February 20, 2024

In his book, The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes writes, “Exemplary leaders know that if they want to gain commitment and achieve the highest standards, they must be models of the behavior they expect of others.”

Before you can become an exemplary leader to others, you have to develop exemplary qualities of leadership within yourself. 

Four words I want to suggest will help you develop exemplary qualities of leadership. These are four that I continue to work on and develop within me. 

1. Intentionality. Every morning, think through how you will lead that day so you can lead intentionally rather than reactively. 
2. Integrity. Ask yourself, “Am I shepherding those under my care now with the integrity of my heart?” Ps. 78:72 says, "With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand."
3. Imagination. Think about how to use the skills and gifts God has uniquely placed within you. Be yourself. C.S. Lewis called this approach to leadership: “baptized imagination”. Lewis said that when he stopped trying to live up to everyone’s expectations and lived within his God-given design, it freed him to write and think with greater creativity and clarity. 
4. Incessant-cy. Exemplary leaders move through their struggles with contagious conviction. Winston Churchill said, “Success is moving from failure to failure without a lack of enthusiasm.” Challenges can lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness when you learn from your failures.

Leadership comes from years of experience learning how to fail forward, invest in people who you can develop to outshine you and stand firm on your convictions even if it means disappointing some people along the way. Personally, disappointing people has been my greatest challenge. As Marty Linksy famously said, "Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb." For me, that has been a small margin, but the more leadership years I gain, the more I realize that the best way to move forward and to move people forward is through tough decisions, perseverance especially through failures, being who God made me to be, intentional investments and above all, maintaining the integrity of my heart.

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