Humble Leadership

The question I want to explore though is: what does humbling myself as a leader look like?

If you’re like me, then you are in leadership positions at home or at work and walk the fine line of balancing outcomes and humility. That’s because to drive outcomes (read as: have control) as leaders, we are tasked to both bring out the best in the people that are under our authority and drive them toward the vision we have until our goals are achieved. James, the brother of Jesus, tells us instead, to let go of control and focus on humility before God.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James 4:10 ESV

I want to encourage you to go and read James 4:1-10 on your own. But if you need to know what I learned through my meditation on the passage, here it is. Below, you’ll read three reasons the way you lead isn’t working, and three ways you can embody humble leadership.

Why Your Leadership Methods aren’t Working

#1 – You don’t know what you want as a leader

The problem with most leaders is that they don’t really know what they want. Even when they say they want a certain result, they don’t know why they want it. I’m going to tell you, if the reason they want to achieve a goal such as, “make 1 million dollars” is simply because they want to make money, they don’t understand or know what they will do with that million dollars.

If you don’t know why you want to achieve something or if your goal is purposeless, then the way you get there will not make sense, moreover, your leadership in getting there will be ineffective.

#2 – Your goals are not your own

This is really a continuation of #1, but this little tidbit comes from verse 2 in James 4. James writes, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”

If your leadership goals or organizational goals or even family goals are based on what other people have or are doing, then those goals are not your own and you’ll never be able to achieve them. In fact, when you try to go after them, you’ll find your heart and mind being murderous to those who cannot help you and quarrelsome to those who seem to stand in your way.

#3 – Your intentions are wrong

Our intentions for our people are wrong. One of the things we fail to realize as leaders is that our jobs is not to be the best or all encompassing. We need to have intentions for people under our leadership. They do not exist to make you look good or to do as they are told. Our intentions for our people as a leader is to serve those who are under our leadership by listening and asking the right questions and prodding them lovingly so they can grow to be better.

As a leader, you need to be making people better so that they can grow in their leadership by seeing that you are lowering yourself for their sake.

How to Embody Humble Leadership

#1 Give grace

Verse 6 in this passage teaches us that God gave sinners more grace. This doesn’t mean that we let slackers continue to slack. This does mean that we need to model our leadership with the heart of God in mind and know how to provide grace as we correct and direct people under our leadership. We need to be empathetically teaching those who are under our leadership.

The example is Jesus Christ. We can trust in him because he lived in full submission to God, the Father, while walking amongst us as a human being. He was sinless and he dies for us, knowing full well the type of evil we are. We need to provide the same type of grace to people that Jesus provides to us.

#2 Strive to do good

In verse 8, we find that we need to draw near to God and cleans our hands and purify our hearts. What does this mean to those of us in leadership except that we need to do all that we can to do good for the people under our leadership.

If you had bad or no intentions for people under your leadership, then when you strive to do good, then your intentions for them will be good. A leader with good intentions will be followed by people. The influence of your leadership is increased when you want good for people. I don’t care what arena of life you lead in, this is the difference between being a leader that matters, and a person nobody wants to follow.

#3 Embody what you believe

Do you believe that when you humble yourself before God, he will exalt you? James did. The other disciples did as well. I think the prophets of the Old Testament, and countless other flawed human beings that became biblical heroes and leaders believed it and did their best to live it out. As a Christ following leader in the 21st century, where all of our actions or inactions are measured and observed by somebody and can be remembered by everybody because of the internet, it is ever more important to embody what we believe.

Don’t just say you believe it, live out what you believe. If you’re like me and you follow Jesus Christ, and received him as your lord and savior, then you will see that I will do my best to embody that belief. It doesn’t mean that I will be successful 100% of the time, but when I do fail or stumble, my faith will allow me to embody the humility I need to come clean and ask for forgiveness. That’s the type of leader everybody would feel comfortable following.

Conclusion

If you want to humble yourself as a leader, then simply draw near to God and allow him to transform your heart through the power of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. I’m praying for you. If you want to talk leadership or faith, please reach out to me. Would love to connect with you.

Prayer: Father, some of us in leadership are here unwittingly, but others of us are here and are straddling the fine line between maniacal egotism and humble authority. I ask that you provide us with more grace as we seek to be humble and follow you in our faith and in our leadership. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.