Got Questions.org: “very few people question whether Jesus Christ existed. It is generally accepted that Jesus was truly a man who walked on the earth in Israel 2000 years ago.”Biography.com describes Jesus as a “Biblical Figure (c. 6–c. 30) who was born in Bethlehem.Jesus is a religious leader whose life and teachings are recorded in the Bible’s New Testament. He is a central figure in Christianity and is emulated as the incarnation of God by many Christians all over the world.”
This post is not intended to be a discourse on whether Jesus was more than a prophet, teacher or a godly man but to see if we can learn anything about leadership from his life.What do you think, was Jesus a great leader?
As far as we know, Jesus was a tradesman; a carpenter, and at the age of 30 started a ‘ministry’.No start up organizations are ever easy and certainly not one outside of your experience.Even though he may not have had direct experience, it seems he had the skills to be a great ministry leader.He was not formally trained and didn’t have a mentor or coach to help him.However, he relied on a greater power and his first step was to recruit and build a team.
1.Leaders recruit leaders!Jesus started his ministry by recruiting 12 men to work with him.He must have been a great recruiter because it doesn’t appear that he offered any form of pay and benefits.His ‘employees’ traveled with him all the time and had to leave their occupations and families.Not an easy thing to ask anyone to do.But he found 12 men who said ‘yes’ and worked alongside of him for 3 years.
Ideally, a business leader hires people who have more skill and potential than they have.It takes a lot of courage to hire someone better than yourself.Were the recruits more talented than Jesus?Initially, no, but following his ‘departure’, his team did amazing things.There were reports of numerous examples of healings and conversions.His team was not formally trained as administrators, evangelists, healers, and preachers, but they were so effective that enrollment spread around the world.
2.Leaders ensure the management team is prepared for the future.
Today most startups are would collapse after the untimely death of their founder.Immediately following Jesus’ death, it didn’t appear his ‘start-up’ was going anywhere and perhaps would end.The ‘management team’ seemed to have a lot of fear and confusion.However, due to a powerful ‘chairman of the board’ and a lot of ‘inspiration’, the team was transformed and rapidly developed the necessary skills.Jesus’ management team was not prepared to take over at the time of his death.No formal strategic or succession plan seemed to exist.However, Jesus approach was different; he chose to let his team figure out what to do and how to do it on their own. Before he left, he must have known his example would be enough for his team to get into action.He knew they would figure it out and he was right; he started with 12 and today there are billions.
3.Leaders leave a legacy through their inspiration and motivation.
Jesus left a lasting impression on his followers.He had a powerful vision and his message was different than other Jewish leaders.The inspiration and motivation that he gave was so powerful that people gave up their possessions to the ministry to get it started.
I was recently told by a great leader that your leadership effectiveness is not measured by what you do when you are in office but more importantly what happens after you leave your leadership position.That makes a lot of sense to me; what your team and organization does after you leave is the real litmus test of your leadership effectiveness.Based on that criteria, Jesus was the most amazing ‘leader’ of all time.He led his ‘team’ as a servant leader and through his inspiration which still lives today, organizational and personal growth and transformation still occur.
It seems he put everyone else’s needs before his.He did not let his ego, pride, or selfishness get in the way. A man of great humility and being selfless, he didn’t desire accolades or positions of power.He only wanted to point people to the truth, to set them free, and to know his Father.He was a great servant leader.
What is your assessment of Jesus as a leader?
