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Last week on Leaderview, we examined the life of a leader and one thing we said that I remember vividly was that the life of a leader epitomizes who a leader is: his value system, his way of life, his character, his communication, his vocation, his assignment and et cetera. The life of a leader is not apart from the leader; it is exactly who he is. In today’s podcast, we want to examine something that is also important and very close to the life of a leader. It is simply titled: the rule of life of a leader. Any leader who wants to be successful in the task of leadership should have what is called a rule of life. Let us examine something relating to this from the life of Samson in the book of Judges 13:12-13. The Bible says:
Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?” 13 So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
A rule of life talks about a set of commitments made by a leader to himself or herself which are supposed to guide both his life and his leadership. It helps a leader to be more intentional about the way and manner he conducts himself. The truth is: successful leaders don’t just emerge out of nowhere. They are men and women who have given themselves over to real commitments over the years even while no one sees them or get to hear about them. It is just like the analogy of the iceberg (the iceberg illusion), everybody sees the top of the iceberg out of water and admires its beauty, but they simply don’t know how deep its base is under the ocean.
Everyone celebrates the success of a leader, they want to be associated with that success, but many don’t know the rule of life of that same leader that produced that success. They don’t know how long such leader have been committed to his life’s discipline, his life purpose, his personal growth and development et cetera. Many don’t see his secret dedication, his many failures, his sleepless nights, his hard work, his good habits, his sacrifices, his persistence. These are all elements of a leader’s rule of life. So, if you want to succeed in leadership, what are the things that are supposed to be your rule of life as a leader? I have enumerated a few of them in this podcast and I want to quickly share them with us.
Number One: FOCUS
Focus should be the number one rule of life for any leader that wants to succeed in leadership. One of the easiest things that can happen to a leader is the loss of focus. It is not out of place that leaders at some point or the other in their leadership assignment loses focus. The reason is because they are preoccupied with many things almost at the same time and so, it is possible for them to lose themselves one way or the other even along the way. Solomon said something profound about being focused in Proverbs 4:25. It says: “let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.” The simple lack of focus could make a leader to be doing so much and yet, have little or no result to show for his work. So, the first rule of life that every leader should embrace is focus.
Number two: PERSONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
As a leader that wants to succeed in his or her leadership assignment, you must make sure that you are committed to your personal growth and development. In 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul wrote to Timothy this wonderful admonition and I want to read it to us. It says: “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Personal growth and development for you as a leader is not something that happen once and for all, it is a continuous process throughout the lifespan of your leadership assignment. When leaders give submit themselves to the process of growth and development, it would help them in the area of communicating a clear vision for the team they are leading. Take for example the life of Jesus Christ, He submitted Himself to that process of growth and development. How did He do it? Luke 2:46-47 showed us. It says: “Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.”
Jesus didn’t say within Himself: I am the Almighty God in the flesh and therefore skipped this stage of his development. He simply submitted Himself to that process. And if you jump to verse 52 of the same chapter, the Bible summarized His growth process like this: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” So, we can conclude that Jesus increased in wisdom simply because He took His personal growth and development as a rule of His life. If you also want to operate in an unprecedented wisdom as a leader, then you must take seriously your personal growth and development. It must be one of the rules of your life.
Number Three: SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE THAT CAN HELP YOU SUCCEED
As a leader, it is important that you surround yourself with people who can help you succeed in your leadership assignment. This particular rule is germane as it would determine whether you would succeed as a leader or whether you will fail. Every important leadership task requires the right people to accomplish them. Jesus said something profound in Matthew 15:14. He said when a blind leader leads his other blind colleagues, He said all of them would fall together into the ditch. This is exactly what will happen when a leader surrounds himself with mediocre and those who cannot help him succeed in the assignment at hand. But when a leader surrounds himself with people of sound mind and those who can help him in the assignment, then all of them would win and succeed together. There is this story in Exodus about Moses that I would love to read to buttress this point.
“Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”
Exodus 17:8-13
Moses had the right team that supported him to victory. They held his hand up until victory was accomplished for Israel in the battle against the Amalek. This is exactly what the right people or the right team would do, holding up the hands of the leader, supporting the leader until victory is recorded. But the onus rests on the leader to look for these right people and recruit them into his team. For example, Jesus had a set of fishermen among His disciples, He had a tax collector, He had a treasurer, and He had a zealot. Irrespective of their professional background, all of them played one important role or the other in Jesus’ earthly ministry and even long after He departed from them to continue with the assignment.
You see, we can continue to talk about the rule of life of a leader, but this is where I am going to stop for today for the sake of time. So, your rule of life as a leader talks about those commitments that you have made to yourself as a leader and which are supposed to guide your life and your leadership. Some of those rules include being focused, giving yourself to personal growth and development and surrounding yourself with the right people that can help you succeed in your leadership.
I believe you have learnt something!
This is where we are going to draw the curtains on today’s episode of Leaderview. Please don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends, drop your comments in the comments section and let me know your thoughts on what we have shared with ourselves today. Till next time on Leaderview, I remain Abiola Obayomi. Stay blessed and God bless you.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
