If we examine leadership very closely, we know that many people see leadership from many angles. Some people consider leadership to be an opportunity, and opportunity that when they get will bring a sigh of relief upon them. It is like a dream, a childhood dream being fulfilled. To some, it is an opportunity to achieve their childhood ambition, an opportunity to exert their influence on others, an opportunity to step on peoples toes, and to walk on people. Others see it as an opportunity to do good, and to do evil as well. While some could see leadership as opportunity, I see leadership as a call.
When you look at the word call, and you consider leadership, you will understand that it is not a matter of choice as it were, it is a burden, it is an obligation, it is a responsibility. You don't need to feel good when you become a leader so to say, you don't need to feel good when you are given a leadership responsibility, you just have to respond to the abilities that are inside of you. It is not about your feelings, your good or your glory, or anything that you could consider to thrill you that you are a leader, it is about a greater good, a good that is beyond you, a goal that is beyond you. That is why it is important for us to know that leadership is not something that you inherit, it is a call that you respond to.
Let us quickly examine the book of Isaiah 51:1-2
1“Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him.”
If we begin from verse one, we can consider some thoughts. If we look at a leader, we see a man who has followership. You see, that looks like something that is obvious right? But in every correct leadership, there is an implicit and inherent followership of a kind. That is, you are not expected to have any followership if there is nothing that you are following. You must follow something, you must follow someone to be followed. That Scripture says, "Listen to me you who follow after righteousness." People see you with a team, with an army and a nation behind you, but deep down within yourself you know it that you are personally and particularly following after righteousness.
The question then is, "Are all leaders following after righteousness?" The answer is no! And this is why many leaders are not reproducing righteousness in their leadership. You see, you need to follow something or follow someone in order to become the thing or the person. You see, if you do not follow righteousness, then you do not have the capacity to do righteousness or to be right. Therefore, if you do right or do wrong, it is just a matter of chance. But if you follow after righteousness, by your nature, you are expected to be righteous.
The leadership call is therefore, a call of righteousness! It is a call to follow after righteousness. Don't forget that Scripture that says "Righteousness exalts a nation…". You must also remember Hebrews 1:6 that says, "Because you have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore the Lord has exalted you far above your companions". So, you have an edge so to say, a leading advantage, position or responsibility; not because you are a short man or a tall man, or because you have big money in your account, it is because you love righteousness and hate iniquity!
Now, how can you love whom you have not followed? You see, it is important for you to know that there is a righteousness for you to follow and then to follow such righteousness for you to ever become a righteous man. You see kings are sustained on their thrones by their righteousness! You cannot be in leadership and not be righteous. You cannot afford to be unrighteous in your leadership. In fact, that is what weakens the edifice of many organizations that men have built. You don't build on nothing. You cannot build without the correct pillars. Righteousness is the right pillar that sustains organizations because the leaders who are in charge are men and women that have the right compass, they know the right path to follow and know the right thing to do.
If you look at your nation for instance or your organization or even your state and consider the leadership on it, and you ask yourself; what is the right thing that these leaders ought to do? Is that what they are doing? That is a food for thought! Is the president of your nation doing what he is expected to be doing? Sometimes you just know that certain things they do are too obvious to be right, nobody should miss this. But yet you see your leaders over your nation and in your organizations missing it. And so, it is important that leaders know the right and they do the right. And how can you as a leader know the right and do the right, it is simply by following after righteousness. It must be the object that you focus on, it must be something that you are driving at such that when you reach it, you consider yourself fulfilled and accomplished.
Now a man knows that righteousness is in view, and he is expected to follow after it, then such a man considers and weighs his actions and decisions by the righteousness that is in view. So when a matter is contrary to the righteousness that a man anticipates, then the man begins to find understanding and wisdom in making decision. How do we even know if a decision is right or wrong in the first place? It is simply a matter of what you follow and who you follow.
It is also important in leadership since we know that leadership is a call, that everyone recognizes his or her source: you must know where you are coming from and that is where your identity must be sourced from. You must be able to ask yourself as a leader: "Who am I?" What kind of leader are you and what kind of leadership do you desire? Answers to these questions must be rooted in your source.
Let us look at it this other way. You have a leadership call on your life, God has exposed you to opportunities and responsibilities in leadership now because you are in touch with the Lord, God gives you an idea of what you are to achieve in your leadership. So, you can call that a mission in your leadership. And now, God shows you the mission holistically when completed, you can refer to that as a vision in leadership. And so, a man who is in leadership, who is expected by the way to have vision and to have a mission for that leadership is expected not to source that mission or vision from himself, or from people or institutions of government; instead, he is expected to source it from his leadership source.
That tells you that you must craft your vision, you must catch your vision from your source alone and your source must be God. There is a place that you emerge from, there is a person that birth you, there is a God who is the source of everything about your life and so it is important for you to realize that my goal in is for a good and for a goal and is for God. You must realize that God must be the focus. You are not seeking yourself, you are not seeking your glory but rather, you are seeking the Lord's glory and His honor. What increase God is what you are passionate about. It is not about you or yourself, but about God. It is important!
Don't forget, it is a leadership call, and it is difficult for a man to call himself. You cannot call yourself, it takes one to call another person. So, you must realize that when you are called by somebody, you owe your allegiance to the one who has called you. So, in leadership, we must realize that God is the one who calls. We are called by God and we are to respond to Him, we are to be loyal and faithful to Him, and we are to be committed and devoted to His cause on the earth. And so you realize that the leadership is not about making you feel good, it is about pleasing God and doing His will.
Therefore, the leadership call is a call to follow after righteousness, seek God's glory at all times and a call to satisfy God. To every leader, God is the biggest audience that you are to please, impress and persuade. The way you love to have a fan base, then make sure that God is the base of your life and that He is the one sustaining your influence. God is the one that holds you and not allowing you to fall. And this is the secret of effective leadership. The leadership call, don't forget, is not a call to personal satisfaction or aggrandizement; but a call to fulfill a greater good, a greater goal, to seek and please God and His glory.
