Me and You: The Two Great Trials of Leadership

Leadership is the art of moving people from where they are to where they desire to go. It is not an exercise of authority but service. To guide the way, leaders must become scout, cartographer, soldier, medic, cook, and priest. The leader explores, plans, fights, supports, heals, feeds, and nurtures those they intend to lead. A true leader finds a way to help others move forward.

Two great trials confront the leader. Determining the destination is not one of these. Neither is charting the course toward the destination. These things become clear with honesty and strategy. The two great trials of leadership are manifest in the leader and those they intend to lead.

We are the greatest obstacle that stand between us and our goals. Stubbornness, presumptions, and pride keep us from making the journey forward. Followers resist breaking out of bad habits, venturing into unknown territory, or risking what has been for what may be. Leaders resist humbling themselves to serve others. They resent the stubbornness, deafness, and rejection of their intended followers.

The great trials of leadership exist in a symbiosis of resistance: an unwilling to give or receive.

However, the great promise of leadership is the confident humility that comes from serving others well. When you find yourself willing and able to love those who resist you, you have discovered a virtue that reflects the very nature of Christ. Call it leadership, call it love; Christ set the example for us all when God so loved the world. The two greatest successes of leadership are the ability to humble yourself and to serve others. Above all, it is the recognition that you are more than a leader, you are a follower of the one who set an example for us all.