Have you ever noticed how much great leaders speak about love and care for others? Here are just a few quotes from some leadership gurus and historical leaders:
- “Great leaders genuinely care for and love the people they lead more than they love leading itself.” – Rick Warren
- “Leadership without love is manipulation” – Rick Warren
- “Great leaders aren’t afraid to love their teams.” – Donald Miller
- “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” – Albert Einstein
- “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader.” – John C. Maxwell
- “Great leaders love to see people grow. The day you are afraid of them being better than you is the day you fail as a leader.” – Jack Welch
- “A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.” – Herb Kelleher
- “I don’t necessarily have to like my players and associates but as their leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization.” – Vince Lombardi
In James C. Hunter’s book, “The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader”, he defines leadership as, “The skills of influencing people to enthusiastically work toward goals identified as being for the common good, with character that inspires confidence.” He goes on to say that “Leadership is influencing people to contribute their hearts, minds, spirits, creativity, and excellence and to give their all for their team… to commit to the mission… to be all they can be.”
You have likely heard the phrase, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” People will not consistently contribute their hearts, minds, spirits, etc. until they know your heart and that they can trust that you care about them.
Real servant leadership comes from the heart, and more specifically, love. The love of God, love of ourselves, and the love of others. The apostle Paul wrote that regardless of how loud you speak, the power you possess, the knowledge and experience you have, all of it means nothing, and gains nothing, without love. “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NRSVCE
He goes on to describe love, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NRSVCE
How have you tried to serve others without love? How can love for God and others inspire the way you lead?
Jesus is the perfect example of servant leadership for us. He modeled the kind of leadership that changes the world by washing the feet of others and even to the point of dying for us. He constantly demonstrated His love for His Father in Heaven and others. As Jesus told us, “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” – John 13:15 NRSVCE
Philippians 2 provides insight on how to imitate Christ’s humility, love of others, and servant leadership – “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.” – Philippians 2:3-8 NRSVCE
We can never forget that God calls us to serve. In order to be a great leader, we must serve others. The purpose of serving others is not to bring praise or glory to the person performing the service. The purpose of acts of service is to serve others out of love for God, ourselves, and others, as Jesus modeled, in order to bring praise and glory to our humble, self-sacrificing God.
What kind of leader do you want to be? How much do you love your team? How do you demonstrate that love? Are you more focused on how you can help them or how they can help you?
Take care and God bless. I’m praying for you. Please pray for me.
ADDITIONAL WISDOM FROM THE BIBLE
- “But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant” – Mark 10:43 NRSVCE
- “It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave” – Matthew 20:26-27 NRSVCE
- “The greatest among you will be your servant.” – Matthew 23:11 NSRSVCE