Leadership Lessons from Following Jesus

 

Christianity is of course a religion, a worldview, a set of rituals that bind you with others and with history. Christianity is also based on the teachings and person of Jesus of Nazareth, who most (not all) consider to be a historical figure and who some (not all) believe to be Lord and Savior. To speak personally for a minute, to know and follow Him is life-altering, taking you to places you never would’ve expected to end up and changing you in ways you couldn’t have imagined. 

But this post isn’t all the way deep. In my own personal faith journey, to be sure I have observed profound shifts in my values and views, as it should be. But, on a more surfacy and secular level, I have also observed that my definition and manifestation of leadership has also been significantly influenced. So I present to you some random thoughts on how Jesus models leadership in ways that we who seek to lead ought to emulate: 

1. Investing in a small number of followers. It’s crazy to me that a religion that numbers into the billions has as its primary source a person who spent the vast majority of time influencing 12 random individuals (to say nothing of the fact that one of them betrayed him, one of them denied him, and all of them fled him in his time of greatest need). But there is a leadership lesson here, that reach of influence often comes not from wide and shallow but from narrow and deep. 

2. Telling culturally relevant stories. I say this as someone who crunches numbers and does research for a living: leaders lead, not by throwing their titles or resources or data points or obscure arguments around, but by telling vivid tales that everyday people can understand and that inform and inspire. 

3. Staying on message. Leaders can easily assume that because they’re smart and respected in one thing, they can contribute on other things. Jesus never deviated from an unwavering focus on His life purpose, something that anchors the next point. 

4. Bearing hardship without wavering. Commitment to His life purpose, for Jesus, meant suffering and isolation and death, not as an unfortunate byproduct of fulfilling His objectives but as the very fulfillment of His objectives. As leaders, are we willing to bear the heat that comes from our tough decisions, our uncomfortable conversations, and our bearing the anger of others? 

Many more examples, but those four are a good primer for leadership excellence. Easy to understand but hard to live up to.