Leadership is for the dead —1

Only the dead can lead effectively. Shocked? Don’t be! Just get used to that fact. When I speak of death I am not talking about the morbid coldness of a lifeless body in a forlorn mortuary. The death I write is however akin to it in its metaphoric import.

Death signifies a loss of sensitivity. Any leader who desires to be effective must lose sensitivity significantly to many things. Dead men do not fear backbiting. They don’t hear gossip. They have little or no care in the world about a reputation, whether founded on truth or falsehood. If you want to go far in leadership, you will need to develop the skin of an elephant. A leader who reacts to everything around him and dignifies every snide comment with a response does not qualify to be called a leader. The wisdom of scriptures teaches that if a leader is given to listening to lies arising from sycophancy, all his followers will be viewed as wicked.

Great men are known not only for what they achieved but for what they had to sacrifice to achieve it.

The first thing a leader must die to is self. No one can be significant in life who is always wrapped up in himself. Being wrapped in yourself makes you a very miserable, small package. Great leaders become great primarily because they have learnt to look outside themselves to embrace a vision that serves others. Propelled by the vision of making society a better place, true leaders derive joy from their relevance to the cause of advancing others. Problem-solving is the primary focus of great leaders. Those who constantly think of making life better for others have no time for self-conceit. They are more concerned with the production of value than the consumption of value which is the hallmark of the majority. In business, the leader is propelled by the value he desires to contribute to the market than the profit to be made from it. For this reason, he would rather be abused than be the abuser. He would rather be cheated than be the cheat. He would rather be robbed than be the thief!

Power corrupts, the well-worn aphorism says, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. According to Napoleon Bonaparte in a sentiment later echoed by Henry Kissinger, a former United States of America Secretary of State, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. When the leader’s consciousness of power supersedes his consciousness of responsibility, he is on his way to becoming a tyrant. Tyranny is power that has derailed from a vision that serves collective good. The platform on which true leadership stands to express its legitimacy is influence. Influence can be literally termed to mean power over others. The mandate of leadership comes from a people who have willingly surrendered control and authority to him. When a people feel that a leader has been imposed on them, he would find it difficult to secure their buy-in into whatever destination he sets before them. Power being the intoxicant that it is when abused has an uncanny way of making its holder inebriated in its exercise. Effective leaders refuse to allow themselves to be controlled by the allure and the privilege of power by dying to it. They are able to wield tremendous influence over their followers because they recognize that no matter how much power their office confers on them, it is a privilege not a right. They understand that the purpose of enormous power is to exercise enormous responsibility delivered on the altar of qualitative service to the generality of their followers. Power is to enhance value delivery not for oppression.

An interesting incident happened in the ministry of Jesus Christ that clearly illustrates this point. Jesus had sent emissaries ahead of him to Jerusalem. On getting to Samaria, the messengers met some resistance. James and John, disciples of Jesus, felt that this was a slight on their Master’s position and authority. Who did those Samaritans think they were? Hadn’t they heard about Jesus and the enormous power at His disposal? Did they not know that He could obliterate their memory from the face of the earth just by speaking a word? If Jesus Himself had forgotten that He was powerful, they would remind Him. Or if He did not want to use it, they would help Him out. After all, if they had walked with Him for a while, they should be able to operate in that same grace.

“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them, like Elijah did?” they asked. It was not for nothing that this duo was called “the sons of thunder”!

Jesus calmly looked at them, smiled and said, “You do not know the manner of Spirit you are made of. The Son of Man did not come to destroy lives but to save them”. Power can be used for good or for evil. Effective leaders know that power only makes impact when it is brought under control. They therefore die to power so that they can properly wield power.

Crass materialism is a disservice to effective leadership. Far too many leaders have been derailed when the perks of their position have become the pursuit. In the early years of our ministry, a single mother used to attend our church with her son, a young boy of about seven years old. One day after service, as I was greeting the people who had come to church, his mother mentioned to me that he was always expressing the desire to be a pastor. When prodded on why, he said he loved how I was served with fruit juice after every service! I chuckled to myself. If only he knew what went into the job. Many years later in his teenage years, his view had changed. He had only seen the “perks” of the office without understanding its demands. This is the way the minds of many people work. When they apply for a dream job, it is not primarily because they want to deliver value on the job. Their eyes are usually on the remuneration.

To be effective as a leader, you must learn that everything that you have or acquire in leadership as well as any perquisites of office are given to enable performance of your leadership function. Great leaders are able to die to things because they understand that things are tools to serve people. They are effective because they have no problem giving up material things if doing so would serve the greater interest of the collective. They are comfortable having things and they are comfortable not having things. They allow their vision to determine their provision, not the other way round. Leaders are resourced first by their desired outcome. They use resourcefulness to inspire people to produce resources and they turn round to channel the resources to common good… continued.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!