DGT Episode 329 - Bring The Plan Together - Secrets To Joyful Leadership Part 2

Those who practice leadership work tend to focus on negative things - things that we need to improve.  But leaders just like anyone else are more motivated by what’s positive and we who lead in Christ must never forget to be joyful in Him.  In this second part of our series on the Secrets To Joyful Leadership we focus on the joy that comes from bringing a plan together for our people.  Embracing the arduous task of formulating a strategy is actually a gift for our people and ourselves. 

For as much as it’s important to remember the difficulties and challenges of leadership it’s also vital that we keep touch with the inner joy that iw the right of every leader.  Christian leaders especially have the obligation to embody this joy because we serve at the pleasure of the greatest of rulers, Jesus Christ.  But staying joyful in leadership is not always easy.  In this first part of our new series we study the first secret to joyful leadership: casting a vision for a dream worth dreaming.

Whether we like it or not leadership means standing alone.  Of course we need to lead others, so others are always a part of our lives, but whenever you take in things great or small you end up facing the fact that you alone are responsible for the change that you have initiated.  And solitude can be uncomfortable for many.  But for a Christian it becomes the meeting place with Jesus Christ and an essential aspect of our spirituality as leaders.  And this is especially true when we find ourselves at the center of an organization. 

They say it’s lonely at the top and they mean it.  Anyone who engages in leadership in the footsteps of Christ know that the labors involved are intense and often overlooked.  The fact is the most important jobs are often the most thankless.  Those who engage in leadership have to accept the loneliness of the grind.  Lonely of course because no one else is there but not lonely if we know Jesus.  In fact, Jesus wants to work with us. 

Without a doubt one of the hardest parts of being a leader is that we have to embrace solitude.  In this series we are looking at the various dimensions or kinds of solitude that leaders embrace and how Jesus meets each one of us along the way.  In this fourth part of our series we focus in on the solitude of risks.  On the fact that when we decide to act we inevitably have to act alone.  Or do we?  Perhaps it’s in our greatest solitude that we find union with Christ.

 Across the board and throughout time leaders have always complained about being alone.  The expression “it’s lonely at the top” says it well.  But this loneliness is not always a bad thing, in fact, usually it is the result of doing what leaders have to do.  When you lead you’re first and when you’re first you’re necessarily alone.  In this third part of our series on embracing solitude we look at the particular solitude that comes from planning and the surprising ways that we can find Christ there. 

Every entrepreneur knows that having a good idea is only the beginning of the process.  To be successful you need to take that idea to market.  This involves production which involves people, organization, and year of hard effort.  At times the loneliness of the innovator can be so intense that we want to stop innovating altogether.  And yet innovation, novelty, beginning new things is part and parcel of the call to evangelize.  How does Christian grace sanctify the innovator’s solitude.

One of the most commonly used phrases to describe the experience of leadership is “it’s lonely at the top.”  The phrase resonates with leaders of all stripes and colors but what does it mean for a Christian?  Is there a way to find a deeper meaning to the solitude of leadership?  How did Jesus live His life as a leader?  How did the saints do it time and again?  And in what way can this pathway of solitude be a pathway of holiness for us today?  Here is Part One of our new series Embracing Solitude.

Following the footsteps of Christ into leadership is a wild ride.  Anytime you step forward to change the status quo you need to be ready for anything that can come.  And yet for all of its challenge is there really any other way to live?  Anytime we exert our personal freedom we change the world around us.  Maybe the problem isn’t that we are making a difference, maybe the problem is that we aren’t comfortable with the wild ride.  This is where St. Paul can help us.  In this final episode of our series we see how St. Paul lived life on the edge.

It's one thing to want to Dare Great Things For Christ and begin new initiatives and projects, it’s quite another thing to finish them.  The first stage in any initiative is dreaming, hoping, and aspiring for great things.  But carrying through our aspirations all the way to the end requires another set of skills.  It requires sacrifice, dedication, and just pure grit.  St. Paul embodied all of those qualities and gives us an example of leadership that continues to inspire us today.