Leading from the Rear

Matthew 20:26, “Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”  (NIV)

I’ve always been intrigued with leadership.  Over the years I’ve read many books on leadership from John Maxwell, to Jim Collins to Stephen Covey.  I would guess I’ve read a couple hundred books on leadership.  What amazes me is nowhere in any of the books I’ve read does it ever suggest to use and abuse your power as a leader in order to get the job done.   But yet in working with businesses, I see where that practice still goes on quite frequently today.

Right now I am reading Dave Ramsey’s “Entreleadership.”  Ramsey has a quote I just love, “Lead with anger and fear by treating your team like a bunch of 2 year old’s, and eventually you will get your team to function like a bunch of 2 year old’s.”

If you are a leader or if you want to be a leader; there are responsibilities that come with being an  EFFECTIVE leader.  Anyone can lead but not everyone can lead effectively. Effective leadership is evident when the CEO or President becomes a servant to his or her team…just as Jesus suggests in the above scripture.

My suggestion is to try to spend as much time leading from the rear as you lead from the front.

When you lead from the rear you will need to trust the teammates who are ahead of you.  The best way to trust those teammates is by assuring the troops are talented, well trained, informed and on-board.  In order to lead from the rear the leader must be a great communicator.  He or she must take the time to share with the team the vision, strategy and purpose of the organization…ongoing and relentlessly.  He or she must make the time to strengthen the leadership qualities of all the people in the organization.  The leader needs to empower all members of the team.  The leader must care about his or her people.  But most importantly he or she must be willing to be fueled and guided by the values laid down by God and not his or her ego (Easing God Out).

The worst leaders are control freaks and control freaks normally have a huge ego fueled by fear…OUCH!  The best way to place the ego in “check” is by practicing the simple steps I noted above.  Simply stated, the desire to build and empower others must exceed the desire to build and empower self.

The longer I live and work with business people and leaders of all sorts, the more I realize that every leader’s goal should be to lead his or herself out of a job and that will not happen if you always have the need to be in the front and…if you are always developing people into 2 year old’s. 🙂

Let go and let God and become an effective servant-leader.

P.S. There is a big difference between being a servant-leader and a passive leader.  Servant-leadership still requires the leader to be present (more so in mind and spirit than physically), available, caring, loving, always teaching and willing to make the tough decisions…sort of like Jesus during the most dynamic, transformational, powerful 3 year period of the history of the earth. 

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com