Key verse: Psalm 78:72 “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them,” (NIV).
Everyone has potential to lead. Everyone can be a leader. Leadership is influence, and influence is leadership. One way or the other, we are influence people on daily basis. Regardless of whether or not you have a formal leadership role, your action affect another and that is influence. God created man to rule and have dominion (Genesis 1:28). Man was designed by God to exercise influence. To lead better, you should become a person of influence. Influence is capacity to have an impact on someone or something. Influence is to control, determine, decide and guide. Influence is the ability to shape something or govern.
To lead better, you should have the ability to change or alter the state of a person, a place and thing. We are created to be change agents. To influence is to have the ability to create or innovate. It is God’s desire that our world, school and organisation would be a better place because of the fact that we came to this world.
Jesus described a believer as flavour to the world. Flavour is anything that alter or enhance the taste of something. It is like challenging the status quo. Jesus said in Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth.” Jesus also said in Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world.” “Light” and “salt” are two powerful metaphors for leadership. Leaders are called to illuminate the world with their actions and influence, guiding others and reflecting God’s light through their lives.
Leaders are to cause positive change in their environment. They are to introduce the right values, culture and system in everywhere they do. Leaders’ character and behaviour should be models for others to copy. The way the Message Version puts Matthew 5:13 is worthy of note and it reads: “Let me tell you why you are here. You are here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You have lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.”
To lead better, you should build the qualities of a leader. One quality of a leader is empathy. It is the capacity to love. It is putting yourself in the place of other people and feel how they feel. We can see empathy in the life of Abraham when he was interceding on behalf of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, so that, God will not destroy them (Genesis 18:16-33).
We can also see empathy in God, when He sent Moses to go and deliver His people Israel from captivity in Egypt. God said in Exodus 3:9: “Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.”
Leaders hear the cry of the people and respond positively to their problems. One of the missing links in leadership in our societies is lack of empathy.
Some leaders do not empathise and show concern to the sufferings of the people they are leading.
Another quality of a leader is proactive. It is swift and quick response to problems calling for solutions.
It is providing answers to problems. Another quality of a leader is initiative. It is to cause something to begin. Things do not just happen by themselves. Leaders make things happen. Do not always wait until you are pushed to lead initiative. You should not always wait for your boss to arrive to fix a problem. Problem-solving and taking initiative are some of the qualities of a leader.
• Today’s nugget: Leaders make thing happen
Phone Contact: 07032361509. E-mail: [email protected]. Joel Ejiofor, business coach and strategist
