. But God can love people through you, when you
are willing to let Him. Don’t misunderstand: in some instances, no matter what you
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do or how much you love, people or circumstances may not change. (God gives
you boundaries to protect yourself from unchanging and abusive situations.) But let
us share one story of a changed life, of a life redeemed by love.
A woman in one of our Lead Like Jesus encounters told us about how she
married a wonderful man, but she had no idea of the anger stored deep in his heart.
It started to appear during their honeymoon with name-calling, expletives, and
anger about the smallest things. She decided she was the problem. If she behaved
differently, she reasoned, he would go back to being the person she thought she
had married. She adjusted her behavior and tried to do everything to please him.
The most difficult part was trying to anticipate his anger, because there was
absolutely no pattern to it. On one day a certain situation would be no problem, but
on another day that same situation would prompt an angry tirade. She lived on
eggshells, and they were cracking. She became ill with physical conditions she had
never before experienced. Doctors treated her, but she came to realize that these
illnesses were her body’s response to what she was experiencing in her marriage.
She prayed tirelessly for her husband. She made suggestions to him; she even
tried to be the voice of God in his head—but nothing changed. One day, in
complete desperation, she prayed, “Father, please help me love him like You love
him. Help me see him as You do—not as who he is today, but who he will become
by Your grace. Help me forgive him before he hurts me again. Help me release
unforgiveness—and help me give him grace. Help me not to blame myself when he
says hurtful things. Protect my heart that I might respond with love.”
After that prayer she began to see her husband differently. She made sure she
caught him doing things right so that she could encourage him. She reminded him
of her love through notes and cards. She planned fun times she knew he would
enjoy. She remembers the first time he apologized to her after an angry episode—
she could hardly believe it! She felt she was watching a transformation happen
before her eyes. It was a long season, but God used this woman to love her
husband into the man he had always wanted to be.
Love redeems. When we receive love, we will express it to others in obedience
to the One who loved us first, the One who has commanded us to love Him and
love others. We will express that love through the habits of grace, forgiveness,
encouragement, and community.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Today, what can you do to more effectively reflect God’s unconditional
love to those around you?
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THE HABIT OF GRACE
God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having
all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
We may think withholding forgiveness affects only the person we need to forgive
and ourselves. The truth, however, is that unforgiveness takes root in our hearts,
and the bitterness that grows there will affect all of our relationships. Similarly, the
choice to stay in the past instead of enjoying the present moment will also have an
impact on the people we influence. Grace and forgiveness are a one-two punch. It’s
been said that forgiveness is the cake and grace is the icing that covers over the
past and the sins that have been forgiven.
Grace has been defined as getting something you don’t deserve. We know this
to be true: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast”
(Ephesians 2:8–9).
Where would we be without grace? We would all be in trouble. Scripture calls
us to “look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God”
(Hebrews 12:15 NLT). As leaders, we are dispensers of grace in our families,
churches, and organizations. We can extend the grace of believing that people are
doing the best they can, given their level of awareness. It is up to us to make sure
grace is extended; we lead in the way of grace.
If you have ever needed grace, you know its power. Knowing you deserve
judgment and punishment but receiving grace instead is hard to believe and hard to
describe. Romans 5:20–21 says this about grace:
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as
people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s
wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (NLT)
It’s hard to believe that as people sin more, God’s grace becomes more
abundant. Later in the book of Romans, the obvious question is asked and
answered: “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more
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and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how
can we continue to live in it?” (6:1–2 NLT). We are different people because of
grace; we do not want to go back to being the people we were. So our response to
grace is not to continue in our bad behavior, but to want to do better. Have you
ever acted like a total jerk and then had someone who loves you respond with
grace? Did you feel like an even bigger jerk? Ideally this kind of grace stops us—
and our wrong behavior—in our tracks.
Our friend Tom told us an incredible story of grace. Early in his marriage, his
wife caught him with another woman—literally. When she did, she walked up to
him and said, “We will talk about this later.” He rushed home to see if she would
talk then, but she told him she would need time. It was Tuesday, and she said she
would be ready to talk on Friday. Tom described those next days as torture. He
knew that he had lost his wife and his two small children, that there was no way his
wife would allow him to stay in their lives.
On Friday she told Tom she was ready to talk. Tom described the scene to us:
he sat across from his wife, and she looked directly in his eyes. She said, “I’ve
made a decision. I have decided that I will be the best wife you could ever have, I
will be the best mother you could ever want for your children, and I will be the best
lover you could ever imagine. Now you can decide what you are going to do.”
Tom said he fell to his knees in front of his wife and sobbed. He had heard
about grace his entire life, but he had never experienced it. In fact, his wife’s
incredible act of grace was the first time he truly understood God’s grace. Tom told
us he spent the next forty years trying to be the husband he wanted to be to his
wife, and she spent the next forty years keeping the promises she made that day.
Grace is love in action after people mess up. Grace extends fellowship to
others. God reached out to you in grace to restore your intimate relationship with
Him: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Even when
we walk away from Him in our sin, His grace abounds. And God’s grace changes
us!
During His season of leadership on this earth, Jesus constantly reached out in
grace to heal people and restore relationships. To lead like Jesus, we must be
agents of grace, “examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness
toward us” (Ephesians 2:7 NLT).
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Does someone in your family or workplace need grace—specifically, the
chance to restore his or her relationship with you? If so, put down this
book and go right now to be an agent of grace.
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THE HABIT OF FORGIVENESS
“If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins,
your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Matthew 6:14–15
Humanly speaking, forgiveness is impossible.
Probably everyone on the planet has been hurt by the actions or words of
another person. The experiences of hurt come in a variety of ways, from broken
trust to broken people. A partner sabotages your business; your spouse has an
affair; a family member turns others against you; members of your church criticize
you; a person you love is abusive; or someone injures a loved one. As followers of
Jesus, we are taught we must forgive.
Let’s be clear: forgiveness does not mean that you deny what happened.
Someone hurt you, and that reality cannot and should not be minimized or
rationalized. You can, however, extend forgiveness without excusing the act done
against you. This is where God comes in. Out of the depth of your relationship
with Him, you can seek to be willing to forgive. It is in this place of being willing
that you can find the ability to extend forgiveness.
As leaders who are seeking to help people grow and develop, we need a healthy
capacity to forgive, redirect, and move on. Leaders who are impatient for results
can be quick to both judge and dismiss less-than-perfect efforts as failure, but the
journey of forgiveness must start with us. Unlike Jesus, we all fall short of a 100
percent score on our journey as leaders. Sometimes we make mistakes we could
have avoided. Sometimes we say or do things in the heat of the moment that we
regret. If we are wrapped up in our performance and the opinions of others, we will
be unable to forgive our own shortcomings, let alone anyone else’s. Yet Jesus
modeled His high standard for forgiveness when He cried out from the cross,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
One test of whether we have the heart attitude required to lead like Jesus is how
we respond when those we lead fail to perform according to our expectations. We
also need to remember that getting things nearly but not quite right is simply part
of the learning process that precedes getting things exactly right on a consistent
basis. That’s why praising progress is such a powerful concept.
Our families are another place where we must demonstrate forgiveness. As
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parents, we may have to practice with our children what we preach and apologize
for words we speak too quickly and in anger; we may have to ask our children for
forgiveness. We continue to believe that people—even our children—are pretty
quick to forgive when we admit a mistake. After all, our children already know we
aren’t perfect.
A powerful example of forgiveness comes from our friends Jim and Sheri.
They had planned a four-day trip to celebrate Jim’s birthday. They left home on
Thursday and had special plans for a Friday celebration. On Friday morning when
Jim checked his e-mail, he saw that his neighbor had sent him an array of photos
from a party that had taken place at Jim and Sheri’s home on Thursday evening.
When he dialed into their home security camera system, Jim was able to replay the
entire event. It seems their son, Christopher, had decided to take advantage of his
parents being out of town and had invited a few friends over. The news of a party
spread, and the guest list quickly expanded. Jim was extremely upset when he saw
what had happened in his home.
Jim usually enjoyed a few minutes of quiet time early in the morning. This
particular morning he read Lead Your Family Like Jesus. Jim was reminded in the
book that because God has forgiven all of our sins, we must forgive others. He also
read that sometimes when people make a mistake, we put them in a penalty box
(like in hockey) and leave them there for a long time. He found himself wondering
if he and Sheri had placed Christopher in a penalty box for the past four years.
Christopher had been through a tough season. A football injury during his
senior year of high school had ruined his chances of going to the college of his
choice. In the four years since then, multiple situations involving Christopher’s
behavior had challenged their family. He had been punished, restricted, and
deprived of privileges, and he had never shown remorse for anything he had done.
Jim was praying about what to do when Sheri joined him. He told her the
whole unpleasant story. Sheri wanted to leave right away, but Jim shared what he
had been reading and his experience in prayer. They decided they needed to break
the past cycle and react differently in this situation. Christopher needed their best
response.
Jim and Sheri decided to celebrate Jim’s birthday and continue to pray and
think about what to do. Christopher called his parents, asking when they would be
coming home. They told him they weren’t sure if they would stay the entire four
days since their schedule was very busy. Jim and Sheri had, in fact, decided to stay
the entire time, but wanted Christopher to think each day could be the day they
would return.
When Jim and Sheri arrived home, they found a spotless house. They knew
Christopher must have worked hard to clean up the mess they had seen in the
photos. They sat down with their son and told him they knew about everything.
They told Christopher they loved him, they forgave him, and they understood it
had been a tough four years. Their son’s head dropped into his hands, and he
sobbed and said, “I’m so sorry for everything I have put you through.” This was a
turning point. Jim told us they had waited and prayed for this moment. It came
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when he and Sheri were ready to trust in the power of forgiveness.
Forgiving is not a natural response to being hurt or disappointed. Forgiving is
instead a supernatural act of a person who has surrendered self, plans, will, and life
in obedience to God and who chooses to extend the kind of forgiveness he or she
has received. Jesus taught forgiveness to His disciples, He practiced forgiveness
with those who betrayed Him, and He willingly granted forgiveness to those
people who participated in His death on the cross.
The opposite of forgiveness is judgment, and judgment is pointing out a fault
with a view to condemnation. On the other hand, discernment is pointing out a
fault with a view to correction and restoration. So when we withhold forgiveness,
are we sincerely trying to correct or restore—or is there some benefit to us in
condemning?
Let’s look at what Scripture says: “Forget about deciding what’s right for each
other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way
of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is” (Romans 14:13 THE
MESSAGE). And James 4:11 adds this: “Don’t speak evil against each other, dear
brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing
and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it
applies to you” (NLT).
PAUSE AND REFLECT
In the game of hockey, when players violate the rules, they spend a
specific amount of time in the penalty box before they can return to the
game. Against that backdrop, spend a few minutes now and ask God to
reveal to you the answers to the following questions:
• Have you put someone in your penalty box? How long has he or she been
there? Is the time limit up?
• Are you still defining your life by how you have been hurt? If so, why?
• Are you in your own penalty box? Is the time limit up on the guilt you have
felt? Why or why not?
Obeying God and expressing His love allows us to step out of the
penalty box and forgive ourselves and others.
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THE HABIT OF ENCOURAGEMENT
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and
by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your
hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16–17
The Lord’s grace and forgiveness offer us spiritual redirection. The Bible uses the
word repentance—meaning “deciding to move in a new direction.” It is important
to note that Jesus’ message from the beginning was His call to repent: “From that
time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’
” (Matthew 4:17). That is still Jesus’ message today.
Encouragement completes the coaching cycle: it is your opportunity to help
those you coach stay on course and not move backward. A key aspect of effective
encouragement is catching people doing something right. The goal is to accentuate
the positive, and Philippians 4:8 encourages us to do the same: “Whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever
is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
S. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, was often heard saying, “Who needs
encouragement? Anyone who is breathing!” And our lives change in those
moments of heartfelt encouragement. Remember moments from your own life: a
supervisor recognized your work, you completed a project and heard “Great job,”
or someone noticed something different about you and complimented you.
Encouragement changes our perspectives in a moment. Jesus consistently
encouraged people with such words as “I will never leave you nor forsake you”
(Hebrews 13:5 ESV), words that gave His disciples, then and now, the ability to
live with hope.
Encouragement often does come through words, but so do wounds. Scripture
cautions us to be careful about what we say: “The tongue has the power of life and
death” (Proverbs 18:21). We know that to be true. We too often hear stories from
adults who are still wounded by their mothers’ words or struggling to be good
enough to meet their fathers’ standards. Some people had parents who never went
to a game or a play even though their child was the quarterback or had the lead
role. Sometimes encouragement is simply being present to cheer someone on.
Some leaders who are wounded find leading like Jesus difficult for them. We
have found that people who don’t feel very good about themselves have a hard
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time making others feel good about themselves through praise and encouragement.
Encouragement comes from a heart that is secure enough to recognize the good in
others and to express that recognition with words—and we know our words come
out of the overflow of our hearts (Luke 6:45).
You may think encouragement is not a big deal, but the power of
encouragement can quickly change someone’s day—or even his or her life. The
following two stories speak to the power of words and actions that encouraged and
changed the direction of a person’s life.
A man named Brian told us about a leader who made a difference in his life
through encouragement. For years Brian had watched Ed walk through the office
and greet people on a regular basis. He not only knew the vice presidents by name
but also knew every member of the staff and treated each as a person of dignity. In
most cases, Ed even knew the names of their children. He asked questions about
their families and encouraged them in their work. One day Brian made a comment
to Ed about his son being interested in going to medical school. Ed told Brian he
knew someone at that school and would be happy to write a letter for his son.
Given Ed’s busy schedule, Brian wondered if he would actually have time to do it,
but Ed wrote the letter. Brian’s son was accepted, graduated with honors, came
back to their hometown, and became a strong stakeholder in the community. Brian
said that his son’s life might not have played out this way if it had not been for a
leader who encouraged the people he influenced.
Encouragement can be especially appreciated on the darkest day of a person’s
life. When Phyllis’s second husband passed away, their family and friends came
from around the country. After his memorial service, people from their church
prepared dinner for all the out-of-town visitors. The sun had already set as Phyllis
and her loved ones drove up the street to her home. As they rounded the corner,
they saw lights. Hundreds of luminarias—sand-filled white bags with lighted
candles flickering from inside—had been placed around her cul-de-sac, down her
long driveway, and up her walkway, lighting her pathway home. The sight was
breathtaking. Phyllis and her family and friends couldn’t believe their eyes. The
day’s pain faded for just a moment as they looked at the beauty and felt the
encouragement being shown to them. She found a card on her door from her
neighbor, explaining that she had not known what to do to encourage Phyllis
through this day. She decided that lighting a path to her home would remind her
that God was still lighting her path for the future.
Encouragement is a powerful way to help those we influence experience the
love of God. Ken says if he had one wish for the world, it would be that people
would give up wanting to be right and instead focus on catching one another doing
things right. As leaders who desire to lead like Jesus, we are to be distributors of
encouragement.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
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Think of those phrases you wish you had heard more often when you
were growing up, phrases like “I love you,” “Great job,” “I love spending
time with you,” “You have a wonderful smile,” “You bless me”—and
spread those encouraging words to others today.
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THE HABIT OF COMMUNITY
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same
attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one
mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Romans 15:5–6
The Doing Habits of grace, forgiveness, and encouragement flourish when they
happen in the context of a community—whether that community is your family, a
support group at your church, or work groups in your professional life.
We were not meant to live life alone. God recognized that man should not be
alone; He created a woman to be with him. Genesis 1:27–28 reads:
God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he
created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the
earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and
over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Living in community was God’s idea, and He has given us instructions on how
best to build that community.
One of the core themes of the Bible is the kingdom of God, a community where
God is King. John Ortberg often asks, “What is the gospel that Jesus came to
teach?” He then answers the question with various passages from the books of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, where Jesus proclaimed, “The kingdom of
God has come near” (Mark 1:15). Scripture tells us to “seek first [God’s] kingdom”
(Matthew 6:33).
It’s been said that your faith gets you to heaven, but your works bring heaven
to earth. Lead Like Jesus leaders desire to bring heaven to earth in community. As
leaders we are to model loving one another (John 13:34), forgiving one another
(Colossians 3:13), and regarding others more highly than ourselves (Philippians
2:3–4). We are to teach and correct one another (Colossians 3:16), encourage one
another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), pray for one another (James 5:16), and bear one
another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). We are to be devoted to one another (Romans
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12:10), kind and compassionate (Ephesians 4:32), and generous in hospitality (1
Peter 4:9) as we serve and “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”
(Ephesians 5:21). Leaders who desire to lead like Jesus will internalize God’s
command, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12 ESV), and teach
others to do the same.
AN EXAMPLE OF DOING LIFE
TOGETHER
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).
One of the most important aspects of Phil’s leadership journey has been being
part of an accountability group with four other men. Some people don’t like the
word accountability, but as you will read in Phil’s story, it has been a key habit for
the spiritual growth and development of this group.
The men in Phil’s group have become his closest male confidants in what they
refer to as “doing life together.” Phil recalls being invited to join the group when
he was struggling through the early days of his first term as chairman of his church
elder council. He had agreed to take the position at the request of the senior pastor
who, to Phil’s surprise, left to take a position at another church eight weeks after
Phil had taken office. He felt overwhelmed by the burden of this leadership
responsibility. He remembers riding his bicycle around his neighborhood at three
in the morning and crying out to God that he couldn’t do the job. Things at his
company were tense and chaotic as well. The corporate office had decided to close
the manufacturing plant where he worked, and Phil was working with local
management and union officials to try to reverse the decision. All in all, he felt
isolated and trapped by his commitments.
During this time Phil was asked by his predecessor, former church chairman
Harle Damon, to meet him and two other men from their church for breakfast.
Harle explained that the purpose of the meeting was to explore joining together in a
fellowship of accountability to help one another in their Christian walk.
Phil had never been in such a group and was a little apprehensive about what it
might entail. He wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved in sharing with such an
impressive set of men his struggles as a leader at work, at church, and at home.
Nevertheless, Phil agreed to give it a try. Little did he know that accepting that
hand of Christian fellowship was the beginning of one of the most cherished and
enduring aspects in his walk of faith.
For twenty-five years, these men have been meeting once a week at the same
restaurant in the same booth, ordering basically the same breakfast. Their routine
has remained constant: someone leads a devotion, they pray at the beginning and
the end of their time together, and they enjoy lots of laughter in between. What sets
this experience apart from any other group of guys having breakfast are the
accountability questions they ask one another.
Every six months they agree on a set of questions that each member will
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answer at each meeting. The questions address matters important to living out their
faith in their personal relationships, at their church, and at work. Here are some of
the enduring questions they have asked one another:
Since our last meeting:
1. Have you maintained a daily habit of prayer and time in God’s Word? What did
you learn about God . . . and about yourself?
2. Have you maintained a healthy balance between work, family, church, and
personal time?
3. What one temptation plagued you in your walk with God this week? How did
you handle it?
4. Have you devoted quality time to sustaining a vibrant, loving relationship with
your wife?
5. Did you compromise your integrity this past week?
6. Have you treated the people in your life as the objects of God’s affection,
maintaining a positive, loving attitude toward them, using grace-filled speech
with them, and avoiding crankiness, gossip, and grumbling?
7. Have you actively sought to maintain or improve your physical well-being
through regular exercise, adequate sleep, and healthy eating?
The ground rules for the accountability discussions are these:
• All discussions are strictly confidential: absolutely nothing is to be shared with
anyone outside the group.
• Advice is given only when it’s requested. Try to avoid going into fix-it mode.
• No one is pressed to reveal more details than he feels comfortable sharing. No
open-heart surgery is performed by the group.
As Phil recalls, “Having met together for breakfast more than eight hundred
times, we have considered all that life can bring as reasons to pray for one another.
These have included private temptations, marital and family issues, crises at work,
leadership issues at church, illness within the group, death of loved ones, and,
ultimately, the death of two men in the group. God has spoken to each of us
through these times of open fellowship, and He has spoken words of
encouragement, words of compassion, and words of wisdom in a way that has no
parallel in my life.”
One episode that stands out in Phil’s mind was when he was greatly upset with
his father. Phil felt his dad had let him down in a deep and personal way. After
sharing his anger and frustration with the group, one of his brothers in Christ
looked Phil in the eye and told him that he needed to let go of his anger and forgive
his dad. As hard as it was to hear, Phil knew his friend was right and followed his
suggestion. Phil’s dad died two years later, and their relationship was sound and
loving to the very end. It could have been a lot different if it hadn’t been for the
word of truth spoken to Phil by a man he knew and trusted.
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PAUSE AND REFLECT
Several years ago a study was done of 237 Christian leaders who had
experienced a moral failing. The purpose of the study was to determine if
these cases had any common denominators. The researchers reported only
one thing all these men held in common: not one of them had an
accountability relationship with other men.1
Do you have an accountability group? If not, consider joining or
starting one. Think of ways you could strengthen your relationships with
the Lord and other believers by participating in this same kind of
Christian fellowship.
In our organizations, churches, and families, we live in community. Jesus
modeled living in community with His disciples. He established the mission and
vision of the community, and He gave His disciples the picture of the future: “Go
and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
Jesus built His disciples’ trust in Him; they learned they could trust Jesus above
all else. He also empowered the disciples, and community was built. Organizations
thrive when people not only trust leadership but also feel trusted and empowered
by leadership. Mutual trust is the foundation of a healthy community, but it can
only develop over time.
A great example of community building in an organization is Cardone
Industries, a remanufacturer of auto parts. These are the values of Cardone
Industries: honor God in all we do; help people develop; pursue excellence; and
grow profitably. Owner and principal Michael Cardone is a Lead Like Jesus board
member. When we asked him how he integrated the values of Cardone into a
multicultural, six-thousand-member workforce, he replied, “They can’t argue with
love.” He continued, “When people know you care about them and want to help
them develop, they work at a different level.” We agree with Michael: love is a key
element in the creation of a trusting community.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think of three words that describe the current culture in the community of
your family, your workplace, or your organization. Are you satisfied with
what these words say about your community? If not, what in your
community needs to be changed?
What can you do to live out in your family, workplace, and
community Jesus’ command that we love one another as He has loved
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us? List three specific ways—and put them into action today.
A loving community sets boundaries and communicates expectations about
what is acceptable within its culture and what is not. At the same time, community
inspires creativity in its members. The culture of your community will therefore
help determine how successfully your organization fulfills its vision and mission.
Leading like Jesus calls for building a trusting and loving community. If you don’t
love your mission, vision, and values as well as your people and the customers you
serve, you’ll never get lasting results.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Like the Being Habits, the Doing Habits can give us a sense of how ready
we are to lead like Jesus today. What do your answers to these questions
tell you?
• Obeying God and expressing His unconditional love—Are you
willing to share God’s love with those in your spheres of influence?
• Grace—Will you look for opportunities to extend grace to people at
your home and workplace?
• Forgiveness—Who in your spheres of influence needs your
forgiveness? When will you be able to offer it?
• Encouragement—What words of encouragement or praise can you
offer someone today?
• Community—What steps can you take to foster a community of love
and grace in your home and workplace?
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LEADING LIKE JESUS BEGINS IN
YOU
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Matthew 28:19–20
By reading this book, you have taken the first step of an exciting new journey to
lead like Jesus. As you begin to apply what you have learned at work, at home, or
in the community, the landscape will look familiar. The roles, responsibilities, and
challenges in your life probably have not changed since you started the book. What
has changed, however, is how you approach them.
The people you are around will more than likely be the same people you were
around before you started this journey. Expect them to behave just as they have in
the past and to respond to your leadership as they always have. As they sense a
change in how you are treating them, they will, at times, question your
motivations, misinterpret what you are trying to accomplish, and test your
commitment. Some will embrace the change you seek to create, some will be
skeptical, some will feel threatened by you, and some will oppose change for their
own reasons.
So it is important to realize that these people have been conditioned to respond
to you in a particular way. They will continue to respond that way until they sense
your commitment is for the long haul and trust in their own ability to succeed. The
longer you lead like Jesus, the more people will change. As individuals embrace
these principles, the work group, family, or community organization will change as
well. If your organizational culture does not let you talk freely about Jesus, don’t
worry. Behave like Jesus. Then when people are attracted to the way you lead and
they ask you about it, you are free to share with them your leadership role model.
Let people see the leader in your life.
One more tip: don’t make the mistake of trying to change other leaders with
whom you work. Focus on yourself. Be the change you want to see in others.
Leading like Jesus is lived out minute by minute in big decisions as well as
small choices. At some point leading like Jesus will involve going public with your
good intentions. That moment could come unexpectedly, perhaps when someone
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notices something different in the way you are leading and asks you what’s going
on. Are you prepared to respond?
YOUR PERSONAL LEADERSHIP
STATEMENT
Imagine you’re standing on a stage in an auditorium filled with the people you live
and work with every day. The house lights are up. You can clearly see your spouse,
your children and grandchildren, your brothers and sisters, your parents, your
friends, your boss, your coworkers, your pastor, and your neighbors.
Take a moment and picture each face looking up at you. All eyes and hearts are
opened and focused on you and what you are about to say. You feel the love and
anticipation in the air: you can’t imagine a more positive, accepting crowd than this
one that has gathered to hear you deliver a message of vital importance to you and
to them.
But a different feature of the room commands your attention as you begin. On
the wall immediately behind the audience is a cross.
Imagine taking a slight step forward, moving even closer to the smiling eyes
and faces of these very special people as you begin to speak. You have taken great
care in preparing what you are going to say and have written it down to be sure not
to forget an important point. You take the folded paper from your pocket and begin
to read your own personal statement of intent: you want to lead people like Jesus
did. What would you say? Perhaps something like this:
“Thank you all for coming to share this important moment with me. I’ve
invited each of you here because, at one time or another, I have attempted to
influence your thinking, behavior, or development. In other words, I have sought to
lead each of you somewhere for some purpose, for a good and positive goal. This
leadership may have been in a formal way when we were acting out our roles in an
organization or informally as part of our life role relationships.
“As a result, we have shared some successes together that left us feeling good
about our relationship and about what we accomplished. At other times we shared
frustration with both the results and their impact on our relationship. For the times
I have led you poorly—out of pride, fear, weariness, or just bad judgment—I
apologize and ask for your forgiveness.
“Without dismissing or minimizing the price we all paid for my mistakes, I
want today to ask each of you to help me by holding me accountable for leading
you at a higher level. I have come to the personal conclusion that to make the most
of the influence that has been entrusted to me, I need to follow a trustworthy and
relevant leadership role model. I need to model my leadership after someone who
will inspire, equip, and walk beside me; someone who calls me to care more about
the person than the project; and someone who enables me to bring joy into the
places where I lead and the relationships I am blessed with.
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“As the old hymn says, ‘I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no
turning back.’ It is my heart’s desire—and I am totally committed to following the
leadership teachings and example of Jesus in any opportunities I have to influence
people’s thinking, behavior, and development. I now recognize that, just as Jesus
did, I can do this only through an intimate relationship with the Father. I know that
my highest purpose in life is to glorify God. I know that loving Him and loving
others will give Him glory. As I become more like Jesus, I will lead more like
Jesus led. And my leadership will never be about me—it is always about glorifying
God—and it’s about you, our mission together, and the people we serve.
“Knowing me as you do, you may be thinking this goal sounds impossible—
and it sounds that way to me as I hear myself talk. If I were aiming for perfection,
that goal would be impossible to attain. If I were promising to deliver uninterrupted
progress without relapses, you would be right to dismiss my intentions and put
absolutely no hope in seeing those intentions put into practice. But I will start each
day asking God—with the guidance of the Holy Spirit—to help me make the best
leadership decisions I can. I will ask God to help me glorify Him by serving Jesus
Christ and serving you.”
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Make this speech your own. What parts will you change and why? When
you are pleased with your efforts, will you deliver this speech? You can
deliver it with words to an invited audience. You can also deliver it
moment by moment through the leadership decisions you make.
In the final section, we will give you the next steps to take and some tools and
techniques to adopt that will help you become more and more a Lead Like Jesus
leader. It is also our hope that the final section will provide you with ideas for how
to refine your skills as well as how to develop new and more effective ways to lead
like Jesus.
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PART VII
NEXT STEPS TO LEADING LIKE
JESUS
I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I
keep on doing. . . . What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from
this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me
through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:19, 24–25
When Paul described himself as a “wretched man,” he was essentially saying that
he was a work in progress—and aren’t we all? Everyone falls short of perfection. It
is only in our relationship with the Lord, only through Jesus, that we become more
like Him. That transformation is central to leading like Jesus. Only when our
transformation is under way can we begin to bring positive change to the lives of
the people we touch. In other words, leading like Jesus is about leading change.
Initiating change, modeling change, responding to change, and sustaining long-
term change are fundamental aspects of leading. Leadership is about going
someplace. It is about bringing the future into view through the acts and choices of
today.
When Jesus entered human history as a leader of change, He offered both the
means and the model for fulfilling the change He had in mind. His leadership
included things that only He could do. The holy work of the cross, for instance,
was His alone to complete. Washing the feet of the disciples was a symbol of the
work He called all of us to do in His name. In both these works of His hands, Jesus
changed the definition of great leadership from a place of power, position, and
prestige to the role of humble servant of love.
The change that Jesus came to introduce was not a minor adjustment to current
thinking and behavior that would allow for better levels of performance within an
existing system. The change He came to lead was radical and revolutionary. He
came to turn the world upside down and then right side up by making love the
preeminent standard for all aspects of relationships. Jesus calls all those who
follow Him to carry out their specific assignments in bringing this change to their
generation.
No matter what change you are trying to implement, it will not be easy—even
when the benefits are overwhelmingly positive. So, in this final section of the
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book, we will focus on the dynamics of change that have an impact on you, the
people around you, and the various organizations in which you participate.
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31
LEADING POSITIVE CHANGE
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3
As we have said, the heart and head of leading like Jesus are internal domains.
Thus, great leadership is an inside-out job. It begins with the heart question—Are
you here to serve or be served?—which is reinforced by the Being Habits. Once
your heart is right, the Lead Like Jesus journey travels to your head, where you
develop your beliefs about leading like Jesus. But people won’t know what’s in
your heart and head until you act on it by focusing on having hands that lead like
Jesus and on cultivating the Doing Habits. But taking what you have learned and
actually using it in your daily life as a leader is not easy. Why?
To answer that question, you first have to realize that change happens in all
your spheres of influence, from self, to leading another person, to leading others, to
leading an organization or a community. Second, you must understand that there
are different levels of change and a number of reasons why people resist change.
THE FOUR LEVELS OF CHANGE
Leading lasting change requires understanding and addressing four essential
levels of change:1
change in knowledge
change in attitude
change in behavior
change in cultural norms and expectations
Let’s explore each of these levels of change and see what they require from a
leader.
Change in Knowledge
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In many respects, change in knowledge is the easiest to accomplish. All you
have to do is read or listen to something. In our electronically connected world,
access to new information and data is literally at our fingertips.
As Ken’s wife, Margie, has often remarked, the gap between not knowing and
knowing is a lot smaller than the gap between knowing and doing. Effective
change leadership requires providing new information as well as a compelling
reason for people to consider changing the way they see the world around them.
According to our dear friend Paul J. Meyer, a key component of changing the
knowledge base of an individual or a group is “Repetition! Repetition! Repetition!”
A second aspect of effective knowledge transfer is testing for understanding.
Leaders who believe that the proclamation of ideas without the verification of
understanding equals effective communication are in for a great shock when it
comes time for implementation.
As you walk through the Bible and listen to Jesus addressing both crowds and
individuals, you’ll notice that He continually repeated the same message in a wide
variety of formats in order to meet the needs of His audience. He also initiated
opportunities for people to ask questions and clarify their understanding. The
priority He put on this aspect of leadership is reflected in His prayer to God: “I
have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. . . . Now they
know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the
words you gave me and they accepted them” (John 17:6–8).
Change in Attitude
Changing attitude is more difficult than changing knowledge because attitude is
an emotionally charged bit of knowledge. It’s when you feel strongly, in either a
positive or a negative way, about something you know. Attitude begins with
information, but without context, information is unlikely to generate any
enthusiasm for change. So a primary challenge for a change leader is to convince
people that what they are being called to do differently is both right and important.
For a leader, earning the right to be heard is based on trust. People who trust you
will hear what you have to say and, continuing to trust you, probably get on board.
Change in Behavior
Changing behavior is also challenging. It’s different from changing knowledge
or attitude because now people have to do something. For example, the vast
majority of smokers will tell you they know smoking is not good for their health.
Most also have a positive attitude about the idea of giving up smoking. But to
actually stop smoking is not easy, especially if it has been a long-term habit. Ken
always kids that he doesn’t smoke; he just eats. He knows he is ten to fifteen
pounds overweight, and he has a positive attitude about losing those excess
pounds, but it is difficult to change his eating behavior—particularly when he is
able to smell a piece of cheesecake a mile away. A few years ago, though,
something changed. Ken had a compelling vision of the future that involved
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fulfilling the role God has for him in spreading the Lead Like Jesus message. As a
result, today Ken is living a much healthier lifestyle.2
If they are to be of any practical use, changes in knowledge and in attitude must
inspire changed behavior. At the heart of every New Year’s resolution and every
promise to be better or do better lies the question of how to put those good
intentions into action. Change leaders have to identify behaviors that will move
people to the new patterns, model those behaviors, catch people doing things right,
and praise progress.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think of a personal change you know you should make. You have a
positive attitude about doing it, but you haven’t taken any steps yet. Why
not? Where can you get the help you need to break through this barrier
that keeps you from acting?
Change in Cultural Norms and Expectations
This is the most difficult change of all because it involves many people who
bring to the party a variety of perceptions about what should or should not be done.
As a result, lasting change in community only happens over time, so change
leaders have to be in it for the long haul. For change to gain the power needed to
transform a culture, each individual must share the basic desire for inclusion and
collaboration toward the higher purpose of the community. Consider this powerful
example of the beginning of cultural change.
At a Lead Like Jesus training in Ghana, it was no secret that a paramount chief
was in the room. Attendees periodically glanced his direction as they shared the
astonishing realization that the leader they so respected and feared was listening
and learning alongside them.
Ghana’s traditional and very powerful leader was introduced to a radical
concept that day: servanthood. As is customary at the end of the training program,
each participant was given the chance to wash someone’s feet. As bucket and rag
were passed around the room, everyone followed Jesus’ example of leadership and
took turns washing the feet of tablemates and neighbors.
Ghanaians’ respect for their paramount chief is so great that sometimes it even
surpasses their reverence for their president. Subjects must bow, kneel down, or lie
prostrate just to speak with their paramount chief. So when the paramount chief of
the Ewe Tribe bent down and rested on his knees, it shocked the gathering. He laid
aside the headdress that set him apart from his people as he bowed before one of
his subordinates. Only Jesus can inspire an action as radically anticultural as a
paramount chief kneeling before a subordinate.
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Chieftaincy in Ghana is traditionally a religious as well as political institution:
customarily, Ghanaians will believe whatever their paramount chief believes. For
the paramount chief of the Ewe Tribe to even attend a Lead Like Jesus training
meant that the people who were in attendance would pay closer attention to the
ideas presented.
After the training, the paramount chief approached a Lead Like Jesus team
member. Clearly, the day’s teaching had affected him, and only God knew the
implications for his tribe and even for his country. “Thank you so much,” he said,
overcome with emotion. “I love you.”
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think about a time you have been involved—as a leader or as a follower
—in a change of cultural norms or expectations. Was it difficult? Why or
why not? Did anything in particular help everyone get through the change
successfully? If not, what might have helped the transition?
Take heart! Change is difficult, but it will be worth the journey as
souls—including yours—are served by God’s Spirit and His people.
REASONS WHY LEADING CHANGE IS
DIFFICULT
It’s been said that the only people who like change are babies with a wet diaper.
Why is that so? We have found seven reasons why people resist change.
1. People feel awkward. People naturally want to avoid feeling
uncomfortable, but discomfort comes with a change in their way of
thinking, their attitude, or their behavior. This awkwardness is perfectly
natural. If you don’t feel awkward, then you aren’t going through change.
Application: When leading people through change, put the change in
context by explaining what, when, how, and why change is occurring and
why it is necessary.
2. People feel alone. Even if everyone in the family, the business, or the
organization is in the same situation, most of us tend to take it personally
when change hits: Why me? Fear of having one’s personal weaknesses and
limitations exposed can result in feelings of isolation and an unwillingness
to participate in the change.
When a leader models transparency and provides safe harbors where
people can share their concerns, they come to realize they are not alone in
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their feelings. Experiencing some strength in numbers, they find
themselves more open to the change and more confident about it.
Application: During our Lead Like Jesus programs, we conduct EGOs
Anonymous meetings where people are encouraged to share how their
pride and fears have negatively impacted their lives and relationships. A
comment often heard at the end of these sessions is, “I thought I was the
only one who felt that way.”
3. People focus on what they have to give up. People’s first reaction to a
suggested change is often a personal sense of loss. What do we mean by
this? Pride about past achievements, stability in relationships, and a sense
of balanced priorities are hard to surrender. So effective leaders of change
allow people to honor the past but not live there. These leaders help people
acknowledge present realities and reshape their picture of the desired
future.
Application: When working with groups undergoing change, we often
hold “mourning sessions” where people can talk openly about what they
think they will have to give up because of this change. People need a
chance to mourn their losses before they can embrace the benefits of the
change.
4. People can handle only so much change. Change is all around us all
the time. To lead a change that will last requires being alert to both the
extent and the speed of the change you’re asking people to deal with. If the
change becomes too much for them to handle, they can become
overwhelmed and discouraged despite the positive results you intend.
That’s why it’s best not to change everything all at once. Choose the key
areas that will make the biggest difference.
Application: When implementing change, let people experience some
success that they can build on before adding more elements. For some, the
Ten Commandments seemed to be too many. When He was asked which
was the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like
it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on
these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36–40). If people live by these
two commandments, they don’t necessarily need to remember
commandments such as Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not steal, or Thou
shall not commit adultery. In other words, the two greatest commandments
Jesus spoke about make everything else clear.
5. People worry about resources. Fear of change often expresses itself as
the fear of not having enough of what is required to implement the change.
This concern can lead to the hoarding of known resources, and then
cooperation ends. An effective leader calms people’s concern by opening
their eyes to the collective resources available.
Application: As the greatest Change Leader of all time, Jesus
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addressed concerns about resources by pointing His followers to God as
the Provider of all they would require:
“Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’
or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.” (Matthew 6:31–33)
6. People are at different levels of readiness. Those who are quickest to
raise their hands in support of change may be seeing it through eyes of
self-interest. Others, who are slower to be convinced about the value of the
change, may make better followers in the long run.
Furthermore, leaders who invest time in clarifying what they have in
mind and encouraging those who are initially reluctant can acquire steady
allies instead of creating foot-dragging enemies.
Application: The disciples who made up the next generation of leaders
—the disciples whom Jesus inspired and equipped to fulfill God’s vision
—were a varied group of unique personalities and different attitudes
toward change. Peter, for instance, represented a highly emotional, quick-
to-respond type. The apostle Thomas was slower to accept change, and he
required more information before making any commitment. Philip was
quick to embrace change, but he wasn’t entirely clear about what Jesus
had come to do. Jesus dealt with each of these men according to his
different needs and personalities. In the end each one followed Him and
gave his life in committed service to His vision.
7. People tend to revert to old behaviors when the pressure to change is
removed. Leading change that will last requires constant reinforcement. It
means praising progress, keeping the vision alive, reinforcing the
connection between individual effort and organizational success,
personally modeling consistent behavior during challenging times, and
extending grace and forgiveness to those who lose their way. Each of these
aspects of leading effective, long-term change requires the leader to make
sacrificial choices. Effective leaders of change must apply constant and
consistent pressure until the tipping point is reached and inertia becomes
action.
Application: One of the most powerful examples of Jesus reinforcing
His vision and values with the disciples, and Peter in particular, is found in
John 21:12–19:
Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples
dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus
came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the
fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after
he was raised from the dead.
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When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon
son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said,
“you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus
said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord,
you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love
me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you
love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love
you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were
younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when
you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will
dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to
indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he
said to him, “Follow me!”
Leading people through change that will last is difficult. Leaders need to give
people a passionate sense of purpose, a compelling vision of the future, and
constant reinforcement that the effort will be worthwhile.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Think about a difficult change that you were called to be involved in as a
leader or follower. Reflect on the seven reasons why leading even positive
change is hard. What could you have done differently as a leader or
follower to make that change effort easier or more successful?
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32
EGOS ANONYMOUS: TAKING THE
FIRST STEP TOWARD EXALTING
GOD ONLY
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a
good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 Timothy 1:5
As we have said before, we think great leadership is an inside-out job that starts
with your heart. That’s where you store your intentions as well as the answer to our
often-asked question: “Are you here to serve or to be served?”
When we ask that question in our sessions, nobody ever raises his or her hand
and says, “I am here to be served.” Instead, each person in attendance wants to be
known as someone who is there for others. Yet we know from the EGOs
Anonymous (EA) meetings we hold in our leadership seminars that everyone has
to deal, on a daily basis, with the demons of false pride and fear. In fact, we believe
EGO—Edging God Out—is the biggest addiction of all, because it motivates every
other addiction.
Everyone recognizes that people driven by false pride think more highly of
themselves than they should. Yet we contend that people with false pride are often
covering up not-okay feelings about themselves and are overcompensating for fear
and self-doubt. On the other hand, people who are clearly driven by self-doubt and
fear are constantly looking for things outside themselves that will make them feel
better about themselves. Sometimes those things are negative addictions such as
alcohol, drugs, sex, power, possessions, and the like. So when you don’t feel good
about yourself, return to the unconditional love of God and the support of His
people.
Now back to our EA meetings. We always start by saying, “All EA meetings
are voluntary. If your EGO has never gotten in your way through false pride
(promoting your self-interest) or through fear (protecting your self-interest), then
you can leave.” Tens of thousands of people have participated in EA meetings
through the years, and no one has ever left.
To give you a sense of how an EGOs Anonymous meeting works, we are going
to let you sit in on one as an observer. In a real EA meeting, there are no observers
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—only people who are actively trying to work on their EGO addiction. The people
you will meet are fictitious, but the issues they raise come from real people
involved in real-life leadership situations.
WELCOME TO EGOS ANONYMOUS
“Hi. My name is Darnell, and I am an EGOmaniac,” said the man standing in front
of his folding chair.
“Hi, Darnell,” the group replied with a tone of acceptance.
The man continued, “Since our last meeting, my pride affected my leadership at
home when it kept me from admitting to myself and to my wife that she was right
about a lousy investment choice I had made. Instead of owning my mistake, I got
mad at her for being right. It took me too long to apologize.” As Darnell sat down,
the group applauded, and several of the people in the group nodded in
understanding.
Next to stand was a well-dressed businesswoman on the other side of the circle.
“My name is Laura,” she said in a tone that indicated she was used to speaking in
public.
“Hi, Laura,” the group responded.
“I am an EGOmaniac,” Laura continued. “As the president of a large
advertising firm, my pride gets in the way when I become impatient with the
people who work for me. Last week, I took back an assignment I had delegated to
one of my key new team members and did the work myself. I ended up overloaded,
and she ended up demoralized.” The usual applause followed as Laura sat back
down.
Silence followed, as often happens at an EGOs Anonymous meeting. We may
wait several minutes until someone else is ready to share how his or her EGO has
sabotaged his or her efforts to be an effective leader. About a minute later, a tall,
gray-haired man with a thoughtful face rose slowly. “Hi. My name is Steven,” he
said in a quiet voice.
The group reached out again: “Hi, Steven.”
“I am an EGOmaniac,” Steven said. “My EGO takes the form of fear of
success. I am the pastor of a rapidly growing church, and I am reluctant to give my
approval to plans for further expansion. I am afraid I won’t be able to handle any
more demands on my time and energy.” His humble admission of self-limitation
was met with healing applause that signaled understanding.
In sharp contrast to the quiet demeanor of the pastor, the next person to stand
was an athletic-looking man in his midthirties whose quick movements and
energetic style radiated intensity. “Hi! My name is Tyler.”
The group responded, “Hi, Tyler.”
“I am an EGOmaniac,” Tyler replied. “I coach high school basketball, and my
EGO negatively impacts my leadership when my desire to win and my fear of
failure cause me to make choices that are not always in the best interest of the
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growth and development of my players.” The group clapped as the openness and
honesty of Tyler’s statement sank in.
An attractive, casually dressed young woman stood up. “Hi. My name is
Darla,” she said in a tentative, almost apologetic manner. The group greeted her
exactly as they had the other speakers.
“I am an EGOmaniac,” Darla continued. “I’m the mother of two small children.
My EGO gets in the way when my low self-esteem and fear of inadequacy make
me feel like a victim and rob my kids and me of any joy we could be sharing.” The
group nodded in understanding.
Next, a middle-aged man with a salt-and-pepper beard stood and said, “My
name is Rich.”
The group encouraged him with their greeting: “Hi, Rich.”
“Up until today, I would have said that I was not an EGOmaniac. I really don’t
have any pride. I know that everything I have comes from God. But today I’ve
discovered that I am an EGOmaniac. I’ve Edged God Out because of my fear.
There are so many things I know He’s wanted me to do, and either I haven’t
attempted them or I’ve settled for less than what I clearly knew He wanted.” The
group applauded his confession to demonstrate their support and understanding.
The pattern of reflective silence before and after the sharing of personal
triumphs and failures in dealing with false pride and fear continued for another
twenty minutes until everyone who wanted to speak had been able to both share
and receive encouragement from the group.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Imagine you were the next person to stand up at this EA meeting. How
would you describe the EGO problem that has had the biggest impact on
how you lead people?
Admitting you have an EGO problem is the first step of the Lead Like Jesus
twelve-step program we have developed for leaders who want to bring new hope
and effectiveness into their lives and relationships by leading like Jesus. As you
look at the people you influence—those in your organization, your church, and
your family—you might feel that constantly leading from a servant’s heart and
practicing the Doing Habits of grace, forgiveness, encouragement, and community
is utterly impossible. If so, remember that this calling to lead isn’t about what we
can do; leading like Jesus is about what God can do through us when we are
willing to obey Him and express His love. Because we are empowered and led by
God’s Holy Spirit, we can wisely and effectively lead others.
In fact, our greatest job as leaders is to let the One who is leading us become
visible to others through what we say and do. We felt the best way to do that—and
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the best way to pull together the beginning steps of the transformation required to
lead like Jesus—was to share the full twelve-step program, adapted from
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).1 The main purpose of EA meetings is to build a
community where people can, among other things, encourage one another to accept
God’s grace and to forgive themselves. Building community is important because
true change only happens over time and in community, yet building community
requires intimacy and vulnerability. We invite you to join us in a very personal
way as we go through the twelve steps of EA.
The Twelve Steps of Lead Like Jesus EGOs
Anonymous
1. I admit that on more than one occasion I have allowed my EGO needs and
my drive for earthly success to negatively impact my role as a leader. My
leadership has not been the servant leadership that Jesus modeled.
2. I’ve come to believe that God can transform my leadership motives,
thoughts, and actions into the servant leadership that Jesus modeled.
3. I’ve made a decision to turn my leadership efforts over to God and to become
a disciple of Jesus and the kind of servant leader He modeled.
These first three steps—admitting you have a problem, realizing that God is the
only One who can overcome it, and therefore letting go and letting God—begin
your journey to overcoming your EGO issues.
4. I’ve made a searching and fearless inventory of my own leadership motives,
thoughts, and behaviors that are inconsistent with leading like Jesus.
5. I’ve admitted to God, to myself, and to at least one other person when I’ve
been inconsistent in leading like Jesus in my motives, thinking, and behavior.
These two steps are where you take a hard look at yourself and admit your
shortcomings. A few minutes of brutal honesty is worth a year of self-deception.
6. I am entirely ready to have God remove all character defects that keep me
from leading like Jesus.
7. I humbly ask God to remove my shortcomings and to strengthen me against
the temptations of recognition, power, greed, and fear.
Here is where you come to the realization that God is not your copilot; He is
the One flying the plane! Only with Him in charge of your life do you have a
chance of overcoming your false pride and fear demons.
8. I’ve made a list of those people I may have harmed by my EGO-driven
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leadership, and I am willing to make amends to them all.
9. I’ve made direct amends to such people whenever possible, unless doing so
would injure them or others.
10. I continue to take a regular personal inventory regarding my leadership role,
and when I am wrong, I promptly and specifically admit it.
After accepting God’s grace and forgiving yourself, your reaching out to those
you may have harmed demonstrates to them God’s love. This is an ongoing
process of accountability; it will be daily work for the rest of your life. The great
news is that you never have to walk alone. As they say at the end of most AA
meetings, “Keep coming back!”
11. I engage in the disciplines of solitude, prayer, the study of Scripture, and
belief in God’s unconditional love for me in order to align my leadership
with what Jesus modeled and to constantly seek ways to be a servant leader
for the people I encounter in my leadership responsibilities.
12. I am committed to carrying the message of leading like Jesus to all those I
have an opportunity to influence.
The last two steps are where the Being Habits and the Doing Habits come
together: accepting and abiding in God’s unconditional love and obeying God and
expressing His love. Jesus emphasized the preeminence of God’s love when He
spelled out the two greatest commandments: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’
[Being]. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ [Doing]. There is no
commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30–31). The best way to fulfill these
commandments is to make the twelve EA steps a guide for your life.
While the first step of admitting your addiction is all-important, completing all
twelve steps is necessary for you to overcome your addiction to Edging God Out.
Give yourself plenty of time to overcome your addiction. And know that if you
take this mission seriously, you have a high probability of successfully leading
more and more the way Jesus does.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Remember that completing the twelve steps is a day-by-day journey and
an ongoing challenge. The great news is we are not called or designed to
travel the journey or face the challenge alone. Listen once again to the
promise Jesus makes to all who would follow Him: “Surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). That promise is still
available to you today.
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NEXT STEPS TO LEADING LIKE
JESUS: CHECKLIST
Leading like Jesus is not a destination but a journey. Like any good traveler
embarking on a journey, you will need to make sure you pack what you need.
Item √
Personal mission statement that is understandable by a twelve-year-old
Personal definition of success that mentions God’s call and His involvement
Set of rank-ordered personal operating values to help you decide which road
to travel when you find yourself at a crossroads
Truth tellers who will keep you headed in the right direction
Journal to record the triumphs, challenges, and lessons learned that you will
want to remember and pass along to others
Well-used instruction manual for daily living
A commitment to—with God’s help—practice the Being Habits: accept and
abide in God’s love; experience solitude; practice prayer; know and apply
Scripture; and maintain supportive relationships
A commitment to—with God’s help—practice the Doing Habits: obey God
and express His love, grace, forgiveness, encouragement, and community
Memorized set of emergency numbers when you are in trouble
Set of recalibration tools to help keep your path straight
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NEXT STEPS TO LEADING LIKE
JESUS: RESOURCE LIST
If you are missing any of the recommended items on your checklist, here are some
suggested resources to help you obtain what you need.
Personal Mission Statement
Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance by Bob Buford
Living on Purpose: Finding God’s Best for Your Life by Christine and Tom Sine
The Path: Creating Your Mission Statement for Work and for Life by Laurie
Beth Jones
The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren
Situational Self Leadership by Ken Blanchard, Laurence Hawkins, and Susan
Fowler
Personal Definition of Success That Keeps
God in Mind
Breathe: Creating Space for God in a Hectic Life by Keri Wyatt Kent
Experiencing God by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King
Great Attitudes!: 10 Choices for Success in Life by Charles Swindoll
In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon
It Takes Less Than One Minute to Suit Up for the Lord by Ken Blanchard
Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald
The Search for Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God’s Eyes by
Robert S. McGee
The Servant Leader: Transforming Your Heart, Head, Hands & Habits by Ken
Blanchard and Phil Hodges
The 12 Essentials of Godly Success: Biblical Steps to a Life Well Lived by
Tommy Nelson
A Set of Rank-Ordered Personal Operating
Values
The Heart of Business by Matt Hayes and Jeff Stevens
Managing by Values: How to Put Your Values into Action for Extraordinary
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Results by Ken Blanchard and Michael O’Connor
The Power of Ethical Management by Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent
Peale
Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda by Henry T. Blackaby
and Richard Blackaby
Transforming Leadership: Jesus’ Way of Creating Vision, Shaping Values and
Empowering Change by Leighton Ford
Truth Tellers to Keep You Headed in the
Right Direction
As Iron Sharpens Iron: Building Character in a Mentoring Relationship by
Howard Hendricks and William Hendricks
Brothers! Calling Men into Vital Relationships by Geoff Gorsuch with Dan
Schaffer
The Heart of Mentoring: Ten Proven Principles for Developing People to Their
Fullest Potential by David Stoddard with Robert J. Tamasy
Woman to Woman: Preparing Yourself to Mentor by Edna Ellison and Tricia
Scribner
Women Mentoring Women: Ways to Start, Maintain, and Expand a Biblical
Women’s Ministry by Vickie Kraft and Gwynne Johnson
Well-Used Instruction Manuals for Daily
Living
Lead Like Jesus devotions (Visit www.leadlikejesus.com to sign up.)
Let Go by Francois Fenelon
Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri Nouwen
Living Beyond the Daily Grind by Charles Swindoll
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
NIV Leadership Bible: Leading by the Book (Zondervan)
One Solitary Life by James A. Francis and Ken Blanchard
The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life by Bruce Wilkinson
Small Changes for a Better Life: Daily Steps to Living God’s Plan for You by
Elizabeth George
Streams in the Desert by L. B. Cowman
Practice the Being Habits
• Accept and Abide in God’s Love
• Experience Solitude
• Practice Prayer
• Know and Apply Scripture
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• Maintain Supportive Relationships
Practice the Doing Habits
• Obey God and Express His Love
• Grace
• Forgiveness
• Encouragement
• Community
A Memorized Set of Emergency Numbers to
Call When You Are in Trouble
Thought Conditioners: Forty Powerful Spiritual Phrases That Can Change the
Quality of Your Life by Norman Vincent Peale and C. S. Moore
Philippians 4:6–7 Fear
Psalm 23 Fear
Psalm 55:22 Anxiety
Matthew 6:25 Worry
1 Corinthians 10:13 Temptation
Romans 12:3 Pride
Proverbs 13:10 Pride
Jeremiah 9:23–24 Values
1 John 1:9 Repentance
Proverbs 3:5–6 Guidance
Psalm 143:10 Guidance
A Recalibration Tool to Help Keep Your
Path Straight
Chapter 32 of this book: “EGOs Anonymous: Taking the First Step Toward
Exalting God Only”
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DISCUSSION GUIDE
To help enrich your understanding and enable your application of the leadership
principles discussed in this book, we have prepared a summary of key concepts
contained in Lead Like Jesus Revisited. Each key concept is followed by one or
more discussion questions. In addition to reviewing the key lessons in each section,
this interactive guide will stimulate thought and conversation about how to apply
these concepts to each participant’s own leadership style.
We encourage you to proceed through the discussion guide at your own pace. It
is useful for individual study, but it is designed primarily for use in a group setting
—which we highly recommend—after everyone in the group has read the book.
We hope by reading Lead Like Jesus Revisited and sharing this learning experience
with others that you will not only acquire a deeper understanding of what leading
like Jesus is all about but also be inspired to incorporate the principles into your
daily leadership opportunities.
Before you get into your discussions, picture yourself and your Lead Like Jesus
group going on a relaxing walk with Jesus. You feel loved and secure, free to stop
along the way to ask questions and listen carefully to the Lord’s answers. Listen,
too, as He calls your name and says to you once more: “Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).
Blessings to you as you continue your journey.
PART I: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ON
LEADERSHIP (PAGES 1–38)
The formula Everything – Love = Nothing is not of our making. It is the irrefutable
law of the kingdom of God, perfectly fulfilled by Jesus. It is also the defining
characteristic of the leadership model of Jesus: leading like Jesus means loving like
Jesus.
Key Concept 1
Leadership is an influence process. Anytime you seek to influence the thinking,
behavior, or development of someone in your personal or professional life, you are
taking on the role of a leader.
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1. Think of two situations in which you currently act in a leadership role: one as
an organizational leader and one in a life role leadership situation. In what
ways are these leadership roles different from each other? In what ways are
these roles alike?
2. What basic question do you have to ask yourself and answer honestly if you
are going to seek to lead like Jesus in both situations?
3. What about each of these leadership roles makes it difficult for you to follow
through on seeking to serve rather than to be served?
Key Concept 2
“Jesus called [his disciples] together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, 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’ ”
(Matthew 20:25–28).
1. Jesus called His followers to an approach to leadership that was radically
different from what they saw in the world around them. As a modern-day
follower of Jesus, describe the general pattern of leadership you have
observed and experienced in today’s society.
2. Is the leadership Jesus expected from His followers any more or any less
radical today than it was in the first century? Explain your answer.
3. Given the complexity and potential impact of leadership decisions in a global
economy, what modifications do you think Jesus would make in His
instructions to modern leaders?
4. Name three specific ways Jesus would approach your leadership
responsibilities differently than you approach them.
Key Concept 3
Learning to lead like Jesus is a transformational journey (illustrated in the
spheres of influence diagram on page 24) that begins with self-examination. Then
you move on to leading another person in a one-on-one relationship, then to
leading others, and finally to leading an organization or community.
1. Whose are you? Who are you? What impact can knowing the answers to those
questions have on your leadership?
2. Name three ways you nurture trust in your one-on-one relationships at work
and at home.
3. Discuss a time when you lost trust in a leader and the impact that experience
had on your relationship.
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4. What words would people in your family use to describe your leadership in the
following situations:
• a time of crisis
• a time of failure
• a time of victory
• a time of plenty
• a time of want
5. What is most likely to occur when leaders try to drive change at the
organizational level without first addressing the issue of their own credibility
at the personal, one-on-one, and team leadership levels?
Key Concept 4
Leading like Jesus involves the alignment of four leadership domains: heart,
head, hands, and habits. The internal domains—the motivation of your heart and
the leadership perspective of your head—are hidden or even disguised if it suits
your purpose. The external domains—your hands, or your public leadership
behavior, and your habits as experienced by others—influence greatly whether
people will follow you.
1. Briefly describe in your own words what is meant by the terms heart, head,
hands, and habits of leadership.
2. What thought from this section was most striking, convicting, or significant?
How will you implement it? By when?
PART II: THE HEART OF A GREAT
LEADER (PAGES 39–83)
A changed heart means a changed leader.
Key Concept 1
What does your heart have to do with leadership? Everything! In the heart is
our why.
1. Have you ever experienced a challenge so big that you had to go back to the
core of what you believed about God and review the basics? Those beliefs are
stored in your heart, and they shape you and every relationship in your life.
Answer these fundamental questions:
• Is God good?
• Do you believe He has a plan and purpose for your life?
• Do you believe anyone or anything can change God’s plan for you?
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• Do you believe God loves you?
• Do you believe God will use everything in your life for His glory and
your good as He promised?
• Can you trust Him with all of the details of your life?
2. The core of leading like Jesus is love. In which of your relationships do you
find it a challenge to lead and love like Jesus?
3. What one step will you take today to strengthen one of those relationships?
Key Concept 2
If you want to follow the mandate Jesus gave us—to serve rather than be served
—know that every day your good intentions will be challenged. Our adversary
consistently tries to get us to serve ourselves. To better resist that temptation to be
drawn off course, we must understand the dynamics of our self-serving EGO that
Edges God Out.
1. List three things other than God that people worship and look to for either
security or a sense of identity. Why do we human beings trust these things
even though we know they are neither stable nor trustworthy?
2. Invite God to guide your thinking about the last time pride got in the way of
your leadership. Briefly describe the circumstances. What triggered your
pride? When you realized you wanted a do-over, how did you feel? What was
the reaction of others to your handling of the situation? What was the result of
your mishandling the situation? Do you need to apologize to anyone? What
has God shown you—and what does He want you to do?
3. When you face a difficult and uncomfortable decision, which of the following
fears are most likely to prevent you from following through on your good
intentions and instead prompt a “fight or flight” response?
• fear of rejection
• fear of inadequacy
• fear of death
• fear of success
• fear of loneliness
• fear of loss of control
• fear of losing
• fear of humiliation
• fear of public speaking
• fear of failure
• fear of intimacy
• fear of the future
• fear of want
• fear of pain
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• fear of ridicule
• fear of conflict
• fear of tests
What truth from God’s Word speaks to these fears? Write the Scripture
references here and a helpful verse on an index card you can carry with you
or put on the dashboard of your car.
4. Describe a time when emotions overpowered reason and you acted according
to your fears rather than your good intentions. What was the result?
5. Listen for the I factor in your conversations. Note your words and your
thoughts that reveal less than (fearful) or more than (prideful) thinking. Also
notice how often you turn a conversation back to yourself or interrupt
someone’s story to tell your own. Are your conversations laced with I, my, or
me? And what do your observations and answers tell you about yourself: Are
you more others-focused or more self-focused? If the latter, could you be on
the path to Edging God Out?
Key Concept 3
A life intentionally lived with a focus on Jesus and a deep commitment to Him
will help you move from Edging God Out to Exalting God Only.
1. Imagine your pride and fear being replaced by genuine humility and
confidence grounded in God. What impact would that exchange have in your
leadership roles and in your relationships?
2. What about your current concept of God might be keeping you from receiving
His unconditional love and accepting His promises as the source of your
security and self-worth?
3. Imagine you are sitting down with Jesus today just before He sends you off to
represent His kingdom where you work and in all your personal relationships.
Answer these questions Jesus might ask.
• Do you love Me?
• Do you trust Me?
• Will you serve Me by serving others?
• Do you believe I will always love you regardless of your performance or
other people’s opinions?
• Are you willing to set aside recognition, power, and instant gratification to
honor Me by doing the right thing?
The more times you answered yes, the more ready you are.
4. What thought from this section did you find most significant? What will you
do to implement it in your life—and by when will you do so?
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PART III: THE BEING HABITS (PAGES 85–
122)
Adopting the Being Habits is essential for those who choose Jesus as their role
model for leadership. He led with five key Being Habits—and if we want to lead
like Jesus, we will too.
Key Concept 1
Accepting and abiding in God’s love requires the foundational belief that His
love for you is possible. Believing that it is possible for God to love you will lead
you to Him—and He enables us to believe He loves us by His Son’s death on the
cross and His Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts.
1. Think of a time when you felt loved by God. What were the circumstances?
What steps could you take to feel His love now? One step is simply to ask
your heavenly Father to reveal His love to you.
Key Concept 2
Solitude is by far the most elusive habit in our modern world of noise,
busyness, and 24/7 communications. Solitude is truly countercultural and therefore
a challenging behavior to adopt.
1. When did you last spend a significant amount of time with God in solitude—
and that means without a to-do or prayer list? When was the last time you sat
quietly in God’s presence, listening for His still small voice?
2. What keeps you from being alone with God more often? What are the biggest
barriers to such solitude that you face—and what has worked for you,
enabling you to overcome them?
Key Concept 3
Prayer is an essential act of the will that demonstrates whether we are really
serious about living and leading like Jesus. Without prayer, we will never be able
to connect our plans and leadership efforts to God’s plan for His kingdom.
1. Describe your prayer life in terms of when, what, where, how, and why. What
are the richest aspects of prayer for you? Which aspects of your prayer life
need improvement?
2. You probably pray about people and situations, and that’s important. But
imagine that the next time you face an important challenge or temptation, you
first pray for the people involved. What impact might that have on how you
approach and interact with those people?
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3. What is your prayer strategy for each person, situation, and leadership
opportunity in your life? If you don’t have one, create one now. Maybe start
with some of the when, what, where, how, and why questions. Also, to whom
can you go for counsel about a prayer strategy and a strong prayer life?
Key Concept 4
In Scripture you discover that God loves you, He has great plans for you, and
He created you perfectly to accomplish a specific purpose. Scripture also teaches
us how to treat one another, how to love as we have been loved, and how to lead
like Jesus.
1. Describe a time when you faced a decision and your knowledge of Scripture
made a difference in your choice. What was the result?
2. Are you actively seeking God’s guidance by spending time reading, studying,
and meditating on Scripture? What is He currently saying to you?
3. Share your favorite verse with your group and talk about why it is your
favorite.
Key Concept 5
Leadership can be a lonely business filled with great amounts of soul-draining
human interaction but little soul-filling intimacy. Without some safe-harbor
relationships where we leaders can relax in confidential and unguarded
conversation, we become vulnerable to two debilitating frames of mind and spirit:
the victim and the martyr.
1. Name the special people in your life who love you enough to tell you what you
need to hear. What are you doing to strengthen these special relationships?
What people in your life need you to hold them accountable? Do you love
them enough to tell them what they need to know?
2. List three things you do to make it easy for your truth tellers to help you—and
then list three things you do that make it difficult for your truth tellers to tell
you what you probably don’t want to hear.
3. Who in your life is looking to you to be their truth teller? What do you
understand that role to look like? Be specific. Describe your partnership with
Jesus in this role.
4. What thought from this section did you find most significant? What will you
do to implement it in your life—and what deadline will you set for yourself?
PART IV: THE HEAD OF A GREAT
LEADER (PAGES 123–64)
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When we realize that God is our primary authority and audience and that we are
here to please Him alone, our good intentions travel to our heads.
Key Concept 1
Your compelling vision will be important in guiding and aligning the efforts of
those who are to follow you, or their whole relationship with you is built on a false
foundation of who you are.
1. If you are successful in your life purpose and relationships, what would your
ideal future look like? Be specific.
2. Imagine your ten-year-old daughter asking you, “What are the four most
important values in our family?” What are they?
3. Remember that assessing your life purpose, your picture of the future, your
values, and your goals is an ongoing process. In what specific way(s) can your
compelling vision be used for your greater good and the greater good of those
you lead? And what can you do to glorify God as you seek to fulfill that
vision?
Key Concept 2
Jesus stayed focused on what He was sent to accomplish during His season of
leadership on earth. In total obedience and commitment, Jesus stayed on task. He
did not seek to take on other projects or the agenda others hoped He would fulfill.
1. As a leader, list three things that are most likely to pull you off course from
your purpose. What impact would your changing course or direction have on
the morale of the people you lead?
2. Think of a time in your life when a leader stayed strong and on task despite
tremendous pressure to give up or give in. What was the long-range impact on
your desire to follow and trust that leader?
Key Concept 3
People skeptical about our approach to great leadership contend that the words
servant and leader don’t go together. How can a person both lead and serve?
People who think that way don’t understand the two parts to the great leadership
Jesus exemplified: The visionary role—setting the course and the destination—is
the leadership aspect of great leadership. The implementation role—doing things
the right way with a focus on serving—is the servant aspect of great leadership.
1. Describe in your own words the two parts of leadership—vision and
implementation—and the role of the leader in creating an environment where
people get excited about both where they are headed and how they are going
to get there.
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2. Think for a moment about how well you serve those around you. What do you
do to help those you lead live according to the organization’s vision? What do
you do to help family members live according to the family’s vision?
Leadership is not about power. Leadership is not about control. It’s about
helping people live according to the organization’s or family’s vision and,
ultimately, God’s vision.
3. What thought from this section did you find most significant? What will you
do to implement it in your life—and what deadline will you set for yourself?
PART V: THE HANDS OF A GREAT
LEADER (PAGES 165–208)
Hands provide a powerful symbol of the doing aspect of leading like Jesus. With
His hands, Jesus rescued the fearful, reassured the doubting, restored the fallen,
and beckoned the already occupied to a higher calling and a special personal
relationship with Him.
Key Concept 1
Jesus was the preeminent performance coach, and He changed His leadership
style appropriately as His disciples developed individually and as a group. Jesus
also empowered His followers to carry on the work of sharing the salvation
message after He was gone. Through His hands—through His effectiveness as a
servant leader—Jesus was able to communicate to His disciples what was in His
heart and His head about servant leadership.
1. Describe a time when you were involved in a failure of communication that
resulted in a vast difference between what was expected and what was
delivered. Recall the frustration and wasted energy that could have been
avoided by initially testing for understanding.
2. Only with day-to-day coaching can a leader ensure that the dual goals of
positive results and healthy relationships will be reached. List three things that
happen when a leader delegates responsibility but fails to provide help and
guidance along the way.
Key Concept 2
For individuals to advance from novice to master/teacher, they need leadership
partners who can give them whatever direction and support they need to progress
to the next stage of learning.
1. Describe a time when you were an untrained novice facing a new task or role.
In order to get started, what did you need most from someone? Did you get
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what you needed? If not, what was the result?
2. Describe a time when you were learning something new and needed someone
to push you beyond a failure or an easy early success so that you could get to
a higher level of understanding and performance. Think of a time when you
quit because nobody was around to help you step up to the next level. What
are you doing as a leader to determine who among those you lead needs to be
helped or pushed? What signs of being ready to quit do you watch for?
3. Can you remember a time when you felt underappreciated for a job well done?
What if your leader had come alongside you with some small sign of
appreciation? What effect would that kindness have had on you?
4. Describe a time when you were given the opportunity to teach and guide
others in what you yourself had recently learned. In what ways did your being
prepared as a follower affect how you led others?
Key Concept 3
The true test of great leadership comes when the EGO of the leader and the
EGO of the follower engage one another. How well they recognize and overcome
the pride and fear in their relationship will determine whether they move toward
the mutual satisfaction of commonly held goals—or share in frustrations of their
own making.
1. The ideal relationship between a leader and a follower is characterized by
mutual service and trust. Describe a time when you, as either a leader or a
follower, experienced this type of working relationship. What behaviors
helped produce this positive experience and effective partnership?
2. In what ways do you help your people become high performers? Be specific.
What can you do to make your relationship with your people a true
partnership? Identify the first step you want to take and decide when you will
implement it.
3. What thought from this section did you find most significant? What will you
do to implement it in your life—and what deadline will you set for yourself?
PART VI: THE DOING HABITS (PAGES
209–43)
We will not lead differently until we become different people through the
transformation that results from our relationship with Jesus. We can’t lead like
Jesus without following Jesus.
Key Concept 1
Grace is believing that people are doing the best they can, given their level of
193
awareness. It is up to us to make sure grace is extended; we lead in the way of
grace.
1. Describe in your own words what it means for you as a leader to extend grace
to someone under your authority or in your circle of influence.
2. Who in your family or workplace especially needs grace right now? Go now to
be an agent of grace.
Key Concept 2
Out of the depth of your relationship with God, you can seek to be willing to
forgive. It is in this place of being willing to forgive that you can find the ability to
extend forgiveness to another.
1. Why is extending forgiveness an important aspect of leadership?
2. What price must be paid if true forgiveness is to have a positive impact on the
future of a relationship?
3. Whom do you need to forgive in order to restore a productive relationship with
this person who let you down?
Key Concept 3
Encouragement changes our perspectives in a moment. Jesus modeled
encouragement during His season of leadership.
1. What are some phrases you wish you had heard more often when you were
growing up? Spread some of those phrases to at least three people today—and
don’t forget your family.
2. List the names of some people who need an encouraging word or act from
you. What specifically does each one need? When can you give it?
Key Concept 4
Living in community was God’s idea, and He has given us instructions for how
best to build community.
1. Do you have an accountability group? If not, think of ways you could
strengthen your relationships with others by participating in this kind of
Christian fellowship.
Key Concept 5
Foundational to leading like Jesus is embracing a life purpose of loving God
and loving and serving people.
194
1. In 1 Corinthians 13 the apostle Paul wrote that love is patient, kind, generous,
courteous, humble, unselfish, good tempered, guileless, and sincere. Ask
yourself these questions about each trait of love:
• When does my life reflect this aspect of love?
• When do I especially struggle to live out this aspect of love?
2. Think of a time when doing the loving thing instead of the popular thing, the
easiest thing, or the safest thing would have restored or retained trust. What
kept you from doing the loving thing? Remember this experience for future
reference.
Key Concept 6
From a practical point of view, leading like Jesus accomplishes the dual
objective of great leadership—results and relationships.
1. When your current season of influence ends, which of the following do you
want to be your legacy? Why?
• Improved service to your customers
• Enhanced development of the talents and gifts of the people under your
influence
• Made a significant impact on the world around you
2. List two action steps toward the goal you chose that you will commit to taking
in the next thirty days.
3. What thought from this section did you find most significant? What will you
do to implement it in your life—and what deadline will you set for yourself?
PART VII: NEXT STEPS TO LEADING
LIKE JESUS (PAGES 245–67)
Key Concept 1
Taking what you have learned about leading like Jesus and applying it in your
daily life as a leader is not easy. One reason is that most people naturally resist
change. That’s why leading people through change requires a passionate sense of
purpose, a compelling vision of the future, and constant reinforcement that the
effort will be worthwhile.
1. Think about a change you were called to be involved in as a leader or a
follower that was difficult for you. Reflect on the seven reasons why leading
even positive change is hard (see pages 252–57). What could you have done
differently as a leader or a follower to make that change easier and/or more
successful?
195
Key Concept 2
We all want to be known as someone who is there for others, yet we know that
everyone has to deal, on a daily basis, with the demons of false pride and fear. We
need to be sure our EGO is Exalting God Only and not Edging God Out.
1. Think for a minute and come up with one instance at work and one outside of
work where your EGO was an obstacle to your being an effective leader.
What can you do to overcome pride and fear when you become aware that
they are affecting your decisions or your performance as a leader?
Key Concept 3
Leading like Jesus is a one-step-at-a-time journey and day-by-day challenge,
not a final destination. And leading like Jesus can be done only in the power of the
Holy Spirit and with committed, supportive relationships, first with God and then
with others. Staying the course in this journey means frequently checking where
you are and where you are headed and making any necessary course corrections.
1. For each of the four leadership domains, list one action item you feel would be
the hardest for you to continually improve without the help of the Holy Spirit.
Heart:
Head:
Hands:
Habits:
Key Concept 4
One unique resource for followers of Jesus is the active presence of the Holy
Spirit as Counselor and Guide in our lives. Jesus promised in John 14:26, “The
Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you
all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
1. Using your own words, write out a prayer to God. Invite the Holy Spirit to
take control of your heart, head, hands, and habits as you seek to gain victory
over obstacles that stand in the way of your leading like Jesus. Repeat this
process often—for the rest of your life. God bless.
196
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From Ken: I’m thankful for my wife, Margie; our son, Scott; his wife, Madeleine;
our daughter, Debbie; and all of our grandchildren for bringing a continuous
stream of joy into my life. I’m also grateful for my administrative and editorial
support team, Margery Allen, Martha Lawrence, Renee Broadwell, and Anna
Espino, for keeping me in line and making me smile.
From Phil: Thank you to my wife, Jane, for her loving support, candor, and
patience; to Philip and Marion Hodges and Paul and LeeAnne Pinner for their
inspiration as the loving parents of our seven grandchildren; and to my sister, Liz
Pavoni, for her constant encouragement.
From Phyllis: Thank you to my family for their constant support, unconditional
love, and encouragement in every season of my life and particularly as I have been
writing Lead Like Jesus Revisited. You remind me of what leading like Jesus looks
like in real life, and your lives push me to teach others about the daily difference
Jesus makes. Thank you to Jesus—the one who inspires me moment to moment to
grow His dream in me to become more like Him and teach others to do the same.
From the authors: Besides our three-member Consultant Team of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the authors want to acknowledge the contributions of
the following servant leaders:
• Karen McGuire, for continuing to lovingly proofread and edit for the Lead
Like Jesus ministry. Karen’s contribution to Lead Like Jesus and now to Lead
Like Jesus Revisited has been critical in capturing the Lead Like Jesus
message. Karen’s heart for Jesus, her heart to serve, and her heart for
excellence shine through on every page.
• Renee Broadwell, for her patience and great skill in editing our final work to
ensure the message of this book was the message we meant it to be.
• Avery Willis and Lee Ross, our coauthors of the Lead Like Jesus: Beginning
the Journey study guide, for the many concepts we developed together.
• The Lead Like Jesus team, who continue to demonstrate leading like Jesus in
everyday tasks both great and small.
• Jack Countryman, who believed in the Lead Like Jesus message early on.
• Dallas Willard, for his high scholarship and wisdom in calling us into a
deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus.
• Henry Blackaby, for his unwavering focus on abiding in the heart, mind, and
will of God.
• Robert S. McGee, for his concept of Satan’s formula for self-worth being the
197
sum of your performance plus the opinion of others.
• Bill Hybels, our coauthor on Leadership by the Book, who inspired our
journey to study the heart, head, hands, and habits of leading like Jesus.
198
NOTES
Chapter 2: The Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time
1. Ken Blanchard first developed Situational Leadership® with Paul Hersey in the
late 1960s. It was in the early 1980s that Blanchard and the founding associates
of the Ken Blanchard Companies—Margie Blanchard, Don Carew, Eunice
Parisi-Carew, Fred Finch, Calla Crafts, Laurie Hawkins, Pat Zigarmi, and Drea
Zigarmi—created a new generation of the theory, called Situational Leadership®
II. The best description of this thinking can be found in Kenneth Blanchard,
Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi, Leadership and the One Minute Manager
(New York: William Morrow, 1985).
Chapter 4: Is Jesus a Relevant Role Model for Us Today?
1. William Barclay, “Commentary on John 14:1,” The New Daily Study Bible,
http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/view.cgi?bk=42&ch=14&vs=1.
Chapter 6: The Four Domains of Leading Like Jesus
1. John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for
Ordinary People (1997; repr., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 167.
Part II: The Heart of a Great Leader
1. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning
in the Christian Life, 1st gift ed. (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), 1.
Chapter 8: I Want to Lead Like Jesus, But My Heart Does Not
1. Robert S. McGee, The Search for Significance: Your True Worth Through God’s
Eyes (Nashville: W Publishing, 2003), 21.
Chapter 9: The Results of a Heart Out of Order
1. Inspired by C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (repr., New York:
HarperCollins, 2001), 44: “an ever-increasing craving for an ever-diminishing
pleasure.”
Chapter 10: Warning Signs on the Path to Edging God Out
1. Francis Fisher Browne, The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln: A Narrative
and Descriptive Biography with Pen-Pictures and Personal Recollections by
Those Who Knew Him (Chicago: Browne & Howell, 1914), 408–10.
2. Leighton Ford, Transforming Leadership: Jesus’ Way of Creating Vision,
Shaping Values and Empowering Change (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
Press, 1991), 261.
199
3. Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale,
2003).
Chapter 11: A Heart Turnaround
1. Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and
Others Don’t (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 35.
2. Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Ethical Management
(New York: William Morrow, 1988), 39.
3. Fred Smith, Breakfast with Fred (Ventura, CA: Regal Books/Gospel Light,
2007), 166.
Part III: The Being Habits
1. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 175.
Chapter 14: The Habit of Practicing Prayer
1. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1935),
171.
2. Johnson Oatman Jr., “Count Your Blessings,” 1897.
Chapter 16: The Habit of Maintaining Supportive Relationships
1. Ken Blanchard and Colleen Barrett, Lead with LUV: A Different Way to Create
Real Success (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times Press, 2011), 106.
2. Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels, and Phil Hodges, Leadership by the Book: Tools to
Transform Your Workplace (New York: William Morrow, 1999), 110.
Part IV: The Head of a Great Leader
1. Ken Blanchard and Jesse Lyn Stoner, Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of
Vision in Your Work and Your Life (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2003), 79.
Chapter 17: Developing Your Own Compelling Vision
1. Susan Fowler developed this process for the Situational Self Leadership program
offered by the Ken Blanchard Companies. For more information, see
www.kenblanchard.com.
2. Ken Blanchard and Michael O’Connor, Managing by Values: How to Put Your
Values into Action for Extraordinary Results (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler,
1997), 112.
Chapter 19: Creating a Compelling Team/Organizational Vision
1. Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking
Glass (1865/1872; repr., New York: Cosimo Books, 2010), 41.
2. Everything written here about Louisiana State Penitentiary, Warden Burl Cain,
and the Malachi Dads program came from visits by Phyllis Hendry and Phil
200
Hodges to the prison and in-person discussions with Warden Cain.
3. Pew Charitable Trusts, Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effects on Economic
Mobility (Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010), 18; Roger Weeder,
“Breaking the Cycle: Children Who Have Parents in Jail,” Operation New Hope,
May 6, 2015, http://operationnewhope.org/breaking-the-cycle-children-who-
have-parents-in-jail/.
4. Jeff James, “Standards with Purpose,” Talking Point: The Disney Institute Blog,
September 4, 2012, https://disneyinstitute.com/blog/2012/09/standards-with-
purpose/94/.
5. Ken first heard this concept of great leaders being like third-grade teachers from
Max DePree, the legendary former chairman of Herman Miller.
6. Ken Blanchard, John P. Carlos, and Alan Randolph, Empowerment Takes More
Than a Minute (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1996).
Chapter 20: Implementing Your Compelling Vision
1. Bob Buford, Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1994), 197.
Chapter 22: The Work of the Carpenter
1. Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World (Chicago: Revell, 1891),
32.
Chapter 23: The Way of the Carpenter
1. John MacArthur, Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples
for Greatness—and What He Wants to Do with You (Nashville: Thomas Nelson,
2002).
2. Ibid., 39.
3. More than forty years ago, Ken began developing Situational Leadership® with
Paul Hersey. Today, the latest version of that concept, called Situational
Leadership® II, is used widely around the world to help leaders develop high-
performing leader-follower relationships. It was not until the late 1980s, when
Ken became a believer and read the Bible, that he realized how compatible the
concepts contained in Situational Leadership® II were with the biblical record of
how Jesus trained and developed His disciples as He moved them from call to
commission. In fact, this Way of the Carpenter model is an adaptation of the
Situational Leadership® II model. To find out more about Situational
Leadership® II, read Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi,
Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through
Situational Leadership (New York: Harper Collins, 1985).
Chapter 25: The Habit of Obeying God and Expressing His Unconditional
Love
1. Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World (Chicago: Revell, 1891),
201
18.
Chapter 29: The Habit of Community
1. Rod Handley, Character Counts: Who’s Counting Yours? (Grand Island, NE:
Cross Training, 2002), 35–36.
Chapter 31: Leading Positive Change
1. Ken Blanchard et al., Leading at a Higher Level (Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Financial Times Press, 2009), 215.
2. If you are interested in learning more about Ken’s journey to a healthier
lifestyle, read Fit at Last (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2014), which Ken
Blanchard coauthored with his fitness coach, Tim Kearin.
Chapter 32: EGOs Anonymous: Taking the First Step Toward Exalting God
Only
1. Alcoholics Anonymous, The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York:
Works Publishing, 1939).
202
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
KEN BLANCHARD
Ken Blanchard is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world. A
prominent speaker and author, he has coauthored more than sixty books, including
The New One Minute Manager®. His books have combined sales of more than 21
million copies in forty-two languages. Ken and his wife, Margie, cofounded the
Ken Blanchard Companies®, a leading international training and consulting firm.
Ken had been teaching effective leadership principles for years when he began
to study the Bible. He soon became fascinated with how Jesus led perfectly in
every way, transforming twelve ordinary, unlikely individuals into the first
generation of Christian leaders and launching a movement that continues to affect
the course of world history more than two thousand years later.
Inspired by Jesus’ model of leadership, Ken and his lifelong friend Phil Hodges
cofounded the Lead Like Jesus global ministry.
203
PHIL HODGES
Phil Hodges served as a human resources and industrial relations manager for
Xerox Corporation and U.S. Steel for thirty-six years. In 1997 he became a
consulting partner with the Ken Blanchard Companies®, where he focused on
issues relating to leadership and customer service. In 1999 Phil cofounded the Lead
Like Jesus leadership ministry with friend Ken Blanchard.
In addition to helping men and women of faith walk their talk in the
marketplace, Phil has a passion for bringing effective leadership principles into the
church. Acting on that passion, he served as member and chairman of his local
church elder council for more than ten years.
Phil is coauthor of five books, including two he wrote with his friend Ken
Blanchard: Lead Like Jesus: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of
All Time and Lead Like Jesus for Churches.
Phil finds great joy in living out his life role relationships of husband, father,
and grandpa. He and his wife, Jane Kinnaird Hodges, live in Southern California.
204
PHYLLIS HENDRY
Phyllis Hendry is president and CEO of the Lead Like Jesus global ministry. She is
also a sought-after keynote speaker who travels throughout the United States and
the world to deliver hope-filled messages straight from her heart, sharing the stage
with such notables as Ken Blanchard, John Ortberg, Patrick Lencioni, and Henry
Blackaby. Phyllis also enjoys speaking in such intimate settings as church
congregations, small group retreats, and one-on-one encounters.
Prior to joining Lead Like Jesus, Phyllis served for eleven years as president of
the National Science Center, Inc., in Augusta, Georgia, a partnership with the
United States Army, where she collaborated with top military and government
officials.
Phyllis’s greatest desire is to lead individuals into a deeper relationship with
Jesus. Through Lead Like Jesus, she helps equip and empower people around the
world to adopt Jesus as their leadership role model so that, through Him, the world
will be forever changed.
Phyllis resides in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and enjoys spending time with
her four children and nine grandchildren.
205
INDEX
abdicating, vs. delegating, 195
accountability, 241–242
accountability group, 233–236
ACTS method of prayer, 103–104
Adam and Eve, 56
addiction, 56–57
adoration in prayer, 103
anger, 214
apprentice, 182, 196
EGO issues, 206
needs of, 185–188
Peter as, 186–188
assumptions about people, 174
attitude, change in, 249
authority, God as, 77–78
awkwardness from change, 252–253
Barrett, Colleen, 118
behavior, 42, 210
change in, 249–250
Being Habits, 37–38, 85–87, 247
abiding in God’s love, 89–94
and EGOs Anonymous 12 steps, 266
knowing and applying scripture,
105–113
prayer, 99–104
solitude, 95–98
supportive relationships, 115–122
beliefs, 36, 39–41
Blanchard, James, 44–45
both/and approach, 138–139
bring-me-a-rock syndrome, 161
Buford, Bob, Halftime, 162
Cain, Burl, 146–147
called people, 71
Cardone Industries, 236–237
206
carpenter, Jesus as, 173–177
Cathy, S. Truett, 228
Chambers, Oswald, 100
change, xiv, 23, 239–240
in attitude, 249
in behavior, 249–250
in cultural norms and
expectations, 250–252
God’s love and, 93
heart and, 42, 73–83
in knowledge, 248–249
levels of, 248–252
limits to, 254
positive, 247–257
reasons for difficulty in leading,
252–257
children with parents in prison, 147
choices, 152–153
coaching, day-to-day, 168, 169–171
Collins, Jim, Good to Great, 79
Colson, Chuck, 163
community, 210, 231–238
EGOs Anonymous and, 263–264
comparison, with others, 61, 63
confession, in prayer, 103
confidence, God and, 78–81
conflict, in leader-follower
relationships, 202–203
consultant, Jesus as, 19–20
controllers, 58
core values, 32, 130–132
costs, 174–175
courtesy, 150
cultural norms, change in, 250–252
culture
of community, 237
of organization, 142
day-to-day coaching, 168, 169–171
decision-making, 120–121
HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely,
Tired) and, 68
delegating, vs. abdicating, 195
dependence on self vs. God, 66
discernment, 224
207
disciples, Jesus’ transformation of, 179
Disney, Walt, 144–146, 149–150
distortion, 62–63
do-nothing bosses, 59
Doing Habits, 37–38, 209–210, 247
community, 210, 231–238
and EGOs Anonymous twelve
steps, 266
encouragement, 210, 227–230, 231
example, 232–237
forgiveness, 210, 217, 221–225, 231
grace, 210, 217–220, 231
driven people, 70–71
Drummond, Henry, 173
The Greatest Thing in the World, 213
dynamite, 128
Edging God Out (EGO), 50–52, 81,
199–210
admitting problem, 263
in leader-follower relationships,
200–201
in learning stages, 205–208
pride and fear, 53–58
summary, 63
warning signs, 65–72
efficiency, 150
EGOs Anonymous, 259–267
twelve steps, 264–265
80/20 rule, 133
empowerment, 29
encouragement, 210, 227–230
Erickson, Doug, 146
Exalting God Only (EGO), 73–83
admitting problem, 263
taking first step, 259–267
expectations, change in, 250–252
exploitation, in leader-follower
relationships, 203
faith, 18
and work, 45
family, 170
environment of love, 212
forgiveness in, 222–223
leadership in, 30
208
organization in, 32–33
vision for, 160–161
FEAR (False Evidence Appearing
Real), 62
fear (self-protection), 1, 53, 55, 56–58,
62, 63
of intimacy, 61
in leader-follower relationships, 203
results of, 58–64
feedback, 117
negative response to, 69–71
final exams, 161–162
Ford, Leighton, Transforming
Leadership, 69
forgiveness, 210, 221–225, 231
withholding, 217
formula, Everything – Love = Nothing,
xiii, 172
freedom, xi
future, picture of, 128–130, 145–148
Ghana, 251
goals, 10, 133
establishing, 153–154
involving others in, 169
vs. life purpose, 126
vs. vision, 147–148
God. See also Edging God Out (EGO);
Exalting God Only (EGO)
abiding in love of, 86, 89–94
as authority, 77–78
dependence on self vs., 66
Edging God Out (EGO), 50–52
guidance from, 15–16
Jesus’ focus on pleasing, 142
listening to, 98
obedience to, 78, 211–215
separation from, 59
time with, 87
worshipping, 73–75
grace, 210, 217–220, 231
Grier, Rosey, 120–121
habits, 37–38
aligning with hearts, heads, and
209
hands, 35
HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired), 68
hands, 37, 247
aligning with hearts, heads, and
habits, 35
of great leader, 165–166
of Jesus, 165–166
heads, 36, 123–124, 247
aligning with hearts, hands, and
habits, 35
core values, 130–132
goals, 133
vision development, 125–134
hearts, 36, 247
aligning with heads, hands, and
habits, 35
change, 73–83
of great leader, 39–42
importance of, 41
and motivation, 49
posture in prayer, 101
heaven, 232
Hersey, Paul, 11
Holy Spirit, 176
humility, 205
God and, 78–80
Hybels, Bill, 11
I factor, 65–68
identity, description, 26
influence, of leaders, 4
internal change, xi, 2, 39
intimacy with God, 60–61
isolation, in leadership, 119
Jesus
as carpenter, 173–177
and change, 246
disciples’ transformation, 181
followers’ understanding of
mission, 136
forgiveness by, 224
Great Commission, 195
leadership effectiveness, 10
210
as leadership role model, xii
Mount of Transfiguration, 115
prayer in Gethsemane, 100–102
priorities, 149
relationship with Peter, 180
relationships with, 209
relevance of teaching, 17
servant leadership, 166
transfiguration, 188
vision of, 135–139
wilderness temptation, 25–26, 109
Joni and Friends, 32
journeyman, 182, 196
EGO issues, 207
needs of, 189–191
judgment, 224
Kennedy, John F., 148
King, Martin Luther Jr., “I Have a
Dream” speech, 148
knowing scripture, and applying, 105–113
knowledge, change in, 248–249
Lead Like Jesus ministry, values, 150–151
leader-follower partnership, 196–197
Edging God Out (EGO) in, 200–201
ideal, 201–202
improvement potential, 204–205
ineffective, 202–204
leaders
challenge of, 66–67
core values, 32
importance of, xi
influence of, 4
life role leadership, 160
personal statement, 240–243
positional power of, 157–158
raw materials of, 174
roles, 142–143, 160
roles, and learning stages, 196–197
view of, 1–2
vision of, 161–164
Leadership by the Book, 118–119
leadership domains, 35–38
leadership role model, xi
211
Jesus as, xii
sharing, 240
Leading like Jesus
beginning to apply, 239
next steps, 245–246
next steps checklist, 269
next steps resource list, 271–274
learning stages
Edging God Out (EGO) in,
205–208
and leader roles, 196–197
life purpose, 125–128
life role leadership, 4–5
Lincoln, Abraham, 66–67
listening
to God, 98
to truth, 117
loneliness
from change, 253
in leadership, 119
loss, sensed from change, 253
Louisiana State Penitentiary, 146
love, xii–xiii, 43
and action, 211–212
God’s unconditional, 211–215
grace and, 219
importance of, 28
leadership based on, 44–45
mother’s selfless, 45–46
of parent for child, 91
and relationships, 91
MacArthur, John, Twelve Ordinary
Men, 180
MacDonald, Gordon, Ordering Your
Private World, 70
Malachi Dads program, 147
management, 143
management by wandering around, 11
manipulation, in leader-follower
relationships, 203–204
marriage, 214–215
Mary (mother of Jesus), as servant, 6
master/teacher, 182, 196
EGO issues, 207
212
needs of, 191–195
Peter as, 192–195
Mazza, Doug, 32
McGee, Robert S., The Search for
Significance, 51
meditation on scripture, 111–113
memorization of scripture, 108–111
Meyer, Paul J., 248
micromanaging, 57
MINE perspective, 68–69
mission, Jesus’ followers and, 136
mission statement, 144–145
mother, selfless love of, 45–46
motivation, 49
Nobel, Alfred, 128
normal distribution curve, 168
novice, 181–182, 196
EGO issues, 206
needs of, 182–184
Peter as, 183–184
obedience, 18
to God, 78, 211–215
obituary, 128–129
organization chart, and leaders, 3–4
organizational leadership, 4–5, 31–33
Ortberg, John, 9–10, 232
The Life You’ve Always Wanted, 35
others
comparison with, 61
as priority over God, 51–52
separation from, 60
parable of the sower, 106
parents, love for child, 91
patience, 186
peace, 86–87
Peale, Norman Vincent, 79, 80
performance coach, 185
leader as, 167–172
performance evaluation, 168
performance planning, 168
personal relationships, transformation
and, 24
213
Peter, 17, 27–28, 179–181, 255
as apprentice, 186–188
as journeyman, 189–191
as master/teacher, 192–195
as novice, 183–184
relationship with Jesus, 180
Pharisees, 78, 159
Philip, 255
positional power, of leaders, 157–158
possessions, of driven people, 71
prayer, 99–104
ACTS method, 103–104
Jesus in Gethsemane, 100–102
preemptive, 102
pride (self-promotion), 1, 53, 54–55, 63
in leader-follower relationships,
202–203
results of, 58–64
priorities
and God, 50–52
of values, 148–149
purpose, 135
clarity of, 169
of vision, 144–145
pyramid hierarchy, 156–157, 159
readiness for change, 255
reasons for actions, heart and, 39
relationships
with Jesus, 209
of life role leaders, 5
small-group fellowship, 118–120
standard for, 175–176
supportive, 115–122
trust and, 29–30
truth tellers, 116–118
repentance, 227
resources, worry about, 254–255
respect, 1
responsibility of leaders, 155
Ridge, Garry, 170–171
role models, 4
safety, 150
Schuller, Robert, Hour of Power, 10–11
214
scribes, Jesus and, 78
scripture. See also separate Scripture
index
knowing and applying, 105–113
meditating on, 111–113
memorization, 108–111
reading, 107–108
studying, 108
security, from God, 75–76
self
dependence on God vs., 66
separation from, 60
self-esteem, 80–81
self-examination, 25–27
self-focus, vs. servant heart, 199
self-interest, as motivation, 50
self-promotion, 1
self-protection, 1
self-sacrifice, 1
self-worth, 76
separation, 59–61, 63
servant heart, vs. self-focus, 199
servant leadership, 2, 6, 142–143
investment in followers, 167
Jesus and, 13–16
and pyramid hierarchy, 156–157,
159
service, 35
Situational Leadership, 11, 297n1
Situational Leadership II, 300n3
small-group fellowship, 118–120
Smith, Fred, Breakfast with Fred, 80
solitude, 95–98
spheres of influence, 24–33
leading another, 27–28
leading organization, 31–33
leading others, 29–30
self, 25–27
standards, setting, 175
studying scripture, 108
success, 85
succession planning, 69
supplication, in prayer, 104
supportive relationships, 115–122
215
Synovus, 44
tasks, stages of learning, 181–182
team/organizational vision, 141–154
thanksgiving, in prayer, 103
Thomas, 255
Tozer, A.W., 39
transformation, 23–33
trust, 25, 195, 236
of followers, 138
in God, 74
in Jesus, 14–15
in relationships, 27–28
in something other than God, 51
truth tellers, 116–118
ultimate authority, 25
understanding, testing, 248
values
making tough choices, 152–153
in vision, 148–151
vision
developing, 125–134
vs. goals, 147–148
implementing, 155–164
of Jesus, 135–139
leadership and, 143, 161–164
parts, 144
picture of future, 128–130, 145–148
purpose, 144–145
servant leadership and, 163
team/organizational, 141–154
values in, 148–151
vulnerabilities, disclosing, 118
Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven
Life, 87
WD-40 Company, 170–171
wisdom, God as source, 77
work, and faith, 44
workaholic, 57
216
目录
Title Page 5
Copyright Page 6
Contents 7
Ebook Instructions 9
Introduction 10
Part I: A Biblical Perspective On Leadership 13
Chapter 1: Are You a Leader? 15
Chapter 2: The Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time 18
Chapter 3: Jesus the Servant 21
Chapter 4: Is Jesus a Relevant Role Model for Us Today? 23
Chapter 5: A Transformational Journey That Begins On the Inside 26
Chapter 6: The Four Domains of Leading Like Jesus 33
Part II: The Heart of a Great Leader 36
Chapter 7: What Does Leading Like Jesus Look Like? 39
Chapter 8: I Want to Lead Like Jesus, But My Heart Does Not 42
Chapter 9: The Results of a Heart Out of Order 45
Chapter 10: Warning Signs On the Path to Edging God Out 53
Chapter 11: A Heart Turnaround 58
Part III: The Being Habits 65
Chapter 12: The Habit of Accepting and Abiding In God’s
Unconditional Love
68
Chapter 13: The Habit of Experiencing Solitude 72
Chapter 14: The Habit of Practicing Prayer 75
Chapter 15: The Habit of Knowing and Applying Scripture 79
Chapter 16: The Habit of Maintaining Supportive Relationships 85
Part IV: The Head of a Great Leader 90
Chapter 17: Developing Your Own Compelling Vision 91
Chapter 18: Jesus’ Compelling Vision 97
Chapter 19: Creating a Compelling Team/Organizational Vision 100
Chapter 20: Implementing Your Compelling Vision 109
Part V: The Hands of a Great Leader 115
226
Chapter 21: The Leader As a Performance Coach 117
Chapter 22: The Work of the Carpenter 121
Chapter 23: The Way of the Carpenter 124
Chapter 24: The EGO Factor 137
Part VI: The Doing Habits 145
Chapter 25: The Habit of Obeying God and Expressing His
Unconditional Love
147
Chapter 26: The Habit of Grace 150
Chapter 27: The Habit of Forgiveness 152
Chapter 28: The Habit of Encouragement 155
Chapter 29: The Habit of Community 158
Chapter 30: Leading Like Jesus Begins In You 163
Part VII: Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus 166
Chapter 31: Leading Positive Change 168
Chapter 32: EGOs Anonymous: Taking the First Step Toward
Exalting God Only
175
Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus: Checklist 180
Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus: Resource List 181
Discussion Guide 184
Acknowledgments 197
Notes 199
About the Authors 203
Index 206
Scripture Index 217
227
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Ebook Instructions
Introduction
Part I: A Biblical Perspective On Leadership
Chapter 1: Are You a Leader?
Chapter 2: The Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time
Chapter 3: Jesus the Servant
Chapter 4: Is Jesus a Relevant Role Model for Us Today?
Chapter 5: A Transformational Journey That Begins On the Inside
Chapter 6: The Four Domains of Leading Like Jesus
Part II: The Heart of a Great Leader
Chapter 7: What Does Leading Like Jesus Look Like?
Chapter 8: I Want to Lead Like Jesus, But My Heart Does Not
Chapter 9: The Results of a Heart Out of Order
Chapter 10: Warning Signs On the Path to Edging God Out
Chapter 11: A Heart Turnaround
Part III: The Being Habits
Chapter 12: The Habit of Accepting and Abiding In God’s Unconditional Love
Chapter 13: The Habit of Experiencing Solitude
Chapter 14: The Habit of Practicing Prayer
Chapter 15: The Habit of Knowing and Applying Scripture
Chapter 16: The Habit of Maintaining Supportive Relationships
Part IV: The Head of a Great Leader
Chapter 17: Developing Your Own Compelling Vision
Chapter 18: Jesus’ Compelling Vision
Chapter 19: Creating a Compelling Team/Organizational Vision
Chapter 20: Implementing Your Compelling Vision
Part V: The Hands of a Great Leader
Chapter 21: The Leader As a Performance Coach
Chapter 22: The Work of the Carpenter
Chapter 23: The Way of the Carpenter
Chapter 24: The EGO Factor
Part VI: The Doing Habits
Chapter 25: The Habit of Obeying God and Expressing His Unconditional Love
Chapter 26: The Habit of Grace
Chapter 27: The Habit of Forgiveness
Chapter 28: The Habit of Encouragement
Chapter 29: The Habit of Community
Chapter 30: Leading Like Jesus Begins In You
Part VII: Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus
Chapter 31: Leading Positive Change
Chapter 32: EGOs Anonymous: Taking the First Step Toward Exalting God Only
Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus: Checklist
Next Steps to Leading Like Jesus: Resource List
Discussion Guide
Acknowledgments
Notes
About the Authors
Index
Scripture Index
2
Jesus on Leadership—a must read for those who value their family! This book
is most inspiring and practical. I’m pleased to recommend it.
WILLIAM MITCHELL, author of Building Strong Families, founder of
Power of Positive Students
It was my opportunity to be led by God to enlist Gene Wilkes to write the
curriculum edition of Jesus on Leadership: Becoming a Servant Leader for
LifeWay Press. Gene’s message communicates the biblical servant leadership
demonstrated by Jesus and has helped equip church leaders to be more
effective. In the same way, I believe this tailored Tyndale House edition will
have incredible impact on leaders in business, industry, government, and
schools, as well as churches. This edition of Jesus on Leadership is simply
proof of how God’s energizing presence has brought together spiritual gifts,
experiences, relating style, and vocational skills in Gene Wilkes’s life to serve
all leaders who desire their lives to please and serve God. The quality of what
Gene has done is an example of how God can and does develop a person’s
capacity to understand and apply God’s servant leadership principles in the
daily walk of life. For God’s touch on Gene’s mind and heart in the writing of
Jesus on Leadership, I say, “Thank you, God!”
HENRY WEBB, director, Discipleship and Family Leadership Department,
publisher of LifeWay Edition of Jesus on Leadership: Becoming a Servant
Leader
Read at your own risk. Gene Wilkes may change your whole view of
leadership. While Jesus on Leadership is a practical tool kit, Wilkes’s unusual
writing gifts make it stirring devotional reading as well. And it is no book of
theory. This material flows from the heart and hands of an authentic servant
leader. Besides living these principles himself, Gene Wilkes has trained and
mentored scores of leaders, Jesus-style. I am delighted that he has now spelled
out his heart in print for the benefit of thousands. This refreshing book
deserves top priority on the reading list of every Christian. I predict it will be
around for a long time.
LYNN ANDERSON, president, Hope Network Ministries, author of They
Smell Like Sheep: Biblical Leadership for the Twenty-First Century
3
Spiritual formation is the biggest issue for leaders in the church. The need is
obvious, most notably demonstrated by the lack of genuine spiritual vibrancy
in so many who occupy positions of influence among Christian congregations
and institutions. Help has now arrived! What Gene Wilkes says is right on
target at delivering a corrective for so much of what we see masquerading as
Christian leadership. Don’t read this book if you are unwilling to be
challenged—or even changed!
REGGIE MCNEAL, director of leadership development, South Carolina
Baptist Convention
Gene Wilkes’s description of leadership according to Jesus—“I am a mission
and I serve those who are on that mission”—has captured the heart and
passion of the mission-driven leader.
BILL EASUM, author of Growing Spiritual Redwoods and director of 21st
Century Strategies
I have known Gene Wilkes since he was eighteen. He has lived his life as a
servant leader. This has been his passion. The insights I have received from
reading this book will forever change the way I do my job and live my life.
GARY COOK, president, Dallas Baptist University
Gene Wilkes, my friend and fellow pastor, serves us lessons on leadership that
have been simmering for a lifetime. Centered around the meat of Christ’s
ministry, they are complemented by wise counsel for others and flavored with
experience. Although the truth is often hard to swallow, Gene’s recipe for
servant leadership is both delicious and nutritious. It’s a feast fit for a King,
coach, pastor, or parent. Enjoy!
GENE A. GETZ, author of The Measure of a Man, senior pastor, Fellowship
Bible Church North, Richardson, Texas
4
CONTENTS
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Down from the Head Table
Jesus’ Model of Servant Leadership
How Do We Lead by Serving?
Principle One
Humility: The Living Example
Learning to Be Humble; Learning to Wait
Principle Two
Jesus Led So That Others Could Be Followers
First a Follower: Are You?
Principle Three
Jesus Demonstrating Greatness
What Style of Greatness Do You Seek?
Principle Four
Jesus, the Great Risk Taker
How You Can Take the Risk
6
Principle Five
Jesus’ Power— through Service
How Do We Lead as Servants?
Principle Six
How Did Jesus Do It?
How to EQUIP Others for Service
Principle Seven
The Team Jesus Built
How Does a Servant Leader Build a Team?
Contemporary Ideas about Servant Leadership
Bibliography
About the Author
Notes
7
THERE are some books the world waits for without ever knowing it is
waiting. Jesus on Leadership is such a book. When such books are written,
they inevitably can have no more than one source. There is not a guild of
authors for the books that must be written and must be read.
For some time now I have known that Gene Wilkes was working on
this book. I have prayed for him throughout this long season of his
dedication. I have seen him emerge from his cocoon of creativity before.
Behind him, through the doorway of his study, can be seen the titles of
hundreds of different books that have been his companions and future for
his mental sojourn. But the fact that Gene Wilkes knows the literature of
leadership is not why this book is the finest of its kind in the marketplace.
There are four major contributors to Gene Wilkes’s greatness as a
scholar and teacher. These same four forces permeate this book and make
it a must for all of those who want to become informed and capable
leaders.
First, Gene Wilkes loves Jesus. Please don’t think this a mere
saccharine appraisal between friends. This simplicity provides Gene his
passion to serve both God and his congregation. Further, this love for
Christ carries a subtle and pervasive authenticity that makes Gene Wilkes
believable. Whether you read him or hear him lecture, you walk away
from the experience knowing that what you’ve heard is the truth—the life-
changing truth from a man who lives the truth and loves getting to the
bottom of things. All this I believe derives from his love of Christ.
Second, Gene is a practitioner of servant leadership. When he
encourages you to pick up the basin and towel and wash feet, you may be
sure it is not empty theory. He teaches others what he has learned in the
8
laboratory of his own experience. Gene is a servant leader, and even as he
wrote this book, he directed his very large church through a massive
building program. His church leadership ability, which he exhibited during
this writing project, does not surface in this volume, but it undergirds and
authenticates it.
Third, Gene Wilkes knows better than anyone else the literature of
leadership. As you read this book, you will quickly feel his command of
his subject. Footnotes will come and go, and behind the thin lines of
numbers, ibids, and the like you will feel the force of his understanding.
No one knows the field of both secular and Christian leadership like this
man. So Jesus on Leadership is a mature essay. It has come from the only
man I know with this vast comprehension of the subject.
Finally, Gene Wilkes is a born writer. It is not often that good oral
communicators are good with the pen. But throughout this book, you will
find the paragraphs coming and going so smoothly that you will be hard
pressed to remember you are reading a definitive and scholarly work.
Books that are this critically important should not be so much fun. Gene
Wilkes is to leadership what Barbara Tuchman is to history. You know it’s
good for you and are surprised to be so delighted at taking the strong
medicine that makes the world better.
All in all, there is joy throughout the realm of leadership. The waiting
is over. Let the reading begin.
Calvin Miller
Fort Worth, Texas
April 1998
9
THIS book is my confession that God is truly a gracious God.
Only divine goodness, not my abilities or desires, has
ultimately put this book in your hands.
My greatest thanks go to the people who are Legacy Drive Baptist
Church. They have patiently waited for me to learn to lead. Their kindness,
encouragement, and love for me and my family have made my first ten
years as a pastor purposeful and fulfilling. I will be indebted to them for
years to come.
My heartfelt thanks go to Henry Webb, who came to me with the
idea of developing the Jesus on Leadership workbook. His friendship and
trust in me allowed me to believe this book was possible.
Thanks, too, to Ralph Hodge, the “Man Who Was Thursday” in
my life.
To John Kramp, author, friend, and leader, who believes in me and
has been a “Barnabas” to me.
To Ron Beers and the team at Tyndale, who trusted me to write this
book.
To Vinita Wright, my editor, who patiently mentored me through the
process of producing a readable manuscript. Her fingerprints are all over
this book.
To Calvin Miller, my hero, who has become a friend.
To my wife and best friend, Kim, who is the real servant leader in our
family. And to my daughters, who make me accountable for everything I
have held up as true in this book.
To my father, who models a servant’s heart, and to my mother, who
gave me a love of books and the dream to write one. And to my wife’s
parents, who have supported me as though I were their own son.
10
11
ALL true work combines [the] two elements of serving and
ruling. Ruling is what we do; serving is how we do it. There’s
true sovereignty in all good work. There’s no way to exercise it
rightly other than by serving.
EUGENE PETERSON Leap over a Wall
ABOVE all, leadership is a position of servanthood.
MAX DEPREE Leadership Jazz
THE principle of service is what separates true leaders from
glory seekers.
LAURIE BETH JONES Jesus, CEO
PEOPLE are supposed to serve. Life is a mission, not a career.
STEPHEN R. COVEY The Leader of the Future
ULTIMATELY the choice we make is between service and self-
interest.
PETER BLOCK Stewardship, Choosing Service over Self-Interest
EVERYONE who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who
humbles himself will be exalted.
JESUS Luke 14:11
12
I WILL never forget the second Tuesday evening of February 1996. We at
Legacy Drive Baptist Church had struggled to retool ourselves to carry out
the mission God had placed on our church: to make disciples who know
Christ, share Christ, and multiply Christ in the life of another. During the
transition, several core members left, attendance and giving went down,
and the current church leadership—and I—began to question my ability to
lead.
That evening, five men who loved God, our church, and me told me
they had lost confidence in me as a leader. After meeting several times
without my knowledge, these deacon officers had concluded that I was not
the person for the next level of growth in the life of our church. They said
it was not in their power or purpose to fire me, and they did not want to
bring the issue to a vote because they knew it would split the church. Their
job was to oversee the church and maintain its unity, not tear it apart. They
asked me to take two weeks to pray and consider their position. They
wanted to know my answer at the end of those two weeks.
As I walked from the house that evening, a strange sense
of exhilaration came over me. These guys had done me a favor. They had
put on the table what we all knew. I had stopped leading, and the church
was floundering because of my lack of leadership. It was not long,
however, before the elation turned to fear. I asked selfishly, “Why would
God allow such a thing to happen to me?” Interestingly, just one month
before, God had confirmed my call to and his vision for Legacy Drive.
Ronnie and Tina Young, members of our church, had given me a trip to
Robert Schuller’s Institute of Successful Church Leadership as a
Christmas gift. I went alone to recuperate and write. God began to confirm
his vision in my heart as I heard Dr. Schuller say that prayers he had been
praying for forty years were just then being answered. I listened as this
misunderstood servant leader told how he had followed God to a unique
mission field and had labored for forty years to see the call of God on his
life completed. I felt silly with my troubles, having been in my mission
field for only nine years!
On the third day of the conference, Dr. Schuller said, “I don’t know
who you are, but a dozen, maybe thirty [out of about 1,500]; but God just
planted a seed of a dream in your heart. I want to pray for you.” As Dr.
Schuller prayed, I wept. I prayed, God, help me. It was not a prayer of
13
desperation but a prayer for God to help me complete the task he had
assigned for me to do at Legacy Drive and with my life. I wrote in my
journal that day, “I prayed not out of fear but out of a great sense that God
does want to do something with my life that I truly cannot do on my own.
It was a prayer of release to let God work however he would choose. It
was a prayer of confidence that God is love and answers prayer. I will be
obedient to his call—that’s what that prayer was about.”
God had confirmed his call on my life in January. In February, God
turned up the heat to test and change my heart.
The Sunday following the meeting with the deacon officers, I flew to
Nashville to tape the training video to support the Jesus on Leadership
workbook. When I landed, I asked Sam House, one of the project leaders,
if they would still publish the work even if I were not a pastor. He didn’t
laugh. It was ironic that my denomination’s publishing house was about to
print a piece that I had written to help churches develop servant leaders—
when I had just been told I wasn’t leading!
As I was preparing to shoot the training videos Monday morning, I
read through John 13 again. As clearly as I hear any voice, I heard God
say, “Gene, I want you to wash their feet.” I thought, You’ve got to be
kidding. I read the story again. I sensed a moving of God’s Spirit in my
heart: Wash the feet of those who have called you to this time of decision.
As we drove out to the shoot, I told Sam what God had said. He laughed
this time and said, “Doesn’t God have a sense of humor!”
After a day of shooting and an evening of recording the audio version
of the workbook, I rode with Henry Webb and Ralph Hodge to Atlanta for
the first Promise Keepers Clergy Conference. While there, God changed
my heart. One evening we heard Wellington Boone speak on
reconciliation. He commented that while reconciliation between blacks
and whites was important, God could not bring revival until blacks were
reconciled among themselves. Wellington began to honor Tony Evans, a
black pastor in Dallas. I did not know that Dr. Evans had been catching
flack from the black community because he had reached out to whites.
Rev. Boone said in front of forty-two-thousand-plus clergy, “If I had a
cup of water, I would wash Tony Evans’s feet.” The men of integrity
would have nothing of idle words. Suddenly, a man jumped up and
14
approached the stage with a glass of water. Almost immediately, another
man came running down the aisle waving a towel. Men began to cheer and
stand to their feet.
Another black clergyman on the platform, Bishop Porter, went to Tony
Evans, stood him up, and led him to a chair on center stage. Wellington
Boone took the towel and water, unlaced Evans’s shoes, and washed his
feet. The place erupted with emotion. Men began to cry at this display of
humility and honor. I began to cry because I knew God really wanted me
to wash the feet of those who had called me to decide how deep the
mission of God was in my life. That was it. I knew. My responsibility was
to wash their feet. God would take care of the rest.
I caught a plane back home before the conference was over. Jeff
Koenigsberg, a twelve-year-old boy in our church family, had died of
cancer while I was away. Jeff and my oldest daughter were the same age. I
could not imagine the pain of his parents, Tom and Kris. The ordeal I
faced was insignificant compared to what they had to endure. Washing feet
is nothing compared to burying your son. Jeff’s memorial service was
Saturday. God used that event to calm my heart and remind me of the
important things in life. On the flight home to Dallas, God had also graced
my life by placing me beside Bob Dean, a friend from college, who
listened to my story and encouraged me to do what God had told me to do.
He had his own stories of servant leadership.
That Sunday I preached three morning services, attended team
meetings in the afternoon, and preached a service that evening. The
officers and I met in the church offices after the evening service. No one
had approached me all day about our meeting two weeks earlier. They had
done what they said they would do and waited to hear what I had to say.
When we all got into the room, I thanked them for drawing a line in the
sand concerning my leadership and my commitment to the mission of God
on our church. I told them there was one thing God had told me to do
before I gave them my answer. I took a towel that I use to wipe the feet of
those we set aside for service in our church, and I walked over to Ted, the
chairman of deacons. I knelt before him and began to wipe the dust from
his shoes. I began to weep. God had humbled my heart. I asked his
forgiveness for not supporting him and allowing us to be drawn apart. I
prayed for him as I did what God told me to do.
15
When I finished praying, I stood up. Ted stood, too. Talk about a
pregnant pause. I had talked to none of the officers since my return. I
didn’t know if they had already put my termination package together or if
they were really waiting to see what God had led me to do. Ted put his
hands on my shoulders and turned me around to where he had been sitting.
He took the towel from my hands and knelt before me. He, too, wiped my
shoes and prayed for me. I could not hold back my emotions. I did not
know what was next, but I now knew what reconciliation felt like.
After he finished, I returned to my chair. I told the group that God had
confirmed my call to this church and its mission. I sensed I was the one to
lead in the days ahead. I was convinced God was not finished with me and
the church. I then turned to each man with whom I had been entrusted to
carry out this mission and asked if he would continue to lead with me.
Two said yes. Two said they would serve out their terms as officers but
could not say what they would do after that. One said he didn’t think he
could continue. We talked into the night, agreeing upon what needed to be
done to address the needs of the congregation and what I would do to serve
them and the church to meet those needs.
Within the next two weeks, two more families left the church. We told
the other deacons of our conversations. Since that time, God has blessed
our church. He had changed the leader’s heart through testing; God could
now transform the church. By the way, Ted was the chairman of deacons
the next year! The other officer who took a wait-and-see position is a
deacon officer again even now.
Why do I tell you this story? I tell it because it is the crucible in which
I learned the heart of Jesus and the power of servant leadership. I began to
understand what Jesus did when he washed the feet of his disciples. I
learned that the power of leading as a servant comes from God’s using a
person who humbles himself (on his own or through the actions of others)
to God’s call on his life and who serves those who were entrusted to him
in order to carry out that call. I learned that my greatest test of servant
leadership may be to wash the feet of those who have the ability to ask for
my resignation. That event has become a watershed in my relationship
with God and with Christ’s church.
16
This book grows out of my personal journey of learning to lead. The
information on these pages comes from a personal crisis of choosing how I
should lead among God’s people. This book also grows out of the need to
find and develop leaders who can carry out God’s mission with me. This is
not a complete picture of what I am learning, but it serves as a primer for
those who want to learn to lead like Jesus.
Converse with the ideas on these pages. Let them challenge your
presuppositions about leadership. Above all else, let them test your faith
about who Jesus really is. That will make the difference not only in how
you lead but in how you live your life.
17
WHAT did I learn when I laid aside every model of leadership I had read or
heard about? Who was this Jesus I became reacquainted with when I took
off my shoes and walked with him through the pages of the Bible? Let me
tell you.
The essential lesson I learned from Jesus on leadership was that he
taught and embodied leadership as service. Jesus was a Servant Leader in
every sense of the concept. I would describe him as one who served his
mission (in biblical language, “the will of [his] Father”) and led by serving
those he recruited to carry out that mission.
FOR JESUS, THE MISSION WAS TO BE THE MESSIAH. He was sent to bring
salvation to the world as God’s Sent One. He served that mission by living
as the Suffering Servant Messiah. This mission was everything for Jesus. It
was his purpose and direction for all he did while on earth—including his
death.
IF WE TAKE A HIGH-LEVEL LOOK AT JESUS’ LIFE, WE SEE
THAT EVERYTHING HE DID WAS IN SERVICE TO HIS MISSION.
FOR JESUS, THE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP WAS SERVANTHOOD. He was
never self-serving. He led first as servant to his Father in heaven, who
gave him his mission. If we take a high-level look at Jesus’ life, we see
that everything he did was in service to this mission. His personal mission
18
was to serve not his own will but the will of his Father. He said, “For I
have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him
who sent me” (John 6:38).
THE MISSION—AND THE VISION
And what was the will of his Father? How did that translate into Jesus’ life
mission? At least three times Jesus provided what we would call a mission
statement:
When Jesus stood in his hometown synagogue, he read his mission
statement from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-19
When Jesus stood among his disciples and defined greatness and
being a leader in the kingdom of God, he couched his mission
statement this way: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark
10:45
When Jesus stood in tax collector Zacchaeus’s home, he stated it
another way: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was
lost.” Luke 19:10
Jesus articulated his mission in order to define what he was as
Messiah. Where and how he led flowed from a clear sense of why he had
come in the first place.
If Jesus was a servant to his mission, he led with a vision of what
things would look like when he completed that mission. “What things
would look like” was his vision of the Father’s call on his life. Jesus cast a
vision of how things would look for his followers—if they allowed him to
be the Messiah God sent him to be. Jesus often described that vision of
things to come as “The kingdom of God/heaven.” Jesus painted word
pictures in the form of stories to show people the vision of God for their
lives. These stories, or parables, let people see the implications of Jesus’
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being the Sent One of God in their lives. Chapters 13 and 25 in Matthew’s
Gospel are collections of vision stories. Luke 15 is also filled with stories
about why Jesus came and what lives looked like when God’s love ruled in
people’s hearts. Jesus led others by casting a vision of how things would
look when he completed his mission.
SEVEN PRINCIPLES TO LEAD AS JESUS LED
After seeking to understand the elements of Jesus’ leadership style, I
sought out timeless principles that described how Jesus led and that could
be applied to my needs as a leader among God’s people. Here are seven
observations I discovered that describe how Jesus led as a servant.
1. Jesus humbled himself and allowed God to exalt him.
2. Jesus followed his Father’s will rather than sought a position.
3. Jesus defined greatness as being a servant and being first as becoming
a slave.
4. Jesus risked serving others because he trusted that he was God’s Son.
5. Jesus left his place at the head table to serve the needs of others.
6. Jesus shared responsibility and authority with those he called to lead.
7. Jesus built a team to carry out a worldwide vision.
These seven observations about how Jesus led are the foundation for
our seven principles of servant leadership. Each principle is based upon a
teaching or an example of Jesus as he lived out his mission and led those
he recruited to join him. Before you can lead as Jesus led, you and I must
move beyond what I call a “head-table mentality.”
HEAD-TABLE MENTALITY
One day, I found myself at a head table. My job was to introduce the
speaker after the musician sang. As the speaker began his talk, everyone at
the head table stood and moved to sit among those attending the
conference. Everyone but me! The speaker, who picked up on those
leaving the head table, said, “If you are at the head table and would like to
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move, you can at this time.” Alone, I stood and said, “I’d love to!” We all
laughed, and I walked red faced to sit at a table with those who served in
the kitchen. From head table to kitchen-worker status—in front of my peer
group! What a demotion!
As the blood returned to the rest of my body, Jesus’ story about where
to sit at big meals came to mind. He taught:
When someone invites you to a wedding feast [or conference], do
not take the place of honor [at the head table], for a person more
distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who
invited both of you will come and say to you, “Give this man your
seat.” Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important
place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when
your host comes, he will say to you, “Friend, move up to a better
place.” Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow
guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he
who humbles himself will be exalted.
LUKE 14:8-11
As I reflected on my social blunder and the speaker’s words about
leadership, I realized that I had done what was typical of many who sit at
head tables. When given a position, we happily accept the status that goes
with it and somehow believe we no longer need to go near the kitchen. I
was suffering from head-table mentality. I had accepted the myth that
those who sit at the head table are somehow more important than those
who serve in the kitchen. I even had perpetuated that myth by nonverbally
resisting a place among the servers. I wondered if the people in my church
suffered from this mentality.
WE WHO LEAD OFTEN OVERLOOK THAT THE TRUE PLACE OF
CHRISTLIKE LEADERSHIP IS OUT IN THE CROWD RATHER
THAN UP AT THE HEAD TABLE.
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I realized that we who lead often overlook the fact that the true place of
Christlike leadership is out in the crowd rather than up at the head table.
People who follow Christ’s model of leadership would never be
embarrassed to find themselves among the kitchen help. Such a leader is
comfortable working with those who serve in the background and gladly
works alongside them until they complete the job. Head tables are optional
for leaders who follow Jesus. Service, not status, is the goal of this kind of
leader.
BRING BACK THE TOWEL AND WASHBASIN
Too many organizations, homes, businesses, and schools struggle because
they lack men and women who lead as Jesus did. Head tables have
replaced the towel and washbasin as symbols of leadership among God’s
people. Often those recognized as leaders in the church, for example, hold
positions elected by friends and family. Some of these leaders love sitting
at head tables but never go near the kitchen (or nursery). Leaders in civic
groups may seek to push their personal agendas rather than work with
those in their care to meet the goals of the group.
Churches, organizations, and the communities they serve, however,
need leaders who know how God has made and gifted them for service and
who willingly serve Christ and those placed in their care. These groups
need leaders who have skills to equip others and to “team with them” in
ministry. We need leaders who will step down from the head table and
serve in the kitchen. Ministries and organizations will survive in the
twenty-first century when men and women stop following self-conceived
concepts of leadership and adopt Jesus’ teachings and examples.
HEAD TABLES HAVE REPLACED THE TOWEL AND WASHBASIN
AS SYMBOLS OF LEADERSHIP AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE.
Service-centered leadership has found its way into current discussions
about leadership. The writings of businesspeople like Robert Greenleaf,
Peter Block, Stephen Covey, and Max DePree have called leaders to a
service-oriented model of leadership. In the marketplace, the pendulum
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has swung from personality-centered leadership to character-based
leadership. I believe interest in principles of servant leadership has grown
out of a desire for organizations to be led by those who will serve not
themselves but those they lead. Our culture has wearied of the leadership
models of Attila the Hun and rogue warriors. We are seeking leaders who
consider us more than a means to an end.
The time is ripe to bring Jesus’ principles of leadership into the
discussion of leadership. This should happen in the church especially,
because leaders in the church—who should have been paving the way to
service-oriented leadership—have actually gravitated toward the self-
serving forms of leadership that are now being discarded by secular
thinking.
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SERVANT and leader stand together as a model for those entrusted with the
well-being of a group. Leaders who follow the example and teachings of
Jesus will lead first as servants. If that is the case, how does a leader serve
and still lead?
I realize that for people today who are well versed in leadership
studies, the concept of servant leader causes a significant mental block. I
once addressed a group of innovative church leaders. As I described the
seven principles of servant leadership, I could see from their faces that
they were comparing the principles against concepts of leadership they had
learned from conventional wisdom. I struggled to explain how a servant
could lead and how leaders could still lead while serving others. At the end
of the session, I knew that I had not completed the connection between
leadership and service.
The link between the two concepts came to me two weeks later when a
friend asked me, “What is your passion?” The answer to that question
helped me realize that my passion was the mission! Mission (and the
vision of that mission) was the connection between service and leadership.
I rushed back to Jesus’ model of servant leadership and saw how his
mission connected his service and leadership. I found that I could lead
through both conflict and synergy because I had become servant to God’s
mission to make disciples in my life and through the church. My
leadership style had become that of servant to those on mission with me so
we could carry out God’s mission in our lives as a unified body of
believers. In the short weeks that followed, I was able to move from a
description of servant leadership to a working definition:
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A servant leader—serves the mission and leads by serving those on
mission with him.
The mission is everything.
Mission is everything for the servant leader. The mission that God or
someone in authority entrusts to the leader is the focus of every decision
and action. True servant leadership begins when the leader humbles
himself to carry out the mission entrusted to him rather than his personal
agenda.
This service to the mission creates the passion that is essential for a
leader’s effectiveness. Lyle Schaller told a group of church leaders, “I
think passion is the critical variable. It has taken me a long time to come
around to that, but if a pastor does not have a passion for the mission, you
can forget the rest. I would insist the number one quality of a leader be
passion.”[1] Bill Easum concurred with Schaller when he said, “It all goes
back to why we are doing this. . . . It’s the mission . . . and the pastor and
key leaders simply must have a passion for the mission. It is more than just
maintaining or even growing a church, but believing your church can
reach an entire city or a region; believing they can make a difference.”[2]
Servant leaders have passion for the mission because the mission
is so paramount in their lives that they have literally become servants to it.
This passion for the mission drives the leader to recruit and empower
others to join him on that mission.
A servant leader is also servant to those on mission with him. While
serving the mission, servant leaders actively recruit and build up others to
join them. The leader becomes servant to those who have joined him when
he provides adequate vision, direction, correction, and resources to carry
out the mission entrusted to the group. The leader serves when he equips
others and “teams” with them to reach the goal of mission together.
LEADERSHIP BEGINS WHEN A GOD-REVEALED MISSION
CAPTURES A PERSON.
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Leadership begins when a God-revealed mission captures a person.
This person turns leader as he becomes servant to the mission. Before
mission, there is no need or motivation to lead. The leader then sees a
picture of what the mission looks like in the future and casts his vision of
that mission to others. Vision is a leader’s unique rendering of the mission.
Leadership turns to service when the leader equips those recruited to carry
out the now-shared mission. Leadership is complete when the equipper
empowers those he has equipped into teams to maximize resources in
order to execute the mission. Simply put: Servant leadership is passionate
service to the mission and to those who join the leader on that mission.
FOUR KEY CONCEPTS
The four operative concepts of servant leadership are: Mission, Vision,
Equip, and Team. Mission is God’s call on your life. You know what your
mission is when you can complete the statement, “God called me to
_____________________________.” Vision is your unique take on that
mission. You can state your vision by completing the statement, “When
the mission is complete it will look like this:
______________________________.” Equip is how you train others to join
you on mission to complete the vision. Team is how you mobilize those
you have equipped to carry out the mission beyond your departure.
If you look at the model below, you will see that mission and vision are
above the horizontal line. When a person becomes servant to the mission
and vision, he also becomes a leader. This corresponds with Jesus’ mission
as Messiah and vision of the kingdom of God.
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Below the horizontal line are the elements of equip and team. When a
servant to the mission recruits a group of people to carry out that mission
with him, he becomes a leader who serves. He serves by equipping those
on mission with him and mobilizing them into teams to reach the vision
cast for them. These elements correspond to Jesus’ serving his disciples
by calling them to follow him and by building the Twelve into a ministry
team.
This model is not just for people in assigned or elected leadership
positions in a church or corporation. A mother can be a servant leader.
Kim, my wife and the mother of our two daughters, has become a servant
to God’s mission in her life. That mission as a mother is to raise godly
children. Living out that mission has meant setting aside her personal
desires for career and sometimes even friendships. Her vision of God’s call
on her life as a mother is that she will teach our daughters to be witnesses
or ministers of God’s love wherever they find themselves: at home, with
friends, at school, at church, or on their competitive teams. Kim leads our
daughters by equipping them to be witnesses and ministers and serves
them as she provides direction, correction, and resources to carry out
God’s mission in their lives. She is seeking to build them into a team of
two who will carry out the mission after she is no longer around them. The
servant leadership model applies at home, in church, and in the
marketplace.
Heart makes it happen.
A servant’s heart is essential for this kind of leadership. This state of heart
allows God to reveal and define the life-driving mission in a person’s life.
This condition also brings the leader into the lives of those she leads.
Without that spirit, the leader remains aloof and distant from those
carrying out the mission with her. A servant’s heart allows the leader to
put aside her own agenda in order to carry out that mission. I am
convinced that only a relationship with the Servant Leader, Jesus Christ,
can produce such a heart condition.
WHY DO WE LEAD DIFFERENTLY FROM JESUS?
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Jesus’ priorities in leadership are different from how we tend to lead today.
This is because our priorities come from our natural tendencies rather than
our spiritual resources. J. Oswald Sanders, author of Spiritual Leadership,
[3] has rightly compared natural and spiritual leadership tendencies:
Natural Spiritual
Self-confident Confident in God
Knows men Knows God
Makes own decisions Seeks to find God’s will
Ambitious Self-effacing
Originates own methods Finds and follows God’s methods
Enjoys commanding others Delights to obey God
Motivated by personal considerations Motivated by love for God and man
Independent God-dependent
The differences between those who lead out of their natural motives
and those who lead from a spiritual base are clear. Jesus modeled the
power of authentic, spiritual leadership.
How can everyday men and women adopt the leadership of Jesus? He
was, after all, God! How do those of us who know our true selves lead as
Jesus did? We can lead Jesus’ way only when we obey his teachings and
examples. It begins by becoming servant to the Servant Leader. That
relationship will yield both mission and vision for our lives.
THE S WORD
Submission to God and to the divine mission for your life is the first step
to servant leadership. You will never become a servant leader until you
first become servant to the Leader. Your mission and purpose in life spring
from the relationship you have with God. While many people invite you to
determine your own destiny, God calls you to live out a divine plan
through your life. Knowing and living that life mission begin in a personal
relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
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YOU WILL NEVER BECOME A SERVANT LEADER UNTIL YOU
FIRST BECOME SERVANT TO THE LEADER.
The issue of submission to Jesus as Master is central to our discussion.
You and I do not naturally submit to anyone or anything. Insist that I be
your slave, and you have a civil-rights case on your hands! American
history illustrates what happens when one human enslaves another. We
resist submission to another person with every fiber of our cholesterol-free
lifestyles. In a culture where the individual has reached godlike status,
submitting to anyone or anything outside ourselves is beyond reason. Self-
interest soars high above service in our hierarchy of interests. These
attitudes are part of our cultural thinking. They are also the very feelings
that prevent us from knowing the freedom that comes from giving
ourselves to Christ.
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). Denying—not embracing
—self is the first step to becoming a servant leader. We will cover this fact
more fully in our discussion of the first principle of servant leadership in
the next chapter.
If you desire to lead as Jesus led, you must desire first to follow Jesus;
this is how leadership training among God’s people begins.
A LOOK AHEAD
Each chapter of this book will focus on one of Jesus’ principles
of leadership. These principles will serve as guidelines for developing a
personal model of servant leadership in whatever context God has placed
you. I suggest that you take off your shoes, put on the sandals of a disciple,
and follow Jesus through the pages of the Gospels. By following Jesus,
you will see how Jesus wants us to lead among his people.
Let me remind you that this book is secondary to the good news of
Jesus Christ. My prayer is that reading this book will lead you to read the
Bible—again or for the first time. I want you to see that following Jesus
has practical implications for how you live your life, not just more
information from which to form an opinion. I want you to know the power
of being a servant leader like Jesus. My desire is for you to know more
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about yourself and God’s plan for your life after walking through these
pages. Don’t look for human insights. Look for the purposes of God for
your life.
You can read this book as a study guide to the leadership style of
Jesus. You will find contemporary applications and references to works on
leadership and how they pertain to a servant model of leadership. I will
introduce you to familiar and not-so-well-known writers on leadership. If
you are a leader, this book will give you insights into how you can become
more effective as a leader. If you don’t consider yourself a leader, this
material will help you understand how leaders lead and how you can be a
better follower. This book can serve as a manual for leadership in the
home, church, or marketplace.
You can use this material as a devotional guide to discover the love of
God as revealed in God’s Son/Servant, Jesus. Following Jesus is ultimately
about knowing God. If you walk away from this book and only know more
about God, I have not accomplished my goal for this book. My prayer is
that you will encounter the God of all ages by seeking the one sent to bring
you salvation and an eternal relationship with the God who created you.
My hope is that if you do not know God as revealed in the person of Jesus,
you will meet him in these pages.
The principles in this book build upon one another somewhat because
they tend to follow Jesus’ teachings and examples of leadership
chronologically. They also reflect a deepening relationship between Jesus
and his followers. You, however, can study each principle independently
of the others. Each principle stands alone as part of the entire servant-
leadership model.
Here’s a look at what you will be reading:
Principle #1: Humble your heart
“Servant leaders humble themselves and wait for God to exalt them”
(based on Luke 14:7-11). This principle comes from Jesus’ story about
choosing places of honor at a banquet. Servant leaders humble themselves
to the mission entrusted to them. They also wait expectantly for God to
exalt them—in God’s timing. Servant leaders trust that the host will
choose those he wants at the head table of leadership.
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Principle #2: First be a follower
“Servant leaders follow Jesus rather than seek a position” (based on Mark
10:32-40). This tenet comes from James and John’s request of Jesus that
they sit on his right and left when he came into his glory. I will describe
this biblical event and draw applications from our natural tendency to
equate leadership with position. Jesus, on the other hand, taught that
suffering for him comes before reigning with him.
Principle #3: Find greatness in service
“Servant leaders give up personal rights to find greatness in service to
others” (based on Mark 10:45). The other ten disciples did not appreciate
James and John’s boldness with Jesus. When the Master saw that they had
become indignant with their peers, he defined greatness and being first
among the followers of Christ. Greatness begins with those who become
servants to the mission of the group and those teamed with them to carry
out that mission. The best example of this principle is Jesus’ own life.
Principle #4: Take risks
“Servant leaders can risk serving others because they trust that God is in
control of their lives” (based on John 13:3). Only when you trust God with
absolute control of your life can you risk losing yourself in service to
others. Trusting God includes believing that God is working with at least
five “raw materials” to form you into a unique servant leader. Those raw
materials are your spiritual gifts, experiences, relational style, vocational
skills, and enthusiasm. These elements make up your S.E.R.V.E. profile.
Principle #5: Take up the towel
“Servant leaders take up Jesus’ towel of servanthood to meet the needs of
others” (based on John 13:4-11). Jesus stepped down from his place at the
Passover meal to set an example for his disciples. He took up the towel
and washbasin of a slave to model his mission and show his love for those
he recruited to carry out that mission after his ascension. We will discover
the power of servant leadership as modeled by the Suffering Servant of
God.
Principle #6: Share responsibility and authority
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“Servant leaders share their responsibility and authority with others to
meet a greater need” (based on Acts 6:1-6). Jesus equipped his disciples to
carry out a worldwide vision. He shared both responsibility and authority
with them to make disciples of all people. Those same disciples shared
their responsibility and authority with their peers in order to meet a need
greater than their resources could handle alone. We will review five steps
to EQUIP someone. Servant leaders encourage others to serve, qualify
others for service, understand the needs of those they equip, instruct others
in their specific tasks, and pray for those they invite into ministry.
Principle #7: Build a team
“Servant leaders multiply their leadership by empowering others to lead”
(based on Mark 6:7). Leadership of a team is the highest expression of
servant leadership. This is true because team leadership embodies each of
the principles of servant leadership. Servant leaders serve best when they
team with others to accomplish the mission. We will review four steps to
building a ministry team.
Throughout the discussion of the seven principles, I will make application
of Jesus’ model of leadership into marriage, parenthood, and the
marketplace. I believe you will find these applications surprising to the
extent that you will discover you really are a leader if you are living out
God’s call on your life.
The world wants to know what a servant leader after the model and
teaching of Jesus looks like. People want to see how Jesus’ model of
service to God and others lives out in a person’s life.
LEADERSHIP IS NOT SOMETHING YOU PURSUE.
LEADERSHIP IS SOMETHING OTHERS GIVE TO YOU
No matter how smart, talented, and persuasive you are naturally or by
training, you are not the leader until the group you are leading says so. The
mantle of leadership is bestowed on you by those who grasp your mission
and choose to follow you. You cannot wrest that mantle from those who
do not share your mission or who refuse to follow you. You earn the place
of leader through authentic relationships and character. Whether you hold
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a position of leadership or not, to lead, you must gain the trust of those you
have recruited or who have been entrusted to you. The follower holds the
final power to determine the leader.
YOU ARE NOT THE LEADER UNTIL THE GROUP YOU ARE
LEADING SAYS SO.
I have learned this truth as a husband, a father, and a pastor. A husband
cannot lead his wife until he first serves her through acts of love and
kindness. A father will never be the leader of a family unless his children
acknowledge his place of authority over them. How do they learn that?
Children learn that a father is a leader through his loving service to them
through training and discipline. A pastor may be given the title and biblical
position of leader, but he will never lead a group of people until that group
gives him the freedom and trust to lead them. How does any assigned
leader actually become the accepted leader of the group? The answer to
that question is found in this book. If you will apply these seven principles
of servant leadership as taught and modeled by Jesus, I am convinced you
will become more effective as a leader, and those who have been entrusted
to you will be more likely to place on you the mantle of leadership.
EVERY GREAT LEADER IS A SERVANT LEADER
A great leader is great because he lives—without compromise— the call to
mission on his life. He is also great because he inspires others to carry out
that mission with him. I believe Jesus was (and is) a great servant leader
because he served his Father’s mission without compromise and has
inspired many people over many centuries to carry it out. I can also say
that I believe Jesus was the greatest leader because his mission was for all
people for all time. Even great leaders in history only affect their space on
the timeline and beyond. Jesus affected all creation for all time. His life,
death, and resurrection served the greatest need of people for all time: to
have a personal relationship with the God who created us.
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
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When you read the term servant leadership for the first time,
what did you think/feel?
Read through the seven statements describing how Jesus led.
Put a check mark by the ones that are new to you or that you
may have questions about.
What leadership issues are you facing in your life at this time?
You may be a parent, CEO, manager, or church leader. Make a
list of those issues you hope this book will address.
Have you ever thought of Jesus as a leader? If so, what
characteristics describe him best for you? Have you ever
viewed Jesus as a servant? If so, how? If not, why not?
Can you articulate the four elements of servant leadership for
your life? What is God’s mission for your life? Can you paint a
picture of what your life will look like when that mission is
complete? How are you leading by equipping those who are on
mission with you? Write the names of those you are building
into a ministry team.
Would you describe yourself as one who has submitted your
life to Jesus and as one who is actively seeking to model your
leadership style after him? If not, how would you describe your
relationship to Jesus at this time?
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35
TRUE greatness, true leadership, is achieved not by reducing
men to one’s service but in giving oneself in selfless service to
them.
J. OSWALD SANDERS Spiritual Leadership
IF YOU truly want to be great, then the direction you must go is
down. You must descend into greatness.
BILL HYBELS Descending into Greatness
TRUE leaders are, by definition, both magnanimous and
humble.
WARREN BENNIS Why Leaders Can’t Lead
WHOEVER humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven.
JESUS Matthew 18:4
MORE than any other single way, the grace of humility is
worked into our lives through the Discipline of service.
RICHARD J. FOSTER Celebration of Discipline
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SOMETIMES I like to imagine what certain events in the Bible were like—
how they felt and looked and sounded. Remember the scene in Luke 14?
Jesus’ disciples are standing along a wall in the courtyard. They appear
to be an island of outcasts in the middle of an upper-class sea. A Pharisee
has invited Jesus over to meet some of his religious buddies. Having the
newest popular evangelist over to your house is a favorite sport among
religious leaders. A banquet table is set. Jesus talks with the host and some
of his synagogue buddies.
Someone announces that the meal is ready, and like horses in a chariot
race, people make their way to seats around the tables. Some push their
way to the head table.
Jesus observes this mad rush to the front. He turns to his followers and
says, “When someone invites you to a banquet, do not grab a place of
honor. Someone more important than you may have been invited. If that is
so, the host who invited both of you will come up to you and say, ‘Give
my friend your seat.’ Then humiliated, you will have to take a less
important place.
“So, when you are invited to a banquet, take the least important place,
so that when your host comes he will say to you, ‘Friend, what are you
doing back here? Move up to a better place by me!’ Then you will be
honored in front of all the other guests. Here’s the punch line: everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself
will be exalted.”
After speaking, Jesus quietly reclines on a couch away from the host.
His disciples continue to linger against the wall.
Thus, we have been given the first principle of servant leadership:
Servant leaders humble themselves and wait for
God to exalt them.
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JESUS’ teaching challenged a common assumption in his day. Pushing and
shoving to get to the head table was natural. It was how young Pharisees
got ahead. Who would argue? Sitting up front meant one had arrived at the
top.
Jesus’ object lesson at the Pharisee’s home came to my mind as I sat
among the kitchen workers at the event I told you about earlier. The rush
to the best places is as real today as it was in Jesus’ time. Religious leaders
still seek places of prominence among their peers. Even in some large
churches and religious organizations people seeking control pursue real
estate and positions of power. Leaders in all sectors of business and
education still seek leadership and push to the front to gain those places.
According to our success-oriented society, bigger is better and closer to the
top means, well, closer to the top.
Getting to the head table is a natural priority in a culture
of achievement. Head tables have become a finish line in the great rat race.
Who would argue with someone wanting to sit closest to a friend in high
places? Who would criticize a little aggressive effort in order to succeed?
Several years ago, I walked into the office of a Christian businessman.
On his desk was the sign “If the meek inherit the earth, what do us tigers
get?” The world’s thinking had changed his understanding of the gospel.
For him, meek meant weak, and tigers—not the slow and soft—topped the
food chain. This man’s attitude was similar to that of many contemporary
Christians. We wonder, What’s the big deal about the head of the table?
Why did Jesus say what he did to the people at this dinner? And would he
still want to address that topic—in our lives?
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JESUS TAUGHT THAT HEAD TABLE SEATS ARE “BY
INVITATION ONLY” RATHER THAN “BY HOOK OR BY CROOK.”
Jesus’ direct challenge to our natural desire to get ahead is what makes
his story so biting. Jesus saw something we overlook: As long as leaders
worry about who sits at the head table, they have little time for the people
they are called to serve. We don’t see opportunities for service while our
eyes are fixed on the competition. Jesus taught that head table seats are “by
invitation only” rather than “by hook or crook.”
The first time I presented this topic to a group of more than one
hundred people, I was nervous. When I quoted Jesus, I said, “He who
exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exhausted.” We all laughed, but then we agreed that this was how most of
us felt about humbling ourselves! We feared that if we humbled ourselves,
we would exhaust ourselves trying to do everything people asked us to do!
We feared becoming doormats for others to walk on.
But actually the opposite is true. Jesus says that if we will humble
ourselves and learn from him, he will give us rest (Matt. 11:28). True
humility does not lead to exhaustion but frees us to serve others. In God’s
kingdom, achievement is not the goal, but we will never grasp that until
we’ve learned humility. Then we can relax and serve, knowing that any
honor that comes to us is given, not earned.
ARE WE WILLING TO FACE SOME FACTS?
Jesus’ comments point out some facts about life.
“A person more distinguished than you may have been invited.”
Luke 14:8
Wherever we go, someone is “more distinguished” than we are. We are not
as important as we would like to think. Someone will always outrank me
or you. Isn’t it better for us to realize and accept this than to be fighting for
prestige we don’t have? No one wants to be asked to sit somewhere else.
If you assume more honor than you have, you will end up
embarrassed in front of your peers. Luke 14:9
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So you’ve pushed your way to the front, and you’ve just settled in to enjoy
conversation with the prestigious people, and someone nudges you. You
feel your face get hot when—oh no—the host himself asks you as politely
as he can, “Could you move to that table over there? We already have a
guest for this place—see the name card?” On the other hand, it’s so
gratifying when the host comes to get you, saying, “Hey—we’ve saved a
place up front for you!” A humble spirit can lead to being honored by
others. When you take that backseat, you’re actually trusting God instead
of your own efforts to push your way through. And true humility
eliminates the burning need to be honored in the first place.
Final recognition comes from God.
The world says, “Work your way to the head table.” Jesus says, “Take a
seat in the back. I’ll choose who sits up front.” How do you get ahead if
you are waiting on God rather than making things happen yourself?
Getting ahead was never part of the deal with Jesus. The goal of a
disciple is to please the teacher, not climb to the top of the heap. Those
who follow Jesus willingly humble themselves because their teacher was
humble. Jesus seldom described himself personally. On one occasion,
however, he described himself as “gentle and humble in heart” (Matt.
11:29). Jesus also said, “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this
child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4). Childlike
humility is a requirement for service among God’s people. Competitive
ambition does not fit the profile of a person who follows Jesus.
DOWNWARD ON A PATH TO GREATNESS
Jesus lived the humility he taught. When the apostle Paul urged the
Christians in Philippi to serve each other, he recalled Jesus’ life and
reminded his friends of their true source of strength. He told them, “In
humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look
not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil.
2:3-4). How do you do that? the readers must have asked themselves. Paul
answered when he wrote, “Your attitude should be the same as that of
Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).
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Paul then described Jesus’ humble service of taking on the form of a
servant and dying on the cross for others. Paul said to be like Jesus, who
“made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:7-
8).
The key phrase in this passage is “he humbled himself” (Phil. 2:8).
Humble is the same word Jesus used in his story to the disciples about
seeking out places at the head table. Jesus taught humility because it was at
the core of who he was. It enabled him to follow God’s plan for his life.
The person who leads as Jesus leads will take his approach. From the very
beginning, Jesus was out not to honor himself but to follow God’s will.
Bill Hybels says this may be “the most countercultural chapter in the
Bible.”[4] Jesus left the perfect setup in heaven to take on the form of a
human and lose his life for others. This downward mobility is against the
flow of cultural values. Hybels states the truth of the passage:
The message of Philippians is this: If you want to be truly great,
then the direction you must go is down. You must descend into
greatness. At the heart of this paradox is still another paradox:
Greatness is not a measure of self-will, but rather self-
abandonment. The more you lose, the more you gain.[5]
Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing” (Phil. 2:6-7). He took on the form of a servant, and
he humbled himself to the will of his Father. Jesus’ story has a “riches to
rags”[6] beginning. His life was a picture of humble service. Anyone who
follows him will find herself on a downward path to greatness.
Jesus never sought earthly recognition. He came to carry out the
mission his Father had given him. Humble service to his Father defined the
life of Jesus. Those who model their lives after Jesus will have the same
said of them.
Henri Nouwen drew this conclusion about Christian leadership
modeled after Jesus:
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The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility
in which our world has invested so much, but the way of
downward mobility ending on the cross. This might sound morbid
and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first
love and said “yes” to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the
way to the joy and the peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of
this world.
Here we touch the most important quality of Christian
leadership in the future. It is not a leadership of power and control,
but leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering
servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest.[7]
The key phrase in Philippians 2 is “God exalted him” (v. 9). Exalt is
the same word Jesus used in his illustration at the banquet. God exalted his
Son after Jesus humbled himself in obedience to death on the cross. Peter,
who was present at Jesus’ lesson on humility recorded in Luke 14, told the
first Christians to “humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty
hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6). Exalt in the
dictionary of faith means God lifts up those who have humbled themselves
before him and his purposes.
Are you a leader after the example of Jesus? If so, make a practice of
humbling yourself, taking the lesser position, looking for ways to be
attentive to other people. Exaltation is God’s choice, not yours. Christian
leaders—most of all—should be known for acting counter to the culture of
success. God will choose those who will be up front.
Humble and wait are not in every list of leadership traits.
Humility, like meekness, can be perceived as weakness. “Never let them
see you sweat” is more than a deodorant slogan. Those who pass on the
freeway shoulder shout, “Waiting is for losers!” Waiting on God sounds
too slow and too spiritual for ambitious souls. Earthly perception and
divine reality, however, rarely match. Two distinguishing character
qualities of a servant leader are humility and the ability to wait.
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TWO DISTINGUISHING CHARACTER QUALITIES OF A SERVANT
LEADER ARE HUMILITY AND THE ABILITY TO WAIT.
The Bible places great value on humility. It teaches that “humility
comes before honor” (Prov. 15:33). James, an apostle who followed Jesus,
wrote: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up”
(James 4:10). Scripture described Moses as “a very humble man, more
humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3, italics
mine). The Bible described Moses this way when Miriam and Aaron
challenged the lawgiver’s leadership. Although the leader had every right
to let God wreak havoc in their lives because of their attempted coup,
Moses intervened with God on their behalf. Only a humble man can
represent the interests of people who are critical of him.
Humility begins when you have a true picture of yourself before
God and God’s call on your life.
We perceive that we are important when we compare ourselves to others,
and Jesus warned against that. Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be
judged” (Matt. 7:1). This teaching does not mean we are to deny absolute
truths in order to tolerate the sins of others. Jesus was saying that we are
not to compare ourselves with others so that we’ll feel better about
ourselves. We don’t get our worth by looking at other people; God has
already declared our worth through the gift of salvation.
Biblical humility requires that we stop the comparison game. If we
can’t gauge our progress by looking at others, how will we assess
ourselves? By holding our lives up against God’s call to us. By comparing
our character to the character of Jesus. No other standards apply. And
when we use the Lord of the universe as our standard, it’s much easier to
be humble!
Humility is also a by-product of seeing yourself in relation to
the task you have been entrusted with as the leader.
Peter Drucker writes that a basic competence to lead “regardless of the
weather” requires the willingness to realize how unimportant you are
compared to the task. Leaders need objectivity, a certain detachment. They
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subordinate themselves to the task but don’t identify themselves with the
task. The task remains bigger than they are and also separate from them.
The worst thing you can say about a leader is that on the day he left, the
organization collapsed. When that happens, it means the so-called leader
had sucked the place dry. He hasn’t built something that would last with or
without him. He may have been an effective operator, but he has not
created a vision.[8]
You can assign yourself to a lower position when you realize that you
are a servant to the mission or goal God has given you. Max DePree notes
that self-assurance plus humility gives confidence to those who follow the
leader. He writes, “A combination of self-confidence and humility seems
to me to be crucial, for this oxymoronic quality makes it possible for the
group to be decisive.”[9] Warren Bennis lists humility among the “basic
ingredients of leadership.”[10] Humility produced by the presence of God
brings a Christ-centered confidence in the leader.
Go back to Drucker’s statement about the willingness to realize how
unimportant you are compared to the task. That is the beginning of real
humility. Say, for example, you have been asked to be the block
chairperson for your local American Heart Association membership drive.
Your responsibility may seem manageable, and you could become proud
of your contribution to raise money to fund research and care for those
with heart disease. Until you realize the size of the ultimate task: to raise
money for an entire nation of millions who suffer from heart disease. It is
hard to be self-centered when you realize the full extent of what you and
all the other block chairpersons are trying to do! Humility comes when you
see yourself in light of the task you have been given.
Humility allows God to work in a person’s life.
Without humility, God can have no place in a person’s life because ego
has become god. When the ego is in control, how can God have influence
in one’s day-to-day decisions? We all admire a leader who has confidence.
In fact, in this achieving culture, the ones with a lot of self-confidence
usually become leaders! But are they leaders in God’s sense of the term?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIDE AND AUTHENTIC
CONFIDENCE IS THE SOURCE.
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The difference between pride and authentic confidence is the source.
God grants confidence to those who trust him. Divinely directed
confidence is the certainty that God has created you, bought you through
the death of his Son, and called you out to join in the worldwide mission of
hope.
Ego, on the other hand, produces pride. Anthony DeMello puts it this
way:
Disciple: I have come to offer you my service.
Master: If you dropped the “I,” service would automatically follow.
[11]
You could give all your goods to feed the poor and your body to be
burnt and yet not have love at all.
Keep your goods and abandon the “I.” Don’t burn the body:
burn the ego. Love will automatically follow.
Pride is the opposite of humility and God-centered confidence. Pride is
an inflated view of who we really are. It is arrogant self-worship.[12] It is
God spelled E-G-O. Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager
(New York: Berkley Books, 1981), reminds us that ego stands for “edging
God out.”[13] He goes on to say, “When we start to get a distorted image
of our own importance and see ourselves as the center of the universe, we
lose touch with who we really are as children of God.”[14] This “distorted
image of our own importance” keeps us out of the lives of others and
focused on what we alone want and think we need.
As a pastor, I have the hard job of working with people whose
marriages are falling apart. No divorce comes in an instant. It takes two
people and sometimes years of events for a marriage relationship to fall
apart. When I finally get to meet with the couple, things are usually pretty
bad. I have observed over the years that more times than not, one of the
partners has developed a self-protective attitude. The entire conversation is
about him and what he deserves and what she has not done for him and
how she . . . and so on. I am not a trained counselor, but I can tell the
difference between someone who is protecting himself and someone who
45
is willing to reconcile the situation. That difference revolves around the
person’s ego. God cannot work in that relationship until both people are
willing to take the “I” out of the conversation and serve the needs of their
partner. God will not work until both lay down their egos and humbly care
for the other. Ego blocks God’s work. Humility opens the door for
reconciliation.
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DO YOU feel that God is calling you to be a leader? If so, you must let go
of pride. Pride ruins leaders. It will push you to seek places you think you
deserve rather than where God has chosen you to serve. Pride sets you
above others and insists that you deserve service from them. Pride blinds
you to your weaknesses and to others’ strengths. Pride drives you to build
barriers rather than bridges. And pride will always place itself ahead of the
mission and ahead of the people who are involved with you to carry out
the mission.
The Bible contains many warnings against pride. For example:
The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share
plunder with the proud.[15]
PRIDE WILL PUSH YOU TO SEEK PLACES YOU THINK YOU
DESERVE RATHER THAN WHERE GOD HAS CHOSEN YOU TO
SERVE.
Jesus began his design for discipleship with this statement: “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).
Poverty of spirit signaled readiness for the kingdom. Jesus told stories
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about humble widows and repentant tax collectors whom God honored
because of their humility.
But isn’t some pride necessary to carry out the vision God has given
you? You have to be confident if you’re going to accomplish God’s plans,
don’t you? The issue is not merely pride but character as well. By itself,
your pride will produce arrogance. But if the pride you experience is built
on the character that God is developing in you, it will produce a quiet
confidence. This is the type of confidence that can see a vision through to
its fulfillment. It is a confidence not dependent upon our own abilities and
drive but upon God’s ability to bless the world through us.
An arrogant young visionary
Joseph was his father’s favorite son, and he wore a richly ornamented coat
to prove it. God came to Joseph when he was seventeen and gave him a
vision for the future. Someday, according to the dreams, Joseph’s eleven
brothers would bow down to him. Joseph was “well-built and handsome”
(Gen. 39:6). Joseph had everything a person needs to become a leader: a
parent’s blessing at age seventeen, a vision for the future, and recognized
physical gifts.
All of those things, however, resulted in arrogance in Joseph’s life. His
brothers hated him, and they plotted to kill him. Only after his big brother
intervened did they decide to sell him as a slave instead.
What did these events have to do with Joseph’s living out God’s plan
for his life? The cistern and slavery were tools God used to turn Joseph’s
arrogance into godly confidence. God molded Joseph’s character through
these events.
Character is the balance to giftedness. Joseph’s life got harder before
it got easier. It was not until Joseph’s confidence was based upon the work
of God rather than his personal abilities and dreams that God elevated him
to a place where he could see those dreams fulfilled.
CHARACTER IS THE BALANCE TO GIFTEDNESS.
Paul and James on pride
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Paul, the apostle, knew about the importance of character. He knew about
Joseph, too. In his letter to the Christians in Rome, he reminded them that
“suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character,
hope. And hope does not disappoint” (Rom. 5:3-5). James echoed Paul’s
words when he wrote, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you
face trials . . . because you know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance” (James 1:2-3). Trials are the crucible in which our character
is purified. It is this character that results in godly confidence and thus
equips us to live out God’s visions. Leaders who live God’s dream are not
always the most flamboyant, popular, and gifted people. They are the
people who have been humble enough to be shaped by God, who have
developed the character to act on God’s behalf.
Humility and service
How do we learn humility? How is this character trait formed in our
hearts? We learn humility the same way we learn every other aspect of the
Christian life: by following Jesus. Brennan Manning writes:
We learn humility directly from the Lord Jesus in whatever way he
wishes to teach us. Most often we learn humility through
humiliations. What is humility? It is the stark realization and
acceptance of the fact that I am totally dependent upon God’s love
and mercy. It grows through a stripping away of all self-
sufficiency. Humility is not caught by repeating pious phrases. It is
accomplished by the hand of God. It is Job on the dung hill all over
again as God reminds us that he is our only true hope.[16]
Those who follow Jesus find themselves treated like Jesus. Out of
those experiences they begin to understand the difference between self-
centered pride and humble confidence.
Another way to learn humility is to serve others. Richard Foster
reminds us that “more than any other single way, the grace of humility is
worked into our lives through the Discipline of service.”[17] Serving
others, according to Foster, is, of all the classical spiritual disciplines, the
“most conducive to the growth of humility.” You should not be surprised
by the connection between service and humility. One begets the other.
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Both benefit anyone other than yourself. Genuine service—an act initiated
for the benefit of another hidden from an audience—will always lead to
humility.
I am a volunteer police and fire chaplain for my city. I share this
responsibility with five other men who give their time to serve our city’s
police officers and firefighters. We are most often called out to make death
notifications or minister to relatives at the scene of a death, fire, or serious
injury. Serving in this way leaves little room for self-centered pride. I am
always humbled as I leave the home where a family member has taken his
or her own life—and then return to the sleeping members of my own
family. Service that takes you into the hurts of others will produce a
humble spirit in you.
WAIT FOR GOD TO EXALT YOU
Waiting produces the patience we need if we are going to reach eternal
goals. But not all waiting is the kind that produces patience. Let me
describe three kinds of waiting.
Quiet waiting is like sitting on a porch at the end of the day,
reflecting on the day’s events.
This waiting takes you out of your tasks and goals to a place of quiet
musing. It is a calculated pause to listen and learn. Quiet waiting results in
a strong heart. King David knew that waiting on God produced this kind of
strength. He penned the lyrics, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord” (Ps. 27:14). Strength of heart, according to this
mighty leader, came from waiting for God to work rather than going for it
on your own.
“Just do it” is not a servant leader’s mantra. God promised through his
prophet Isaiah that “those who wait on the Lord will find new strength.
They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31, NLT). Waiting upon the Lord
renews a person’s strength. Quiet waiting is a passive waiting. Your focus
is listening for instruction on the next step while considering your last one.
Quiet waiting includes reflection. Warren Bennis observed that
reflection is “a major way in which leaders learn from the past.”[18] This
practice helps the leader to say, “That’s the way we will go.” Bennis
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writes:
Reflection may be the pivotal way we learn. Consider some of the
ways of reflecting: looking back, thinking back, dreaming,
journaling, talking it out, watching last week’s game, asking for
critiques, going on retreats—even telling jokes. Jokes are a way of
making whatever-it-was understandable and acceptable.[19]
QUIET REFLECTION GIVES THE LEADER A TRANSCENDENT
VIEW OF EVENTS AND CHOICES.
Quiet reflection gives the leader a transcendent view of events and
choices. It provides a viewpoint that makes room for humor rather than
worry.
Prayer is another way to wait quietly. Prayer puts all things earthly in
perspective with things holy. Quiet prayer allows the searcher to meet her
guide and the disciple to know his teacher. Prayer is “like farming,”
according to Robert Schuller. He offers these four steps to quiet prayer:
In the first step, the soil must be broken, disked, and raked until it is
prepared to receive the seed. In prayer, your soul must first be
prepared by faith.
Then the seed must be dropped. In Level Two prayer, your call for
help must be raised.
Then the weeds must be removed. In prayer, the negative elements in
your thoughts and feelings must be eliminated like static on the line.
You clear the channel and reprogram your mind with positive ideas
and moods.
And water must be supplied. In prayer, renewed vision, purpose, and
enthusiasm must be added to your soul.[20]
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Jesus practiced quiet waiting. Luke’s story of Jesus describes him as a
praying leader. He prayed all night before he chose his leadership team
(Luke 6:12-16). Jesus was transfigured and his mission confirmed by God
as he quietly prayed on a mountaintop with his three closest followers
(Luke 9:28-36). His disciples asked him to teach them to pray after they
had observed the power of prayer in his life (Luke 11:1-4). Quiet waiting
through prayer and reflection was a core characteristic of Jesus’ life.
Expectant waiting is like sitting in a restaurant waiting for a
friend who said he would join you for breakfast.
You wait expecting a promise to be kept. You wait with the certainty that
your partner’s word can be trusted. Spiritually, expectant waiting is
trusting God’s Word, knowing that he is up to something. You wait and
expect something to happen, based upon his Word.
Jesus taught his disciples about expectant waiting. Before he ascended
into heaven, he told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift
my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (Acts 1:4).
Jesus had been crucified, buried, and raised on the third day. Then he told
his leadership team to go back to the scene of the crime and wait. They
were to wait because in waiting they would receive “the gift [his] Father
promised [them].” This is active waiting.
Quiet waiting is listening. Expectant waiting is looking! It is active and
focused. The disciples waited for the promised Holy Spirit of God to pour
out upon them. They had no idea what that gift would look, feel, taste,
smell, or sound like. Their focus was the gift, not their circumstances.
They waited based upon their trust in the one who told them to wait. Their
waiting was filled with hope that what Jesus had told them would come
true. Expectant waiting led to realized hope.
If you have ever waited through a pregnancy, you know what
expectant waiting feels like. You know a birth is in the future, but you
don’t know when it will actually take place. You prepare. You get
checkups. You pack the bags and keep the car filled with gas, and you
wait. When the birth pains begin, you are ready to respond with joy and
love. Expectant waiting is waiting for God to exalt you.
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Frustrated waiting is like waiting in the doctor’s office for two
hours knowing you have work to do back at the office.
The longer the wait, the greater the frustration. This kind of waiting leads
to hurried decisions, loss of focus, and broken relationships. Every time I
have experienced frustrated waiting, I have made wrong decisions. When I
lose trust in God’s promises and people’s word, I tend to start making
things happen. My motives are frustration, not service. My results are
defeat, not success.
You never see this kind of waiting with Jesus. He quietly and
expectantly waited for God to accomplish his plan. A servant leader like
Jesus waits on the prompting of his Master. Taking things into our own
hands leads to confusion and loss of direction.
Waiting is neither procrastination nor indecision. These are born out of
laziness and fear. Leaders cannot afford to procrastinate, and they can’t
hold up God’s mission through their own indecision. But sometimes we
are required to wait. Waiting in the context of Jesus’ teachings is trusting
that there is a season for everything (see Eccles. 3:1). It is staking your life
on the reality that God makes things happen for his purposes and on his
timetable. Waiting is trusting that “Timing (with a capital T) is
everything.”
JESUS HAD A SENSE OF TIMING
Jesus understood that the Father had ordained seasons in his life. This was
part of what enabled him to wait as a leader. Jesus said several times
during his ministry, “My time has not yet come.” The first was when his
mother told him they had run out of wine at the wedding feast in Cana. He
said to her, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? . . . My time has not
yet come” (John 2:4). On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, John, the Gospel
writer, records, “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the
time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father” (John
13:1). Jesus confessed to his Father that “the time [had] come” for his
glorification (John 17:1). Jesus knew the importance of God’s timing,
especially for a leader with a mission.
Someone once said, “You cannot be impatient and humble.” I believe
this is true because impatience leads to reaction against events instead of
waiting for divine direction. Impatience causes leaders to sacrifice insight
53
for effort. It causes us to trust our natural instincts rather than God’s work
in our life.
IMPATIENT FOR GOD’S CALL
I am goal and task oriented. I am an achiever. “Keep moving” is one of my
natural core values. I sensed God’s call on my life to pastor when I was in
high school. I went to college and seminary and served on the staff of a
large suburban church as the minister to youth. At the age of thirty-three, I
was serving as the executive director of a private foundation that owned
and operated camps and conference centers in Colorado and Texas. I had
been ordained and had earned my Ph.D. in New Testament studies. But I
was not a pastor.
One day I sat quietly on the side of a mountain outside a Colorado
camp. I opened my heart to God, praying, Why haven’t you let me be a
pastor? I have my degrees and experience. I know I can do the job. Why
haven’t you let me do what I thought you called me to do sixteen years
ago? I was really upset. Then the still, small voice of the Spirit said,
“Gene, you can be a postman and do what I called you to do.” I listened
longer. God’s Spirit pointed out that the position I held had little to do with
his call on my life. The Spirit continued, “Be faithful to the task at hand.” I
sensed that God knew how all this would work together for his good.
Romans 8:28 came to mind. I realized that God was still at work in my
life, molding me into the kind of pastor he wanted me to become. I learned
that God’s timing may not be our timing, but God’s timing is always right.
A year later I was interim pastor at the church I now have served as pastor
for over ten years.
IMPATIENCE LEADS TO REACTION AGAINST EVENTS INSTEAD
OF WAITING FOR DIVINE DIRECTION. IMPATIENCE CAUSES
LEADERS TO SACRIFICE INSIGHT FOR EFFORT.
You may be waiting on God’s timing in your life. You may feel that
what you are doing now has nothing to do with God’s call on your life or
the mission God has called you to complete. Be patient. Wait. Find a quiet
54
hill or field where you can sit still and hear the voice of God. You will
soon discover that if you pay attention to God’s timing in your present,
you will see God’s timing in your future.
Humility and waiting are part of a servant leader’s lifestyle. A godly
confidence combined with trusting patience allows the servant leader to
carry out the mission of God in his life. Humility and patience equip him
or her to carry out lifelong purposes.
A FIRST STEP—AND A CRUCIAL CHOICE
How does a person follow Jesus’ teachings and example if his words are
so counter to our natural habits? What do you do to put these truths into
your life?
You cannot apply this first principle of a servant leader to your life
unless you commit yourself to follow Jesus. You must decide if you will
design your life after the pattern of Jesus or design your life around the
best thinking and experience the world has to offer. You must answer the
question “Who is master of my life?”
Here’s why your answer to that question is basic to this study: No one
can be a servant without a master. You cannot be a servant leader as
modeled by Jesus without having him as your Master. Jesus said you can’t
serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other, or you
will be devoted to one and despise the other (Matt. 6:24). Remember, God
is spelled E-G-O or G-O-D. You choose. I offer to you that leaders without
Jesus as their Master can serve only themselves, no matter how they might
imagine that they are being great servants to humanity and to their ideals.
Take a moment to examine your heart and answer the following
questions:
Have I confessed my self-centeredness that leads to sin and resistance
to God’s leadership in my life?
Have I confessed that Jesus is Master of my life? Romans 10:9
Do I live my life as if I am in control or as if Christ is in control?
Galatians 2:20
Have I shown a willingness to humble myself before others, or am I
happier when I earn a seat at a head table?
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The answers to these questions describe your relationship with Jesus
Christ. The rest of this book will only be an exercise in self-will if Christ is
not in control of every aspect of your life. If you want to settle this issue in
your life right now, pause and ask Christ to be Savior and, just as
important, Lord of your life. When you have done that, call a friend or
pastor and ask him or her to join you in prayer. Real servant leadership
begins when you decide to learn from and follow the real Servant Leader,
Jesus Christ.
SOMEONE LIKE YOU
Bob Buford, chairman and CEO of Buford Television and founder of
Leadership Network, tells how he came to a “halftime” in his life.[21] He
was a successful businessman with a great wife and family, but he had
begun to seek significance beyond his accumulated success. During those
days of self-evaluation, Bob received a call from his brother saying Bob’s
son, Ross, was missing on the Rio Grande. Bob tells the painful story of
how he waited to hear of his son’s recovery. While waiting for the rescuers
to find his son, Bob said he walked to a limestone bluff overlooking the
river that later he would learn had taken his son’s life. He remembers
saying to himself:
Here’s something you can’t dream your way out of. Here’s
something you can’t think your way out of, buy your way out of, or
work your way out of. . . . This is . . . something you can only trust
your way out of.[22]
Bob Buford lost his son. That event, along with the unsettling that had
already begun in his life, set Bob on a journey that would change his life
forever and influence the lives of many others. That halftime in Bob’s life
resulted in the Leadership Network, a privately funded organization
dedicated to developing Christian leaders in the church for the twenty-first
century. Many church leaders, paid staff and lay leaders, have benefited
from Bob Buford’s new direction in life that resulted from his halftime in
the game of life. It all began when he decided he must trust his way out of
where he was.
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This book can be the beginning of a halftime in your life, a time when
you evaluate how you lead and who you are in relationship with the
Servant Leader, Jesus. The time you spend walking through these pages
can launch you into new experiences in life that you have never imagined.
You and many others can benefit from who you will become after
spending time following the Leader.
The first principle of servant leadership is “servant leaders humble
themselves and wait for God to exalt them.” This principle does not come
naturally to you. It is learned and nurtured over a lifetime. These traits,
however, are essential to becoming a leader after the model and teachings
of Jesus. You have begun a journey that will slowly change your heart and
how you lead others. It is a lifelong journey that will often challenge
conventional wisdom and your natural instincts. This journey is the kind
you can only “trust your way out of.” But, isn’t that the kind of trip you
would rather be on anyway?
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
When you think of the concept of humility, what pictures first
come to your mind? What are your concerns about being
known as a humble person?
List ways you can translate Jesus’ teaching to “take a seat in
the back” into your daily life. Is this really possible where you
live?
How does Jesus’ example in Philippians 2 help you understand
humility as a way of life?
Based on your understanding of this chapter, what role does
pride play in the life of a servant leader?
Describe your feelings about the concept of “waiting for God to
exalt you.” List some examples from this chapter and your own
life that would confirm this principle.
Share examples from your life of when you experienced quiet
waiting, expectant waiting, and/or frustrated waiting. What did
you learn during those times?
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Summarize your understanding of the first principle of servant
leadership. List three ways you can apply this principle to your
leadership issues this week.
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IN THE twenty-first-century organization, all leaders must learn
to follow if they are to successfully lead.
DOUGLAS K. SMITH The Leader of the Future
ALL leaders are actual or potential power holders, but not all
power holders are leaders.
JAMES M. BURNS Leadership
THE BIBLE says comparatively little about leadership and a
great deal about followership. Jesus did not invite Peter,
Andrew, James, and John to become leaders immediately. He
said, “Follow Me.”
LEITH ANDERSON A Church for the Twenty-First Century
A PERSON can be assigned, selected, or designated for a
position, but a person cannot be appointed to leadership.
LOVETT H. WEEMS JR. Church Leadership
LEADERS both “lead” and “follow” in permission-giving
churches.
WILLIAM M. EASUM Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers
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MY OLDEST daughter is somewhat of a daredevil. She came home from a
youth-group outing one day with a huge smile on her face. She told us she
had strapped herself into one of those ninety-foot swings along with two of
the sponsors and taken the ride of her life!
Her mother and I responded with the most famous of parental
responses: “You what?!” She promised pictures to prove it. Pictures would
not be necessary, we said. Her mother asked, “What’s gotten into you?
How could you risk your life like that?” I asked, “Do you really go seventy
miles per hour at the bottom of the swing?” We were filled with both fear
and amazement at our daughter’s choices.
Jesus’ parents had the same reactions to one of his decisions. When he was
twelve, he decided to stay in Jerusalem and discuss the Scriptures with the
religious leaders while his parents headed home with friends and family.
The Bible says that when they saw him in the temple, “they were
astonished” (Luke 2:48). Any parent would be somewhat amazed to find a
twelve-year-old boy in a Bible study at church instead of on a trip with
friends. Mary, Jesus’ mother, went into parental mode when she asked,
“Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been
anxiously searching for you.” No word from Joseph. He must have been
pondering his son’s desire to sit among his elders and discuss the Word of
God. The parents of Jesus responded with concern and amazement at their
son’s choice to stay behind and be about his Father’s business.
I believe this event at the temple and others like it prepared Jesus for
the responses he would get the rest of his life to the radical decisions he
would make. By the time Jesus began leading his group of followers to
complete his mission, he was no doubt accustomed to people’s responses
to his choices.
People showed a wide range of reactions to Jesus. Some were amazed.
Others could not believe he could be so foolish. Others hated him.
Leaders, I have learned, must be comfortable with how others may
respond to their decisions.
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LET’S drop into Jesus’ life at the point of his decision to lead his followers
to Jerusalem. Mark 10:32 tells us that Jesus was “leading” his followers
toward the city. The word used for “lead” here means to go before a group.
Jesus was out in front of his followers, showing the way. Mark said that
the disciples, the twelve closest to Jesus, “were astonished” at his decision
to go to Jerusalem. The word can also be translated “marveled.” Why did
his closest followers marvel at this decision?
By this time in Jesus’ ministry, opposition to his mission had grown
considerably. The disciples had seen heated exchanges between Jesus and
religious leaders. They must have wondered why Jesus wanted to stir up a
hornet’s nest again by going to denominational headquarters in Jerusalem.
The disciples may have marveled by saying, “I can’t believe he’s doing
this. He’s going to get us all killed.” They also may have said, “You’ve got
to give the guy credit. He’s got nerve to go back there.” Leaders make bold
decisions. Those who follow are either amazed or afraid.
FEAR IS OFTEN A BY-PRODUCT OF THOSE WHO SEE THEIR
LEADER AS A PROVIDER ONLY.
Mark also tells us that the other followers—besides the Twelve—were
afraid. Why? This group also knew of the potential showdown in
Jerusalem. They must have feared a fatal resolution to the conflict between
Jesus and their religious leaders. These people were those who followed
Jesus because he had fed them or healed them. His great teachings gave
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them hope. His compassion for the lost motivated them to love others.
Jesus was a leader who inspired their hearts and supplied their needs.
Losing Jesus in Jerusalem would mean losing a leader who filled
emotional as well as physical needs. They did not want their leader to risk
their well-being for the sake of his mission. Fear is often a by-product
of those who see their leader as a provider only.
JESUS STATED HIS INTENTIONS. GOOD LEADERS DO.
As the leader, Jesus also made his intentions clear. When he saw their
reactions, he pulled the Twelve aside and explained what was about to
happen. Good leaders state their intentions to those closest to them. Max
DePree says that the first responsibility of the leader is to define reality.
[23] Jesus defined the reality of his mission as he told his followers the
truth once again: He would go to the great city and be betrayed and
condemned by the religious leaders. The religious leaders, in turn, would
turn him over to the Romans, who would torture and kill him. On the third
day, however, he would be raised from the grave. To his closest followers,
Jesus laid out how he saw the future.
Jesus’ stating his intentions to go to Jerusalem and die and be raised on
the third day was one way he painted the vision for his disciples.
Remember, vision is simply what the mission looks like when it is
complete. Vision is a picture of the future that the leader paints for those
who follow him. Jesus’ earthly mission to “give his life as a ransom for
many” (Mark 10:45) was complete when he died on the cross. This is why
he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), as he died. His eternal mission
continued as he was raised from the dead and eventually took his place at
the right hand of the Father. Jesus knew what the end of his mission
looked like, and he wanted his followers to know this before it happened.
Let me pause here and say that Jesus knew this was about to happen
because of his complete divinity. God sees the past, present, and future at
the same moment. Jesus had an advantage over us mere mortals in that he
could see the future. On the other hand, as fully human, he was intuitive
enough to know that returning to Jerusalem at this time spelled the end of
his earthly ministry. Too many signs pointed in that direction. The
question, then, may be, “Why go if you know that is what is going to
happen?” As we observe Jesus’ life and ministry, we will see that he knew
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his mission and trusted the Father’s timing to the point that, when he
sensed that both had come together, he acted. Jesus sensed that his return
to Jerusalem was necessary to complete the Father’s plan for his life.
GOOD LEADERS CULTIVATE THE ABILITY TO READ CURRENT
EVENTS AND THUS HAVE A STRONG SENSE OF WHAT THE
FUTURE MAY BRING.
Although Jesus had the supernatural ability to see the future, I believe
good leaders cultivate the ability to read current events and thus have a
strong sense of what the future may bring. Great leaders take present
circumstances and spell out potential scenarios from those factors. They
seem to see what no one else can see. Bennis affirms the role of intuition
in leadership when he writes:
A part of whole-brain thinking includes learning to trust what
Emerson called the “blessed impulse,” the hunch, the vision that
shows you in a flash the absolutely right thing to do. Everyone has
these visions; leaders learn to trust them.[24]
Leaders trust their hunches about the outcome of current events. Then
they act on those hunches. And they keep their followers informed, even
when such information invites mixed reactions, as it did when Jesus
foretold the Jerusalem events.
I was accused of many things as I led our church to make changes in
its structure and style so that we could reach more people. The accusation
that amused me most and pleased me at the same time was that I had “an
agenda.” Having an agenda in the midst of change seemed for some to
rank up there with embezzlement and adultery. During one rather heated
discussion, one church member was standing near a marker board, and he
said, “You want to know your problem?” I said, “Not really, but go
ahead.” He walked to the board, picked up a marker, and wrote in all caps:
AGENDA. “You have an agenda!” he proclaimed. I think he expected to
surprise me by exposing my secret. He must have waited for me to turn red
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faced because he had caught me with my hand in the cookie jar. But I
could only smile. I thanked him for noticing! I had been trying to spell out
my agenda for over a year. I was happy that someone had caught on.
Every leader has an agenda—the ultimate mission she has been called
to. When others begin to see that agenda, the leader has done her job!
When she states her intentions clearly, she gives followers the opportunity
to accept the plans or seek to end them.
Jesus had an agenda: to lay down his life as a ransom for many. Going
to Jerusalem was part of that agenda. This was not some benign policy
statement; it was a decision that actually caused fear and amazement. We
shouldn’t be surprised when God’s calling leads to this. The people we
lead are much better off understanding what the “agenda” is.
WHEN LEADERS DECIDE, OTHERS MAKE CHOICES TOO
As soon as Jesus told his disciples of his intentions, two of them moved in
to take advantage of the situation. James and John were among Jesus’
closest followers. He had called them very early in his public mission to be
part of the Twelve. They were brothers in a family fishing business. Their
nickname was Sons of Thunder. They must have been in some pretty big
brawls to gain that kind of reputation! When Jesus told them to follow him
so he could show them how to catch people for God rather than fish for
themselves, they dropped their nets and followed him. Jesus consistently
chose James and John to share his deepest concerns and joys with. By the
time of Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem, James and John had seen Jesus
perform miracles and had been with him at Peter’s confession in Caesarea
Philippi and on the mountain of his transfiguration. They had a strong
relationship with their leader.
The telltale sign of their relationship with Jesus was James and John’s
request: “We want you to do for us whatever we ask” (Mark 10:35). Some
people may be appalled at the audacity of these men to approach Jesus
with such an attitude. Surely they were too comfortable with their leader.
Where was their respect? Why didn’t Jesus scold them for their
presumption?
People can follow when the leader establishes trust.
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I believe their request revealed the open and genuine relationship Jesus
shared with his followers. The brothers were simply acting out what Jesus
had taught them about God’s desire to hear the requests of those who love
him: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John
14:14). James and John trusted Jesus and approached him with their
heartfelt request.
Jesus answered with, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark
10:36). Servant leaders accept the honest requests of those they serve.
Jesus did not scold. He did not roll his eyes. He wanted to understand their
request before he responded to them. Jesus responded to James and John
the way the authors of Managing from the Heart suggest that caring
managers respond to those who work with them. The authors offer the first
two “requests everyone at work makes of you”:
Please don’t make me wrong, even if you disagree. Hear and
understand me.[25]
Jesus did not put James and John down for their request, although it
was off base. He did not “make them wrong” by his attitude toward them.
Jesus waited to understand what they wanted from him.
Jesus built the kind of relationship with James and John that allowed
for this kind of request and patient understanding. Relationship is
everything in leadership. Burns notes that leadership is first relational.[26]
Leaders lead most effectively when relationships are open and strong
between them and their followers.
How do you have that kind of relationship with your followers? One
word: trust. Stephen R. Covey has developed a “Principle-Centered
Leadership Paradigm” with four levels and key principles.[27] People are
the “highest value [in this paradigm] because they are the programmers—
they produce everything else at the personal, interpersonal, managerial,
and organizational levels.” The key principle in this level is trust.
Trust is the foundation of all effective relationships and
organizations. Without a culture of high trust, true empowerment
can neither be established nor sustained. Why, then, is the trust
level in most organizations so chronically low? The reason is that
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trust is not the result of organizational imperative or program. In
other words, it is not a quick fix. It is the fruit of trustworthiness at
the personal level.[28]
Max DePree explains that building trust in organizations “has become
a chief responsibility of leaders, an essential duty especially in the eyes of
the followers.”[29] Warren Bennis claims that trust is one of six basic
ingredients of leadership. “Integrity is the basis of trust, which is not so
much an ingredient of leadership as it is a product. It is the one quality that
cannot be acquired, but must be earned. It is given by coworkers and
followers, and without it, the leader can’t function.”[30] Trust is the
foundation upon which relationships in every setting are built.
Jesus’ trustworthiness at the personal level of his relationship with
James and John allowed them to trust that he would openly consider their
request of him. This principle of trust is essential in churches. Bill Easum
has observed that trust is a key element in his paradigm of permission-
giving churches. “Trust and love are at the heart of permission-giving
churches. Love lets go and permits the other to stretch his or her wings.
Trust operates on mutual respect.”[31]
Trust between a church leader and members of the church allows the
work of mission to be done. Trust destroys an atmosphere of control and
creates an air of freedom. Trust allows the leader to lead.
People can follow when their view of leadership is corrected.
James and John had enough savvy to know that when Jesus announced his
intentions to go to Jerusalem, the Messiah’s work to build the kingdom of
God was almost complete. We’ve got to give them credit for hearing
Jesus’ announcement and then trusting him enough to want to be part of
the action. Unlike Peter, who scolded Jesus for telling of his suffering,
James and John looked beyond those events to when Jesus would sit on the
throne of the new kingdom. Peter missed the kind of Messiah Jesus would
be. James and John missed the kind of throne he would sit upon. Both
misconceptions required correction from their Lord.
James and John sensed that something important would happen in
Jerusalem. The Sons of Thunder asked, “Let one of us sit at your right and
the other at your left in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Their request reveals a
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common misconception about leadership: We think that if we have the
position, then we have the power to lead. James and John believed the
myth that a place of power in the kingdom meant a position of leadership
in the kingdom.
Just because you have a position of leadership does not mean you are a
leader. We ambitiously long for the corner office. We think if we get there,
then people will listen to us. The reality is that if people do not listen to
you now, they will not listen to you when you “arrive.” But the
misconception remains.
James and John understood that in any kingdom, the places closest to
the king had to have more power and prestige attached to them. That’s
how the Romans did it. That is how the leadership of Israel did it.
Positions near the top are where you want to be when the king comes to
power. This worldview, however, breeds competition rather than
cooperation.
We are competitive people. As I sit writing this paragraph, I watch
three boys running outside my hotel room in North Carolina. A woman,
presumably a mother of at least one of the boys, times each child as he
runs from the edge of a sidewalk to a tree and back. Each boy jumps for
joy or cringes after his time is called out. He wants to have the fastest time.
Without hearing a word, I can tell who has beaten the other times by the
runners’ body language. My mind travels back to the days I raced friends
on playgrounds or in backyards. I mostly cringed at the end of my races!
AS LONG AS POSITION IS HONORED ABOVE DISCIPLESHIP,
CHURCH LEADERS WILL HONOR THE AMBITIOUS OVER THE
OBEDIENT.
There is nothing wrong with competition; it has helped make the
United States an economic and military power in this world. The problem
comes when we declare one’s value solely upon his or her time in the grass
races! One of those boys will walk away from that self-made track a
winner because he had the best time. If the mother does her job, all three
will leave feeling valuable because they have raced.
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Confusion arises when you equate higher positions with leadership—
especially when it comes to the things of God. While position can present
opportunities for leadership, position does not guarantee that you are a
leader. But as long as position is honored above discipleship—being a
follower—church leaders will honor the ambitious over the obedient.
JESUS WANTED HIS DISCIPLES TO BE FOLLOWERS FIRST
Jesus gently exposed his followers’ misconception about leadership in the
kingdom by making a statement and asking two questions. First he said,
“You don’t know what you are asking” (Mark 10:38). Jesus knew what
comprised his path to glory. He knew what the end of his mission looked
like. He had no intentions of holding any position within an earthly
paradigm of power. His only goal was to bring glory to his Father in
heaven by completing his mission as Suffering Servant Messiah. He knew
that his road to his throne included betrayal, mockery, torture, and death.
He also knew he would be raised to life on the third day after his death.
Jesus’ statement to James and John showed that they did not grasp the
reality of their leader’s mission and, ultimately, their mission.
AMBITION IS NOT THE SAME THING AS WILLINGNESS TO
FOLLOW JESUS TO THE CROSS.
Jesus asked James and John a question that exposed their ambitious
hearts and misconceptions about kingdom leadership. Jesus couched his
question in language of that day. He asked, “Can you drink the cup I drink
or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”(Mark 10:38). Jesus
was referring to his suffering and death by this question. The cup was an
Old Testament symbol for suffering. Jesus used this image of suffering in
the Garden of Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed. He asked his
Father in heaven, “Take this cup [of suffering on the cross] from me”
(Mark 14:36). He asked if there was any other way to lay down his life as
a ransom. He had seen too many crucifixions in his short lifetime. He
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wanted no part of that. However, he humbled himself to follow the will of
his Father rather than carrying out the desires of his heart when he prayed,
“Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).
Baptism was also a biblical picture of suffering. Jesus told his disciples
at another time, “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am
until it is completed!” (Luke 12:50). You have heard of a baptism by fire.
It’s how you train the new person in the office! One picture of suffering is
that of being immersed in pain. Jesus asked his ambitious followers if they
were ready to go through the humiliation of suffering before they were
rewarded a place beside him in his kingdom.
Jesus was more interested in his disciples’ willingness to follow him to
the cross than in their ambition to hold places of power in his kingdom.
Ambition is not the same thing as willingness to follow Jesus to the cross.
Jesus cared that his followers were willing to obey him.
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JESUS’ response to James and John is the basis for our second principle of
servant leadership:
Servant leaders follow Jesus rather than seek a
position.
Jesus wants servant leaders to be followers first. Contemporary observers
of leadership also acknowledge the need for a leader to be a follower.
Douglas K. Smith has written,
In the twenty-first-century organization, all leaders must learn to
follow if they are to successfully lead. . . . Leaders at all levels and
in all situations must pay close attention to situations in which their
most effective option is to follow—not because the hierarchy
demands they “obey,” but because performance requires them to
rely on the capacities and insights of other people.[32]
Max DePree claims that becoming a good follower is important
training to become a good leader. “If one is already a leader,” he writes,
“the lessons of following are especially appropriate. Leaders understand
the essential contributions as well as the limitations of good
followers.”[33] Leaders must know the skills of following if they are to
contribute most to those seeking to reach the goal with them.
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Following is at the core of being a servant leader. The word disciple
means “learner.” In Jesus’ day, disciples literally followed their teacher
around as they learned from him. To learn from Jesus means to follow
Jesus. The church today seems to be more interested in those who are
ambitious to lead than in those who are willing to follow. Leith Anderson
makes this observation about the church’s obsession with leadership when
the overwhelming emphasis in Scripture is about following:
It should surprise us that so much is said about leaders and so little
about followers, especially among Christians committed to the
Bible. The Bible says comparatively little about leadership and a
great deal about followership. Jesus did not invite Peter, Andrew,
James, and John to become leaders immediately. He said, “Follow
Me.”[34]
Jesus called his disciples to follow him. They became leaders only
after Jesus empowered them to lead; he empowered them by insisting they
follow him first.
WHAT MISSION IS TO FOLLOWING
Leadership begins with mission. Without mission there is no need or
motivation to lead. A God-sized mission that captures the heart of a person
draws him into leadership because he must have others involved in order
to carry out a mission of that size. I believe God never calls his people to
do something they can do on their own. Otherwise, they would not need
God!
LEADERSHIP BEGINS WITH MISSION. WITHOUT MISSION
THERE IS NO NEED OR MOTIVATION TO LEAD.
Biblical leadership always begins with a God-sized mission in the form
of a call by God. Those commissioned by God to carry out that call
become leaders because they first follow God’s call. Biblical servant
leadership never begins with the individual’s wishes to better the world or
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attain a personal goal. Servant leadership finds its motive from God’s
commissioning a person to carry out a divine plan among a group of
people. Becoming servant to the mission and a follower of the God who
called you is the heart of servant leadership.
Here are some familiar examples from the Bible to illustrate:
Joseph became a leader after God placed a vision in his heart to
preserve his covenant people.
Moses became a servant leader of God when he followed God’s call
on his life to go to Pharaoh and deliver the message: “The Lord says,
Let my people go.”
Gideon would never have been a leader if he had not followed God’s
mission to deliver the tribes of Israel from the Midianites.
David became a king when God, through Samuel, anointed him king.
He humbly followed God’s plan to assume the throne of Israel. He
did not seek it.
Isaiah became a prophet leader when God called him to take a
message of hope and judgment to the people of Israel.
Nehemiah became a remarkable leader when God commissioned him
to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.
Esther became a leader when God, through Mordecai, called her to
stand before the king to protect the remnant of God’s people.
Peter became a leader in the early church after Jesus commissioned
him and the other disciples to make disciples of all peoples.
The apostle Paul led from a clear mission to extend the boundaries of
God’s grace to those outside the Jewish faith.
I believe you can walk through the Bible and illustrate that leadership
among God’s people began with God’s call and that person’s willingness
to follow. Leaders among God’s people come into leadership as they are
carrying out God’s mission/call. They do not seek positions of leadership
so that they can do great things. Do you truly see the difference between
these two approaches? Many, many would-be leaders have never seen the
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difference. Rather than committing themselves to following God’s call and
plan, they commit themselves to getting into a position where they will
have the money they need and the power they need to carry out their vision
of God’s work in the world. We have too many leaders of the latter sort.
We can only wonder what God might have done with those leaders if they
had simply followed his call and left position, power, and money out of the
equation.
Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Community Church, is a
contemporary example of a servant leader who is first a follower of God’s
mission in his life. Rick began his ministry in south Orange County
because God called him to build a church around the mission of God as
spelled out in a great commitment to the great commandment and the great
commission. Rick has followed God’s call and has become servant to the
mission God gave him. He now is leader of thousands of people who are
Saddleback Church and many other church leaders because of his
willingness and humble service toward carrying out what God has
commissioned. Warren’s incredibly popular and insightful book, The
Purpose-Driven Church, describes the power of purpose or mission in a
church and a church leader’s life. He makes this essential point: “Nothing
precedes purpose. The starting point for every church should be the
question, ‘Why do we exist?’ Until you know what your church exists for,
you have no foundation, no motivation, and no direction for ministry.”[35]
Throughout his book, Rick explains the role of the leader as he guides
people to discover, articulate, and build processes to live out divine
purposes through the church.
I believe that God is using men and women with Rick Warren’s heart
and vision to call the church back to its core purposes to revive and reform
the church for a new work in this culture. God is looking for servant
leaders who are first followers of God’s mission in their own lives to lead
these purposeful churches. Only purpose-driven pastors can lead purpose-
driven churches.
TO FOLLOW MEANS TO OBEY, NOT WRITE OUR OWN
TICKET
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James and John naively answered Jesus’ questions with, “Sure! Why not?”
They’d agree to anything to have the chance to rule with the king. They
overlooked the suffering of servant leadership, however, for the luxuries of
a position in the kingdom.
Before you judge the Sons of Thunder, remember that we are very
much like them. We, too, want places up front when Jesus defeats his
enemies. We forget that suffering with Jesus comes before reigning with
Jesus. Jesus wanted James and John to know that following him would
cost them their lives.
JESUS TEACHES THAT WE LEARN TO LEAD BY LEARNING TO
FOLLOW.
Too many times we who are ambitious to lead agree to whatever it
takes to acquire a place of leadership. We naturally pursue places of power
so we can command others and share the perks of position. But Jesus’
teachings on servant leadership do not support such human efforts and
desires. Jesus teaches that we learn to lead by learning to follow.
Calvin Miller has noted that servant leadership “is nurtured in the
Spirit by following Jesus. Servant leaders generally are created not in
commanding others but in obeying their Commander. In such a mystique,
executive arrogance is not possible. The yielded leader is always an
incarnation of Christ, the real leader of His church.”[36] The key concept
in Miller’s observation is “obeying.” Now there’s an idea that has lost its
place in a post-Christian culture! Obedience is to the nineties what
restraint was to the eighties: the concept is laughable given current
conditions! Obedience, however, is the basis for following Jesus.
A root concept for the verb obey in the two biblical languages and
Latin is “to listen.”[37] Henri Nouwen and his coauthors observed this
about Jesus’ life:
Obedience, as it is embodied in Jesus Christ, is a total listening, a
giving attention with no hesitation or limitation, a being “all ear.”
. . . When used by Jesus, the word obedience has no association
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with fear, but rather is the expression of his most intimate, loving
relationship. Jesus’ actions and words are the obedient response to
this love of his Father.[38]
Obedience begins with listening to—not just hearing—the words of
another. Action is the response of obedience. Jesus responded in obedience
to his Father because of his love for his Father. Servant leaders respond to
God in obedience because of their love for God. For, after listening, you
are obedient when you do what you have heard. For example, children are
obedient when they do what their parents ask them to do. A child is not
obedient by simply saying he will clean up his room. He is obedient when
his socks are in the drawer.
Obedience is simply translating what you hear into action. To be a
follower first, you must be willing to obey whoever is leading you.
Successful followers translate what they hear from their leader into actions
that serve the mission they share. Obedience is not an act of subservience
to a dictator; it is an act of love and respect. Jesus said he would know how
much you and I love him by the way we obey (do) his commandments
(John 15:10, 14). To obey someone is to show respect and love toward
them.
Servant leadership in the kingdom is not about seeking position and
power. It is about following Jesus as he serves others and suffers on their
behalf. Servant leaders follow Jesus by doing what he says to do first in
whatever context they find themselves. Servant leadership may require
drinking the cup and being baptized with the baptism of Christ’s suffering
(Mark 10:38-39).
HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M A FOLLOWER FIRST?
Following Jesus is like humbling yourself before God; neither is a natural
act. We tend to get control of our lives, set goals, and go for them without
paying attention to the things of God. We have already talked about ways
we can humble ourselves, but how can we be certain we are following
Jesus rather than seeking a position? Here are some steps that can help us
answer that question.
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First, simply put yourself in James and John’s sandals. Get into the
context of their situation, and seek to understand why they approached
Jesus. One way to do this is to complete the statement: “I am like James
and John because _______________ _______________.” Your answer may
differ from mine, but I am like the Sons of Thunder because I want a place
next to Jesus in the kingdom without suffering what it takes to be there.
My ambition for a place next to Jesus in his kingdom outweighs my desire
to follow Jesus to the cross.
A second way to see if you are following Jesus first is to make a list of
your ambitions, those things that drive you to accomplish all you do and to
acquire all you have. What gets you up in the morning? What keeps you in
the office or school beyond normal hours? Are recognition, power, and
authority on your list? You may be seeking security, acceptance, and lack
of conflict in your life. This list of what you are seeking can help point to
your heart’s desires and what truly drives you to do what you are doing.
A third exercise is to identify God’s call on your life. Answer the
question: “What has God called me to do? What specifically has God told
me to do with my life?” God’s call may be to build a strong family or to
live out the great commandment in the marketplace. Don’t get hung up in
the details. Those are spelled out in the Bible. God’s call certainly is for
you to be a follower of Jesus wherever you find yourself. If you have not
taken time to discover God’s call on your life, I recommend books like
Bob Buford’s Game Plan[39] or Bob Shank’s Total Life Management[40]
as guides for helping you discover God’s unique purpose for you.
A final way to test your ability to follow first is to ask yourself, “What
am I doing to obey Christ’s call to mission in my life? Do my actions
reflect what I have heard God tell me to do?” If you are on mission to
build Christ’s church, what are you doing to purposefully build the
church? If you are on mission to build a business around the purposes of
God in your life, what are you doing to show your employees and
customers that mission? If God has called you to build a strong family,
what have you done today to actually build up your family? What you do
tells you— and others—what you really believe.
Being a servant leader begins by following Jesus rather than pursuing
your ambitions. Pause now, and prayerfully consider the questions above.
Your answers will help you know where you are on the path of becoming a
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servant leader.
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
Would you consider yourself a follower or a leader? List the
advantages of being a follower. List the disadvantages. List the
advantages of being a leader. List the disadvantages.
Has anyone ever accused you of having an agenda? If so,
what was it? Could you say that your agenda was the same as
your vision for your life?
How are you like James and John? In what ways are you not
like these two position seekers?
List examples of where you see “position equals power to lead”
in the organizations to which you belong.
Jesus tested James’s and John’s hearts by asking if they were
willing to follow him to the cross. They said, “Sure!” What would
your response be?
Agree or disagree with the statement “Without mission there is
no need or motivation to lead.” Give examples to support your
position.
Write the second principle of servant leadership in your own
words. List three ways you can apply this principle to your
leadership issues this week.
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KEEP your eyes on the task, not on yourself. The task matters,
and you are a servant.
PETER DRUCKER Managing the Non-Profit Organization
[SHEPHERD] is not a figure of strong over weak or “lords” over
servants. Quite the contrary. The shepherd figure is one of love,
service, and openness.
LYNN ANDERSON They Smell Like Sheep
POWER, for the sake of lording it over fellow-creatures or
adding to personal pomp, is rightly judged base.
WINSTON CHURCHILL in Churchill on Leadership
WHOEVER wants to become great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.
JESUS Matthew 20:26-27
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AFTER Jesus corrected the thinking of James and John, his job as leader
was not over. The work of leadership is not complete until the mission is
accomplished. Before that, leadership is a 24-7 job. When the two
brothers’ request got back to the other ten disciples, a turf war broke out.
The ten did not like James and John’s getting in front of them to receive
recognition when Jesus’ kingdom was set up. Their ongoing who’s-the-
greatest argument turned into a who-gets-the-best-seats argument.
When Jesus heard the noise, he called his leadership team together to
lay down the ground rules—again. Here’s what he said:
You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles
lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over
them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great
among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first
must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:42-45
These words are Jesus’ most clear yet most avoided teachings on
leadership. His words are almost never quoted when the discussion turns to
leadership. Few conferences invite potential or actual leaders to begin with
this description of a leader when building a personal leadership style. We
tend to either read over his blatant message or, at best, use the passage as
illustrative material in a call to service.
Jesus redefined the vocabulary of leadership among God’s people
when he spoke to his disciples that day. Let’s take Jesus’ words at face
value and see if we can translate them into our daily living.
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THE INCIDENT in Mark 10 is the setting for our third principle of servant
leadership. It came immediately after James and John’s request to sit next
to Jesus when he entered his kingdom. The lesson that follows is born out
of the other ten disciples’ response to their fellow disciples’ request. Often
a leader’s best opportunity to lead is when conflict arises among his
followers.
THE TEN’S REACTION TO JAMES AND JOHN
The other ten disciples did not appreciate James and John’s request of
Jesus. Matthew and Mark said they became “indignant” with the Sons of
Thunder. I believe part of their anger came from the fact that the others
would have asked the same thing—if they had gotten to Jesus first! The
other disciples became agitated because they shared James and John’s
misconception about leadership. Otherwise, they would not have been up
in arms over their friends’ request. If the ten other disciples had
understood that leadership is not a matter of position, James and John’s
request would not have been a threat to them.
IF THE TEN OTHER DISCIPLES HAD UNDERSTOOD THAT
LEADERSHIP IS NOT A MATTER OF POSITION, JAMES AND
JOHN’S REQUEST WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A THREAT TO
THEM.
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Ambition cloaked in piety is an unhealthy mixture. The ten reacted to
their friends’ request like jealous siblings rather than followers of the
humble Messiah. For, since following Jesus is the prerequisite to reigning
with him (principle 2), the ten should have had their attention on preparing
to suffer rather than on their brothers’ misguided request.
JESUS’ RESPONSE TO THE TEN
When the ten began their assault on James and John, Jesus must have felt
more like a parent than the leader of a messianic movement. He was near
the end of his earthly ministry. He must have wondered if these guys
would ever get along in order to carry on the mission after his victorious
death. Jesus spent much of his time disciplining and correcting his family
of followers. These are responsibilities for every servant leader.
Jesus addressed his disciples as children (John 13:33). This was not a
put-down. It was a term of endearment. Children are precious to parents
who love them. Jesus gave those who followed him one commandment: to
love one another (John 13:34). Parents continually tell their children to
love each other.
Ken Hemphill, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary, has noted that leading a church as the pastor is much like being
a parent in a family. Hemphill noted that Paul compared his ministry in
Corinth to the role of a father when he encouraged the Corinthians to
imitate his actions (1 Cor. 4:14-21). The concept of church as family
permeates the New Testament. Hemphill advises pastors:
Keep the biblical context of family constantly before the church
through your preaching and teaching. But you must begin the
process of modeling family before it will become reality. Start with
a few key leaders and parent them to maturity. . . . As they grow to
maturity, teach them to parent-disciple others. Put mature,
parenting leaders in places of leadership in your small groups so
that the process of parenting can be extended throughout the
church.[41]
Parenting is a model of pastoral leadership. Leading includes both the
nurturing and discipline that parents must balance with their children.
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Parents and shepherds
Parent leader fits the biblical model of shepherd leader. The shepherd is
the biblical model for God’s relationship with his people (Ps. 23:1). It was
also the designation of the Old Testament king’s role among his people
(2 Sam. 7:7; Zech. 11:4-17). Jesus adopted the shepherd as his model of
leadership when he said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
I want to affirm the shepherd model of leadership among God’s
people. In my personal journey to discover how I should lead, I have tried
to act out every leadership style I learned about at a conference or read
about in a book. I have viewed my role as a “rancher” to the head of a
corporation. Several years ago I stepped into the new year and announced
that it was time to move forward. We needed more space to grow.
I thought since I held the position of leader, others would follow
automatically. The need was real. I was motivated. The goals seemed
clear. The project fell flat on its face! There are many reasons why the
project failed, but one reason was that I tried to lead in a way that was
neither natural for me nor appropriate to the situation. I pushed the project
rather than led the people. I acted more like a CEO with the leverage of
salaries and stock options than like a shepherd who knew each sheep by
name and laid down his life for them.
That failure began my discovery of these principles of servant
leadership and a return to a biblical model for leadership in the church. I
gave up my efforts to lead as someone told me I should lead. I began to
lead as God had designed me to lead. Biblical models began to take
precedence over worldly models. I am convinced that pastor as parent and
pastor as shepherd are still accurate, vital models of leadership in the
church. The principles inherent in both models can apply to any leadership
setting.
I appreciate Lynn Anderson’s work They Smell Like Sheep.[42] It is a
balance to many church leadership models that call God’s people to adopt
styles based on nonbiblical patterns for leadership. Dr. Anderson has
recaptured the biblical model of leader as shepherd. He reminds us that we
do not have to fear the apparent dichotomy between leader and follower
that this model may present. He addresses our fears when he writes:
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While some may not feel comfortable thinking of certain people as
sheep and others as shepherds, our discomfort will likely disappear
when we realize that the shepherding model revolves around the
relationship between the shepherd and his flock. It is not a figure of
strong over weak or “lords” over servants. Quite the contrary. The
shepherd figure is one of love, service, and openness.[43]
Relationship is the key concept in shepherd as leader. Love, service,
and openness are the characteristics of a shepherding style. Likewise, a
relationship built on these characteristics works in the parent-child model.
Children rebel against those with whom they have no relationship.
Parishioners refuse the leadership of those who they sense do not care for
them.
CHILDREN REBEL AGAINST THOSE WITH WHOM THEY HAVE
NO RELATIONSHIP. PARISHIONERS REFUSE THE LEADERSHIP
OF THOSE WHO THEY SENSE DO NOT CARE FOR THEM.
After Jesus corrected the thinking of James and John, he gathered his
followers like a parent stopping a fight among siblings and a shepherd
gathering his endangered flock. He knew that both unity of fellowship and
unity of direction were necessary to carry out his mission. Jesus must have
sighed as he pulled the boys together again to set their thinking and
relationships straight.
THE PARADOX OF LEADING LIKE JESUS: TO BE GREAT IS
TO SERVE
Leaders define what actions and attitudes will be rewarded and recognized
among their followers. When followers try to define new values, the
leader’s responsibility is to restate the core values of the group.
Businesses, organizations, and families benefit from knowing and living
by their core values. In business, core values are “the organization’s
essential and enduring tenets—a small set of general guiding principles;
not to be confused with specific cultural or operating practices; not to be
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compromised for financial gain or short-term expediency.”[44] James
Collins observes that all enduring visionary companies have a set of core
values that determine the behavior of the group.
Acknowledging and living by strongly held core values can build unity
and effectiveness in a church. As we began the process of enumerating our
set of core values, a member of the team said, “I don’t get it. Why do we
need core values? We have the Bible.” Good observation. I agreed that the
Bible was our ultimate guide for our thinking and behavior. I said,
however, that what we were looking for were the unchanging values that
made our church unique in our mission field and in the kingdom of God.
Willow Creek Community Church has helped churches understand what
core values look like and the impact they can have on how a church carries
out its mission.[45]
Jesus defined a core value for his leaders (then and now) when he
pulled his disciples aside and taught them how to lead in the kingdom of
God. He did this in response to James and John’s misunderstanding of
position and leadership, along with the indignant response of the other ten
who shared their fellow disciples’ false perception.
Jesus taught the third principle of servant leadership when he gathered
his disciples to himself:
Servant leaders give up personal rights to find
greatness in service to others.
How do we arrive at that principle? It is inherent in Jesus’ definitions of
greatness. We will see how this concept of greatness and leadership was as
foreign to Jesus’ followers as it is to us today. We will also see that these
truths are key to understanding the mind and mission of Jesus.
Paradox is part of life and should not be feared by those who follow
Jesus. Life is not—as some want it to be—simply black and white, up and
down, front and back. Holograms have replaced one-dimensional drawings
as models of reality. The universe is as small as it is large. We watch death
give way to life, and we watch instant wealth breed poverty. We find
fulfillment in suffering and emptiness in unrestrained pleasure. Children
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bring joy and pain to parents. Marriage is bliss and hard work. Jesus said
leaders are servants. Those who lead are often bound to the goals and
values of those they are leading.
Paradox is often part of a leader’s style. Donald T. Phillips has
recorded some of the paradoxes identifiable in President Lincoln’s
leadership style:
He was charismatic yet unassuming.
He was consistent yet flexible.
He was the victim of vast amounts of slander and malice, yet he was
also immensely popular with the troops.
He was trusting and compassionate, yet he could also be demanding
and tough.
He was a risk taker and innovative yet patient and calculating.
He seemed to have a revolving door of generals whom he often
removed and replaced; yet, in reality, he gave them ample time and
support to produce results.
He claimed not to control events, that his policy was to have no
policy, when, in actuality, he did control events to a very large degree
by being aggressive, taking charge, and being extraordinarily
decisive.[46]
Lincoln led as the situation demanded. While he may have appeared
inconsistent at times, he modeled a style to meet the need at hand. Paradox
was part of this leadership style.
Jesus exhibited paradoxical styles of leadership. He adapted his style
according to those he addressed and the context of the situation:
He was gentle as a lamb yet courageous as a lion.
He was yielding yet aggressive when cornered by injustice.
He was gregarious but spent much time alone.
He was meek yet in control at all times.
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He never had a formal education, yet he taught with great authority.
He was a conformist yet an iconoclast.
He was a friend to the outcast yet dined with insiders.
Jesus’ character never changed. He remained committed to the Father’s
call on his life. Out of that call and character, however, he adapted a style
of leadership to meet the moment. Jesus’ leadership style often presented a
paradox to those who tried to follow and to those who observed him.
Jesus also used paradox in his teaching. Jesus taught, “Whoever finds
his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”
(Matt. 10:39). “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matt.
20:16). “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed” (Matt. 13:31).
“Whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt. 23:12). Jesus
effectively wove contrasting images to introduce his message to the
various people who sought him.
Paradox gives a leader the power to relay the complexities of a vision.
Seemingly opposite images create a tension that is necessary if we are to
find the truth. Great leaders use paradox to state the values of the new
reality. Jesus defined greatness and leadership with paradox. The images
confused the disciples, as it baffles some of us today. What was his
picture? Jesus painted greatness as the work of a servant. He defined
leadership as the place of a slave. Both pictures seemed distorted to those
who saw them through the lenses of their culture.
HE STARTED WHERE THEY WERE
Jesus knew that his followers were trapped in the world’s way of seeing
things. Part of his service to them was to lead them into a new view of
God’s kingdom. He began his lesson about leadership by noting prevailing
attitudes toward greatness and competition. The disciples did not have to
look far to find the negative and positive models of leadership Jesus would
use to teach them. Part of the power of Jesus’ leadership is that he
understood and articulated the culture around him. He chose examples
from his followers’ culture to help them understand.
The power of stories
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Stories often help the leader paint a picture of the future. Stories help
leaders address the issues of change. Doug Murren, author of Leadershift,
calls pastors to be leaders of change within the church.[47] Murren draws
from his personal experiences of leading a church through several stages
of change. He explains that effective leaders “help people experience their
future before they live it. Leaders who are able to manage paradigm shifts
must learn to make others comfortable with a vision of the future.”[48]
Murren suggests that “anecdotes, folklore and metaphors” serve to help
paradigm-pioneering pastors. He believes that “storytelling personalizes
our mission and establishes memorable patterns for the future.”[49] Max
DePree calls the practice “tribal storytelling.”[50] Tom Peters reminds us
that “people, including managers, do not live by pie charts alone. . . .
People live, reason, and are moved by symbols and stories.”[51]
Jesus was a master at telling stories to show what the future would
look like under his reign. Matthew, Jesus’ first chronicler, wrote, “Jesus
spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to
them without using a parable” (Matt. 13:34). Jesus chose stories of lost
coins and sons, masters and servants, celebrations and terror, hope and loss
to paint pictures of his kingdom. Jesus began where the people were. He
chose pictures they understood and told stories about real people. He did
this for one reason: to introduce people to the reality of what things will
look like when the Son of God reigns in the hearts of people.
One day a religious leader asked Jesus what he must do to inherit
eternal life. Jesus asked him if he knew what the Law said about this. He
did and said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27). Jesus said that the man had
answered correctly. But the religious leader wanted the others to know he
had a degree in Law, so he asked, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus,
undaunted and always having a story up the sleeve of his tunic, answered
with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). When he finished
the story and the religious leader had answered the teacher’s question,
everyone in the room walked away with a new definition of neighbor.
Jesus also used metaphors and analogies to illustrate his present and
future kingdom. For example, Jesus knew that true agents of change create
new containers to hold the future. He taught that the results change brings
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cannot be contained in old methods. “What do you do with this new
reality?” people asked Jesus. “Do you stuff it into current ways of doing
things? Do you build a whole new container?”
To answer the questions, Jesus used an analogy from his day to
illustrate his point. He said that you cannot patch old clothes with new
cloth; you cannot pour new wine into old wineskins (Matt. 9:16-17). His
point? Trying to patch a tear in an old garment with new cloth only makes
the tear worse when the new cloth shrinks to find its own shape. Putting
new wine in well-worn, stretched containers causes them to explode. The
new juices age and give off new gases that create pressure in old
containers. The results of change do not belong in old containers. If you
try to fill old ways with new values, both will be lost—to no one’s good.
ANYONE WHO HAS TRIED TO MAKE CHANGE IN A CHURCH OR
BUSINESS KNOWS THE EXPLOSION THAT CAN OCCUR WHEN A
NEW PLAN IS POURED INTO OLD WAYS OF DOING THINGS.
Anyone who has tried to make change in a church or business knows
the explosion that can occur when a new plan is poured into old ways of
doing things. Jesus knew that change demanded new forms as well as new
content. He painted an analogy from everyday life to help his followers
understand the dangers of clinging to old methods when new realities
come into their lives.
When I began to lead our church to a new model of doing church, I
told a story using the analogy of an entrepreneur who wanted to build a
new product. It went like this:
“The Product
From Warehouse to Factory: Moving the Church to Do What It
Was Commissioned to Do”
A wealthy entrepreneur, who made his money taking risks, wanted
to produce a product. He did market research, studied
manufacturing trends, and discovered that fiber optics was the
industry of the future. Since no one would want to buy cables and
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switching stations, he conceived a video/voice mailbox in which
one could send and receive both information and digital images. If
it could be manufactured cheaply enough, every home in America
would have a 2V box by the year 2000.
The entrepreneur brought his American investors together.
They agreed to the project and raised sixty million dollars in less
than a month. The entrepreneur hired a project manager to begin
producing the product. “I want to build a video/voice mailbox. Can
you do it?” asked the entrepreneur.
“Sure,” said the project manager.
And he began to build the most modern, efficient, state-of-the-
art warehouse.
Having provided the resources and the authority for the project,
the entrepreneur left to begin another venture.
The project manager hired a staff to begin plans for a
warehouse to gather all the pieces needed for the product. He
traveled around the country going to seminars and other state-of-
the-art warehouses so he could put together the best warehouse. He
hired engineers, suppliers, and managers for the warehouse. Each
month he hired more employees to code, shelf, and inventory the
contents of the warehouse. He even traveled to Japan to study
warehouse management, and returned with years of plans for
acquiring, systematizing, and storing materials.
Halfway through the third year, when the warehouse had grown
to over 100,000 square feet, 200 employees, and had an inventory
of 20 million dollars, the project manager threw a company picnic.
All employees, from the dockhands to the shift managers, were
there with their families. They celebrated their warehouse.
Suddenly, out of the blue, a helicopter appeared over the picnic.
It was the entrepreneur. His helicopter landed in the middle of the
picnic, and he stepped out with a smile.
“Gentlemen,” he proclaimed from a picnic stage, “I see you are
celebrating. I heard about this event and came as soon as I could. I
wanted to see the first video/voice mailbox you have produced.
Where is it?”
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The employees looked at one another, “Who is this guy? What
video/voice mailbox?”
A shift manager stepped up to the entrepreneur, “Sir, you must
be mistaken. This is a picnic to celebrate the most modern,
efficient, state-of-the-art warehouse.”
“A warehouse? I gave your project manager the authority and
resources to produce a product—not build a warehouse! Where is
that man?” the entrepreneur said in a big voice.
The project manager left his place at the head table and made
his way to the entrepreneur. “Here I am,” he said in a small voice.
“What are you doing building a warehouse? Warehouses don’t
produce products; they store them.”
“Well, sir, I thought we could gather the goods and organize
them before we built the factory and produced the product,” the
well-meaning project manager said.
“You thought wrong. You are fired, and I will sue you for
breach of contract. I want a product, not a warehouse,” said the
entrepreneur.
After firing the project manager and laying off all the
employees, the entrepreneur went to a group of Korean investors.
“I want to build a video/voice mailbox. Can you do it?” asked the
entrepreneur.
“Sure,” they said.
And they began to build the most modern, efficient, state-of-
the-art factory.
Jesus commissioned his people to make disciples, not warehouse
Christians. Matthew 28:19 makes this very clear: “as you go, make
disciples.” Too many churches are warehouses of well-planned, well-
managed programs for storing and shipping out believers. Jesus, on the
other hand, commissioned his church to produce a product, not build
warehouses.[52]
Why do I stress these parables and stories? Because authority can’t
accomplish much until followers understand what the leader is talking
about. Jesus had the ultimate authority—and people were learning to
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follow him. But time and time again he had to work away at their
prevailing views and guide them to the vision of the kingdom to come.
In the same way, stories, metaphors, analogies, and examples from the
experiences of your followers can build a bridge from their present to your
future.
WHAT THEY LEARNED IN BUSINESS SCHOOL
Jesus began his lesson on leadership with two examples from experiences
common to his disciples: (1) “Lord it over them,” and (2) “Exercise
authority.” Interestingly enough, both models are still prevalent natural
styles of leading in the world.
Jesus took a jab at his culture’s understanding of leadership by
describing his examples as “those who are regarded as rulers of the
Gentiles” (Mark 10:42, italics mine). Jesus made it clear that authentic
rulers do not evoke these styles of leadership. Let’s look closer at Jesus’
two negative examples of leadership.
“Lord it over them”
The disciples knew about the “lord it over them” style of leadership. They
saw it every day in their rulers, the Romans. This style is simply “might
makes right”—if you have the biggest army, you run the show. I think it is
called “market share” in the corporate world. We know this style very
well. We daydream of opportunities to tell people what to do—with no
back talk or passive-aggressive behavior. If you choose this style of
leadership, the first task on your to-do list is: 1. Get a bigger army.
To lord it over someone means to subject him to your power. It implies
that someone is the master and someone else is the subject. This is a very
effective style of leadership—ask Hitler or Pol Pot. The concept of lord
implies absolute power over another. You don’t have to deal with
questions or dissension. You herd people together and tell them what to
do. If they disagree, you eliminate them.
TO LORD IT OVER SOMEONE MEANS TO SUBJECT HIM TO
YOUR POWER. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH QUESTIONS
OR DISSENSION.
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This style of leadership was common in Jesus’ day too. The Romans
understood how to lord it over their subjects. This is one reason they ruled
the world at that time. People tend to do what they are told when they walk
on a road lined with their crucified relatives. Even today governments and
organizations know how to subject people to their power. Little has
changed in the hearts of people since Jesus walked the earth.
Jesus used lording it over others as a negative model of leadership. On
the other hand, he presented himself as “Lord” over his disciples. How did
that fit with his negative example of leadership? Jesus knew that lordship
without compassion breeds abuse. Arrogance and power foster tyranny.
Jesus could wear the title of Lord because of who he was as the Son of
God and because no other title could describe his relationship with those
who followed him.
Jesus warned against trying to lord it over others; yet, as Lord, Jesus
used his power to demand absolute allegiance of his followers. Matthew
10 is a manual of discipleship. Jesus spelled out what it meant to be one of
his followers. He commanded, “Anyone who loves his father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross
and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37-38).
We need to remember that, as true Lord, Jesus could make these claims
on his followers. The problem with human leaders is that we are not Jesus;
therefore, any attempt to be lord will result in our ultimate destruction and
the ruin of others.
Jesus held up a popular model of leadership for his disciples. He
wanted them to know that this was a choice they could make when leading
others. Their selfish nature and their culture’s acceptance of this model
made it a potential option of leadership. Jesus, however, desired his
followers to lead another way.
“Exercise authority”
Jesus’ other negative leadership model involved those he called “their high
officials.” We get our English prefix mega- from the Greek word Jesus
used to describe these leaders. This leadership style involves using the
authority of your position to make things happen. This concept fits James
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and John’s request of Jesus. They thought that if they could get the
position, they could exercise authority over others. They wanted to be
megadisciples!
Authority is a leader’s vehicle of power. It gives him the ability to
move others to action. If you choose this style of leadership, the first item
on your to-do list is: 1. Get a bigger office. James MacGregor Burns notes,
however, “All leaders are actual or potential power holders, but not all
power holders are leaders.”[53]
YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF IN A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP,
YET YOU CANNOT SEEM TO GET PEOPLE TO FOLLOW YOU.
You may find yourself in a position of leadership, yet you cannot seem
to get people to follow you. One of two problems may exist. Either you
haven’t gone to the seminar on “how to use your positional authority to get
people to work for you” (hard to fit on the front of a brochure), or you
have not studied Jesus’ source of authority. Richard Foster concludes that
“the spiritual authority of Jesus is an authority not found in a position or a
title, but in a towel.”[54]
Jesus understood authority. He knew leaders could misuse their
authority to make innocent people do what they wanted them to do. During
the last week of his earthly ministry, Jesus attacked the misuse of authority
by the religious leaders of his day. He told the people to do what their
leaders taught them to do because the leaders held positions of authority
given by God. On the other hand, Jesus told the people not to do what their
leaders did because “they do not practice what they preach” (Matt. 23:3).
Jesus recognized the authority of the religious leaders (even though they
did not recognize his authority) while pointing out their misuse of it. We
will see in principle 6 of servant leadership that shared authority is
essential to a leader’s success.
Jesus used his authority to teach his design for discipleship. Matthew
5–7 is the heart of Jesus’ teaching on how life would look if he reigned in
people’s hearts. He raised the Old Covenant laws to new heights of
expectations. Yet he offered the blessedness of an impoverished spirit.
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When he had concluded his teaching, Matthew wrote, “the crowds were
amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and
not as their teachers of the law” (Matt. 7:28-29).
Jesus used his positional authority as leader to accomplish his mission.
He used these aspects of leadership to guide his followers toward his
vision of the kingdom of God. So in a sense, Jesus was able to be Lord in
the way that earthly leaders could only attempt to lord it over others. Jesus
cautioned against these two natural methods of leading because he knew
people’s hearts and how easily such authority could be abused.
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WE CAN study Jesus’ definition of greatness. But it becomes difficult to
apply in an atmosphere of the world’s competition. How do we become
great in the way Jesus taught?
A MOVE AWAY FROM THESE NEGATIVE LEADERSHIP
STYLES
Currently there is a trend away from the two negative styles of leadership
that Jesus described to his disciples. The trend is toward service in the
marketplace. This is not self-serving customer service to ensure greater
bottom lines, but it is a call from self-interest to service. Peter Block, the
author of Stewardship,[55] calls for heads of organizations and companies
to see themselves as stewards. Block asks leaders to have the goal of
stewardship, not leadership.
Stewardship asks us to serve our organizations and be accountable
to them without caretaking and without taking control. And in
letting caretaking and control go, we hold on to the spiritual
meaning of stewardship: to honor what has been given us, to use
power with a sense of grace, and to pursue purposes that transcend
short-term self-interest.[56]
Stewardship is about governance of an organization, according to
Block. It is about holding something in trust for another. It is “giving order
to the dispersion of power.”[57] Stewards choose partnership over
patriarchy, empowerment over dependency, and service over self-interest.
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Service, Block argues, comes when a person commits to something outside
herself. Block has captured the sense of service as an essential ingredient
in the leading process.
Max DePree asks us to look at leadership as service and the leader as a
steward:
Try to think about a leader, in the words of the gospel writer Luke,
as “one who serves.” Leadership is a concept of owing certain
things to the institution. It is a way of thinking about institutional
heirs, a way of thinking about stewardship as contrasted with
ownership. . . . The art of leadership requires us to think about the
leader-as-steward in terms of relationships: of assets and legacy, of
momentum and effectiveness, of civility and values.[58]
DePree teaches that the leader owes the institution certain assets like
financial health and a legacy of empowered people. Leaders are obligated
to give momentum through a clear vision. Effectiveness comes from
“enabling others to reach their potential—both their personal potential and
their corporate or institutional potential.”[59] Leaders owe those who
follow the civility of “identifying values” that give meaning to their work.
Leading, writes DePree, is the “opportunity to make a meaningful
difference in the lives of those who permit leaders to lead.”[60]
These current trends away from “lord it over” and “exercise authority”
are healthy ones. They provide a starting point for people to consider
Jesus’ teachings about leadership. The acceptance of books like Jesus,
CEO[61] signal that Jesus is still a source of wisdom in the marketplace.
As a follower of Jesus, you have the opportunity to build a bridge from
contemporary leadership situations to the teachings of Jesus. The use of
Jesus’ stories, metaphors, and analogies is an excellent way to introduce
God’s truth into a conversation or board meeting.
“NOT SO WITH YOU!”
Jesus abruptly turned his lesson away from contemporary thinking to
kingdom priorities when he said, “Not so with you” (Mark 10:43). This
statement is a sign of God’s presence. Following Jesus means that the rules
have changed. The landscape is different. The road ends on another
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horizon. “Not so with you” declares that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Those who follow Jesus must recognize that conventional wisdom and
power methods are not the best way to lead among God’s people.
JESUS MADE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN HOW THE WORLD
LEADS AND HOW HIS FOLLOWERS ARE TO LEAD AMONG
THEMSELVES.
By saying, “Not so with you,” Jesus made a distinction between how
the world leads and how his followers are to lead among themselves.
Please remember that what Jesus teaches about greatness and leadership
cannot be expected of leaders who do not embrace Jesus as their final
authority. Naturally, without the presence of Jesus’ Spirit and the values of
his kingdom in our lives, we cannot accept the definitions nor the actions
his words imply. Without the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts and minds, we
will gravitate to natural ways of becoming great and getting to the front of
the line. Those outside a relationship with Christ may appreciate the
wisdom of Jesus, but they cannot live out his teachings fully. A heart in
relationship with the Teacher is necessary before you can know the
meaning of greatness and leadership in the kingdom of God.
YOU KNOW YOU’RE A SERVANT WHEN . . .
Jesus modeled greatness through service to others when he did not seek a
public office, earn a degree, lead an army, or discover some scientific
truth. Jesus’ entire ministry was about service to his Father in heaven,
service to his mission, service to his followers, and, ultimately, service to
those he came to save. Jesus was a great man because he was a servant.
We acknowledge him as great because he lived beyond the noise of life
and purposefully lived to bring people closer to their Creator. As Lord of
all, he might have lived above us and demanded blind allegiance. But he
served us, teaching us the truth and how to live by it. He served us in our
misunderstanding, our selfishness, and our weakness. He saw what we
needed and helped us. He knew where we needed to be and took us there
—with great love and respect for us.
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We have lost this fundamental model of greatness in our personality-
centered culture. Greatness seems to belong to the builders and those of
influence. Greatness is equated with name recognition and social status.
Churches and nonprofit organizations have become too much like the
world in this respect. We hand out certificates of greatness to those who
grow the biggest organization or gather the most people on a weekend. We
honor those who sit in places of power. We have forgotten that greatness
among God’s people begins with service, and service implies labor
without accolades.
WE HAND OUT CERTIFICATES OF GREATNESS TO THOSE WHO
GROW THE BIGGEST ORGANIZATION OR GATHER THE MOST
PEOPLE ON A WEEKEND.
I led a church leadership conference a year or two ago in a southern
state. When I came into the place where the meal was served, I noticed two
tables with the sign: “Reserved for Servers.” Both tables were empty,
while the other tables were full. People were even looking for places to sit
because all the other places were filled. When I got up to speak, I
wondered out loud if it was their respect for the “reserved” sign or their
fear of being known as “servers” that kept people from sitting at those
tables! We too often forget to equate greatness with service. I told the
group that under Jesus’ model of leadership, one of those “Reserved for
Servers” signs should have been on every table.
Being a servant is not one of our natural goals. After the deaths of
Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, a friend asked me, “Who would you
rather have been?” He knew I would have to choose between what I
thought I ought to say and what I wanted to say. Given the choice, most of
us would rather be the prince or princess of Wales than a servant to
orphans in India. I said that I would rather have been Mother Teresa and
explained that her life modeled more of how Jesus lived his life than
Diana’s did. I must admit that I have wondered what it would be like to be
treated like royalty. My human desire to be known as great sometimes
outweighs my call to be a servant in the streets of my city.
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The test of whether or not you have accepted Jesus’ teaching about
greatness is how you react when others treat you like a servant. One of my
staff members attended a Bill Gothard seminar several years ago. Once
you go to one of his meetings, you receive a birthday card from him for the
rest of your life. I think you can move seven times without ever leaving a
forwarding address and still count on your birthday card from Bill! One
day, the staff member came into my office and showed me the birthday
card he had received from the Gothard organization. It read, “The true test
of a servant is if I act like one when I am treated like one.” He had teased
before that we all like to be referred to as servants of God until we are
treated like servants. The reality is that if you seek to find greatness in
service to your peers, you can count on being treated like a servant.
BEING FIRST IN LINE
Jesus then said, “If you want to be first.” This phrase implies leadership.
We get our English prefix proto- from the Greek word for first. It means
first in a line or series. Leaders are first in line. They are out front defining
reality, painting the future, and showing the way to it. Leaders are first in
line for a new type of reality.
Robert Greenleaf recognized two concepts of being the leader. One is
being the lone chief on top of a hierarchical structure.[62] The other is
being the principal leader as primus inter pares—“first among equals.”[63]
He notes that in this latter model there is still a “first,” but that leader is not
the chief. Greenleaf concludes, “The difference may appear to be subtle,
but it is important that the primus constantly test and prove that leadership
among a group of able peers.” Greenleaf’s “first among equals” is another
way of being first as Jesus taught his followers. The constant test and proof
of being the primus under Jesus’ definition is how you serve the others.
Jesus created an apparent absurdity when he said, “Whoever wants to
be first in line must become a slave.” The disciples understood “first in
line.” They scratched their heads over becoming a slave. Slave in this
verse was a doulos slave. In the first century, this human being was the
lowest rung of the social ladder. These people were bought and sold as
property. A doulos slave had no rights or privileges, no wants or desires,
only the commands of the master. The disciples, as Jews, refused to be
slaves to anyone. That was what the Exodus was about. They rejected
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Jesus’ picture of leadership initially because it was too strange to put the
pieces together. How could you be first in line by becoming someone on
the lowest rung of the ladder?
Being a slave involves several things: the loss of property, separation
from roots, abuse by unkind owners, loss of individuality, and, of course,
no freedom to choose. Being a slave means giving up personal rights. This
is the first step to being first among God’s people. Why? You cannot be a
servant until you give up your personal rights to be served. Greatness in
service to others can never occur as long as you insist that it is your right
that others serve you.
What advantage is there to giving up your right to be served? How
does that act enhance your ability to be a servant leader? Richard Foster
helps us see that giving up our right to be served actually leads to freedom.
When we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in
charge. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to
be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When we
choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who and
when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable.[64]
Giving up our right to be served frees us to serve others. Choosing the
place and work of a slave removes every barrier that keeps people apart.
WE LIVE IN A CULTURE WHERE THE INDIVIDUAL HAS BEEN
MOVED TO THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE.
We live in a culture where the individual has been moved to the center
of the universe. When that takes place, the rights of the individual reign
over the needs of others. Until rights are relinquished, service is less likely
to happen. Service can occur, but it will be self-serving rather than others
oriented. Learning to serve begins with following the Master. Becoming a
slave to God is how we become “first” among our peers. Being a slave is
not part of our natural feelings. How can we understand this principle?
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Wellington Boone, the author of Breaking Through and a popular
speaker in the Promise Keepers movement, has put a unique twist on what
it means to be an African-American and speak of becoming a slave of
Christ.[65] He writes that blacks in this country have a two-hundred-year
advantage over others in learning to be slaves of Christ and servants to
others! He writes, “Blacks have had more than two centuries of training in
being a slave of man. It can be added as long-term qualification to prepare
them to be a fine slave of God or to rule as a king.”[66]
I agree with Rev. Boone that being a “slave to God” (Rom. 6:19-23) is
a biblical model for a Christian’s lifestyle. I would add that the model of
slavery as a pattern for discipleship among white Americans may be even
more difficult to comprehend. Why? Whites have been the owners!
Moving from owner and master to slave may be more difficult than
returning to a previous historical era to comprehend the teachings of Jesus.
This model for following Christ is a primary reason it is so hard for
postmodern people to risk true discipleship.[67]
Finding greatness in service begins by giving up your personal right to
be served. This principle of servant leadership may be the most difficult to
comprehend today. We have so few contemporary models to observe and
follow. Centuries separate us from the context of Jesus’ teaching. How can
this principle become part of your leadership style?
HOW CAN I LEAD THIS WAY?
What does this picture of leadership look like in real life? How can
servants and slaves really lead? The answer poses a real dilemma for a
disciple of Jesus. How do you take what you learned in business school
and join it to the sayings of Jesus? Is that possible? Is there another way?
Servants and slaves do not define leadership in the world’s dictionary.
Many people understand the idea of being a servant and forfeiting personal
rights as self-effacing. I remember when my wife, who was a public-
school teacher at the time, was confronted by a school counselor. My wife
had confessed her faith in Jesus. The counselor said that she didn’t like
Christians because they caused such a low self-esteem in others. The
counselor equated confessing that you are a sinner with having a low self-
esteem. She would no doubt have felt that seeing yourself as a servant
meant not having a “healthy” self-image too.
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Jesus came to show what life in the kingdom of God looked like, not to
modify how the world did things. The ways of God work in the hallways of
humanity only when Jesus reigns in people’s hearts. Any follower of
Christ who seeks to lead as Jesus led must be willing to be treated like
Jesus. Some will follow. Others will throw stones.
JESUS CAME TO SHOW WHAT LIFE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD
LOOKED LIKE, NOT TO MODIFY HOW THE WORLD DID THINGS.
By his own example
Jesus lived the answer to the question of how to lead like a servant. He
concluded his lesson on greatness by saying, “For even the Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus stated his mission with those words. He knew
his disciples would not get it until he completed his mission. He had to
say, in essence, “Watch me. I will show you how this works. I have not
come to be served by you, I have come to serve you. I will also give my
life as a payment so that many will be freed to a relationship with God.”
Jesus knew he had to model this lesson before his students would ever be
able to live it out.
Jesus was not a teacher who only defined his terms; he also modeled
what he called others to do. James, John, and the other ten disciples
experienced what Jesus taught as they followed him to his death, burial,
and resurrection. They soon saw that servant leadership meant ultimately
giving up their lives so others could have the life God desired for them.
This kind of service is the basis for servant leadership in the home.
Marriage is in many ways giving up personal rights to find greatness in
service to another. The traditional vows of marriage, which continue to be
the ones chosen by the vast majority of couples I marry, imply service to
the partner no matter the circumstances. Marriage works when you come
to the place where the other’s well-being is as important as your own.
I realize that some counselors could argue that giving up personal
rights can be dangerous to an individual’s self-image and, therefore, can
create an unhealthy marriage. And I admit that I have seen marriages
where a husband sees his wife as a servant and she does not know how to
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protect her personal boundaries. On the other hand, the nature of love is to
lay down willingly what is rightfully yours in order to serve the needs of
another person. Marriage can be healthy when both partners find greatness
in service rather than in being served.
Sacrificial service is certainly part of parenting. I once co-led a Jesus
on Leadership group with our Women’s Ministry Team leader. The group
was made up of women who led different areas of ministry to women in
our church and community. When we came to the principle about giving
up your personal rights and finding greatness in service to others, I
commented that this was a difficult concept for many men. I wondered
how they felt about it. They began to laugh. I asked, “What’s so funny?”
One woman spoke for the group when she said, “Look, when you’re a
mother, you gave up your personal rights to find greatness in service the
day you had your first child!” I laughed too. Parenting is giving up your
personal rights and finding greatness in service to your children. I guess
most mothers learn that principle sooner than fathers.
In the same way, a father can live out this principle when he chooses to
modify his career goals in order to serve the mission of his family above
the goals of a company. This does not mean living your life out through
your children. It does not mean setting aside providing in the best way you
can for your family. It does mean, however, that you serve the young
person growing under your care in order for her to live out God’s plan for
her life. Modeling greatness in service is one way to teach your children
this principle.
The one true model
Jesus deserves service from those he created! He, however, came to serve.
He came to give his life as a payment for the sins of others. Jesus came to
give his life as a ransom so creation could be set free from its separation
from its Creator. A ransom in the ancient world was a payment to free a
slave or prisoner.[68] As the Son of Man, Jesus saw his life as one of
sacrifice so that others could benefit.
I believe Jesus is our only true model of servant leadership. He served
others by giving his life for them. His entire life mission was to free others,
not to gain position for himself. This is a mystery to the world, but it is the
heart of servant leadership after the teachings of Jesus. Anyone who seeks
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to lead in the body of Christ must submit himself to the lordship of Jesus
in his life. Only then can one begin to understand why servants are great
and slaves are first.
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
What were your first impressions when you read Jesus’
teaching on leadership to his disciples? Did you accept it at
face value? If so, have you discarded it or embraced it? If not,
how have you explained its clear message?
Complete the statement, “I am like the ten disciples because
. . .” Your answer may be like mine, “I am naturally competitive
and want to be up front. It irks me when someone else reaches
the finish line before I do.”
Make a list of five ways you can lead by taking the place of a
slave in the marketplace, in your home, and in your church.
One of Jesus’ core values for leadership can be summarized
as “Greatness is defined by service” and “Leaders serve others
first.” What are the core values for your leadership roles?
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VICTORY is only wrested by running risks.
WINSTON CHURCHILL Churchill on Leadership
IT IS still a great risk in our society to offer new rules for the
game.
JOEL A. BARKER Future Edge
PARADIGM pioneers are always inquisitive, humble students. If
they assume the status of expert, they can be the church’s
greatest obstacle to growth.
DOUG MURREN Leadershift
BY AVOIDING risk we really risk what’s most important in life
—reaching toward growth, our potential, and a true
contribution to a common good.
MAX DEPREE Leading without Power
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I RECENTLY interviewed a prospective staff member. At one point, the
candidate turned the questioning to the interviewers. “Would you consider
your church willing to take risks?” Silence. No one had ever asked us that
question before. I held my tongue—and my breath. I had learned that
interviewing potential staff and church members was a way to get a fresh
read on our church.
As individuals began to speak, I was pleased to hear our search team
say that we were willing to take risks. Each one had an experience in
which he or she believed our church had risked something—or, at least,
had refused the status quo—to accomplish our mission to make disciples.
One of the members did say we did not take “the wild-haired kind” of
risks. After each person had spoken, it seemed to me that we perceived
ourselves to be moderate risk takers. That’s the way I, too, saw our church.
As the leader, of course, I wanted to hear each person say we’d do
anything to carry out our mission, but we were not there yet. We agreed
that we took enough risks to stay on mission, but we were not known for
our bungee jumping.
The candidate then asked, “What is the greatest risk you have taken
personally?” I did not hold my tongue on that one. I told him and the group
that my greatest personal risk was staying on the course we had begun to
chart five years earlier. My greatest risk did not come in the form of
building three buildings and acquiring more land or changing our worship
style or addressing some moral issue in a Sunday morning message. I had
faced my greatest risk at this church when I’d had to decide if I would
indeed carry out the mission and vision I believed God wanted our church
to live out. That decision had risked my comfort, future, and place of
acceptance among my peers. Deciding to lead the church to carry out its
mission without compromise was the biggest risk I had taken up to that
point in my life.
Those two questions, I believe, are diagnostic questions for any church
and/or church leader. “Do you consider yourselves risk takers?” and
“What is the greatest personal risk you have taken?” reveal in a church and
its leaders the desire (or lack of desire) to move ahead and risk everything
for its mission. Refusal to take those risks prevents a leader from moving
toward the goal.
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NEXT to his death on the cross, washing the feet of his disciples was Jesus’
ultimate model of servant leadership. On his last night with his leadership
team, Jesus chose to serve those who should have served him. Many of us
don’t immediately see what kind of risk that was. Jesus was giving up his
place at the head of the table. This is just the kind of risk he will require of
us. But before we try to apply this to ourselves, we need to understand how
Jesus could do what he did.
What was the source of Jesus’ willingness to risk his place at the head
table to serve his followers? Where did Jesus find enough confidence to
give himself such a glaring demotion? What can his actions and motives
show us?
NEXT TO HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS, WASHING THE FEET OF
HIS DISCIPLES WAS JESUS’ ULTIMATE MODEL OF SERVANT
LEADERSHIP.
Every great leader takes risks—taking others to places no one has gone
before. Since a leader sets the pace for his group, he is free to go out of the
ordinary and to ask startling questions. But when a leader guides people to
new places, he often risks his position, power, and provisions. After all,
what if others in an organization aren’t feeling so adventurous? What if a
follower worries about money a lot? What if the mission agency “doesn’t
get it” when the leader is taking Christ’s followers into uncharted
territory? What if the people with the purse strings have a different
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definition of success than the leader has? We can begin to imagine all
kinds of situations in which good leadership equals risk taking, which
could well equal losses. Kouzes and Posner describe leaders this way:
Leaders are pioneers—people who are willing to step out into the
unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to
innovate and experiment in order to find new and better ways of
doing things.[69]
Leaders take risks because they see the future before anyone else can.
This ability places leaders on the horizon rather than in the comfort of a
settler’s home.
Joel Barker compares pioneering leaders to settlers:
What’s the difference between a pioneer and a settler? It is the
settler who always is calling toward the horizon, “Is it safe out
there now?” The voice calling back, “Of course it’s safe out here!”
is the pioneer’s. That is because the pioneers take the risk, go out
early, and make the new territory safe.[70]
Winston Churchill was known as a man who took huge risks. Steven
Hayward has observed, “Churchill’s refusal throughout his career to
practice bland, risk-averse politics stands out as his most striking
leadership attribute. Churchill’s audacious and risk-taking character was at
the core of his genius.”[71] Hayward also noted that his risk taking “also
constituted the chief liability of his long career and nearly led to his ruin.”
But Churchill overcame that liability by learning from his mistakes. Great
leaders take risks.
Max DePree reminds us that “by avoiding risk we really risk what’s
most important in life—reaching toward growth, our potential, and a true
contribution to a common goal.”[72] DePree says it takes a special kind of
risk to join an organization purely to serve. “Wherever or however we
serve,” he concludes, “we can’t avoid the central conundrum of risk: to
risk nothing is perhaps the greatest risk of all.”
Standing on the edge
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A leader is a pioneer because she goes to the edge of a current reality and
takes the next step. Upon seeing the new reality, she invites others to join
her on the edge. Not everyone is drawn to the edge, but most people
admire those who stand on it.
Doug Murren reminds us that the great leaders in the Bible— Moses,
Joshua, Jesus, Peter, and Paul—were all paradigm pioneers. “All paradigm
pioneers have a different spirit from the naysayers about them. They have
the ability to see a new thing, to perceive a bright future, to tap into the
power of God.”[73]
By the power of God
What distinguishes leaders under Christ’s lordship from those who merely
lead by their natural abilities? The difference is simple: Christ’s servants
tap into God’s power. Otherwise, how could they see the future and have
the courage to pioneer their way into it? God’s power enables them to see
the vision and help others toward it. How does a person—leader or
otherwise—gain access to such power? Through faith, of course. After all,
faith is the confidence in things promised by God—but often not yet seen
by others.
CHRIST’S SERVANTS TAP INTO GOD’S POWER. OTHERWISE,
HOW COULD THEY SEE THE FUTURE AND HAVE THE COURAGE
TO PIONEER THEIR WAY INTO IT?
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as being “certain of what we do not see.”
The people described in that chapter are heroes of faith (servant leaders, I
would call them) because they trusted God at his word and “saw” what
God promised them. Although Abraham could not see the Promised Land,
he trusted God enough to pack up his camels and leave home. He became
the “Father of Faith” and leader of God’s people because he trusted God
enough to step out on the edge. What was the source of his ability to risk?
His trust in the God who called him to follow. It becomes clear that God’s
people have the capacity to be visionaries, pioneers—leaders. With faith,
we see God’s reality. And since we see it and are confident of it, we are
able to go there and take others with us.
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If taking risks is inherently part of leadership, what does Jesus teach us
about the unique nature of risk taking?
John’s Gospel is a reflection on the life of Jesus. The elder apostle
chose seven sayings and seven signs of Jesus to give his readers an
opportunity to trust that Jesus was the Son of God (John 20:30-31). John is
the only Gospel writer to tell about Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet. This
act was prophetic. It was as important as equating himself with the bread
and wine of the Passover meal—and it involved a purpose we will explore
in the next chapter.
Leading from power
We commonly visualize a leader standing before his troops on the eve of
battle, making the speech of a lifetime. We see President Roosevelt
standing before congress declaring war on Japan. We envision President
Kennedy prophesying that we would put a man on the moon by the end of
the decade. We see President Bush unleashing the nation’s military power
during Desert Storm. We expect leaders to lead from positions of power.
We want them to stand before their people and call upon the best in them
to carry the torch on the next leg of the journey.
Leaders often elevate themselves to places bigger than life to inspire
their people. I remember seeing Bill Gates on television at the launching of
Windows 95. His ubiquitous presence and trinitronic imaging called the
world of software users to join him as he led into the future. Who wouldn’t
want to sell and service a product for a guy that appeared bigger than life
simultaneously all over the world? Bigger-than-life helps when leading.
These grand corporate images have influenced Christ’s church.
Sometimes church leaders look for that powerful position to fuel their
leadership. Sometimes we begin to believe that weakness could never be
part of the image of the “man of God.”
Is that where you are now? Are you putting too much confidence in
your position? Possibly your greatest risk at this time would be to give up
that place of power. Move into the ranks of the followers. Christ could
command the allegiance of his disciples because of who he was. They
admired the power he demonstrated over demons, diseases, and the
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elements. But they stayed with the Lord Jesus because he loved them. He
served them. And he took them to places they would never go on their
own.
Three facts he led by
On his last night with his closest followers, Jesus declared himself the
fulfillment of the ancient Passover meal. This meal symbolized how God
delivered his people from slavery. By his actions on that night, Jesus
announced that his death was the final exodus of God for his people. No
longer would people be enslaved to sin and death. During this prophetic
meal, Jesus risked his place of leadership among his followers when he left
his place at the table.
Why would he lower himself to slave status when he only had one
night left on earth with his followers? Where did the vision and confidence
to take such a risk come from? The answer is in the Bible. In verse 3 of
John 13, it says: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his
power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he
got up.” Jesus trusted that his Father was in complete control of his life.
What did he have to lose by leaving the table to serve those who followed
him? The three facts John records for us are the basis of Jesus’ confidence.
JESUS KNEW THAT GOD “HAD PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS POWER.”
He knew that God was in control of his life and ministry. He had come to
do the will of his Father. By the time of the meal, Jesus knew God’s call
on his life as the Sent One from God. Jesus had settled this during his
temptation. God had confirmed it at his transfiguration. Jesus knew that
because God had gifted him with his mission and the abilities to carry it
out, he didn’t have to worry about losing anything of importance.
Everything came from the Father. All power came from the Father.
JESUS KNEW “HE HAD COME FROM GOD.” Jesus knew that his Father in
heaven was the source of his mission in life. John’s Gospel also tells us,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God” (John 1:1). We have read Philippians 2:5-7, which
declared the preexistence of Christ and his willingness to empty himself
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into the form of a human. Jesus was confident he had come from God.
This led to his confidence that what he was doing was part of his heavenly
Father’s ultimate plan for his life.
JESUS TRUSTED THAT HE “WAS RETURNING TO GOD.” Jesus trusted that
his life would not end in death. He told his disciples, “In my Father’s
house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going
there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I
am” (John 14:2-3). He knew that he would return to his eternal place as
God in heaven.
WHEN WE TRUST THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL OF OUR LIFE, WE
CAN TAKE BIG RISKS.
Jesus’ trust in these three realities made it possible for Jesus to
“demote” himself willingly and without fear. He knew who he was; he
knew whose he was, and he knew where he was going. When we are sure
of these three truths, we have nothing to fear. Our position with God is
forever secure—as we are obedient to his will and purpose. John wrote
that it was because Jesus trusted in these realities, along with the certainty
of divine timing and his love for his followers, that he got up from the
Passover table, got dressed like a servant, and did the work of a slave.
This insight into the source of Jesus’ confidence to risk service forms
the foundation for our fourth principle of servant leadership:
Servant leaders can risk serving others when they
trust that God is in control of their lives.
When we trust that God is in control of our life, we can take big risks. We
can relinquish impressive positions. We can act like true servants without
being insecure or defensive. A servant leader can risk her place of
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leadership for the purpose of service. A servant leader trusts that in her
relationship with Christ, God has placed all power under her, that she has
come from God, and that she is returning to God.
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YOU may be asking, “How am I supposed to find that kind of confidence
and trust? Those realities are not true in my life!” You can have the same
confidence Jesus had—by learning to truly trust God with your life.
These three realities help us get over the fear that we will lose
something we’ve gained for ourselves if we leave our place at the head
table. We tend to believe the myth that it is our effort alone that gets us
what we have: “Breaks come to those who make them.” A person of faith,
on the other hand, admits that anything good that happens in life is from
Jesus. Once we have allowed God to develop a humble heart in us, we can
see that life is a gift and “every good and perfect gift is from above”
(James 1:17).
We won’t be so nervous to protect what we have when we truly
believe that we have very little to do with who we are and what we have.
This reality supports what we learned about waiting on God to exalt us.
You did not earn your place at the head table. God chose you for that
place. Your fear to risk that place for the mission of God points to your
lack of trust in the God who got you there.
Now, I need to stress that if you have found leadership because you
sought it on your own, you had better get very good at protecting your
position. Places earned by self-effort alone are places that can be taken by
someone else’s greater self-effort. Leadership among God’s people does
not rely solely on self-effort.
PLACES EARNED BY SELF-EFFORT ALONE ARE PLACES THAT
CAN BE TAKEN BY SOMEONE ELSE’S GREATER SELF-EFFORT.
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ALL THINGS ARE UNDER YOUR POWER
The first phrase that describes Jesus in John 13:3 is that he “knew that the
Father had put all things under his power.” You say, “OK, I know that
about Jesus. How can I know that about me?” First a word of caution. A
phrase like “all things are under your power” can be misleading in a
culture that has elevated self to god status. I am not saying that this reality
is inherent in who you are naturally. Such a reality can only come in a
personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Many things happen when you give your life to Christ. For one thing,
your status with God changes. You move from slave status to child status.
You become a child of God and a coheir with Christ (Rom. 8:16-17). “In
Christ” refers to your relationship of trust in Jesus as your Savior and
Lord. Paul took time to explain what a life in Christ looks like. Paul wrote
that after Jesus’ resurrection, God seated his Son “at his right hand in the
heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion. . . .
And God placed all things under his feet” (Eph. 1:20-22). Then Paul wrote
that, on the basis of our relationship with God through Christ, “God raised
us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms” (Eph.
2:6). We can conclude that through our relationship with Christ we can
trust “that the Father . . . put all things under his power.”
How does this translate into your life as a servant leader? It means you
can trust that God has provided everything you need to carry out his
mission through your life. God has empowered you with the Holy Spirit,
the authority of the name of Jesus, and the assurance that all your needs
will be met. When you really trust that God has done these things, risking
your place at the head table to do the mission of God is no risk at all.
Risking service to those entrusted to you on the mission is part of the
confidence you find in knowing God.
How does this work in the workplace?
This characteristic of a servant leader equals confidence in the workplace.
Coworkers and those over you should observe a willingness in you to risk
your place at the corporate head table because of your confidence that God
is in control of your life. Those who work with you should observe your
faith along with your talents and training. Taking risks within the
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guidelines handed to you can be an opportunity to share your ultimate
status as a child of the King. Even in the face of failure, you can share the
reality of God’s presence in your life and the confidence that gives you to
be the kind of worker your company appreciates.
The story of Daniel is an example of this principle. Chosen for fast-
track training in service to the king, Daniel and his four friends were given
a chance to overcome the cruel circumstances of being captives in a
foreign land. Daniel trusted that his service to God was more important
than his service to any earthly king—even if it jeopardized his chances for
advancement. He risked his place at the head table when he refused to
accept the king’s training table in favor of foods chosen by God. Daniel
appropriately challenged the status quo of Babylon by asking the official
to test the ways of God against the ways of the world. After just ten days,
Daniel and his friends “looked healthier and better nourished than any of
the young men who ate the royal food” (Dan. 1:15). Daniel’s trust in God
—even down to laws about what to eat and drink—gave him confidence to
risk his place at the king’s table. In the long run, this confidence in God
became the very reason the king chose Daniel to rule with him.
YOU CAME FROM GOD
Jesus came from God. John 1:1-18 describes this truth. Every follower of
Christ trusts that life comes from God. Scripture makes it clear that all life
is sacred because its source is God. Jeremiah declared his trust that God
had called him to mission before he formed him in his mother’s womb
(Jer. 1:5). God commanded that no one take the life of another because life
is good (Exod. 20:13). You can risk service to others when you trust, like
Jesus, that you have come from God.
I became an adult in the self-esteem era, circa 1970 to 1980. The
mantra was “I’m OK. You’re OK.” Clergy, counselors, and educators tried
to get everyone to feel good about themselves. I, however, was never good
at self-talk. Sessions in front of the mirror only reminded me of my
shortcomings and flabby figure. During those days of intense effort to find
ways to like ourselves—which I always thought was a little circuitous—I
came to the conclusion that my worth did not stem from anything I could
see in or say about myself. My confidence came from the truth that I was
made by God, and the sacrifice of God’s Son became the price tag on my
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life! Trusting that I had come from God and that God saw me as valuable
enough to allow his only Son to die for me gave me all the confidence I
needed. You can have that same kind of confidence if you will quit
looking in the mirror and start looking to God.
One way to know that you have come from God is to observe how God
has molded you to be a unique servant leader. In the Jesus on Leadership
workbook, we take two weeks to develop what I call your S.E.R.V.E.
profile.[74] I gladly acknowledge Rick Warren’s pioneering work in this
area of helping people see how God has shaped them in order to find a
place in ministry. I am indebted to him for the model of who we are in
Christ Jesus. I consider these five aspects of your life the “raw materials”
God uses to mold you into a unique servant leader. How Christ’s teachings
and examples play out in your life and calling comes from how God has
uniquely made you. The scope of this work does not warrant a full
discussion of each element, but I do want to address them briefly as they
relate to our overall discussion of leadership.
1. Spiritual gifts are those gifts God gives through his Holy
Spirit to empower you for service in the body of Christ.[75]
To receive God’s grace for salvation is to receive God’s gifts for service.
Every member belongs in spiritually gifted ministry because every
member is part of the living body of Christ. The image of the church as
body changes how you do church. Stephen Covey declares that “the body
is the best metaphor; it is the model organization.”[76] (Once again,
conventional wisdom declares the wisdom of God!) Bill Easum says that
this picture of the church prevents any sense of control, the sacred cow of
churches:
Imagine a human body where all the parts must “get permission”
before they can function. Or a healthy body telling a kidney or
heart to quit functioning on behalf of the body. . . . These parts of
the body function automatically without any help from the brain.
So it is with most members and ministries in the Body of Christ.
[77]
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FILLING ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS WITH WARM BODIES
WILL CERTAINLY KILL A CHURCH. FREEING GOD’S PEOPLE
TO SERVE AS GOD HAS GIFTED THEM MAKES A CHURCH
GROW.
Filling organizational charts with warm bodies regardless of heart
attitude or spiritual giftedness will certainly kill a church. Freeing God’s
people to serve as God has gifted them to serve makes a church grow.
Knowing how God has gifted you for service in the body will give you the
confidence to take risks and pioneer new ministries.
We need to keep in mind an important distinction: Natural giftedness
for leadership is not the same as spiritual giftedness for leadership. Natural
giftedness is a mix of personality and skill. Spiritual giftedness is God’s
empowerment, with a certain expression of his Spirit, to lead within the
body of Christ. Natural leadership gifts do not guarantee the spiritual gift
of leadership. Remember that King Saul, Israel’s first king, had all the
natural gifts of leadership, but he lacked a heart for the things of God. This
latter aspect of Saul’s life caused God to withdraw his blessing from the
king.
Another thing to keep in mind: God extends his call to leadership
beyond those people who have a gift of leadership.
I want to encourage you in the event that you find yourself in a place
of leadership but with a spiritual gift other than leadership. God makes
leaders of those he calls to carry out his mission in the church. Look at
Gideon, Esther, Peter, and Paul. The power of God, not the natural
giftedness of the person, makes a spiritual leader. If you are a pastor and
have the gift of teaching, for example, take Bill Hybels’s advice. Bill,
himself a gifted pastor and leader, advises pastors to surround themselves
with “Spirit-enabled leaders who are elders, deacons, or in the other
positions of influence in the church. These people should be freed up to
exercise their leadership gift while the pastor concentrates on
transformational preaching.”[78]
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IF GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO A DIVINE MISSION, GOD WILL
PROVIDE THE LEADERSHIP RESOURCES TO COMPLETE THAT
MISSION.
If God has called you to a divine mission, God will provide the
leadership resources to complete that mission. Look at King David’s team
of “mighty men” (2 Sam. 23:8). All leaders, no matter their giftedness,
must have teams of leaders around them, or they will lead alone. And that
is death for a leader. I know this. One of my primary gifts is teaching!
The Bible mentions two leadership gifts in its representative lists of
spiritual gifts. Those are the gifts of leadership (Rom. 12:8) and
administration (1 Cor. 12:28). Leadership comes from the context of the
Greek politic. It means to stand in front of the assembly. Members with
this leadership gift serve the church as those who stand in front of the
assembled church and call the people to a common vision and goal. The
leadership gift empowers members to help others see which hill to take. If
this gift were a body part, it would be an eye. This gift fits the model of the
leader as pioneer.
The second leadership gift in the church is administration. This gift
does not mean that the person is organized. The meaning of this gift comes
from the context of shipping in the ancient world. This person was the
“steersman or pilot” of a boat or ship.[79] He was the helmsman. The pilot
guided the ship to the chosen coordinates. He was most valued in times of
storm. This gift is separate from apostle, prophet, and teacher, which
implies that administration is not a speaking gift but a gift that provides
direction and guidance. This gift would be the second eye in the body
made up of many parts. With two eyes of leadership, one to see which hill
to take and the other to see the way up the hill, a church can move forward
in a unified way. This gift would fit Peter Senge’s model of “leader as
designer.”[80]
If there are two leadership gifts, is leadership in the church limited to
the people with these two gifts? As I search the New Testament, I find
examples of leaders with a variety of spiritual gifts. Actually, no New
Testament character is described as having the gift of leadership. We can
go to the pages of the Bible with our ideas of what a natural or spiritual
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leader looks like and find examples of those kinds of people. The Bible
simply tells us stories of how God spiritually empowered a variety of
naturally gifted people to achieve divine, uncommon goals.
For example, Paul and Barnabas are listed among the prophets and
teachers in Antioch (Acts 13:1). While Paul exhibited natural leadership
gifts, he claimed to be only a teacher and preacher of the Good News. His
favorite designation of himself was apostle and servant. I believe his
leadership style, which we observe in Scripture, came more from his
natural relational style than his spiritual giftedness. I would argue that
Barnabas’s primary gift was exhortation or encouragement, although he
was clearly a leader in the early church. On the inaugural missionary
journey to the Gentiles, the people of Lystra gave Barnabas the title of
Zeus and Paul the title of Hermes, Zeus’s messenger (Acts 14:12). My take
on the biblical record is that God chose all kinds of people to lead in the
church and gifted them in a variety of ways.
SERVANT LEADERSHIP AS MODELED AND TAUGHT BY JESUS
ALLOWS FOR ANY GIFT TO BE USED IN A LEADERSHIP ROLE.
Servant leadership as modeled and taught by Jesus allows for any gift
to be used in a leadership role. Just as any one of the four personality
types can be the core of a person’s leadership style, any of the gifts
subjected to the mission of Jesus can be used to lead during a season of the
church’s life.
2. Experience is the second raw material God uses to mold you
into a unique servant leader.
Have you ever wondered why God allows bad things to happen to good
people? Me too. Often, deacons or caregivers in our church ask me for
resources to help a person understand why God took a loved one away
from them. The crux of the matter seems to be whether or not God is really
in control; and, if he is, why did he let such a horrible thing happen? My
faith stance, based on the biblical record, is that God either allows
or ordains events in our lives.[81] This is a definition founded on faith—a
faith that admits that we can’t see everything from God’s perspective and
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that God’s ways are ultimately redemptive. This kind of faith allows us to
see God at work even in the worst circumstances. God’s Son did die on the
cross. Faith also permits us to be thankful for the tough times. These “dark
nights of the soul” can be times when we learn most about ourselves and
God. Failures become avenues of success we never imagined when we
trust God to work through every event to mold us.
Events are God’s crucible to mold you into Christ’s likeness. I believe
servant leaders learn to lead through experiences God allows in their lives.
Leadership cannot be taught; it must be learned. The best laboratory for
leadership is life itself.
The leader can and must learn from experience. Warren Bennis writes
that learning from experience means
looking back at your childhood and adolescence and using what
happened to you then to enable you to make things happen now so
that you become the master of your own life rather than its servant.
consciously seeking the kinds of experiences in the present that will
improve and enlarge you.
taking risks as a matter of course, with the knowledge that failure is
as vital as it is inevitable.
seeing the future—yours and the world’s—as an opportunity to do all
those things you have not done and those things that need to be done,
rather than as a trial or a test.[82]
Experiences, for God’s leader, can become “spiritual markers” for the
presence of God in your life. Henry Blackaby says that a spiritual marker
“identifies a time of transition, decision, or direction when I clearly know
that God has guided me.”[83] Every follower of Jesus has times when he
knows God has broken into history to guide him to a place of service or
new level of relationship with God. These experiences are how God
teaches Christlike leadership. They are also how we learn the heart and
purposes of God.
One of my favorite writers is Madeleine L’Engle. In her novel A Live
Coal in the Sea, the main character, Camilla, tries to explain to her
granddaughter, Raffi, how she has coped with hurt in her relationships. As
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she rehearses the most difficult part of her life, she quotes for her
granddaughter a saying that has become her perspective. This insight
helped her survive the deepest hurts. Camilla tells Raffi of an encounter
with an unlikely friend Edward, who helped her see how she could
overcome a significant hurt in her marriage to Art.
He [Edward] reached across his desk to me, and took my hands. He
told me that people make mistakes, but are not bound by them. He
told me that Art and I would love each other more, not less. I sat
there and wept because I thought I had lost Art forever, that he
might as well be dead. Young Edward handed me his handkerchief,
a clean linen square, and quoted to me something written around
fourteen hundred, by William Langland. . . . “But all the
wickedness in the world which man may do or think is no more to
the mercy of God than a live coal dropped in the sea.”[84]
The mercy of God swallows the evil of man as though it were a live
coal in the sea. Faith allows the servant leader to trust that God’s mercy
and purposes are greater than any hurt inflicted by others. This conviction
makes it possible for servant leaders to learn from every experience in
order to become the leaders God wants them to become.
Tools like John Trent’s LifeMapping[85] or an instrument for writing
your personal timeline can be used to discover how God has guided your
life to accomplish his purposes. When seen through the eyes of faith, your
life experiences cease to be your story and become His-story.
3. Your relational style is another aspect of how God has
molded you into a unique servant leader.[86]
God has wired you temperamentally as part of his plan for your life. This
temperament is core to who you are and how you function. Knowing this
aspect of yourself will help you develop and live out a personal leadership
style.
My primary source for understanding behavioral theory is the guidance
and teaching from my friend Ken Voges, who has written Understanding
How Others Misunderstand You.[87] He also designed the “Relationship
Survey” found in the Jesus on Leadership workbook.[88] Ken uses the
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letters DISC to represent the four primary relational styles. D stands for
“dominance” style, I stands for the “influencing” style, S is the
“steadiness” style, and C represents the “conscientious” style. This four-
category model has been proven over time and has strong scientific
support. This behavioral theory is used often by other Christian writers.
Here’s how the DISC model compares to others based on similar theories.
DISC Smalley/Trent[89] LaHaye[90]
Dominance Lion Choleric
Influencing Otter Sanguine
Steadiness Golden Retriever Phlegmatic
Conscientious Beaver Melancholic
These relational styles are ingrained in who we are. To understand these
patterns of behavior is to understand our natural tendencies when relating
to others.
No one temperament is superior for leadership among God’s people.
Once again, as we search the Scriptures we see that God chose people with
all four primary styles. God chose Moses, who had a conscientious
relational style with which he related the holiness and purposes of God in
the details of the Law. God commissioned Abraham, who desired things to
stay the same and who hated conflict, to leave his home on a journey
without maps. God called Peter, who had a natural ability to influence
others, to lead the church in Jerusalem. God redirected Paul’s dominant,
task-oriented style of relating to others to carry out the worldwide mission
of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.[91]
GOD DIDN’T GO LOOKING FOR LEADERS. GOD LOOKED FOR
OBEDIENT PEOPLE, WHOM HE THEN FORMED INTO LEADERS.
Each of these relational styles became leadership styles when God
called that person to lead. God did not go looking for leaders. God looked
for obedient people, whom he then formed into leaders— though some
went kicking and screaming (remember Gideon!).
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Gary Smalley contends that personality types are a “key to lovability”
in relationships.
We’re all a blend of four basic personality types, but most of us
have one or two dominant styles. Our individual blends make us
unique, like fingerprints. And one of the best ways to improve our
relationships is to bring balance to any of our traits that we’ve
neglectfully or subconsciously pushed to an extreme.[92]
I agree with Smalley that better understanding of motivations and
actions that grow out of our basic personality can help us reach personal
and marital satisfaction. Knowing your own personality type will help you
know your natural tendencies in facing change and making day-to-day
decisions.
After leading through change and being in the people business, I am
convinced that the majority of conflicts—in the church, home, and
marketplace—arise out of relational style differences. We simply see
things differently because we are wired differently. As I have led our
church, I have encountered conflict. Every leader does. Most of those
conflicts were the result of personality differences, not theological ones.
My personality style thrives on change. Other styles crave the status quo.
Imagine the conflicts that arise over the issue of how decisions are made in
an organization. Some people prefer quick decisions made within a flat
organization. Others prefer well-thought-out decisions within a system of
checks and balances. Resolution comes when we take time to listen and
understand each other. Leadership happens when we move forward in the
same direction and in a spirit of cooperation.
Effective leaders understand their own natural tendencies first and then
take time to understand as best they can the relational strengths and
weaknesses of those who follow them. An effective leader’s greatest act of
service to those who are on his team is to create an environment in which
natural strengths can flourish and weaknesses can be compensated for.
4. God also uses your vocational skills as raw materials for
servant leadership.[93]
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I believe that whatever vocational skills you have learned can be invested
in the mission of the church. Paul invested his ability to interpret Scripture
and make tents in the mission to the ethnics. Lydia invested her business
skills to support part of God’s mission to reach people like herself (Acts
16:11-15). Aquila and Priscilla invested their tentmaking skills into Paul’s
mission in Corinth. After Paul had trained them, he left them in Ephesus to
build up the church there (Acts 18). My vocational skills revolve around
speaking, biblical studies, languages, and writing. Those make up my skill
base to contribute to the mission of the church.
Billy Allen sells basketball shoes. He was an outstanding player at
Southern Methodist University and played in the Continental Basketball
Association for two years after college. Billy and his wife, Lisa, are also
on mission with us at Legacy. Billy came to me after a message about
investing vocational skills in the work of God. He said he conducted
basketball clinics and wondered if that fit into the work of the church. I
said, “You bet it does!” Four months later, we had our first Legacy Drive
Baptist Church Skills and Drills Basketball Camp at the local YMCA.
Three men and two women took off three days from work to coach fifty
ten- to twelve-year-olds on the basics of basketball. We also took time
each day to share our faith in Jesus. We reached families we would have
not reached otherwise because Billy invested his talents in the work of
God.
You have skills that you can put to use in reaching and ministering to
people in the name of Christ. Make a list of skills you have learned either
from formal training or while pursuing a hobby. Prayerfully look through
that list, and imagine ways you can invest those skills into the work of
meeting the needs of others. Whatever your list is—from computer
programming to gardening—you can invest each skill into the work of
God. We limit God when we do not invest all God has blessed us with.
5. Enthusiasm is the last raw material God uses to mold you
into a unique servant leader.[94]
Enthusiasm is the passion God puts in your heart for his work. While this
word is not in the original language of the New Testament, it represents
the passion of God in a person’s life. I am learning that this passion comes
with a true calling; a person motivated by God’s goals is always more
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enthusiastic than a person maintaining the status quo. The sense of mission
becomes an all-consuming passion for the servant leader. Once we have
humbled ourselves before God’s call on our lives, that call, in turn,
becomes the wellspring of passion that makes us true leaders.
Why was Jesus a passionate leader? He could do nothing but be the
Suffering Servant Messiah, the mission given him by his Father in heaven.
Why was the apostle Paul a passionate leader? He could do nothing but the
mission to carry the Good News to ethnics around the world. How can you
become a passionate servant leader? Accept without compromise the call
of God on your life.
After we began the construction of our third building in nine years, I
“checked out.” God had done a marvelous work in the life of our church to
call us to join him in the harvest. This building was the last of four goals
we had set to participate in the harvest around us. Once we had begun to
reach each of our goals and the building began at the end of August, I lost
focus. My enthusiasm was gone.
One day in October of that same year, a friend and leader of our
personnel team asked me to breakfast. At that meal, he asked me the most
important leadership question I have ever been forced to answer: “What is
your passion, Gene?” Tom did not allow me to tell what I wanted or what I
desired my passion to be. Tom wanted to know what drove me and why I
was doing what I was doing. During that hour and a half meeting, God
rekindled my passion for his mission. Buildings and goals had gotten in
the way of making disciples. My enthusiasm had drained because I had
gotten off mission and had focused on short-term goals rather than eternal
purposes. Since that breakfast, my enthusiasm for ministry and being the
pastor of a mission outpost has returned. Why? Because I realized again
that it was the mission that made me get up in the morning and sleep well
at night. (It also gave me focus for writing this book. This is what I am
learning while on mission.)
MY ENTHUSIASM HAD DRAINED BECAUSE I HAD GOTTEN OFF
MISSION AND HAD FOCUSED ON SHORT-TERM GOALS RATHER
THAN ON ETERNAL PURPOSES.
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Here are the questions of enthusiasm: “What makes your heart beat
fast?” and, “If you could do one thing for God, what would it be?” The
answer to those questions will tell you the source of your enthusiasm for
ministry.
YOU ARE RETURNING TO GOD
The final reality that will give us confidence to risk being servants is that
we, like Jesus, are returning to God. Jesus’ confession on the cross,
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46), demonstrates
that he trusted he was returning to his Father in heaven. Jesus came to
teach us that we are all returning to God. His death and resurrection are the
assurance that when we return to God we will receive God’s mercy rather
than God’s wrath. His Holy Spirit is the earnest money that guarantees we
will receive our inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14).
Trusting that you are returning to God gives you an eternal perspective.
This perspective gives you a genuine sense of humor. You can smile
throughout life because you know the punch line! If you trust only in
things perishable, you cannot risk those things because they are all you
have. I like the T-shirt slogan “Those who die with the most toys . . . still
die.” The sad truth of this is that if returning to your Creator is not your
life goal, then all you have to live for is accumulation of stuff. Your hope
is only in things that you cannot take with you.
Trusting that God controls your eternity gives you the confidence to
risk everything earthly to achieve anything eternal. The hope of a servant
leader who follows Jesus is in an eternal relationship with the God who
created you and sent his Son to die for you.
We live in a world that places value on things according to their price
tags. Diamonds are more valuable than silver because you pay more for
them. Pick almost any category of life, and price equals value. Christians
should never value things the way the world does. Followers of Jesus
should have an eternal perspective; our confidence that we are returning to
our Creator—who laid down his life for us so we can spend eternity with
him—is our most valuable commodity.
My youngest daughter loves dolls . . . and friends and dogs and gerbils
and finches. One day I mishandled one of her dolls. She barked out,
“Don’t treat my doll that way. It cost!” I apologized. Dads aren’t so
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sensitive to the ways of doll care. I then challenged her reasoning. I told
her I would prefer to handle her doll differently because she thought it was
a special doll rather than because of its price tag. We agreed that what
things cost seem to tell how valuable they are. I asked her which was more
valuable to her: her two finches that cost $12.95 each or the doll. She
confessed that the finches meant more. She then allowed me to teach her a
phrase we repeated together: “Price alone does not determine value.”
Christians can have a proper perspective about things and position on
earth because they know their true value comes from belonging to God.
The trust that you will return to God will give you the peace you need to
face the trials of leadership and life.
How do you risk your place at the head table to serve others? Let’s
summarize.
1. You trust that in your relationship with Christ you have all power to
carry out God’s call on your life.
2. You trust that you have come from God. God is the source of life for
you. Among other things God has gifted you for service among his
people and allowed experiences to mold you. He is using your
vocational skills and motivating you through natural enthusiasm for
God’s purposes and plans.
3. You trust that at the end of this life you will return to the God who
created you and that you will receive the inheritance of eternal life he
has promised you. This trust allows you to risk anything earthly for
everything eternal.
You can risk the kind of leadership that humbly serves others if you
trust God to be in control of your life. You believe that all you have is a
gift and that God is the giver. You push away from the head table because
you know that if God wants you there, God will make sure you get back
there in his timing.
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
Do you consider yourself a risk taker? If so, give some
examples. If not, list some reasons.
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Jesus could risk service to others because he trusted that “all
authority in heaven and on earth” had been given to him. How
confident are you of that truth in your life? If it were true, how
would it make you more confident to serve others?
Jesus also trusted that he had come from God, the Father. Do
you believe this for your life? If so, explain how that gives you
confidence to serve others.
We talked about developing your S.E.R.V.E. profile. Make a list
of those parts of the profile you already know: spiritual gifts,
experiences, relational style, vocational skills, enthusiasm.
Seek to understand the others as God leads you.
Jesus also trusted that he was returning to God. Do you trust
that this is true for you? How can this give you confidence to
risk serving others as Jesus did?
Summarize the fourth principle of servant leadership. List three
ways you can implement this principle in your life this week.
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LEADERS live the vision by making all their actions and
behaviors consistent with it and by creating a sense of urgency
and passion for its attainment.
BURT NANUS Visionary Leadership
IN WASHING the feet of the disciples, Christ gave an example of
love, for this is the nature of love—to serve and to be subject to
one another.
MARTIN LUTHER Book of Jesus
WHEN Jesus tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a
copper basin, and washed the feet of the apostles, the Maundy
Thursday revolution began, and a new idea of greatness in the
Kingdom of God emerged.
BRENNAN MANNING Signature of Jesus
AS THE cross is the sign of submission, so the towel is the sign
of service.
RICHARD J. FOSTER Celebration of Discipline
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JESUS performed two symbolic acts for his followers on the night he was
betrayed. This was his last opportunity to make sure his leadership team
understood his mission. It was his last chance to see if they could complete
the mission after he left. On the night of his betrayal, Jesus took bread and
wine from the Passover meal and showed himself to be the final sacrifice
to take away the sins of the world. He also took up a servant’s towel and
washbasin and washed his disciples’ feet. Most Christians are familiar
with the power and meaning of the first act, but what was his message in
the second?
Luke tells us that after the Passover meal Jesus’ followers began to
discuss who was the greatest in the group (Luke 22:24). This was a
common topic with his followers. But I think we ought to cut them some
slack. They were, after all, guys! Guys always seem to get into discussions
about who caught the biggest fish or closed the largest deal. Pastor guys
are notorious for telling their fellow ministers they had at least 10 percent
more people at an event than were really there. We reward this behavior
when we give the biggest jobs to the guys with the biggest stories.
I think the disciples were simply sharing stories about how God had
worked through them. They had forgotten, however, that it was God and
not them who did the work! The last week in Jerusalem had been tough,
but they had seen Jesus attack the religious leaders. Jesus had also made
great strides in winning over the people. These kingdom seekers thought
the signs for victory were good. So they began to discuss who would sit at
Jesus’ side when he came into his kingdom again. Jesus surprised his
followers when he left the head table (while they argued about who would
sit where) and moved to where servants worked. He wrapped a towel
around his waist, filled a basin with water, and began to wash the dusty
feet of his friends.
Our fifth principle of servant leadership is based upon Jesus’ washing
of his disciples feet:
Servant leaders take up Jesus’ towel of
servanthood to meet the needs of others.
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From this event we understand that Jesus’ towel of servanthood is the
physical symbol of servant leadership. His act to meet the physical and
spiritual needs of his followers shows us what servant leaders do.
Washing feet was not Jesus’ job. He was teacher and master. No one
would criticize a leader who delegated such a menial task to another
member of the group. We think, Leaders deal with the big issues. You hire
others to do the lowly tasks. Once again we face a paradox of servant
leadership. If you are given the task of stewarding the vision and mission
of the group and you are responsible for completing the mission, why
would you “get off task” to do something so small as washing feet? Jesus
the leader confused our thinking when he became Jesus the servant. Why
would the King of kings wear a towel to wash others’ feet?
Yet when we watch Jesus take up the towel of servanthood, we notice
two things. First, he demonstrated that servant leaders meet the needs of
the group in order to carry out the mission. Jesus’ followers had dirty feet,
and no one was willing to wash them. The group had a need, but no one
would leave his place to meet it. They were too busy comparing
themselves to one another.
This mentality affects how families and organizations function. “It’s
not my job” is an attitude that prevents cooperation and teamwork. In a
family, this attitude usually enslaves one member of the family to washing
clothes and cleaning the house or tending to all the child care. In a
business, the same attitude will kill any sense of teamwork. Have you ever
had a staff member who made it very clear what was and was not her job?
Did this person refuse to do anything other than what was in her job
description? When “it’s not my job” thinking enters a staff, teamwork is
impaired. Territories are marked out and defended. Battles are fought over
who does what and who does more than the others. But Jesus showed us
that leaders with towels are willing to meet whatever need exists—
regardless of whose job it is.
The second lesson Jesus provided when he washed feet was that dirty
feet were not the real need. The disciples’ discussion about greatness
revealed their real need—to know who Jesus was and why he had come.
Their continued display of head-table mentality revealed that they still did
not fully understand why Jesus had come. He had come to serve. Any
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followers of his would be servants. On his last night with the disciples,
Jesus had to emphasize once again what kind of kingdom they were part of
—and what it would take for them to follow in his footsteps.
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“WHERE’S the leadership in servant leadership?” is a question often asked
when I speak about servant leadership. When I was finishing my work on
the Jesus on Leadership workbook, the publishers asked several people to
read its contents and make comments. One reader sent back the manuscript
and asked, “Where is the leadership part? All I see is how Jesus served
others. Point out how serving is part of leading.” I was pleased that the
reader had discovered this. The workbook (and this book) was supposed to
describe the leadership style of Jesus. As I walked through all I had
learned from observing Jesus, my thoughts returned again to the night
Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. There Jesus modeled how leaders
can be servants and still lead. When we look at the events of that night, we
can usually see only a lot of service and no leading. We ask, “If you’re
serving all the time, where’s the power?” Service and leadership seem to
be opposing concepts. We think you cannot be one and do the other. We
find the answers to this question as we watch Jesus’ actions on the night he
was betrayed.
He modeled the mission.
When Jesus left the table to take the form of a servant and do the work of a
slave, he was providing a real-life picture of his mission. He had already
taught that his mission was “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). His descent from his position of
final Passover lamb to lowly servant paralleled his descent from heaven to
the cross. Remember what he taught about humility? “He who humbles
himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). Remember the hymn of humiliation
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and Jesus’ exaltation by his Father? He “made himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). By moving from head table to lowest
place in the group, Jesus offered a visual illustration of his life’s mission.
Jesus’ mission was to be the Suffering Servant of God. The Gospels
tell how time and again Jesus had to correct his followers’ perception of
who he was as the Messiah. The five thousand people he fed wanted him
to be a popular Messiah who would meet all their physical desires. Others,
like James and John, wanted him to be a political Messiah who would set
up an earthly kingdom. Simon, the Zealot, and his friends wanted Jesus to
be a military Messiah who would throw off the yoke of Roman oppression.
People still have these kinds of wishes and expectations attached to their
faith in Jesus.
WE STILL WANT JESUS TO BE WHAT WE WANT HIM TO BE.
BUT THOSE WHO FOLLOW A POPULAR MESSIAH ARE SOON
DISAPPOINTED WHEN HE ASKS FOR SOMETHING IN RETURN.
We still want Jesus to be what we want him to be. When we take a
stand for Jesus, we want him to be popular with those who know and
accept us. We want Jesus to feed our hungers and fulfill our wishes. We
want him to heal our diseases and fix our marriages. We join the five
thousand who wanted to make him king because he gave them lunch.
Those who follow a popular Messiah are soon disappointed when he asks
something in return for their allegiance.
Others still want Jesus to be a political Messiah. You don’t have to
look far to find Christians who want to set up the kingdom of God by
electing Christians to political office. While Jesus taught us to be salt and
light, he personally rejected any ideas of making himself a political leader.
Jesus never ran for public office. His was a spiritual kingdom. Those
whom God calls to public service must continually check their view of
government against that of the one who called them. The problem with
wanting Jesus to be a political Messiah is that your faith is shattered when
God allows anyone other than those you put on the ticket to be elected.
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Finally, some still want Jesus to be a military Messiah. While this
temptation is not as prevalent in the United States, we know many
Christians who hold to a liberation theology that allows Jesus to carry a
machine gun and overthrow governments with revolutionary forces. I think
it is significant that Jesus chose Simon the Zealot to be one of the Twelve.
Simon was part of the revolutionary Jewish movement sworn to remove
Rome from their soil. I believe Jesus called Simon in order to challenge his
faith in military action to accomplish the will of God. The disciple surely
struggled with the Sermon on the Mount. When you hope for war, loving
your enemies and turning the other cheek are “childspeak.” Simon must
not have slept well the night of his Savior’s death. If he had hoped a
cavalry of angels (or men) would have come and rescued Jesus from the
Roman war machine, he must have truly been disappointed. I wish I could
have been there when the resurrected Lord explained the true power of his
kingdom to Simon before he ascended into heaven.
TOO MANY LEADERS FAIL WHEN THEY LEAVE THE MISSION
TO PLEASE THEIR FOLLOWERS.
Jesus, however, was the Suffering Servant Messiah. His mission was to
be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy about the kind of Messiah God
would send to free his people. The prophet said, “After the suffering of his
soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my
righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities” (Isa.
53:11). Jesus’ mission was not to fulfill the wishes of those who followed
him. His mission was to carry out the will of the Father. Too many leaders
fail when they leave the mission to please their followers. This is why
Jesus continually corrected his disciples when they (Peter, in particular)
tried to keep him from suffering and dying to bring salvation to his people.
His mission was to lay down his life as a sacrifice to bring a right
relationship between God and all creation. His followers had to understand
his mission before they could understand their own.
As Jesus knelt before his disciples and washed their feet, he gave them
a picture of his mission. He came to serve. He came to suffer.
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He modeled his teachings.
Jesus had already taught the principles of servant leadership to his
followers. Now he modeled those principles. He taught his followers to
take the lowest place when invited to a banquet (Luke 14:10). He now
modeled humility by taking up the towel of a servant. He had been
teaching that greatness among God’s people came through becoming a
servant (Mark 10:43-44). He now modeled that kind of greatness by
dressing like a servant. Jesus had taught that being first in line meant
becoming a slave to others. He now modeled being first by doing the work
of a slave. Our teachings take on incredible power when we back them up
by our actions.
Many parents fail their children by teaching them one thing and
modeling something else. We teach our children to be honest— no matter
what. One day a woman called and asked if one of my daughters would sit
with her children on a Monday night. I did not know the woman, and
school nights are not the best times for students to be out late. My
daughter, with her hand over the mouthpiece, asked me what she should
say. I said, “Tell her you have gym that night.” (She goes to gym two
nights a week.) My daughter hesitated but told the mother her excuse and
hung up. The next day I was driving in the car with my daughter. I
remembered the “white lie” I had told her to tell. I told her I had wronged
her because I had asked her to lie. I also asked her to forgive me and said
that she was not to let me do it the next time I tried that again! She smiled
and forgave me. Leaders in any position lose credibility when their actions
do not square with their teaching.
Jesus led by modeling his mission and his teachings for those who
argued about who was greatest in the group. His teachings and his actions
were in sync. Those who follow him can always know that what he said
and how he acted match.
Dressed like a servant, acting like a slave—Jesus still led.
When Jesus came to Peter’s dirty feet, his close friend refused his service.
Peter said, “You shall never wash my feet” (John 13:8). This was a noble
response from a leader in the group, but why did he say what he did?
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First of all, I think Peter may have been embarrassed that he had not
thought to do the job his leader was now doing. Peter was sensitive that
way—always the first to please his leader. He was the first to step from the
boat onto the rocky waves. He was the first to declare Jesus to be the
Christ. Peter wanted to please Jesus that night as Jesus knelt before him.
He was embarrassed to let his leader down. He was probably reprimanding
himself for not noticing the need and doing something about it.
I also believe Peter’s reaction was consistent with his refusal to allow
his Messiah to suffer. Peter’s Messiah would not do the work of a slave!
The lead disciple refused to accept anything that was less than his personal
perception of the mission. His leader would never wash his feet because
that was below the leader’s dignity and position. Peter held to the
misconception that leaders never do small things.
Kneeling before Peter’s smelly feet and wearing the towel of service,
Jesus revealed his disciple’s lack of understanding for the mission. Peter
still did not understand Jesus’ mission on earth. His refusal revealed his
confusion. Sometimes a leader must reveal a need before he can meet that
need.
Peter’s refusal of Jesus’ offering was an obstacle to the Savior’s path to
the cross. Peter offered a “shortcut to the kingdom,” which Jesus refused.
This was not the first time Peter had revealed his own perception of what
the kingdom should be. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus called Peter “Satan”
because the disciple offered Jesus the kingdom without suffering (Mark
8:29-33). Jesus had to lead in the face of opposition. “Leaders learn by
leading, and they learn best by leading in the face of obstacles,”[95]
advises Warren Bennis. Leaders also lead in the face of criticism. Jesus
continued to lead, kneeling at Peter’s feet, although he faced opposition
from one of his closest followers.
JESUS LED WITHOUT GIVING IN TO THE PERSONAL
PREFERENCES OF HIS FOLLOWERS. SOMETIMES A LEADER
MUST REVEAL A NEED BEFORE HE CAN MEET THAT NEED.
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This encounter between Jesus and Peter at the Passover meal also
teaches us that Jesus led without giving in to the personal preferences of
his followers. Meeting others’ needs does not mean giving in to people’s
wishes. Jesus knelt as a servant at Peter’s feet, but he did not allow Peter’s
personal preferences about who he was as Messiah to keep him from his
appointed mission. Peter did not get his way. Jesus said, “Unless I wash
you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8). He meant that either Peter
accepted Jesus’ mission of Messiah as Jesus defined it or Peter was no
longer part of the movement. Servant leadership does not lack resolve.
Servant leaders do not waver from their appointed mission just because
one of their followers has another idea of how things should be.
When one becomes servant to the mission, that mission becomes the
resolve that is the basis of strong leadership during critical times.
Unwavering resolve in the face of challenge does not come from
personality alone. One’s resolve to lead is directly proportional to one’s
service to the mission. Leaders falter in the face of challenge when they do
not have or fully understand the mission.
I have told you how God’s call to mission in my life and our church
has become central to my motivation to lead. I did not lead well before I
realized that call on my life. When I was in college, I belonged to a service
organization. At the end of my junior year, I thought I would run for
president of the club. I remember two influential seniors telling me they
would support a friend of mine because I was not a leader. That, as you
can imagine, was a blow to my ego. Their influence prevailed because I
was elected sergeant at arms! I accepted their assessment and waited for a
time to prove my leadership. When I look back on those days, I have to
agree with my friends. I was not a leader. I would falter in the face of
challenge and wait to see what the group wanted to do before I would step
up to lead. Without mission, there was no resolve to lead. With God’s call
on my life—and responsibility for the people I am entrusted with—I am
learning to lead.
Jesus was a resolute servant leader because he had become an absolute
servant to God’s call on his life. Popular opinion and personal preference
did not cause him to falter from his calling. This is why, on that night, the
banner of the kingdom was a towel stained with dirt.
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ON THAT NIGHT, THE BANNER OF THE KINGDOM WAS A
TOWEL STAINED WITH DIRT.
He passed the ultimate test of servanthood.
I have read the story of Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet many times. A
couple of years ago, I read beyond the event and teachings of Jesus on that
night. It struck me as it never had before that Jesus washed Judas’s feet,
too.[96] Jesus washed the feet of the disciple who would betray him with a
kiss later that night. Knowing that Judas would turn him over to the
religious leaders—an act that would result in Jesus’ death—the Lord still
washed Judas’s feet. By doing so, Jesus passed what I believe to be the
greatest test of a servant leader.
Jesus’ washing Judas’s feet still baffles me. My natural tendencies
would say, “If you knew the guy was a traitor, why didn’t you get rid of
him?” Others would judge, “If you were a good leader, Jesus, you would
have known what was going on and stopped it from happening.” Those,
however, are statements of people who are protecting a head-table
position. Servants who live out the will of their Father in heaven do not
fear human schemes. Their confidence is in the purposes of God, not their
efforts to control circumstances.
The picture is amazing. Here was the King of kings kneeling before the
one who had already sold him to the enemy for thirty pieces of silver.
They both knew the deal was done. Both knew the end result. Still Jesus
did not skip Judas when it came his turn to be washed. Judas had a need—
as all the others did. He, too, must see his Savior kneeling at his feet before
he saw him hanging on a cross. Only love beyond human capacity can
motivate a leader to humble himself before a person who may be turning
him over to his enemies.
SERVANTS WHO LIVE OUT THE WILL OF THEIR FATHER IN
HEAVEN DO NOT FEAR HUMAN SCHEMES.
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As with Peter, Jesus did not let Judas go without addressing his need.
Jesus did not let his mission cave in to the opposition’s schemes to destroy
him. When Peter accepted Jesus’ gift of service, Jesus said, “A person who
has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And
you are clean, though not every one of you” (John 13:10). Jesus was
referring to Judas when he said “not every one of you.” With that
comment, we see Jesus expose the sin of betrayal while still serving the
sinner. Jesus kept Judas accountable for his misdeed, but he still washed
his feet. Amazing grace.
I believe your greatest test as a servant leader may be to wash the feet
of those who may soon betray you. Leaders will always be tested by those
who seek their position or want to push their own agenda. Leaders must
continually address those who try to refocus the group’s attention. Every
group can have a Judas who will force the leader’s hand to act according to
the traitor’s wishes. The resolve of a servant leader will be activated at the
point of this challenge.
But the greatest test of your leading with the heart of Jesus is not
whether or not you overcome the challenges of others. It is whether or not
you serve those who have the power to take you out. We honor Jesus
because he washed his betrayer’s feet. That was nothing. Honor goes to
Jesus because the next day he died in the place of his betrayer. If you are
willing to climb on a cross for someone because you love him, washing his
dirty feet is a walk in the park.
I learned this lesson when God drove me to my knees to wash the feet
of my chairman of deacons (in the story I told at the beginning of this
book). I am no hero for washing Ted’s feet. If, months before, I had been a
servant leader like Jesus, foot washing in those circumstances would not
have been necessary. As it turned out, that was a moment of grace
orchestrated by God. That act, and more so Ted’s reciprocal act of washing
my feet, revealed the heart of Jesus to me.
Jesus did not come to gain a place of power.
He did not come to defeat his human enemies.
He did not come to overthrow an unjust government.
Jesus came to show us the heart of God. His entire message and
ministry on earth was to show selfish, power-hungry people like you and
me what love looks like. As he knelt before Judas, Jesus showed us a love
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that no human can conceive on his own: a love that is brutally honest about
what is going on but still kneels before us to lay down his life so we can be
free from the sin that infects us. Jesus loves you as he loved Judas. If you
miss that, you have missed eternal life.
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HOW do we take the example of Jesus into our lives? Let me try some
answers. The servant leader will model his mission, model what he
teaches, lead while dressed like a servant and acting like a slave, and be
able to pass the greatest test of servant leadership.
Provide a picture of your mission.
Your actions will be your most valuable tool in casting a vision and
staying the course. Kouzes and Posner, authors of The Leadership
Challenge, write:
Modeling the way is how leaders make their visions tangible. It is
the brick and mortar, nails and lumber, carpeting and furniture,
electrical outlets and placement of windows, and all of the
hundreds of other details that go into realizing the architect’s model
of a new home.[97]
To model the mission is to act out what you are calling your followers
to do. This is why I wash deacons’ feet and give towels to those we ordain.
Of course, those would be empty symbols if I were not willing to carry out
the trash or help move furniture.
I have a towel in my office with shoe polish on it. I normally use it
when we set apart members of our church as deacons. Each time we set
someone aside for ministry, I get on my knees and wipe the dust from the
servants’ shoes in front of the gathered church. I do this for two reasons:
(1) I do this to remind myself of my role as the church’s servant leader.
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Jesus washed feet and commanded me to do the same. (2) I want each of
those whom we are setting apart to remember Jesus’ example of servant
leadership when he washed his disciples’ feet.
Live out what you teach.
Joseph Stowell, a former president of Moody Bible Institute, reminds
church leaders to use their visibility as a leader to their advantage. In his
book Shepherding the Church into the Twenty-First Century, I like his
chapter title: “A Career in Modeling: Turning the Fishbowl to Christ’s
Advantage.”[98] He reminds leaders that it is “our visibility that gives us
viability in the work. . . . When our visibility casts positive and compelling
images, it is to our advantage since it platforms our capacity for
effectiveness.”[99] Modeling what you teach adds weight to your lessons.
Nan is the leader of our missions team. Her team is responsible for
leading our church in missions locally and around the world. Nan came to
me one day and said she no longer wanted to be on the team. She was tired
of meeting and making decisions. She wanted to do missions, not decide
about missions. She was tired of just teaching about missions; she wanted
to learn about missions. We talked long about her concerns and agreed that
if she and the team actually did missions, others would want to be part of
living out Christ’s great commission to make disciples of all ethnic groups.
The next summer Nan, another member, and a family from our church
invested their time over the Fourth of July weekend to go to the Rio
Grande region of Texas. They took a trailer full of items the church had
collected during Vacation Bible School that summer. They held their own
VBS in a small border town. Nan remained the leader of the missions team
that year. She began to model what she had taught about missions. When
others saw her example, they began to desire to be part of a team that sent
people around the world to meet the needs of others.
You will lead others as you model what you teach. If all you have to
offer are words, few people will follow you. Your example will give them
a picture of what you are talking about.
IF ALL YOU HAVE TO OFFER ARE WORDS, FEW PEOPLE WILL
FOLLOW YOU. YOUR EXAMPLE WILL GIVE THEM A PICTURE
OF WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
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Recognize the need—and take up the towel.
Servant leaders willingly leave their place at the head table to meet the
needs of others. We don’t see much of this these days. We tend to assign
perks rather than lowly tasks to those at the head tables of our culture. But
true servant leaders lead with stained towels and on dirty knees.
President Jimmy Carter is one of my heroes. He’s a hero because he is
a man of character who did not let the modern office of president of the
United States of America distract him from his commitment to follow
Jesus. I don’t understand politics, foreign policy, or economics enough to
evaluate Mr. Carter on those grounds. I guess if President Clinton can take
credit for the booming economy while he is president, President Carter
must take it on the chin for 22 percent interest rates during his
administration. If President Bush can be honored by his leadership during
the Gulf War, President Carter must take the blame for the botched effort
to free the hostages in Iran. Sometimes leaders get credit and blame for
things outside their control.
While I am not an astute student of politics, I do understand the power
of taking up the towel of service. After his defeat by Ronald Reagan in
1980, I watched as President and Mrs. Carter began work with Habitat for
Humanity. I was amazed that a man of such high office would seemingly
lower himself to be part of building homes for those who could not afford
them. I knew such behavior was part of his Christian character that
motivated him to teach a Sunday school class even while he was president.
In his book Living Faith, President Carter tells how Jesus’ example
leads us to live a life of service toward others. Reflecting on Jesus’
washing his disciples’ feet, he wrote:
This kind of image [Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet] is
profoundly important to me as I try, in my own way, to follow
Jesus’ example: for instance, when I go with a Habitat team to
build a house in Los Angeles or Chicago, inhabited by the poorest
Americans, surrounded by drug addicts and criminals, sometimes
with gunfire resounding on nearby streets . . . the awareness that
my God walked this way before me makes it possible to sustain
such an effort.[100]
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President Carter confessed that his motivation and model for joining
the work of Habitat was the example of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.
President and Mrs. Carter’s work to build houses for the poor tells me they
are servant leaders after the teaching and example of the one they call
Lord. They willingly take up the towel to meet the needs of others.
Lead without giving in to the personal preferences of others.
Servant leadership means being servant to the mission and avoiding the
temptation to please others. My natural personality wants others to like
me. That motivates me to be kind and congenial. That same tendency also
causes me to make decisions based on what people think of me. It was not
until God got a hold on my heart with a vision for his church that I was
able to lead beyond the personal preferences of others.
In 1992 we added a third service on Sunday morning. This service was
a contemporary expression of what we believed. We offered the service
out of a conviction that we needed to provide a worship experience for
those who were not comfortable in a traditional church setting. We based
our decision on our mission to make disciples, which meant beginning
with lost people rather than with Christians. We made many changes in the
appearance, style, and content of our worship services. Some people
accepted these changes openly. Others were not one bit pleased. I learned
that people often equate the style of worship with the orthodoxy of its
content. Mission is set aside in favor of the familiar.
As I led through those days of transition, I faced opposition and
criticism from those who preferred to worship a certain way. I also
received many thanks from those who returned to church and those who
longed for life in a worship experience. As I would sit with those who
preferred the status quo, I felt that, because of the mission, I could not give
in to others’ preferences. Our mission was to reach those who did not
understand our traditional ways of doing church. Changing the style of
worship meant making a place for those we were trying to reach. Staying
the course meant patiently telling members of our vision to become “a
visible community of Christlike relationships, building a spiritual legacy of
encouragement and hope” for those in our part of the world. Serving them
while modeling the mission of our church allowed them to see our goal.
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My personal journey has taught me that leadership means staying true
to the mission, not necessarily to the wishes of the people—even the
majority of the people. I now live by this axiom: “You cannot lead by
consensus, but you must have consensus to lead.” Consensus is a by-
product, not a method, of good leadership. A 51 percent vote does not
determine the will of God. A servant leader, however, gains the support of
that 51 percent in order to complete the mission entrusted to the entire
group. Personal preferences are secondary to divine purposes.
Be prepared to wash the feet of those who may soon betray you.
Servant leadership is the willingness to serve even those who have the
ability to take you out. Jesus washed Judas’s feet, too. The deacons of my
church had the power to oust me. God used that experience to direct my
heart toward service, rather than power, as my leadership style. My
encounter with my deacon officers was a very hard time in my life. Given
a choice, I would never have chosen to walk that road. God, however, used
it to show me the depth of his love and how far he would stoop to serve the
needs of sinful people—people who desired to make God into their own
image.
YOUR GREATEST TEST AS A SERVANT LEADER MAY BE TO
WASH THE FEET OF THOSE WHO MAY SOON BETRAY YOU.
If time allows, I tell every group I speak to the story of how God
humbled me. I have talked to pastors and staff members who have told me
sad stories of how churches have treated them. I do not know that washing
the feet of those who are trying to take you out will end the way it did for
me. But I do know that if you and I are going to lead like Jesus, we must
be willing to risk whatever the consequences to model servant leadership.
We can’t forget that Jesus washed Judas’s feet and was still betrayed by
Judas and died on the cross. You don’t wash feet to get your way. You
wash feet because your Leader told you to wash feet.
LEAD FROM A KNEELING POSITION
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Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done
for you” (John 13:15). Those who lead in the kingdom of God must check
where they sit and what they wear. If you are not kneeling at the feet of
others, wearing a servant’s towel, you are in the wrong place.
This example of Jesus does not fit the cultural picture of leadership.
Jesus, however, did not come to show us a better way to do things. He
came to show us how to live as kingdom people. Brennan Manning has
captured the power of Jesus’ example:
What a shocking reversal of our culture’s priorities and values! To
prefer to be the servant rather than the lord of the household, to
merrily taunt the gods of power, prestige, honor and recognition, to
refuse to take oneself seriously, to live without gloom by a lackey’s
agenda; these are the attitudes and actions that bear the stamp
of authentic discipleship. In effect, Jesus said: Blessed are you if
you love to be unknown and regarded as nothing. All things being
equal, to prefer contempt to honor, to prefer ridicule to praise, to
prefer humiliation to glory— those are formulas of greatness in the
new Israel of God.[101]
Those who lead in God’s kingdom lead from a kneeling position,
dressed like a servant. Before Jesus led the group to the garden for prayer
that night, he promised that if they would do what he commanded them to
do, they would be blessed (John 13:17).
Blessed be those who take up the towel in the name of Jesus.
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
You and I are like Peter: we want to please Jesus, but we have
our own perceptions of what he should be for us. After reading
this chapter, what are some of your personal desires of Jesus?
How does Jesus dressed like a servant and acting like a slave
challenge your picture of Jesus?
What are you doing to model your group’s mission before the
members of the team? Does what you do support what you
say?
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List three things you can do this week to reinforce something
you have taught your group.
Make a list of personal preferences of those who follow you. Do
some want you to be more popular? more powerful? How can
you show them the true nature of God’s mission for your life
while continuing to serve?
Who is the Judas on your team? What can you do to serve him
or her in order to model the love of Jesus?
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ONE sentence sums up the focus of Jesus’ time on earth: “And
he went everywhere teaching, healing and preaching.” Since
teaching is educating the mind and preaching is educating the
heart, two-thirds of Jesus’ work was education.
LAURIE BETH JONES Jesus, CEO
GOOD equippers do it like Jesus did it: recruit twelve, graduate
eleven, and focus on three.
LYNN ANDERSON They Smell Like Sheep
THE ideal equipper is a person who can impart the vision of the
work, evaluate the potential leader, give him the tools he needs,
and then help him along the way at the beginning of his
journey.
JOHN MAXWELL Developing the Leaders around You
GOOD leaders never give their leadership away. However, they
do share both the rewards and responsibility of leading.
CALVIN MILLER The Empowered Leader
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SERVANT leaders entrusted with a mission cannot complete that mission on
their own. God gives us work to do that is beyond the abilities of a single
person, and a leader learns to involve others—their wisdom, gifts, and
callings.
When God calls you to service, your job as a leader is to take
responsibility for the vision God has imparted. In a sense, you manage the
mission. You manage it for the people who are involved with you in the
mission, and you manage it for the Lord—the one who gave you the
mission in the first place. This is real responsibility!
By its sheer weight and magnitude, the mission forces the leader to
share her responsibility with others. In order to accomplish the goal—
which goes beyond the abilities and self-interest of the leader—every
member of the group must have a sense of responsibility and authority for
the task at hand.
How does that happen? Aren’t we accustomed to a pastor or other
leader presenting a mission or task to a group of believers—and finding
that only one or two other people ever catch that vision and come on
board? We’ve seen it happen many, many times. The servant leader ends
up being a slave to a task that is way too big for him or her. This isn’t the
way Jesus worked, and he shows us a better way.
Jesus shared a “BHAG” with his disciples just prior to his ascension to
heaven. A BHAG is a “big, hairy audacious goal.”[102] Jesus’ BHAG for
his followers was to make disciples of all nations. Yes, all nations. Jesus
was not afraid to share a vision that seemed impossible for his disciples to
accomplish on their own. I believe God is in the business of BHAGs!
Every great event in God’s history with his people began as an audacious
goal that seemed impossible until people trusted God and acted on the
divine word. From Abraham, who left his home in Ur of the Chaldeans, to
Paul, who turned his back on persecuting the church to widening the tent
of those in the family of God—men and women of faith have reached
impossible goals because they trusted a God with whom nothing is
impossible. The commandment Jesus gave his disciples illustrates the
God-sized nature of divine mission. Let me rephrase the great commission
so you can see how big it really is.
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We get our English word ethnic from the Greek word translated
“nations” in Matthew 28:19. Today we think more in terms of ethnic
groups than of nations. We have seen how the nation of Yugoslavia can
fall, but the Bosnians and Serbs fight on today. Read the mission as “Go
and make disciples of all ethnic groups.” This rendering may be more
understandable to God’s people at the turn of this century than it was to the
first disciples. For them, there were only two ethnic groups: Jews and
Gentiles. (Gentiles is Latin for the same word translated “nations.”) Now
we know there are over two thousand ethnic groups in the world that have
no translation of the Bible. As disciples of Jesus, we share the mission to
make disciples of all people groups. That’s a kingdom BHAG!
Jesus shared with his disciples the responsibility of bringing God’s
love to all peoples. That responsibility became their mission. It was huge!
Eleven men to make disciples of all ethnic groups?! How was that
possible?
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HOW did Jesus, as the leader of this eternal mission, empower his team of
eleven to carry out this audacious goal of taking his message to all ethnic
groups? First, Jesus had already accepted the responsibility of this mission.
His death on the cross proved that he accepted the responsibility to reach
all people with the love of God. His teachings and actions throughout his
life showed his obedience to do his heavenly Father’s will. When Jesus
called the disciples to himself on the side of a hill and commissioned them
to continue that mission, he was not abdicating his own responsibility for it
—he was sharing that responsibility. Servant leaders remain responsible
for the mission even when they recruit others to complete it.
RESPONSIBILITY WITHOUT AUTHORITY DISABLES RATHER
THAN EMPOWERS FOLLOWERS.
Responsibility must be paired with authority.
Jesus, however, did not share only his responsibility; he also shared his
authority. Responsibility without authority disables rather than empowers
followers. If you say, “Please help by doing thus and so, but don’t make
any decisions without checking with me,” you have not empowered the
person; you have enslaved him. Kennon Callahan reminds us that there
must be a balance between delegated authority and responsibility. “More
authority and fewer responsibilities help persons grow forward in their
leadership; less authority and more responsibilities help persons develop
passive behavior.”[103]
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Jesus remained steward of his Father’s mission, but he enabled others
to carry it out by sharing his authority with them. He did this when he said
to his disciples of every generation: “All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples” (Matt. 28:18-19).
“In the name of Jesus . . .”
“In the name of Jesus” is an important phrase throughout the book of Acts
and the letters of the apostles. The name of Jesus was the basis of the
disciples’ authority to stand against earthly powers and governments as
they brought the message of Jesus to all people. Peter and John stood
boldly before the religious supreme court in Jerusalem and evoked the
name of Jesus—not their own authority—as the power behind healing the
blind man on the temple steps (Acts 4:10). By using the authority in the
name of Jesus, the disciples had the power to carry the Good News to the
“ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The authority of Jesus allowed them to
become “Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Cor. 5:20).
We often overlook the fact that Jesus stated his authority to send before
he sent his followers on the mission. Leaders who send others without the
authority to make decisions send powerless followers to defeat. Where did
Jesus’ authority come from? It came from his defeat of all powers and
principalities through the work of his death, burial, and resurrection. The
Son of God was about to take his eternal place above all things. As leader,
Jesus claimed his authority to send those he had recruited before sending
them out. Jesus shared his authority along with his responsibility to make
disciples of all people. This is the foundation for our sixth principle of
servant leadership:
Servant leaders share their responsibility and
authority to meet a greater need.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY FREE PEOPLE
TO GROW
The church in Jerusalem experienced great growth and fellowship through
the presence of God’s Spirit in people’s lives. But as the church grew, an
internal cancer threatened to stop the movement of God.
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Grumbling was an internal threat to the growth of the church.
As people came into the church, the number of needs grew. Acts 6:1 tells
how the apostles had not met the needs of certain members of the
fellowship. People were grumbling. Greek-speaking widows were doing
no more than saying, “Hey, you said you would feed us. When the Meals-
on-Wheels cart comes by, no one stops at our house. What’s up with that?”
GRUMBLING BY MEMBERS ON A MISSION SIMPLY MEANS
THAT LEADERS HAVE NEGLECTED TO ADDRESS A NEED
ADEQUATELY.
I used to disregard grumblers. I thought they were a bug in the leader’s
software. Some days I want to put one of those number dispensers on the
door of my office with a sign that reads, “Take a number!” During times of
transition and change, grumblers tend to take up most of the leader’s time.
Remember, too, that some people are naturally grumblers. They are the
ones who see the glass as half empty and the sky as partly cloudy. But
when someone on mission with you begins to make noises about things not
getting done, you had better pay attention. Those team members may see a
blind spot you have overlooked.
Grumbling by members on mission simply means that leaders have
neglected to address a need adequately. Criticism may be the source of
new opportunities. Doug Murren invites us to consider criticism as a gift.
He writes, “If we embrace criticism instead of resisting it, we may be
presented with new opportunities of service that in turn may open up vistas
of success we would have never seen without criticism.”[104]
Distributing authority helped the church solve its problems.
The first church did not have enough leaders to oversee the daily
distribution of food. The apostles’ inability to serve all the members
resulted in division and grumbling. To address this need, the leading
apostles redefined their role as servants to the Word of God. Their place in
the church was to know, preach, and teach the good news of Jesus Christ
in order to make disciples. In this way, they were stewards of the vision
and core values of the mission. The leaders said they would “give our
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attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Ministry in this verse is
the same word for servant that Jesus used when he said that the great ones
among his followers must serve others (Mark 10:44).
The church had members with an unmet need. To neglect that need
would mean continued division and hurt in the body, but the apostles
wisely shared the responsibility of this need with qualified members of the
church. They delegated this task to seven members who met the
qualifications of being “full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). The
apostles multiplied their leadership by delegating some of their
responsibility and authority to others in order to meet the needs of the
fellowship.
The apostles delegated their authority to care for the neglected widows.
How did the apostles delegate their authority? They “laid their hands on
them” (Acts 6:6). This was not the first ordination service. Laying on of
hands is a biblical symbol of passing on authority. The Israelites laid their
hands on the Levites to give them authority to sacrifice (Num. 8:10).
Moses laid his hands on Joshua as a sign that the son of Nun was his
successor and that Moses shared the authority God had given him with the
new leader (Num. 27:18).
The apostles stood the seven servants in front of the gathered church
and placed their hands on them to symbolize the sharing of their authority.
They were saying by this act, “These seven have our authority to make
decisions related to this issue. What they say goes in regard to the Meals-
on-Wheels routes in the Greek-speaking neighborhoods.” Note that the
apostles gave no instructions as to how they were to meet the need.
Genuine delegation leaves the details to those entrusted with their part of
the mission.
The next phrase in Acts is “so the word of God spread” (Acts 6:7).
Why? Delegated authority and responsibility allowed needs to be met and
empowered others to carry out the mission of the church. Calvin Miller
observes, “Good leaders never give their leadership away. However, they
do share both the rewards and responsibilities of leadership.”[105] The
apostles delegated enough authority for the seven to make decisions to
meet the people’s needs and so did not frustrate those they asked to help.
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EQUIP OTHERS TO SHARE RESPONSIBILITY AND
AUTHORITY
Paul reminded the church in Ephesus: “It was he [Christ] who gave some
to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be
pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that
the body of Christ may be built up” (Eph. 4:11-12). In essence, the Bible
teaches that God places his gifts in the church with specifically gifted
people who can prepare others for service and thus further the church’s
mission. The word translated “to prepare” can also be translated “to equip”
(NASB). So we see that not only does a servant leader recruit others for
the mission, he actually equips those people so that they will be effective
servants of God.
“To equip” gets its meaning from two different contexts in New
Testament times. One was the medical world. To equip meant to set a
broken bone in order to prepare it for healing. In that context, it meant “to
put in order.”[106] The second context was the fishing industry. Fishermen
would “equip” their nets at the end of a casting period. They would restore
the net to its former condition and allow the sun to dry it in its designed
position. In this way they prepared the net for casting.
These two pictures provide leaders with images of their job. To equip
the church is to prepare its members to perform their part of the mission. If
the church were a net, the leader’s job would be to prepare that net for its
next cast. He would do this by making sure each person is in her proper
place according to the design of the net and in right relationship with the
rest of the net. The biblical picture of the church is a body. The leader’s
job in this image may be to set fractured parts of the body so they can heal
and eventually function as part of the whole body.
Our staff went away for its quarterly meeting one year and sought to
define why we did what we did. After brainstorming, some wordsmithing,
and voting multiple times, we came up with the following mission
statement: The staff exists to equip people to carry out the mission of
Legacy Drive Baptist Church by building relationships and modeling
servant leadership.
We agreed that God set people aside for part-time and full-time service
to equip people for ministry, not to do that ministry by themselves. After
we completed our work, someone noted that the statement was nothing
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more than Ephesians 4:11-12. He was right! Once again, we had stumbled
onto a path God had intended from the beginning. God gifts the church
with leaders not to do ministry alone but to equip members of the body to
do ministry. The ministry of the staff is to equip others. I tell my directors
of ministries: “It is your responsibility not to do the job but to see that the
job gets done.”
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IF YOU are a leader, you will serve those you lead by equipping them to do
their part in God’s plan. I would like to suggest five steps to equip others:
[107]
Encourage them to serve;
Qualify them to serve;
Understand their needs;
Instruct them; and
Pray for them.
These five steps will allow you to share your responsibility and
authority as a leader.
ENCOURAGE THEM
Jesus called the Twelve to follow him to the cross and to be his witnesses
to the ends of the earth. He spent much of his time with his disciples,
encouraging them. John 14 contains some of Jesus’ most encouraging
words to his followers. His disciples were concerned for themselves and
their master. The closer they came to Jerusalem, the more troubled they
became about what would happen to them and to Jesus. Jesus turned to his
followers and said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He saw their fear
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and addressed it. He didn’t chastise them for being worried! If you want to
lead people as Jesus led, be aware of their struggles and fears—and make a
point to encourage them in the midst of those things.
One of my favorite New Testament characters is Barnabas. His real
name was Joseph. Barnabas, his nickname, means “Son of
Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). I don’t know how God would have brought
Saul of Tarsus into the ethnic mission without Barnabas. This leader in the
Jerusalem church was the first to encourage the church to accept the newly
converted Saul. He did this by putting his arm around Saul and saying, “I
know this guy. He’s the real thing. I know he used to persecute the church,
but the Head of the church has commissioned him to be on the mission
with us. You can trust him” (see Acts 9:27).
Later, when Barnabas saw what God was doing in Antioch, he traveled
to Tarsus and encouraged Saul to come with him and teach the Scriptures
to the new believers. The Bible says that after a year of teaching and
ministering to those God was gathering to be the church in the mission
outpost of Antioch, “the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch”
(Acts 11:26). Barnabas encouraged Paul to join him in ministry. That
ultimately led to the church’s setting these two aside to begin the work of
carrying the gospel around the world.
I have had several men like Barnabas in my life. These were men who
came up to me, put an arm around me, and said, “I think you can do this.”
I remember sending a manuscript to Calvin Miller and asking for his input
on it. The concept was a series of devotional thoughts called Altars in the
Sand. Calvin wrote me an incredibly encouraging letter, but he was honest
enough to say, “Don’t quit your day job! This thing needs some work.”
Although he basically said, “You’re not ready yet,” he kindly encouraged
me to keep working on my writing. Others have encouraged me to
complete my studies and to pastor. Church members who have encouraged
me to lead have motivated me to take risks I normally would not take.
These people—all of whom I have nicknamed Barnabas—along with my
parents and wife have encouraged me to live out God’s call on my life.
You probably have a Barnabas in your life too. Take a moment to
remember the power of that person’s words when he or she said, “You can
do this.” One of the greatest acts of a servant leader is to be a Barnabas to
another person.
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QUALIFY THEM
To encourage someone to become involved in ministry is not enough.
Encouragement without training is like enthusiasm without direction: You
move around a lot, but little gets done!
SERVANT LEADERS QUALIFY THOSE THEY ENCOURAGE TO JOIN THEM
ON MISSION. Qualifying for mission includes meeting certain expectations
related to being a follower of Christ. These expectations include the
person’s spiritual condition—is he fit for the place in which you have
encouraged him to serve?
Jesus qualified those who followed him by holding up high standards
of discipleship. Luke tells us that after Jesus told the story about taking the
backseat at the banquet, “large crowds were traveling with Jesus” (Luke
14:25). Most church leaders would see this as a good thing and would
report it to their state papers! Jesus, on the other hand, knew that most of
those following had no clue what following him actually meant. Jesus
turned to the crowd and said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his
father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes,
even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Not a
consumer-driven invitation, was it? Jesus wanted to qualify those who
followed him by holding up standards of discipleship. He wanted everyone
who bought into the mission to understand its cost.
Jesus was very clear about the cost of discipleship. He risked losing
large numbers of followers in order to keep those who trusted him and his
mission. As a leader who follows Jesus’ example, you should make the
cost of service very clear to those you encourage to join you.
THE DANGER OF LEGALISM EXISTS ANYTIME YOU HOLD A
PERSON UP TO BIBLICAL STANDARDS OF DISCIPLESHIP.
A word of caution. You can expect too much of a person before he is
more mature in Christ. The danger of legalism exists anytime you hold a
person up to biblical standards of discipleship. No one lives up to the
biblical ideal. You are a minister “not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the
letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). The opposite danger of
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legalism, however, is to have no standards for those who serve in the
church. Too many churches suffer because those recruited to serve on
mission are not biblically qualified to serve. Servant leaders seek a loving
balance between biblical standards and the reality of human sinfulness.
TOO MANY CHURCHES SUFFER BECAUSE THOSE RECRUITED
TO SERVE ON MISSIONS ARE NOT BIBLICALLY QUALIFIED TO
SERVE.
A SERVANT LEADER QUALIFIES THOSE HE EQUIPS BY KNOWING THEIR
SKILLS AND GIFTEDNESS RELATED TO THE MINISTRY HE HAS ASKED
THEM TO DO. The leader must know whether or not a person is competent
for a particular ministry. A leader must ask the questions, “Does this
person understand how what I have asked her to do relates to the
mission?” “Does this person know how to do what I am asking her to do?”
The Bible provides a model for qualifying others for service in this sense.
Paul gave Timothy what I call the “2-2-2 Plan for Discipleship” from
2 Timothy 2:2. The pattern of sharing the message of Jesus as outlined by
Paul was
Paul was Timothy’s mentor. Paul equipped Timothy as they traveled
together (Acts 16:1-5). When Paul felt Timothy was qualified to do
ministry without him, he left Timothy in Ephesus to lead the church
(1 Tim. 1:3). Paul later wrote to the young pastor and told him to entrust
what he learned from Paul to faithful men who would also “be qualified to
teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2). “Qualified” in this verse means to be fit or
competent for something. Paul told Timothy to find “reliable,” or faithful,
men whom he could train to teach others. That pattern is still valid for
equipping leaders today. A contemporary model of Paul’s instructions
would be:
Servant leaders qualify those they encourage to join them on mission
so that those they qualify can pass the mission on to others.
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UNDERSTAND THEIR NEEDS
Jesus equipped his disciples by understanding their needs. He did this in at
least two ways. When he came off the Mount of Transfiguration, a man
brought his sick boy to Jesus. He made the point that he had already
brought his son to Jesus’ disciples, and they could do nothing to help.
Jesus healed the boy. Later, the disciples asked Jesus why they were
unable to heal the man’s son. Jesus made the observation, “This kind can
come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:29). Jesus had observed his followers
and seen that they made too little time for the disciplines that produce
power in one’s spiritual life. Jesus understood their need for spiritual
disciplines by observing the lack of power in their ministry.
Another time, the disciples came to Jesus with a request. After
watching Jesus pray all night and seeing the power of God in his life, the
disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-4). Jesus responded
by teaching them the Disciple’s Prayer. Jesus understood their need
because he listened to their request. He equipped the Twelve for ministry
by modeling prayer in front of them and responding to their request when
they asked him about this habit in his life.
How does Jesus’ example apply to your role as someone who must
equip others? To understand the needs of those you are responsible for,
observe them in ministry and listen to their requests.
To observe a team member in ministry is to discover what he needs in
order to complete the task. Coaches make good use of observation. They
spend hours between games reviewing and analyzing films to see how the
team performed. To prepare for the next game, they design practices
around what they saw on the films. Leaders observe those they have
recruited in order to evaluate their performance and to understand what is
lacking in their skills and resources. When was the last time you sat in a
room with a teacher or completed an observation report on someone you
are responsible for? If we don’t observe the people we’re leading, and if
we’re not honest about what they lack and therefore need, we may as well
bury our heads in the sand and forget about accomplishing any mission.
Listening is the easiest way to understand the needs of people who are
in ministry with you. You don’t need complicated report forms and status
reports to know what others need to complete their task. Simply ask the
question, “What do you need to do your job?” Then listen.
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Listening is a discipline. Leaders who are goal oriented miss
opportunities to serve when they forget to listen to those they are leading.
Listening is time-consuming but essential to a leader’s success. Listening
is hard work, but it leads to opportunities to serve those whom you have
recruited.
I am naturally task oriented. Give me a choice between going to a party
and checking a project off my list, and I will choose the project. Awhile
back, a staff member said we were not growing together as a staff. My first
emotional response was defensive. I wanted to blurt out, “We aren’t
fighting or anything! I could tell you of much worse staff situations.” I,
however, am ultimately responsible for the staff’s well-being, and one of
those on my team was raising a concern. As I listened to his concerns and
we began to address the problem rather than explain it away, we planned a
great time of fellowship that resulted in genuine relationship building and
some fun memories. While I preferred not to hear this staff member,
listening to him resulted in meeting a need among those I had recruited to
carry out the mission of our church.
INSTRUCT THEM
Leaders make a big mistake when they forget to instruct the people they
are equipping. Too many times, leaders invite others to become involved
in ministry and then leave them alone to guess what they should do.
Problems always surface when workers go untrained. Instruction is part of
leadership, and it is the fourth step of equipping.
Jesus constantly taught his disciples. He trained them about the nature
of the kingdom of God (Matt. 13). He explained his mission (Mark 10:32-
34). He performed miracles to teach lessons (Mark 4:35-41). Jesus even
instructed his disciples on their attitude about being his followers (Luke
17:7-10).
Paul, the leader who built a worldwide web of churches, also instructed
those who were in the ministry with him (see 1 Thess. 4:1-12). The
clearest example of this practice is in Paul’s letters to Timothy. This young
man joined Paul on his second journey to evangelize the ethnics (Acts
16:1-3). Paul left him in Ephesus to lead the church there. Later, Paul
wrote to Timothy and explained how he wanted the young leader to serve
those he had been entrusted with to make disciples.
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First Timothy 4:11-16 is a list of instructions Paul gave his young
recruit. Paul instructed Timothy to teach the things he had outlined for
him. He told the young man not to let others look down on him because he
was young. Paul encouraged him to set an example for others to follow in
every area of his life. Paul instructed the young pastor to devote himself to
the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching. Paul told him
not to neglect his spiritual gift. The senior missionary taught Timothy to be
diligent in these matters so that others could see his progress. Finally, Paul
instructed Timothy to watch his life and his doctrine closely because
others depended on him.
Paul equipped Timothy by teaching him how to minister to those in his
care. His instructions were clear and specific. Paul’s recruit did not have to
wonder what his mentor expected of him. Servant leaders equip others by
instructing them in the specific tasks they have been called to do.
THOSE WHO FOLLOW NEED TO KNOW WHERE THEY ARE
GOING AND WHAT IS EXPECTED OF THEM.
Those who follow need to know where they are going and what is
expected of them. A member of our church described the need for our
people to know what’s going on: “Our people are like players on the
sideline waiting to get into the game. They are motivated and most of them
are trained to contribute to the game. They are just waiting for someone to
tell them the game plan and their part in it and send them into the game.
Most of our church is like a sidelined team waiting to be sent in to play by
the coach. If they don’t know the game plan or their part in it, they will
either become bitter at the coach for not playing them or—in many cases
—go look for another team to play on.” This is one of several reasons why
we have worked hard to establish ways for people to become involved in
ministry and find a place to belong in the church.
PRAY FOR THEM
Up to this point, each step to equip others can be done in human strength.
You can encourage others under your own power. Your motivation to
involve others can simply be because you need help. You can qualify
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others by your own efforts and standards. You can understand the needs of
those you recruit by watching and listening to them. You can even instruct
them in attitudes and specifics of their ministry based upon human
decisions and understanding. But one thing might still be lacking, even
with all these other things in place. Do the people in your care have God’s
power in their lives?
Jesus observed a lack of power in his disciples when they could not
cast out a demon (Matt. 17:19-21). Power was the missing, crucial
element. Thus, the most important step in equipping others is to pray for
them.
DO THE PEOPLE IN YOUR CARE HAVE GOD’S POWER IN THEIR
LIVES?
Jesus made this step a priority in his ministry to his followers. In his
final hours with those he loved, he prayed for them. John 17:6-19 is the
content of that prayer. In it, he prayed for their unity (v. 11). He prayed
that they would have joy in ministry (v. 13). Jesus prayed for their
protection (v. 15). He prayed that they remain holy, set apart, by the truth
of God’s Word (v. 17). Jesus equipped his disciples by praying for them.
Servant leaders pray for those they equip for mission. This is the
unique nature of Christian leadership. Leaders in the church know that
their power comes from God, not themselves. They also know that they are
most effective when others support them in prayer. Leaders on mission
with Christ are helpless without the prayers of others. These prayers may
be all that keeps them standing in times of struggle and conflict.
Jan prays for me and our church. She is part of a group of prayer
warriors who seek God and his purposes for our church. They intercede for
me and the members of our fellowship. Before there were buildings on our
property, Jan would sit in her car and pray over the land. She meets with
me every Sunday morning in my office for prayer. We pray for the
worship services and those who will teach, lead, and work that day. Jan
often leaves me a written prayer with Scripture references for the day. I do
not know how I could minister without people like Jan praying for me.
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I am convinced that no servant leader should stand to lead until he
kneels to pray with those he serves. The power of equipping others is not
in technique but in prayer. Prayer should permeate every step to equip
others. Prayer gives discernment, protection, and power to those who lead.
Prayer is God’s answer to our weakness as leaders.
In the fall of 1996, our church entered 100 Days of Prayer. After we
had settled the issue of leadership earlier in the year, we needed direction.
We asked the church members to pray for one hundred consecutive days
and simply ask God: “How do you, O God, want to use us?” I began that
season of prayer expecting God to reveal himself to someone else first. But
just two weeks into the time of prayer, God began to reveal the deep
meaning of faith to me.
NO SERVANT LEADER SHOULD STAND TO LEAD UNTIL HE
KNEELS TO PRAY WITH THOSE HE SERVES.
God used a meeting with Tom Wolfe, then pastor of Church on Brady
in Los Angeles, to show me how God was still completing his mission to
reach all people even in my mission field. God used a sermon tape by
Bruce Wilkerson, the founder of Walk Through the Bible, to teach me the
faithful prayer of Jabez. God used a royalty check and a member’s
confession of God’s provision in his business to teach me how to use
tangible assets to make intangible realities come into being.
At the end of those one hundred days, we knew our theme and our
goals for the next year. God had said, “It’s harvesttime!” (Matt. 9:35-38).
In response to that call, we would expand the number of laborers in the
field through witness and ministry training. We would expand the number
of ministries in the field by adding one new ministry a month to reach
those in our community. We would expand the number of staff to equip
our people for the harvest, and we would expand our facilities to provide
space for the harvest God would pour out on our church. We are in the
process of reaching every one of those goals in tangible, measurable ways.
We are in another 100 Days of Prayer as I write this paragraph. We
have begun again to sense God’s leadership to continue our preparation
and acceptance of his harvest call on our church. As we come into 1998,
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God is giving us the focus and direction for our church. How? One word:
prayer.
YOU SERVE BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED, NOT
BECAUSE YOU DECIDED TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER
PLACE.
Let me also say a word about the need for prayer in the leader’s life.
Jesus was a leader who prayed. Why? I am convinced that those hours in
prayer with his Father were first of all times of worship and glory of his
Father. Worship is the nuclear reactor of a servant leader’s passion.
Without a vital relationship with the one who called you to mission, you
will lose your passion to serve. You serve because you have been called,
not because you decided to make the world a better place. Worship is the
energy source for passion in a servant leader’s life.
I also believe Jesus spent time in prayer to receive direction and clarity
for his mission. Once Jesus became servant to his Father’s mission, he had
to spend time making sure he was on God’s mission, not his own. Prayer
and fasting focused his mission and aided him to overcome the temptation
of shortcuts to the kingdom. In prayer, Jesus learned who to choose for his
leadership team. In prayer, God confirmed his call on Jesus’ life at the
Transfiguration. In prayer, Jesus laid down his will for the will of his
Father. Jesus carried out the Father’s call on his life through the power of
prayer.
Leaders who are servants to God’s mission will spend time in prayer
with the one who called them and who empowers them. Prayer is the
source of vision, direction, correction, and resources for mission. Servants
to the mission must stay on-line with their Master in order to complete that
mission. Prayer is the greatest source of strength for the servant leader.
These are not the only five things you can do to equip others. To equip
someone means spending time with him. It means knowing the one you
are equipping well enough to customize how you do the equipping. John
Maxwell reminds us that equipping, like nurturing, is an ongoing process.
You don’t equip with formulas or videotapes, he writes.
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Equipping must be tailored to each potential leader. . . . The ideal
equipper is a person who can impart the vision of the work,
evaluate the potential leader, give him the tools he needs, and then
help him along the way at the beginning of his journey.[108]
SHARE RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY IN THE HOME
AND MARKETPLACE
The principle of sharing responsibility and authority applies to
relationships in the home and in the marketplace. Here are two examples.
Principle #6 in the home
William Mitchell, author of Power of Positive Parents and Building Strong
Families, claims that every parent is a leader. Dr. Mitchell believes that
“leadership within a family structure is very likely a matter of steering a
child’s negative impulses into a positive expression.”[109] The sixth
principle of sincerely servant leadership reinforces the following
comments by Dr. Mitchell:
The concepts of authority and responsibility go hand in hand. The
more your child assumes responsibility for his own life, the more
authority he should have over his life. But until your child bears the
full responsibility for his behavior before God and society, the
parent is in authority over that child.[110]
Part of parenting is sharing responsibility and authority with children
so they can live out God’s plan for their lives.
I was in youth ministry for eleven years before becoming a pastor. I am
now the father of a teenager. You can spot a child whose parents have
shared both authority and responsibility with a teen. Those parents who
shared only the responsibility of family and school produced very
dependent children. Dependency is not bad in a four-year-old, but by
fourteen, a child should have authority to make some decisions in her life.
On the other hand, those parents who gave their teens the authority of an
adult soon discovered that their child could not handle the responsibilities
of life. In a teen, total freedom to choose does not guarantee responsibility
in an adult.
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Principle #6 in the marketplace
How do you translate this principle into your calling in the marketplace?
As a servant leader, you should be about equipping those who have been
entrusted to you to carry out the mission of your company or organization.
Here are some practical suggestions based on our study of Jesus.
Encourage those on your team to join you on mission.
Make the effort to “put your arm around them” through notes and
gifts.
Look for people with potential, and invite them to take leadership
positions.
Go out of your way to celebrate successes among those who follow
you.
Qualify those you recruit and those who are entrusted to you.
If you are a leader in a church or religious organization, qualify the
heart of those you are equipping by hearing about their spiritual
journey and testing their spiritual maturity.
Make sure you have mission statements for each responsibility you
share with others. This will keep you from sharing authority to carry
out an unclear responsibility.
Know the person’s S.E.R.V.E. profile, and check to see if she
matches the needs of the task she’s been given.
Understand the needs of those on mission with you.
Take time to observe those on mission with you in the task you have
assigned to them.
Spend all the time and energy needed to listen to those you have
recruited. They will give you a list of needs and “to dos” that will
allow you to serve them.
Create an atmosphere of honesty and openness so that those who
follow will feel free to share their needs with you.
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Instruct each member of your team in the task you have assigned to
her. Give clear instructions about the tasks you expect to see
accomplished.
Check each member’s attitudes toward you and your instructions.
This will indicate whether or not you have communicated clearly and
whether or not you have shared enough authority to accomplish the
assigned task.
Keep a record of meetings and messages in order to track your
effectiveness in instruction.
Pray for those on your team.
Pray for each person you are equipping. Even in a secular setting, it is
appropriate to tell a coworker or employee you are praying for her. I
have never had anyone resist this statement. At the very least, you
will get the response, “Thanks. I need all the help I can get.”
If you are a leader in a church or religious organization, take time to
pray with each person for whom you are responsible. Listen to his
needs and pause to pray with him.
As the leader, spend extended time in prayer and quiet waiting. God
can use this time to give you direction and insight into situations you
face. God can also keep you on your divine mission while carrying
out the company’s mission.
This principle of servant leadership will empower you to lead those
you have recruited to join you in Christ’s mission. Servant leaders equip.
What else do they do? The next principle answers that question.
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
What responsibility did Jesus share with his disciples? Do you
consider this a responsibility for you as a servant leader? If so,
how do you articulate this responsibility for those around you?
How did Jesus share his authority with his disciples? How can
you use that same authority in your ministry to others?
List the five steps to equip those on mission with you.
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E____________
Q____________
U____________
I____________
P____________.
Who is a Barnabas in your life, the person who encouraged you
to become involved in service? Write his or her name and what
he or she encouraged you to do.
List two ways you can understand the needs of those you are
equipping for ministry.
What are your feelings about the role of prayer in a leader’s
life? Write out your personal belief about prayer and the role it
plays in your personal life. Are you praying for someone? Do
you have someone to pray for you?
If you are a parent, how can you share responsibility and
authority with your children? List one or two examples for each
child.
Summarize principle 6 in your own words. List three ways you
can apply this principle in your life this week.
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THERE is no success without a successor.
JOHN MAXWELL Developing the Leaders around You
IN ORDER to build a true team spirit, you must delegate
accountability and glory as well as responsibility.
CALVIN MILLER The Empowered Leader
BASIC changes take place very slowly, if at all, because those
with the power generally have no knowledge, and those with
the knowledge have no power.
WARREN BENNIS Why Leaders Can’t Lead
GOOD spiritual leaders are shepherds, not saviors, leaders not
lords, guides not gods.
LYNN ANDERSON They Smell Like Sheep
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JANET leads a ministry team. This team began when Janet stepped forward
to invest her vocational skill of teaching English as a second language to
make disciples through the ministry of our church. She told me one day
that she taught ESL at the local community college and felt she wanted to
present the gospel to her students. She asked if we could offer classes at
the church and use the Bible as the student textbook. Our church had
begun to talk about how we needed to see our community as a mission
field and how we needed to “do foreign missions at home.” Teaching
English with the Bible as the primary text was a proven method of
teaching people language and the love of God! While we had never
considered ministry to internationals as part of our vision, God called Janet
to lead us into this vital ministry.
Janet started this ministry alone. In four years, however, she has
equipped and empowered a team of seventeen people to serve over two
hundred internationals connected to our church.[111] This ministry team
has served our church’s mission by providing international families with
three opportunities per week to be involved in language instruction and
study of the Bible as a primary textbook. Our English as a second language
ministry has also distributed over two hundred Bibles in ten different
languages free of charge to those enrolled in the ministry. Janet and her
ESL team are a model of team ministry.
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A LEADER is more like a player on a soccer team than like a pro golfer on
tour. Golfers need to motivate and train only themselves. As a matter of
fact, golfers in competition sort of enjoy watching the other guy lose it on
the last hole to blow the match—if they don’t do the same! A team player,
on the other hand, must make sure not only that she is motivated, is
trained, and has the right attitude but that everyone on the team has the
same interest and willingness to accomplish the goal. Team leaders have
more than just themselves to care for.
YOU WILL NEVER BE AN EFFECTIVE LEADER UNTIL YOU
INCLUDE THOSE YOU LEAD IN WHAT YOU DO.
Leaders must involve others to reach a shared goal, and they fail when
they put too much trust in their own efforts and those efforts alone. You
will never be an effective leader until you include those you lead in what
you do. Trust me. I have discovered just how true this is. Leaders go
nowhere until they involve followers in making decisions and planning
how goals will be reached. You cannot lead unless others are just as
moved by the vision and sense of mission as you are. And it’s up to you to
create that vision/mission and bring those you lead into it with you.
The goal of this book is to cultivate servant leaders in team ministry.
Servant leaders flourish with ministry teams. These teams are how leaders
do their best work. Teams are superior to individual effort for several
reasons:
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Teams involve more people, thus affording more resources, ideas, and
energy than would an individual.
Teams maximize a leader’s potential and minimize her weaknesses.
Strengths and weaknesses are more exposed in individuals.
Teams provide multiple perspectives of how to meet a need or reach a
goal, thus devising several alternatives for each situation. Individual
insight is seldom as broad and deep as a group’s when it takes on a
problem.
Teams share the credit for victories and the blame for losses. This
fosters genuine humility and authentic community. Individuals take
credit and blame alone. This fosters pride and sometimes a sense of
failure.
Teams keep leaders accountable for the goal. Individuals connected to
no one can change the goal without accountability.
Teams can simply do more than an individual.
Teams are how Jesus did ministry.
WHY DID JESUS NEED THE DISCIPLES?
If we are born again through Jesus alone, why did he invest so much love,
time, and energy in his disciples? Jesus came to carry out his Father’s
mission. He stated it: “The Son of Man [came] . . . to give his life as a
ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). He accomplished his mission on earth
when he died, was buried, and was raised on the third day.
So, what were the disciples about? Why couldn’t Jesus have just come,
lived and taught, died and been raised, gone back to heaven, and waited for
people to trust him?
Jesus’ ministry on earth is a striking example of an important
leadership principle: Mission continues when people are captured by it,
equipped to do it, and “teamed” to carry it on. When Jesus turned his
motley crew of disciples into a team with a mission, he ensured that his
work would continue long after he was gone. If only we could truly grasp
what this means. God intended all along for people to participate with him
in the eternal mission to bring people into the kingdom. Even his own
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Son’s incarnation and carrying out of this mission wasn’t enough. Jesus
modeled God’s intention for people like you and me so that we could be
connected to his mission.
GOD INTENDED ALL ALONG FOR PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE
WITH HIM IN THE ETERNAL MISSION TO BRING PEOPLE INTO
THE KINGDOM.
Jesus seldom did ministry by himself. Jesus was Lord and Master and
needed no one to help him. Yet no matter what he was doing, he
ministered with his disciples nearby. He usually had at least three disciples
with him wherever he went. By constantly having his closest followers
near him, he showed how the best lessons came from the classroom of
experience. In the sense that Jesus was all-powerful and could do whatever
he wanted, he did not need a ministry team, but he built one so that his
mission would continue when he returned to the Father.
Mark 6:7 is a description of how Jesus built a ministry team: “Calling
the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority
over evil spirits.” This description is the basis of our seventh principle of
servant leadership:
Servant leaders multiply their leadership by
empowering others to lead.
Mark 6:7 provides the elements for this principle.
“CALLING THE TWELVE.” Jesus called the disciples to carry out his
mission to reach the lost and establish his kingdom on earth. Servant
leadership begins with a call to be servant to the mission of God.
“TO HIM.” This phrase describes Jesus’ role as the leader. Leaders invite
others to join them on mission.
“HE SENT THEM OUT TWO BY TWO.” This tells us that Jesus was willing
to multiply his leadership in others. Teams of at least two followers were
part of his strategy for this. Jesus demonstrated that implementing a
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mission is not an individual effort. Teams are the best vehicle by which to
do God’s work.
“[HE] GAVE THEM AUTHORITY OVER EVIL SPIRITS.” Jesus empowered
those he called. We will see later how Jesus modeled empowerment for his
followers.
Jesus called twelve followers to himself to carry out his mission with him.
He sent them out in teams of two to try their hand at ministering to a lost
world. Jesus empowered his disciples with his own authority to overcome
opposition and do the work of the kingdom. Jesus modeled team ministry
to illustrate that until he returns, his mission to bring the kingdom of God
on earth is best accomplished by servant leaders in team ministry.
WHY TEAM?
A team is a group of people bound together by a commitment to reach a
shared goal. A team can be a group of college students playing intramural
football. It can be a group of researchers seeking the cure for a disease. A
group of Sunday school workers teaching the Bible to a roomful of four-
year-olds can be a team, too. A team can put a space probe on Mars or feed
the poor.
Business has recognized the power of teams. The Harvard business
school says that a team is
a small number of people with complementary skills who are
committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach
for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.[112]
These authors claim that high-performance teams should be the basic
unit of performance for most organizations, regardless of size.[113]
Leaders build teams to multiply their influence. John Maxwell has
demonstrated that a leader’s highest return is “forming a dream team of
leaders.”[114] According to Greenleaf, the leader in a group of leaders is
“whoever in the council has the greatest team-building ability.”[115]
Building teams is a core value for successful leadership in any
organization or movement.
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A committee is not a team!
Be sure you understand one crucial distinction: Committees and teams are
different. Committees belong to an institutional structure and mind-set.
They protect and guide the institution. Committees are groups of people
who meet and make decisions for others. Agendas and meetings are
everything to committees.
COMMITTEES CONTROL. BUT TEAMS EMPOWER.
Teams, on the other hand, fit inside the structure and mind-set of a
mission; they live not for an institution but for the purpose of reaching that
mission goal. Teams don’t make decisions for everyone else. Their
decisions are for themselves only and are related directly to the task at
hand. To a team, mission-related goals are everything. Committees control.
But teams empower.
Let’s go back to Janet’s desire to start teaching English as a second
language in our church. In a committee-driven culture, she would have
drawn up a proposal and probably attended meetings of at least the
trustees, finance committee, and building-use committee. Since
committees exist to make decisions for others, Janet could have spent
many months answering questions related to money, meeting rooms, and
legal issues. Janet could still be teaching her ESL classes in the community
college by herself!
In a team-driven culture like our church, I simply gave Janet
permission to gather a leadership team and offer classes. The staff
directors and I guided the process of development until Janet had the
ministry running on its own. We informed the finance and facility teams
along the way, and they advised on money and space issues as the ministry
grew. I meet monthly with Janet to pray for her and the ministry and to be
a resource for her and the international families she reaches with her team.
In our church, teams exist to do ministry, not make decisions for others. I
am so pleased we don’t have committees.
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In light of all this, what is a team ministry—as opposed to a committee
or some other organization? Here’s my working definition: Team ministry
is a group of disciples, bound together under the lordship of Christ, who
are committed to the shared goal of meeting a particular need related to the
overall mission of the church.
Ministry teams are different from teams in the marketplace in some
key ways. The glue of ministry teams is the shared work of Christ in each
member of the team. The lordship of the Servant Leader in each member’s
life ensures a common set of core values and goals. Each member shares
a similar sense of calling by God on his life. The goal of ministry teams is
to meet needs in order to more effectively carry out Christ’s mission in the
world. This is the servant side of teams formed within the church. Servant
teams do set goals and hold one another accountable for reaching those
goals. But the focus is on serving others rather than increasing the bottom
line.
Leadership of a team is the highest expression of servant
leadership.
This is true because team leadership embodies each of the principles of
servant leadership:
You must humble yourself in order to build a team (principle 1).
Humility allows you to see the need for others. Pride insists on
working alone.
You cannot seek a position and have the team succeed (principle 2).
Following Jesus keeps you on mission and out of competition with
others.
You must be willing to give up your personal right to be served and
find greatness in service to the mission and the other team members
(principle 3).
You must trust that God is in control of your life in order to risk
service to those on the team (principle 4).
You must take up the towel of service to meet the needs of the group
(principle 5).
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You must share both responsibility and authority with team members
in order to meet the greater need of the team’s goal (principle 6).
You must multiply your leadership by empowering other members of
the team to lead (principle 7).
Team ministry is how servant leaders do the work of mission. In our
servant leadership model we see that team is how the leader best
serves those he has recruited for mission.
Our goal in this final chapter is to give you four steps to build your
ministry team.
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BUILDING a team involves these four steps:
Create a sense of togetherness;
Empower with authority and presence;
Account for the mission and the team’s actions;
Be a mentor.[116]
CREATE A SENSE OF TOGETHERNESS
Team ministry begins when there is a sense of being part of something
important. The first characteristic of a team is that “we are in this
together.” Effective teams work because members sense that each person
belongs, that they share a common goal and have a purpose for
functioning. Team ministry can start when those on the team sense that
they are together for a reason greater than themselves.
Bill Mitchell is the founder of Power of Positive Parenting.[117]
He began building a similar program, Power of Positive Students, while he
was the superintendent of a South Carolina school system. His goal: Help
students and teachers believe in themselves. The success of the program
led to helping parents instill self-confidence in their children. My favorite
saying from Bill came from when he was a high school coach in Alabama.
Coach Bill wanted to instill a sense of unity and to ensure that no one
player thought himself more important than the others. So every player had
a phrase printed on his T-shirt under his uniform: “Big Team, Little Me.”
This slogan said that every player was a part of the larger team, but no
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player found importance in himself above the others. “Big Team, Little
Me” built a sense of togetherness on Coach Mitchell’s teams. That sense
of being part of something bigger than yourself can build a sense of unity
among your team members.
How do you know if team members have a sense that they are “in this
together”? Here are four truths that point to a team’s sense of togetherness.
Team ministry means that every member has a place on the
team.
Each member helps move the team toward its goal through his or her
unique contribution to the team. Different spiritual gifts, experiences,
relational styles, vocational skills, and enthusiasm make a ministry team
complete. Diversity is a good thing in team ministry. Peter Drucker has
noted:
A common mistake is to believe that because individuals are all on
the same team, they all think alike and act alike. Not so. The
purpose of a team is to make the strengths of each person effective,
and his or her weaknesses irrelevant.[118]
Stephen Covey puts it this way: “The role of the leader is to foster
mutual respect and build a complementary team where each strength is
made productive and each weakness made irrelevant.”[119] Putting a team
together means finding people who share a common goal with you but
who may act and think differently from you. Team ministry reinforces the
biblical teaching that the church is many parts but one body.
This is why knowing a team member’s S.E.R.V.E. profile is important.
If you are building the team, you want people whose spiritual gifts,
relational styles, and vocational skills are different from yours. If your
spiritual gift is teaching, for example, you will want someone on the team
with the gift of exhortation to encourage you to move beyond analysis to
action. If your relational style is “steadiness,” you will want someone with
a relational style of “dominance” on your team to help you make
decisions. If you lack certain vocational skills necessary to meet the need,
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invite someone on the team who has those skills and shares your passion to
meet that need. Unity in diversity is the biblical model for togetherness
(1 Cor. 12:12). Every member belongs.
Teams form to reach a common goal—a goal related to the
overall mission of the organization.
It is essential to successful ministry that there be unity around the
ministry’s goals. The goals themselves should help create a sense of
togetherness. It is the leader’s responsibility to build this sense of unity
through a continual articulation of the goal.
Jesus insisted that those who followed him share his values and
purposes. He said, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does
not gather with me scatters” (Matt. 12:30). Jesus made sure that anyone
wanting to be on his team shared his mission. A team that is together
“gathers.” A team in disunity “scatters.”
The seven principles of servant leadership can become the shared goals
of a marriage. These behavioral goals become the standard of how spouses
act toward one another. I have written the principles of servant leadership
as core values for my marriage this way:
We will humble ourselves before God and toward each other.
We will follow Jesus first, pursue careers second.
We will give up our rights to be served and find greatness in service
to each other.
We will risk everything earthly to gain anything eternal by trusting
God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
We will take up Jesus’ towel of service to meet the needs of others.
We will share responsibility and authority with each other to reach
our goals.
We will be a ministry team to carry out God’s mission in our lives.
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These seven core values can become a benchmark for decisions we
make as a couple. They can also serve as goals for behavior that keep our
marriage “team” together.
Teams must have a reason to form and to function.
Servant leaders create teams because there is a need (related to the
mission) that must be met. I talked to a pastor who was in a church that
averaged seventy-two in Sunday school attendance but had forty
committees! One year into his ministry there, he realized that the church
had hired him to keep people on those forty committees. He was
miserable. None of the committees could go away. He had to make sure
every committee had at least one member on it—even if some members
were on more than one committee. Mission had given way to maintenance.
Committees maintain. Teams accomplish mission.
A TRUE TEAM IS FORMED FOR A PURPOSE, AND THAT
PURPOSE DRIVES THE TEAM THROUGHOUT ITS EXISTENCE.
Too many churches are ineffective because they spend their time
putting people on committees rather than building ministry teams to carry
out their mission. A true team is formed for a purpose, and that purpose
drives the team throughout its existence. This is why each ministry team
must know its mission and how it relates to the overall mission of the
church. That purpose drives the team throughout its existence.
No ministry team should go on without a sense of why it exists. Our
church’s “Kid’s Celebration,” our worship for three-year-olds through
third graders, states its mission this way: “To share God’s love with a
contagious passion in order to lead children to a personal relationship with
Jesus and assist them in building a firm foundation in God’s Word.” This
mission guides the leaders who gather each week to guide our children in
worship. It also fits perfectly with our church’s mission to make disciples
who know, share, and multiply Christ.
Does every team in your church know its mission as it is related to the
overall mission of your church? Does every team in your business know its
reason for functioning within the whole? Teams exist to score points or
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make goals. They cover ground and strategize to overcome an opponent.
Teams with a purpose are the heart of an effective ministry or business.
A sense of togetherness prevents the leader from working alone.
Jesus multiplied his leadership by sending out his apostles (which literally
means “sent ones”) to do what he commissioned them to do. Servant
leaders in team ministry must keep a balance between doing things
themselves and encouraging others to participate. Although he may appear
to have a servant’s attitude, a person who does the team’s work alone is
not a genuine servant leader. Katzenbach and Smith give good
conventional wisdom on this:
Team leaders genuinely believe that they do not have all the
answers—so they do not insist on providing them. They believe
they do not need to make all key decisions—so they do not do so.
They believe they cannot succeed without the combined
contributions of all the other members of the team to a common
end—so they avoid any action that might constrain inputs or
intimidate anyone on the team. Ego is not their predominant
concern.[120]
Ego is surely not the concern of the servant leader because he humbles
himself and waits for God to exalt him (see Luke 14:11).
When Jesus commissioned Peter to go and “feed [Jesus’] sheep,” he
did not intend for Peter to do that work alone. Henri Nouwen observed:
But when Jesus speaks about shepherding, he does not want us to
think about a brave, lonely shepherd who takes care of a large flock
of obedient sheep. In many ways, he makes it clear that ministry is
a communal and mutual experience.
First of all, Jesus sends the twelve out in pairs (Mark 6:7). We
keep forgetting that we are being sent out two by two. We cannot
bring the good news on our own. We are called to proclaim the
Gospel together, in community.[121]
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Team ministry means going with others on mission to do what God has
commissioned us to do. Individualism is not a philosophy of servant
leadership.
EMPOWER WITH AUTHORITY AND PRESENCE
Servant leaders empower those on their team to reach the shared goal.
Why is this important? Warren Bennis tells us why: “Basic changes take
place very slowly, if at all, because those with the power generally have no
knowledge, and those with the knowledge have no power.”[122]
Empowerment is giving power to those with the knowledge and
knowledge to those with the power.
You do not empower people with a memo. Empowerment does not
happen with the stroke of a pen or with a keyboard. You empower people
in real time. It takes the investment of time and effort to empower
someone to do the work of the team. Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One
Minute Manager, has captured the time it takes to empower someone in
the title of his work Empowerment Takes More than a Minute![123]
Blanchard also teaches that one of the three keys to empowerment is “to
replace the hierarchy with self-directed teams.” Bill Easum teaches church
leaders to empower with “self-organizing ministry teams.”[124]
Jesus spent three and a half years with twelve of his closest followers
to empower them to carry out his mission upon his ascension. Ministry
teams are a sign of empowerment, but what does a servant leader share to
empower his team? Jesus modeled the “what” of empowerment by giving
his followers (1) the authority of his name and (2) the power of his
presence.
The previous chapter explained how Jesus shared the authority of his
name with his disciples as he shared the responsibility of his mission.
Servant leaders empower members on their team with the authority of their
name.
Jesus also empowered his followers with the power of his presence.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he had given this mission to his
followers: “Be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The mission now has geographic
markers; it has become a vision too big for those first followers to have
imagined. “To the ends of the earth” was a frightening thought to these
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pre-Columbus followers of Jesus. Where would they find strength to go
that far with the mission? The secret lies in the words that precede the
mission. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses.” Jesus promised the power of his presence
before he shared the scope of his mission.
The Holy Spirit is the indwelling person of Jesus Christ in a disciple of
Jesus. We are not left as orphans—we have his presence. We are not
without power because the Spirit of Christ lives in us. Jesus empowered
his followers with the power of his presence on earth and after he returned
to the Father.
How can we empower the people we lead? As Jesus did, we can
empower others with the authority of both our name and our presence. As
pastor, I impart the authority of my position when someone can say, “The
pastor said . . .” Such a statement can be powerful when the person using it
is confident that power has been given to her by you.
“The pastor said . . .” can also be misused. Those who have their own
agendas can use the authority of the leader to accomplish their wishes
instead of those of the group. If you are a freewheeling permission giver
like I tend to be, you may say something like, “Sure, that’s a great idea,” in
the hall on a Sunday morning. By Tuesday in staff meeting, your staff may
be wondering why you approved a church-wide garage sale on the same
day as the twenty-four-hour prayer vigil! When you inquire how
something could have happened, the reply may be, “Mrs. Smith said it was
OK with you, so she put it on the calendar.” Be careful how you dispense
the authority of your name.
How does a person empower others with his or her presence? What did
Jesus do? He spent time—long, deliberate time—with those who followed
him. To instill the mission and its values in the team and to demonstrate
their part in carrying out that mission, we must spend time with them.
This, I believe, is why long-term ministry with one group of people is so
important. If a servant leader is moving every two to three years, how
much of her presence can she give to people? It takes five to seven years
(unless you’re Jesus!) before people even trust you enough to begin
thinking about your mission, much less adjusting their lives to carry it out!
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IT TAKES FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS BEFORE PEOPLE EVEN TRUST
YOU ENOUGH TO BEGIN THINKING ABOUT YOUR MISSION,
MUCH LESS ADJUSTING THEIR LIVES TO CARRY IT OUT!
To be a parent is to empower. A parent who is a servant leader will
invest great amounts of time into the life of a child in order to empower
the child to live as an adult. The goal of parenting is to empower a child to
live out God’s plan for his life. This goal requires that a parent spend time
and energy to discipline and train a child in the ways of God so as an adult
that child is free to live for God. Fathers are not to exasperate their
children; instead, they are to “bring them up in the training and instruction
of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Empowering children to live out God’s plan for
their lives is consistent with other biblical instructions to parents (Prov.
22:6).
ACCOUNT FOR THE MISSION IDAND THE TEAM’S ACTIONS
Once people have been given power, they become accountable. Ken
Blanchard writes, “Empowerment means you have the freedom to act; it
also means you are accountable for results.”[125] A characteristic of
ministry teams is accountability for results related to the goal. “No group
ever becomes a team until it can hold itself accountable as a team.”[126]
No baseball team can win the World Series until every team member
makes himself accountable to the others to reach this goal. Successful team
members make themselves responsible to one another to do their part.
Accountability makes team ministry possible. Accountability is the
ability to account for what you have done related to a standard or
expectation. Accountability keeps team members together and working
toward the same goal. With it, team members can count on others to do
what they say they will do. Without it, members decide on their own when,
how, and if they will do their part of the work.
This concept is like mutual accountability in marriage. When I told
Kim over twenty-two years ago that I would be faithful to her so we could
be together until death separated us, I gave her permission to check up on
me. I became accountable to her because we shared the goal of being
partners for life. I have the same mutual privilege to ask her about her
relationships outside our marriage. We are accountable to each other to
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make this marriage work in order to reach our God-given goal of marriage
for life. When you make yourself responsible to others on a ministry team,
you become accountable to the other members to reach your shared goal.
Accountability is part of every disciple’s life. Jesus taught that every
person will give an account to Holy God for his or her words and deeds.
Jesus said this when he addressed a group of religious leaders who accused
him of working for Satan. He said, “But I tell you that men will have to
give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have
spoken” (Matt. 12:36). Paul reminded the Roman Christians that “each of
us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). Peter encouraged
his readers not to worry if pagans did not understand their lifestyle. They,
too, “will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and
the dead” (1 Pet. 4:5). Accountability to God means to give an account for
your behavior while on earth. To give an account simply means to tell the
truth to the person to whom you are responsible for what you have done or
said.
Team accountability cannot begin until each member has a servant
leader’s heart. Pride will prevent a person from being accountable to
anyone else. But a servant is accountable gladly.
What is the leader’s role in accountability? Servant leaders hold the
goal in place and keep the group focused on that goal. For example, if a
leader recruits a team to deliver “hugs and mugs” to every first-time guest
to the church, she is responsible to hold that goal/vision up to the team.
She constantly reminds members of their goal as they distribute the
hospitality gifts each week. If a member of the team begins to miss
training and planning or does not show up to take the gifts as many times
as members agreed to go out, the leader is responsible to hold that member
accountable. When the goal is clear, accountability is possible.
Jesus held his disciples accountable for the true nature of his mission.
Peter was blessed to acknowledge that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of
the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Jesus praised him for his insight. Peter’s
confession indicated that Jesus’ work as leader of the mission was paying
off. At least one of the Twelve had gotten the message of who he was.
Jesus took Peter’s confession as an opportunity to define his mission more
fully. He told the group of his coming suffering and death.
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Peter, as we have noted, did not want that kind of leader. He refused to
accept Jesus’ words about his suffering and death. He pulled Jesus aside to
correct his thinking. Peter trusted his concept of the Christ rather than what
his leader had just told him. Peter’s ideas threatened the mission of the
Messiah and the unity of the disciples.
Jesus knew the danger of Peter’s attitude. A good leader corrects
actions and thoughts that are “off mission.” Jesus knew that his team of
disciples had to be together on who Jesus was and the nature of his mission
on earth. Jesus confronted Peter by saying, “Get behind me, Satan! . . .
You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Mark
8:33). Jesus called Peter Satan because the tempter had offered him the
same shortcut to the kingdom (Luke 4:9-12). Jesus knew his role of
Suffering Servant Messiah meant suffering and dying to complete the
Father’s mission of redemption. Jesus was accountable to the Father to
meet this goal. As the leader, Jesus knew the need for his followers to stay
committed to that same goal.
I have discovered again my need to hold our church accountable to its
mission. At the time of this writing, we are building our third building in
ten years. We are seeing new ministries form every month. Money and
attendance are on the positive side. Yet in some members there is
frustration because they don’t sense that anyone knows the “why” of all
this activity. As the leader, I am responsible to remind the church again
why we exist. I am also accountable to ensure that all that happens is truly
related to our church’s mission. It’s so easy for building programs and
other goals to turn into their own little missions and eventually move away
from the reason they were made goals in the first place.
IT’S SO EASY FOR BUILDING PROGRAMS AND OTHER GOALS
TO TURN INTO THEIR OWN LITTLE MISSIONS AND MOVE
AWAY FROM THE REASON THEY BECAME GOALS.
I have that same responsibility to hold my children accountable to their
goals. I am fortunate that both of my daughters have put their trust in Jesus
as their Lord and Savior. I, however, am responsible for their spiritual
development in the home. For my youngest, that means making sure she
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reads Scripture more than once a week at church. So two or three mornings
a week, I ask her to read portions of God’s Word and tell me what they
mean. Recently I asked her to read from the Sermon on the Mount. She
read Jesus’ teaching for us not to worry. I asked her what that passage
meant. Summer likes music. She has danced or has been a cheerleader
since she was three. So she answered with a rendition of Bobbie
McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” I laughed but said, “Half of that
song is right, but Jesus never called us to be happy. Give it another try.”
She then remembered a tune from Songs from the Loft, “Seek First,” a
rendition of Matthew 6:33. “That’s the message,” I said, and, over our
Honey Nut Cheerios and bagels, we sang the good news together.
BE A MENTOR
John Maxwell says, “There is no success without a successor.”[127]
I agree. I would personalize his axiom this way: “You are not a success
until you have a successor.” In a true team ministry the leader mentors
others to continue the mission after she is gone. Servant leaders are not a
success until they mentor successors to carry on the mission.
A mentor is a guide.
Mentors lead others through new terrain because they have been there
before. Servant leaders show their followers what to do by doing it first; a
mentor’s actions weigh as heavily as words. Leaders in team ministry
guide where the team is going and demonstrate the Christian lifestyle they
want team members to follow.
Lynn Anderson reminds us that mentoring is an essential aspect of
spiritual leadership. Anderson combines the mentor’s role with that of a
shepherd when he writes:
Mentor, in one sense, is another dimension of shepherd, but with a
different emphasis. Shepherds feed, protect and care for sheep;
mentors pull up alongside human beings and model behavior,
values, and faith through the shared life. While the shepherd motif
is the “big” model for spiritual leadership in Scripture, mentor is
nonetheless essential.[128]
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Spiritual leadership calls for the more mature and experienced
to show others the way.
Paul was a mentor. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul insisted that
the Christians there imitate him (4:16). We get our English word mimic
from the Greek word Paul used. The apostle literally said, “Mimic me!”
Following a mentor is a form of mimicking someone. Coaches have
athletes do it all the time. A coach will say, “Do it this way.” The athlete
then mimics the coach’s instructions—sometimes again and again until she
gets it right.
One test of whether or not you are a mentor of the faith is to ask
yourself, “Could I, like Paul, insist that an individual and/or a group of
people mimic my behavior for a week in order to learn how to follow
Jesus?” What kind of Christians would you produce if the only way they
learned how to walk with the Lord was by following you around and
mimicking your actions? The answers to those questions may tell why or
why not your marriage, home, business, or church is not growing in the
Lord. As Mary Kay Ash teaches, “The speed of the leader is the speed of
the gang.”[129]
Mike is one of our pastoral interns. He and his wife came to our church
seven years ago. Since their coming, God has confirmed the call to full-
time mission in Mike and Karen’s life. As the church has affirmed that
calling, we have licensed and ordained Mike. We have invested in his
seminary training. Mike has graduated from seminary and is looking for a
full-time staff position while continuing to serve our church as director of
assimilation and adult Bible studies.
I have been blessed to be one of Mike’s mentors. Officially, I am his
pastor and field-experience supervisor. Unofficially, I am fortunate to be a
guide. Mike is the one who teaches our membership workshop while I
preach on Sunday mornings. He is the one I send to teach the principles in
this book when I cannot. Mike embodies the mission of Legacy Drive
Baptist Church. He has helped design and implement all that applies to
assimilating new members into the life of this church. Mike is my protégé.
Servant leaders mentor others to join them in team ministry. Mentoring is
how the work of Christ passes on from one generation of followers to the
next.
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Jesus mentored his disciples by teaching them.
Matthew 5; 6; and 7 record Jesus’ “design for discipleship.” He taught
how kingdom people live. Jesus taught his disciples about humility,
greatness, and being first in line. He turned everyday situations into instant
classrooms. He was always looking beyond the obvious words and actions
to the thoughts, motivations, and beliefs behind them. Jesus didn’t merely
give his followers information; he led them into seeing life in a different
way. He took them deeper—and broader. He taught through stories,
parables, and simple objects that were familiar. I think it’s safe to say that
Jesus viewed all of life from the position of being a teacher, looking for
opportunities to illumine the thinking and stimulate the faith of his
followers.
Jesus also mentored his followers by demonstrating the power
of God in their lives.
When the disciples thought there was no way to feed a crowd that had
followed them all day, Jesus asked God to provide enough food from a
boy’s lunch to feed the five thousand (Mark 6:32-44). Jesus didn’t use
power foolishly or to show off in front of friend or foe. There was always a
purpose behind Jesus’ use of power. When the disciples wanted him to use
his power to call down fire on a town, he refused. Even through the way he
used his power, Jesus was building the faith and understanding of the
disciples.
Jesus mentored by modeling a life of prayer for his followers.
Luke 6:12 tells us that he prayed all night before choosing the Twelve. We
have seen how Jesus equipped his followers when they asked him to teach
them to pray (Luke 11:1-4). They usually knew where to find him praying
—evidence that Jesus’ prayer life was a constant. Many times he talked
with his heavenly Father in front of his followers. These people had never
imagined calling God “Father,” but Jesus helped them grow accustomed to
the idea.
AN OLD TESTAMENT LESSON IN MENTORING
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The principles of mentoring and delegation are not new. After the Exodus,
Moses was responsible for leading the children of Israel to the Promised
Land. One responsibility was to make decisions regarding disputes
between people. The only problem was that there were hundreds of
thousands of people! Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law. He helped Moses
by teaching him how to multiply his leadership through mentoring rather
than doing all the work alone. Carl George calls Jethro’s insights “The
Jethro Principle.”[130]
When Jethro told Moses he was going to wear himself out unless he
multiplied his leadership, he told Moses he had three responsibilities as a
leader (Exod. 18:19-20). The first was to “be the people’s representative
before God and bring their disputes to him.” Moses’ first responsibility as
leader was a priestly one. He knew God and his people as he carried their
needs before God. Spiritual leaders represent their followers to God.
Calvin Miller says that God’s leaders need to “talk more to God about
people, than to people about their problems.”[131] Empowering leadership
begins when the leader is empowered by God.
Jethro’s second injunction to Moses as an empowering leader was to
“teach them the decrees and laws.” Leaders instruct followers in core
values and boundaries of behavior. Moses was to teach the people the
ways of God. He had to define and articulate God’s plan for the people
before he could enlist others to make decisions with him.
Finally, Jethro said, “Show them the way to live and the duties they are
to perform.” Moses not only taught God’s ways, he modeled God’s ways.
Those he would appoint to judge the people had to have a pattern for how
they were to act. That model came from the leader.
LEADERS WEAR OUT THEIR FOLLOWERS AND THEMSELVES
WHEN THEY TRY TO LEAD ALONE.
Leaders wear out their followers and themselves when they try to lead
alone. Stephen Covey observes, “People and organizations don’t grow
much without delegation and completed staff work, because they are
confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths
and weaknesses.”[132] Too many church leaders suffer burnout because
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they think they are the only ones who can do the job. Owning
responsibility does not mean you alone can do the task. Servant leaders
know they are most effective when they trust others to work with them.
Good leaders mentor and empower capable people to help them do the job.
THE LEADER NEEDS A MENTOR TOO
As a servant leader, you are a mentor to those you have called to be on
your team. But you also need a mentor. A servant leader humbly
acknowledges his need for someone who has been down the road to be a
guide through the minefields. Writing for Promise Keepers, Howard
Hendricks has recommended that every man have three individuals in his
life: “You need a Paul. You need a Barnabas. You need a Timothy.”[133]
While Promise Keepers is a ministry to men by men, this principle applies
to everyone in the body of Christ. Paul advises Titus to have the older
women teach the younger women the ways of God (Titus 2:3-5).
Hendricks encourages each believer to have a Paul in his life because
“you need someone who’s been down the road.” Every believer needs a
Barnabas because you need someone “who loves you but is not impressed
by you.” (That’s my wife! She loves me but is not impressed by all that I
do. I need someone like her in my life, and I am blessed that she is my
“Barnabas.”) You also need a Timothy “into whose life you are building.”
I would summarize Hendricks’s points this way: You need a pastor, a
partner, and a protégé. A pastor (not necessarily the paid professional
kind) will show you down the road. Your partner will love you but not be
impressed by anything other than authentic relationship. Having a protégé
means you are passing on the mission God has placed on your life.
Mentoring is how servant leaders prepare the next generation of
leaders for service. Unless there are future leaders, there is no future.
You have not reached the goal of servant leadership until you have
built a ministry team around you. You will carry out Christ’s mission most
effectively through ministry teams.
FOR STUDY AND REFLECTION
Jesus built a leadership team. Based on your study of this
chapter and Jesus’ life, why do you believe he did that?
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Why, according to the author, is leading a team the highest
expression of servant leadership?
List the four steps to build a team.
T______________
E______________
A______________
M______________.
List the names of those on the team you lead.
List two ways you can create a sense of togetherness on your
team.
List two ways you can empower with authority and presence.
List two ways you can account for the mission and the team’s
actions.
List two things you can do this week to be a mentor for
someone on your team.
Who is your “pastor”? Who is your “partner”? Who is your
“protégé”?
Summarize your understanding of the seventh principle of
servant leadership. Write three ways you can build your team
this week.
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I AM GRATEFUL for the opportunity to update this section of Jesus on
Leadership. Since this book’s publication in 1998, many volumes, articles,
and blogs have been written regarding servant leadership in the
marketplace, education, and ministry. Robert Greenleaf’s 1970 work, “The
Servant as Leader,” remains the primary source for the basic concepts of
the model, but many others have entered the dialogue and expanded his
original ideas. The magnitude of literature related to servant leadership is
beyond the scope of this update, but it is evidence of the continued
acceptance and application of this apparently oxymoronic leadership style;
leaders serve, and servants lead.
Most leadership studies remain focused on the leader and his or her use
of power and authority to influence a group toward a goal or vision. But a
growing body of work has placed value on leaders’ use of influence to
develop and improve the well-being of both their followers and the
organizations to which they belong. It is within this trajectory of
transformational leadership theory that servant leadership has found a
home in general leadership studies. Courses and degrees at the highest
levels of education and training teach this model of leadership.
Jesus as an example of servant leadership belongs in this arena of
inquiry and application. Generally, two approaches have emerged as to
how one incorporates Jesus into his or her leadership model. One approach
is to embrace a preferred model of leadership, and the practitioner or
theorist then finds principles and practices in the life and teachings of
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Jesus that support that model. One can find volumes of writings on all
delivery platforms with this interpretative bias for church, business, and
ministry leaders. In this method, the starting point is organizational
leadership principles and practices, and the illustrative material is the life
and teachings of Jesus.
A second approach is to make Jesus the foundation for one’s model of
leadership. In this method, one begins with situations in the biblical
narrative where Jesus leads others to trust him and to join him on his
mission of reconciliation. One then interprets those passages accurately
and seeks to contextualize the principles and practices into the leadership
settings in which the follower of Jesus has been assigned or has chosen to
lead. The starting point in this method is Jesus, the Suffering Servant
Messiah, as he announced and established the “now, not yet” Kingdom of
God. Jesus’ interactions with inquirers, followers, enemies, and cultural
issues become seedbeds for any principles, values, or practices of those
who trust Jesus and who are in positions of influence. The reader will find
echoes of Jesus’ teachings and habits in contemporary leadership
materials, but these organizational values and practices are the illustrative
material of Jesus’ example and teachings, not vice versa.
I remain convinced that the principles and values Jesus demonstrated
throughout his life and ministry are the foundational values and principles
for those who follow him. However, I believe these values, principles, and
practices cannot necessarily be translated into organizational situations.
Values determine behavior, and human organizations do not function on
the same value system as the Kingdom of God. Jesus led the new-covenant
movement of God with the goal of reconciling all of creation to him. The
religious leaders of his day, on the other hand, led an organization with the
goal to protect their power and authority supported by tradition, politics,
and religion. Evaluated on effectiveness alone, the religious and political
leaders’ acumen in maintaining an institution and neutralizing a threat
without cause should be highly rated. Those leaders practiced “lord it
over” and “exercise authority over” leadership styles quite well.
Jesus, on the other hand, demonstrated a new paradigm of how to
exercise power and authority for missional purposes. His “not-so-among-
you” leadership led to the Cross, not to places of prominence and power as
we know them. His mission to lay down his life as a ransom for many was
205
why he came, and that why influenced his actions and decisions. “Not-so-
among-you” leaders submit their lives to Jesus, who assigns them to places
and people in order to serve in his name. Service in the name of Jesus is
how they lead. To follow Jesus is to lead like Jesus, and to lead like Jesus
is first to be servants to the one who bought our freedom on the cross and
who commissioned us to lay down our lives for others so they, too, can
trust him.
I have had the privilege to serve Christ’s church in Europe, Asia, and
the Americas. In the search for a global model of leadership among God’s
people, we in the West have tended to translate our most popular
leadership ideas and materials into a majority world language, to teach as
subject-matter experts, and to go home expecting the newly trained leaders
to lead as a Western organizational leader would lead. This is a travesty
and has caused many global churches to splinter and even disband due to
the imposition of Western organizational ideals on the living body of
Christ in a different context.
I have found that if a culture’s guest accurately presents the teachings
and examples of Jesus from the biblical record, the values and principles
modeled by Jesus will cross all cultural and ethnic boundaries. His “not-
so-among-you” leadership lifestyle is timeless and transcultural, and it is
effective in equipping his followers regardless of where they serve or what
positions they lead in. Servant leaders of Jesus can apply what they learn
from Jesus to their cultural and situational contexts. Just as the gospel of
Jesus is the universal language of salvation for all people, the teachings
and example of Jesus as he led and served on earth is the universal
language of leadership among God’s people.
Servant leadership as a theory and a practice will continue to grow and
gain footing within leadership studies. I believe this because people follow
leaders who love and care for their followers’ well-being. My prayer is
that Jesus’ example of being a servant who leads, motivated by love and
obedience to his mission, will continue to grow among God’s people. Let
us not force Jesus into our organizational models, but let us be changed by
him, and by doing so, change those places and people we serve.
206
Books Related to Leadership
Ash, Mary Kay. Mary Kay on People Management. New York:
Warner, 1984.
Barker, Joel Arthur. Future Edge: Discovering the New Rules of
Success. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1992.
Bennis, Warren. On Becoming a Leader. Reading, Mass.: Addison-
Wesley Publishing, 1994.
———. Why Leaders Can’t Lead. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
1990.
Blanchard, Ken, John P. Carlos, and Allan Randolph.
Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute. San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler. 1996.
Block, Peter. Stewardship, Choosing Service over Self-Interest. San
Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1993.
Bracey, Hyler, Jack Rosenblum, Aubrey Sanford, and Roy
Trueblood. Managing from the Heart. New York: Dell, 1990.
Burns, James MacGregor. Leadership. New York: Harper & Row,
1978.
Collins, James C., and Jerry I. Porras. Built to Last: Successful
Habits of Visionary Companies. New York: Harper Business,
1997.
207
Covey, Stephen R. Principle-Centered Leadership: Strategies for
Personal and Professional Effectiveness. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1992.
DePree, Max. Leadership Is an Art. New York: Doubleday, 1989.
———. Leadership Jazz. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
———. Leading without Power. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.
Drucker, Peter. Managing the Non-Profit Organization. New York:
Harper Business, 1992.
Gardner, Howard. Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership. New
York: Basic, 1996.
Greenleaf, Robert K. On Becoming a Servant Leader, edited by
Don M. Frick and Larry C. Spears. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
1996.
———. Servant Leadership. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist, 1977.
Hayward, Steven F. Churchill on Leadership. Rocklin, Calif.: Prima,
1997.
Jones, Laurie Beth. Jesus, CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for
Visionary Leadership. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams:
Creating the High-Performance Organization. Boston: Harvard
Business School Press, 1993.
Kostner, Jaclyn. Virtual Leadership: Secrets from the Round Table
for the Multi-Site Manager. New York: Warner, 1996.
Kouzes, James M., and Barry Z. Posner. The Leadership
Challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987.
Nanus, Bert. Visionary Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
1992.
Peters, Tom. Thriving on Chaos, Perennial Library ed. New York:
Harper & Row, Perennial Library Edition, 1987.
Phillips, Donald T. Lincoln on Leadership. New York: Warner, 1993.
Senge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the
Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday, 1990.
208
Smith, Douglas K. “The Following Part of Leading.” The Leader of
the Future. ed. by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and
Richard Beckhard. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.
Books Related to Church and Christian Leadership
Anderson, Leith. A Church for the Twenty-First Century.
Minneapolis: Bethany, 1992.
Anderson, Lynn. They Smell Like Sheep. West Monroe, La.:
Howard, 1997.
Barna, George. The Power of Vision. Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1992.
Callahan, Kennon. Effective Church Leadership. New York: Harper
& Row, 1990.
Dale, Robert D. Leading Edge: Leadership Strategies from the New
Testament. Nashville: Abingdon, 1996.
Easum, William M. Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers. Nashville:
Abingdon, 1995.
Easum, William M., and Thomas G. Bandy. Growing Spiritual
Redwoods. Nashville: Abingdon, 1997.
George, Carl F. Prepare Your Church for the Future. Grand Rapids:
Revell, 1991.
Hemphill, Ken. The Antioch Effect. Nashville: Broadman & Holman,
1994.
Maxwell, John. Developing the Leaders around You. Nashville:
Nelson, 1995.
Miller, Calvin. The Empowered Leader. Nashville: Broadman &
Holman, 1995.
Murren, Doug. Leadershift. Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1994.
Nouwen, Henri J. M. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian
Leadership. New York: Crossroad, 1989.
Sanders, Oswald. Spiritual Leadership. Chicago: Moody Press,
1967.
Stowell, Joseph M. Shepherding the Church into the Twenty-First
Century. Colorado Springs: Victor, 1994.
209
Warren, Rick. The Purpose-Driven Church. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1995.
Weems, Lovett H., Jr., Church Leadership. Nashville: Abingdon,
1993.
Wilkes, C. Gene. Jesus on Leadership: Becoming a Servant
Leader. Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1996.
Books Related to the Christian’s Life
Blackaby, Henry, and Claude King, Experiencing God. Nashville:
Broadman & Holman, 1990.
Blanchard, Ken. We Are the Beloved. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1994.
Boone, Wellington. Breaking Through. Nashville: Broadman &
Holman, 1995.
Buford, Bob. Game Plan. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997.
———. Halftime. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.
Carter, Jimmy. Living Faith. New York: Times Books, 1996.
Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline. New York:
HarperCollins, 1988, Revised and expanded edition.
Hendricks, Howard. Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper.
Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1994.
Hybels, Bill, and Rob Wilkins. Descending into Greatness. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1993.
LaHaye, Tim. Spirit-Controlled Temperament. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale
House, 1966.
Manning, Brennan. The Signature of Jesus. Sisters, Oreg.:
Multnomah, 1996.
McNeill, Donald P., Douglas A. Morrison, and Henri J. M. Nouwen.
Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life. New York:
Doubleday, 1983.
Mitchell, William, and Charles Paul Conn. The Power of Positive
Parenting. Grand Rapids: Revell, 1989.
210
Mitchell, William, and Michael A. Mitchell. Building Strong Families.
Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1997.
Schuller, Robert H. Prayer: My Soul’s Adventure with God.
Nashville: Nelson, 1995.
Shank, Bob. Total Life Management. Sisters, Oreg.: Multnomah,
1990.
Smalley, Gary. Making Love Last Forever. Waco, Tex.: Word, 1996.
Smalley, Gary, and John Trent. The Two Sides of Love. Colorado
Springs: Focus on the Family, 1990.
Trent, John. LifeMapping. Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family,
1994.
Voges, Ken, and Ron Braund. Understanding How Others
Misunderstand You. Chicago: Moody Press, 1990.
Audio/Video Resources
Card, Michael. “The Basin and The Towel,” on Poiema (CD)
Brentwood, Tenn.: The Sparrow Corporation, 1994.
Boltz, Ray. “I’ve Come to Serve,” on The Concert of a Lifetime
(Video) Nashville: Word Music, 1995.
211
DR. GENE WILKES is the president and
professor of New Testament and Leadership
at B. H. Carroll Theological Institute in
Irving, Texas. Dr. Wilkes embraces the
Institute’s mission to “equip men and women
called to serve Christ in the diverse and
global ministries of his church.” He has
authored eleven books, including Jesus on
Leadership: Timeless Wisdom on Servant
Leadership and A New Way of Living:
Practicing the Beatitudes Every Day. Dr.
Wilkes received his Ph.D. in New Testament studies and his M.Div. from
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He graduated from Baylor
University with a bachelor of arts in religion and Greek.
Dr. Wilkes served as senior pastor of Legacy Church in Plano, Texas,
for twenty-six years prior to coming to Carroll Institute as Vice President
of Development. During his local church ministry, Legacy Church
transitioned to become “a mission outpost where every member is a
missionary in his or her mission field.”
Legacy Church was a teaching church in the B. H. Carroll network of
teaching partners, and Dr. Wilkes was a resident fellow and Ph.D.
supervisor for Carroll from 2005 until his retirement from the church.
Carroll seeks to return theological education to the local church and restore
the value of pastor/teacher in local ministry. Dr. Wilkes has also taught
Biblical Servant Leadership as an adjunct professor in the Gary Cook
School of Leadership at Dallas Baptist University at both the master’s and
the Ph.D. levels. Along with his teaching ministry, Dr. Wilkes speaks
212
nationally and internationally on the topic of servant leadership and as a
Bible teacher. Some of the international sites he’s taught at include
Mexico, Cuba, China, Vietnam, Albania, Greece, Russia, Canada,
Portugal, and Honduras.
Dr. Wilkes lives in Plano, Texas, with his wife, Kim. They have two
married daughters and three grandchildren. Dr. Wilkes’s hobbies include
trail running, hiking, mountaineering, cycling, and golf. He summited
Mount Rainier in Washington on his sixtieth birthday.
213
NOTES
[1] Quoted by Carol Childress in NetFax, a publication of Leadership Network (Number 84,
10 November 1997). For information about this service, contact Leadership Network at
1-800-765-5323 or www.leadnet.org, which contains this and back issues of NetFax.
[2] Ibid.
[3] J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership (Chicago: Moody Press, 1967), 38.
[4] Bill Hybels, Descending into Greatness (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 16.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Robert Sterling and Gene Wilkes, “Riches to Rags,” in the musical We Beheld His Glory
(Los Angeles: Warner/Chapel Music, Inc., 1987).
[7] Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New
York: Crossroad, 1989), 62–3.
[8] Peter F. Drucker, Managing the Non-Profit Organization (New York: HarperCollins,
1990), 20.
[9] Max DePree, Leadership Jazz (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 172–3.
[10] Warren Bennis, Why Leaders Can’t Lead (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1989), 117–18.
[11] Anthony DeMello, The Song of the Bird, 2nd ed. (Anand, India: Gujarat Sahitya
Prakash, 1982), 129.
[12] Anthony Campolo, Seven Deadly Sins (Colorado Springs: Victor, 1987), 74.
[13] Ken Blanchard, We Are the Beloved (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 43.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Proverbs 16:5, 18, 19.
[16] Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus (Sisters, Oreg.: Multnomah, 1996), 141.
[17] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline, rev. and enl. (New York: HarperCollins,
1988), 130.
[18] Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing,
1994), 114.
[19] Ibid., 115.
[20] Robert H. Schuller, Prayer: My Soul’s Adventure with God (Nashville: Nelson, 1995),
141.
[21] Bob Buford, Halftime (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).
[22] Ibid., 56.
[23] Max DePree, Leadership Is an Art (New York: Doubleday, 1989), 9.
[24] Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1989), 104.
[25] Hyler Bracey, et al., Managing from the Heart (New York: Dell, 1990), 11–12. You can
demonstrate how Jesus lived out the other three requests, too. They are: 3. Tell me the
truth with compassion. 4. Remember to look for my loving intentions. 5. Acknowledge
the greatness within me.
[26] Burns, James MacGregor, Leadership (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), 18.
[27] Stephen R. Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1992), 181–9.
214
http://www.leadnet.org
[28] Ibid., 182–3.
[29] Max DePree, Leading without Power (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997), 134.
[30] Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader, 41. See also 164–7.
[31] Bill Easum, Sacred Cows Make Great Burgers (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), 51.
[32] Douglas K. Smith, “The Following Part of Leading” in The Leader of the Future, ed. by
Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and Richard Beckhard (San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass, 1997), 199–200.
[33] Max DePree, Leadership Jazz (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 198.
[34] Leith Anderson, A Church for the Twenty-First Century (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1992),
222.
[35] Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 81.
[36] Calvin Miller, The Empowered Leader (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 17.
Italics mine.
[37] Donald P. McNeill, Douglas A. Morrison, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Compassion:
A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Doubleday, 1983), 36.
[38] Ibid., 36–7.
[39] Bob Buford, Game Plan (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997).
[40] Bob Shank, Total Life Management (Sisters, Oreg.: Multnomah, 1990).
[41] Ken Hemphill, The Antioch Effect (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 112.
[42] Lynn Anderson, They Smell Like Sheep (West Monroe, La.: Howard, 1997).
[43] Ibid., 19.
[44] James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last (New York: Harper Business, 1997),
73.
[45] Lynne and Bill Hybels, Rediscovering Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 183–
94.
[46] Donald T. Phillips, Lincoln on Leadership (New York: Warner Books, 1993), 79–80.
[47] Doug Murren, Leadershift (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1994).
[48] Ibid., 151.
[49] Ibid., 154.
[50] Max DePree, Leadership Is an Art (New York: Doubleday, 1989), 72.
[51] Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos, Perennial Library Ed. (New York: Harper & Row,
Perennial Library Edition, 1987), 506.
[52] The principles of this story have been published in Growing Churches (April, May, June
1993), “From Warehouses to Factories” (also published in Ministry Advantage, a
newsletter of Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, Calif.). If I were telling the story today, I would
title it “From Mainframe to Local Area Network: Moving the church from being single
server to customized service.” The next generation would understand “From a LAN to
the Internet: Moving the church from local area mentality to being a world-wide
influence.”
[53] James MacGregor Burns, Leadership (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), 18.
[54] Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (New York: HarperCollins, 1988), 128.
[55] Peter Block, Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest (San Francisco: Berrett-
Koehler, 1993).
[56] Ibid., 22.
[57] Ibid., 18.
[58] DePree, Leadership Is an Art, 10.
[59] Ibid., 16.
215
[60] Ibid., 19.
[61] Laurie Beth Jones, Jesus, CEO (New York: Hyperion, 1995).
[62] Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist, 1977), 61.
[63] Ibid.
[64] Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 132.
[65] Wellington Boone, Breaking Through (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995).
[66] Ibid., 77.
[67] Popular books like James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy (New York: Warner, 1993)
spell out the self-becoming-god pattern of thinking among many Western minds.
Without a reference to God or an awareness of God’s work in a person’s life, the choice
of “vibrating to a higher realm of existence” or becoming a “slave to God” seems an
obvious one.
[68] William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament & Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1957), 483.
[69] James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge (New York: Warner
Books, 1994), 8.
[70] Joel Arthur Barker, Future Edge (New York: William Morrow, 1992), 71.
[71] Steven F. Hayward, Churchill on Leadership (Rocklin, Calif.: Prima, 1997), 28–9.
[72] Max DePree, Leading without Power (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997), 138.
[73] Doug Murren, Leadershift (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1994), 128.
[74] C. Gene Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership (Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1996), 31–84.
S.E.R.V.E. is an acrostic for Spiritual Gifts, Experiences, Relational Style, Vocational
Skills, and Enthusiasm. Rick Warren’s acrostic S.H.A.P.E., which predates mine, stands
for Spiritual Gifts, Heart Motivations, Abilities, Personality, Experiences.
[75] Ibid., 35–48. A spiritual-gift inventory is included in the workbook.
[76] Stephen Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992),
185.
[77] William M. Easum, Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995),
45.
[78] Lynn and Bill Hybels, Rediscovering the Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 193.
[79] Arndt and Gingrich, 457. See also Kubernsi (Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, vol. 3, 1035).
[80] Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 341–5.
[81] Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership, 49–56.
[82] Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1994), 99–
100.
[83] Henry Blackaby and Claude King, Experiencing God (Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1990),
101.
[84] Madeleine L’Engle, A Live Coal in the Sea (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), 167.
[85] John Trent, LifeMapping (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1994).
[86] Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership, 57–72. A “Relational Style Survey” is included as part of
the workbook. I am indebted to my friend Ken Voges for my understanding of the four
personality types and the biblical characters that represent them.
[87] Ken Voges and Ron Braund, Understanding How Others Misunderstand You (Chicago:
Moody Press, 1990).
[88] Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership, 60–1.
216
[89] Gary Smalley and John Trent, The Two Sides of Love (Colorado Springs: Focus on the
Family, 1990), 34–6.
[90] Tim LaHaye, Spirit-Controlled Temperament (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1966).
[91] The female counterparts are Esther, Hannah, Abigail, and Lydia respectively.
[92] Gary Smalley, Making Love Last Forever (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1996), 159.
[93] Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership, 73–9.
[94] Ibid., 80–3.
[95] Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1994), 146.
[96] The order of events in the upper room is a topic of discussion in a different arena.
Suffice it to say that John leaves the possibility of Judas’s presence at the table open
when he quotes Jesus: “though not every one of you” (John 13:10).
[97] James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1987), 190.
[98] Joseph M. Stowell, Shepherding the Church into the Twenty-First Century (Colorado
Springs: Victor, 1994), 102.
[99] Ibid., 103.
[100] Jimmy Carter, Living Faith (New York: Times Books, 1996), 233.
[101] Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus, rev. ed. (Sisters, Oreg.: Multnomah, 1996),
100–1.
[102] James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last (New York: Harper Business, 1997),
91–114. Collins and Porras have demonstrated that these kinds of goals are one of the
habits of successful, visionary companies in American business.
[103] Kennon Callahan, Effective Church Leadership (New York: Harper & Row, 1990),
157.
[104] Doug Murren, Leadershift (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1994), 157.
[105] Calvin Miller, The Empowered Leader (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 158.
[106] Arndt and Gingrich, 419.
[107] C. Gene Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership (Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1990), 85–102.
[108] John Maxwell, Developing the Leaders around You (Nashville: Nelson, 1995), 84.
[109] William Mitchell and Michael A. Mitchell, Building Strong Families (Nashville:
Broadman & Holman, 1997), 30.
[110] Ibid., 35.
[111] We were surprised at the rapid growth of this ministry until we checked the
demographic data and discovered there were over fifteen hundred internationals within a
two-mile radius of our church! Our strategic-planning teams had overlooked this
opportunity. God had not.
[112] Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-
Performance Organization (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1993), 45.
[113] Ibid., 15.
[114] John Maxwell, Developing the Leaders around You (Nashville: Nelson, 1995), 135.
[115] Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist, 1977), 67.
[116] C. Gene Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership (Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1990), 103-121.
[117] William Mitchell, The Power of Positive Parenting (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1989). The
POPS Web site is www.pops.com.
[118] Peter Drucker, Managing the Non-Profit Organization (New York: HarperCollins,
1990), 152–53.
217
http://www.pops.com
[119] Stephen R. Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1992), 246.
[120] Katzenbach and Smith, The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance
Organization, 131.
[121] Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New
York: Crossroad, 1989), 40.
[122] Warren Bennis, Why Leaders Can’t Lead (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1989), 30.
[123] Ken Blanchard, John P. Carlos and Allan Randolph, Empowerment Takes More Than a
Minute (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1996).
[124] Bill Easum, Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), 113–
130.
[125] Blanchard, Carlos, and Randolph, Empowerment Takes More than a Minute, 90.
[126] Katzenbach and Smith, The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance
Organization, 60.
[127] Maxwell, Developing the Leaders around You, 11.
[128] Lynn Anderson, They Smell Like Sheep (West Monroe, La.: Howard, 1997), 49.
[129] Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay on People Management (New York: Warner, 1984), 65.
[130] Carl F. George, Prepare Your Church for the Future (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1991),
121–5. Larry Smith, one of my deacon officers who graduated from West Point, showed
me Jethro’s advice in the Army’s “Leadership in Organizations” (1981 ed., 18–21).
[131] Calvin Miller, The Empowered Leader (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 84.
[132] Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership, 237.
[133] Howard Hendricks, Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper (Colorado Springs: Focus on
the Family, 1994), 53–4.
218
219
220
目录
Title Page 2
Endorsements 3
Copyright 5
Contents 6
Foreword 8
Acknowledgments 10
Down from the Head Table 11
Jesus’ Model of Servant Leadership 18
How Do We Lead by Serving? 24
Principle One 35
Humility: The Living Example 38
Learning to Be Humble; Learning to Wait 47
Principle Two 59
Jesus Led So That Others Could Be Followers 62
First a Follower: Are You? 71
Principle Three 79
Jesus Demonstrating Greatness 82
What Style of Greatness Do You Seek? 97
Principle Four 107
Jesus, the Great Risk Taker 110
How You Can Take the Risk 117
Principle Five 133
Jesus’ Power — through Service 138
How Do We Lead as Servants? 147
Principle Six 154
How Did Jesus Do It? 158
How to EQUIP Others for Service 164
Principle Seven 178
The Team Jesus Built 181
How Does a Servant Leader Build a Team? 188
221
Contemporary Ideas about Servant Leadership 204
Bibliography 207
About the Author 212
Notes 214
222
Title Page
Endorsements
Copyright
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Down from the Head Table
Jesus’ Model of Servant Leadership
How Do We Lead by Serving?
Principle One
Humility: The Living Example
Learning to Be Humble; Learning to Wait
Principle Two
Jesus Led So That Others Could Be Followers
First a Follower: Are You?
Principle Three
Jesus Demonstrating Greatness
What Style of Greatness Do You Seek?
Principle Four
Jesus, the Great Risk Taker
How You Can Take the Risk
Principle Five
Jesus’ Power — through Service
How Do We Lead as Servants?
Principle Six
How Did Jesus Do It?
How to EQUIP Others for Service
Principle Seven
The Team Jesus Built
How Does a Servant Leader Build a Team?
Contemporary Ideas about Servant Leadership
Bibliography
About the Author
Notes
01
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As of July 16, 2019, luckin coffee has successfully opened its 3000th store in China
Brand profile
in January 2019 that its cup production reached 100 million,
Strive to catch up with Starbucks in the number of stores and cup production in this year
luckin coffee was successfully listed on NASDAQ in May 2019.
Brand profile
Luckin coffee was successfully listed on NASDAQ in May 2019.
Brand profile
Organization Profile
Founder of Luckin Coffee: Jenny Qian Zhiya
Luckin Coffee was established in 2017, and stores in Beijing and Shanghai were opened in 2018.
Luckin Coffee is the first chain coffee shop in China
Target market: for the Chinese market and young people
Competitor: Starbucks
The organization differs from its competitors in terms of price and innovative unmanned retail strategy.
Service Profile
A Service Profile can be seen as a service plan in that it specifies forms and restrictions that can be assigned to an end-user who connects to a service venue to to use the service.
The common venues of Luckin Coffee is through its kitchen windows or small stores embedded in residential and office buildings
End-user are Luckin coffee drinkers
Major Challenges
Pricy Cost: The price of a cup of coffee on the Chinese market is about 30 yuan, which is higher than other drinks
Inconvenience of Purchase: coffee shops are not as common in foreign countries, and the purchase is still not convenient.
Product Quality and Price (Cost-Effectivness)
Convenience and Service Mode
7,000 coffee shops in China.
Ambitious Exapansion of 2,000 new coffee shops per year.
Intensive network and online order system.
less than 30 minutes delivery and overtime ompensation policy.
SF（顺丰快递）as the chartered coffee distribution supplier for Luckin.
Customer Opinion and Consumer Mentality
Convenient purchase apps
Efficient pick-ups and deliveries
Online customer groups
Coupons
Customer portraits
Reference
Yang, Z. . (2019). Analysis on the Business Risks of the Coffee Industry in China under the New Retail Model——Taking Luckin Coffee as an Example. Journal of Jiangsu University of Technology.
Xiong, W. . (2018). An Analysis of luckin coffee’s Marketing Mix under the New Network Retail. Value Engineering.
Meloy, Guy, & S. (2004). Leadership in five seconds. Army Magazine, 54(5), 16-18.
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