By Betty Surrency
Lead Like Jesus
To be or to do? That is the question! Lead Like Jesus believes that anytime, anyone influences the thoughts, actions or behaviors of another that they are engaging in leadership. So as a parent or a CEO, a coach or a doctor, you are a leader.
Whether as a life role or organizational leader, approaching each new day as a series of things to do can be a nasty habit. We are not only tempted to start working on the list we went to bed with but to quickly include the new onslaught of email, voice mails, faxes, etc. that may have accumulated during the night or to be quickly derailed by the ever necessary tasks of home, family and volunteer responsibilities. It is easy to surrender our sense of self-worth to the score card of our never ending to-do lists.
Phil Hodges, co-founder of Lead Like Jesus and one of the speakers at the Lead Like Jesus at Virginia Baptists' 21-C Conference, says, “No matter how urgent or high-purposed your to-do list may seem, when the price paid for its completion is a gradual loss of a sense of being and meaning separate from performance, you have made a bad choice. Remember, Satan would love for you to buy into his philosophy that your self-worth is equal to your performance plus the opinion of others.”
Lead Like Jesus focuses on four domains related to leadership-the heart, head, hands and habits. The heart deals with your motivation and intentions as a leader; the head focuses on your beliefs about leadership and influencing others; the hands reflect your methods and behavior as a leader; and the habits are the daily disciplines that keep you focused on your mission.
Working on and with your to-do list is a sure test as to whether your heart, head, hands and habits are aligned and that you are leading like Jesus.
One of the tools that can help in this transformation is silence. Unfortunately, most of us are fearful of silence and avoid it at all costs. Yet silence, according to Matthew Kelly, a Lead Like Jesus speaker for 21-C, “introduces us to ourselves and then to God.” Kelly maintains that “these two discoveries together are the Christian challenge.”
“Seeing ourselves as we are,” Kelly says, “and God as he is, we are challenged to change, to grow and to become more like him.”
Hodges recommends that we each try a few moments of silence at the beginning of each day and ask God to expectantly fill your mind with how he would have you be today and write down your “to-be” list
Here are some starters for your to-be list:
• Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).
• Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger ( James 1:19).
• Be holy because I am holy (I Peter1:16).
• Be joyful always, pray continually give thanks continually in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
• Be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50).
• Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).
Then review your to-do List in light of your to-be list and see if there are any conflicts and modify and eliminate them as appropriate.
Kelly says, “In the classroom of silence I hear things I could never hear in this noisy world-the murmuring of my heart and soul that lead to my future. The Spirit empowers me to do my work.”
If you like what you are reading, Hodges and Kelly along with 11 other speakers, including co-hosts Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, and Reggie McNeal, director of leadership development, for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, will be at St. Paul's Baptist Church, 4247 Creighton Rd. in Richmond on Friday, Feb. 3 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Visit www.21-c.org or www.leadlikejesus.com or call 1-800-255-2428 for more information or to purchase $65 tickets that include all sessions, lunch, breaks and materials on Friday and a day of RasNet breakout sessions on Saturday, Feb. 4.
Special to the Herald