A couple weeks ago “the magnificent seven” (my family) were out on a bike ride. Since most of us are little, that meant me pulling a trailer containing Charlotte and Silas and Colton riding with his mom on some sort of weird thing that straps a baby to its mother. Kiera and Lily have their own bikes. Seeing as how I’m all about a healthy lifestyle this is a great activity for the family.
Lily is the second born. She’s the imaginative one, the one who makes up costumes, plays, stories, and funny little names like goodybinker. Kiera is the hard worker with boundless energy and great initiative. Lily, is not.
So, on this bike ride I decided that Lily was going to lead us home. Nobody liked that idea, but that’s too bad. I wanted Lily to have the initiative and take the lead. In the interests of continuing the existence (safety) of the magnificent seven I rode directly next to Lily, only about one foot behind. That way I could heroically take action if needed and save the day.
Here’s the lesson on leadership that I gave Lily on the way home. I made her repeat it several times as we rode together, and I thought you might appreciate it as well:
1) A Leader Watches for Danger.
Proverbs 22:3, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.”
You know what an example of a bad leader is? A momma duck! Those things walk right through the busiest intersection with all the little ones following it in a line. If they weren’t so cute, they’d be extinct. I’ll run over a squirrel any day, but a line of ducks is a whole other matter.
On the road a bike leader needs to be watching for cars, not assuming they see you. Same thing in real life. Danger is coming, and a good leader sees it coming and figures out a way to protect his followers ahead of time. Surprises will come, but not very often to a good leader because he’s seen it ahead of time.
The person in the verse above hides from the danger. “Sheltering” children gets a bad rap, but I’ve seen plenty who weren’t sheltered and their lives are a wreck. Of course there are extremes – but this is 2014 and the world is pretty rotten. Parents need wisdom, but if anything they need to lean towards sheltering their children. Our society is working overtime to teach your kids things before they are 8 years old that will harm them. Preparing your kids for the future is not the same a throwing caution to the wind!
This isn’t just about raising kids though, it applies in all areas of leadership. Those in leadership need to see what’s coming and take action ahead of time to prevent or alleviate future problems. Small problems love to turn into big problems, but small problems are easier to take care of then big problems.
2) A Leader Listens to Followers.
Proverbs 11:14, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
For a good leader, this is a piece of cake. Why? Because every good leader was a good follower at some point. I explained to Lily that a leader only has two eyes, but if he (or in Lily’s case she) has six followers then that makes a total of twelve eyes. What can see better, two eyes or fourteen eyes? Pretty simple?
In Lily’s case this was good because one of the followers happened to have a lot more experience than she did. That follower didn’t try to take over, but rather stayed close to Lily so to help when needed. As a young and inexperienced leader she listened well to the older-wiser.
Every great leader in the Bible had counselors who followed the leader, but also counseled the leader.
What I think is fascinating about the strange woman in Proverbs is that she was (in a way) a church girl. She grew up in church, but forsook the guide of her youth and forgot the covenant she had with God.
Proverbs 2:7, “Which forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the covenant of her God.”
What a foolish thing it is to not listen to others.
3) A Leader Keeps Moving.
Proverbs 12:24, “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”
Most leaders didn’t get to be leaders by being lazy. Good leaders aren’t lazy.
Lily? She’s a little bit lazy. Not a lot lazy, mind you, just a little bit. So while on this fantastic bike ride she’d tend to slow down, talk about the pretty flowers, and wave to the fenced and angry Chihuahuas. That quickly brought on the third point, that leader keeps moving.
Are you a follower? If so, then you know nothing is more annoying than a leader that won’t lift a finger. You also know that nothing is more inspiring than a leader that will get in the trenches with his men. Longstreet couldn’t put it any plainer: “You can’t lead from behind.”
The same day we watched an incredible documentary called “The Endurance – Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition” (http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Legendary-Antarctic-Expedition/dp/B0000A7W16/) It’s the spellbinding true story of a man and his 27 men who survived an Antarctic expedition that went wrong. They wound up living on ice floes for a year, eating their own cats and dogs, and traveling over 800 miles (5 of them) on a small open boat.
It was God’s grace and Shackleton’s leadership that saved those men. He tirelessly worked with men, led by example, made the tough decisions, stood up to the critics, and in the end he took the greatest risks to his own body to save them.
As Calvin Coolidge put it:
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
A good leader never quits moving and doesn’t expect his followers to do the heavy lifting for him.
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