The Inspired Leader: 101 Biblical Reflections for Becoming a Person of Influence (28 page)

While it is great to study leadership principles and attend management seminars, they will do you no good if you don’t evaluate your own leadership behavior accurately. It is not enough to believe that leaders ought to act with integrity. You must also thoroughly evaluate the credibility and honesty of your own actions. It is great to condemn arrogance and pride, but be careful you have not been guilty of egotism yourself. Don’t assume that simply because you
believe
something, that it is thoroughly ingrained into your life. Taking what you believe and working it into your behavior can take time and focused effort. But it is worth it. Do you see the mistakes that others around you are currently making? Take a long, hard look in the mirror. You might be horrified at what you discover.

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. Do you have a sin that keeps finding its way into your life? If so, what is it? Why do you think you are having such difficulty with this particular transgression? Did you inherit it from your parents? Is it something unique to your character?
   

2. Do you have a “blind spot”? Are there issues in your life you often fail to detect that harm you or others? What is it? What does God want you to do about it?
   

WORDS ARE POWERFUL instruments in the hands of those who know how to wield them. Edward Everett was one of the most renowned orators of his day. He once delivered a major speech that lasted over two hours. The crowd, having listened to the epic-long oration, seemed unprepared for a second discourse of similar length. Abraham Lincoln, sensing this, quickly condensed his thoughts and spoke for less than two minutes. When he was done, no one would remember Everett’s speech, but history would afterward identify Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as one of the finest speeches in American history. Everett confessed to Lincoln, “I should be glad…if I flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

At times, leaders are called upon to use their words in speeches that touch large numbers. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech shook his nation. Winston Churchill assumed leadership of England in its darkest hours of World War II. People were feeling demoralized and defeated. It has been said of Churchill that he “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle.”

At times we must use our words to encourage our leadership team or particular individuals. The writer of Proverbs observed, “
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver”
(Proverbs 25:11). It is amazing what our words can accomplish when we submit them as instruments into God’s hand. Our colleague may have lost hope, but a word from us shines new light on her predicament. A friend may feel alone and forgotten, when a timely word encourages his soul.

The apostle Paul exhorted believers to avoid allowing any unwholesome word to proceed from their mouths, but instead, to speak words that edified people and gave them grace (Ephesians 4:29). What a privilege is ours to dispense grace to those around us!

But we always face a danger. Scripture also notes, “
But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison”
(James 3:8). For such a small body part, it can cause enormous damage! Business history is filled with stories of people who succumbed to using their words as a weapon. Bill Gates was notorious for firing off electronic messages telling subordinates how terrible their work was. Steve Jobs was known for the occasional angry outburst. Getting “Steved” became a part of tech jargon meaning something that was unceremoniously terminated, whether it was people’s jobs, or their projects. Jack Welch would yell so loudly at people in his office when he was upset that his voice could be heard throughout his executive office complex. These leaders were highly successful, but could succumb to the temptation to abuse people with their words.

Some people are naturally gifted at using words. They come easily. But for others, words are a challenge. If you are a leader, you must cultivate your use of language until it becomes an effective tool in your leadership arsenal. Winston Churchill used to practice giving speeches for hours, ensuring they exerted their greatest impact when he delivered them. Churchill’s friend, F. E. Smith once noted, “Winston has spent the best years of his life writing impromptu speeches.” Your words can be a powerful instrument. Are you using them well?

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. Are you comfortable with using words? Are you at ease when speaking in public? Are you effective at encouraging others? If you are, you can probably become still better, with practice and attention to detail. If you struggle in this area, don’t give up. Get help. Find a coach. Read books. Take a class. The use of words is too important for you to not be at your best when using them.
   

2. Do you regularly work on developing your arsenal of words? Reading books and learning new words are crucial. The larger your vocabulary, the greater the supply of words at your disposal. Speaking may not come easily to you, but you can improve if you make the effort.
   

3. The greatest hindrance to public speaking is shyness. Yet shyness is primarily self-centeredness. It is being so consumed with worry about what others think of us, that we fail to share words that could encourage people. Ask God to help you take your eyes off of yourself and your feelings of inadequacy, and put your focus on Go
   d’s assignment for you and the people you will encourage through the words you share with them.
   

IN 336 B.C. KING Phillip of Macedon was murdered by his bodyguard. His 20-year-old son, Alexander, was proclaimed king in his place. Alexander was an extremely ambitious young man. Historians speculate that he may have had his father murdered, since his father Phillip had remarried and any future child would usurp Alexander as the rightful heir. Alexander began a series of campaigns to conquer the known world. He defeated the Persian Empire, which had been the largest kingdom of that day. He also conquered Israel, Egypt, and Syria along with Asia Minor. He then set out with the enormously aggressive aim to subdue India.

Alexander was a brilliant military commander who never lost a battle. He employed military tactics that are considered classics in modern studies of warfare. Yet after some harrowing battles in which Alexander was wounded, his troops finally rebelled and refused to advance any further. Fearing the prospect of facing other large armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, Alexander’s army mutinied at the Hyphasis River, refusing to march further east. This river thus marks the easternmost extent of Alexander’s conquests. The Greek historian, Plutarch notes,

As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six thousand war elephants.

On Alexander’s return, he came to Babylon where he contracted an illness from which he died at the age of 32. Some historians speculate he was poisoned by one of his generals. As Alexander lay dying, his soldiers filed slowly past him to see him one last time. Alexander could only wave to them in silence.

As Joshua, another mighty war hero, approached the end of his illustrious leadership, he reminded his people, “
Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed”
(Joshua 23:14).

Alexander led his people to the extreme of human endurance in order to gain his own personal glory and fame. He used his people rather than blessing them. Joshua also won great military conquests. But he did so for God’s honor. When Joshua’s task was done, he readily laid down his position and blessed his people. Joshua led people to experience God’s best. Alexander led people to increase his fame. Joshua blessed people. Alexander used them.

How do you view the people you work with? Are they a means to an end? Are you using them to achieve your goals? Do people around you exist to make you look better? Or, are you striving to ensure that the people around you experience every good thing that God has promised?

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. Are you an ambitious person? If you are, what are you ambitious to achieve? Does your ambition ever tempt you to manipulate people so you can achieve your goals?
   

2. Do the people you work with truly know you care about them? (Do you care for them?) What is the evidence that you are concerned about the people you work with?
   

3. Have you ever sought to ask God what His “best” is for those you work with? How focused are you in helping others receive all God has for them?