Leaders Die First
A lot has been written about leadership, especially in recent years. It seems everybody has an idea for what an ideal leader looks like, usually captured in some sort of clever acronym summarizing the key traits of a great one.
One example of many is the acronym developed by proponents of the Conscious Capitalism movement, which encourages businesses to operate according to higher purposes that serve, align, and integrate the interests of all of their major stakeholders – a very worthy goal, I might add. They define a “conscious leader” as one represented by the SELFLESS acronym (i.e., one who exhibits strength, enthusiasm, listening, flexibility, love, emotional intelligence, systems intelligence, and spiritual intelligence).
Not long ago, I read a handful of business and leadership books, and while their advice is fine and good it all tends to blend together into what seems like a mountain of words and clichés that can confuse as much as illuminate. This led me to examine the Bible to see what it says about leadership.
In particular, I wondered if there was a single verse or collection of verses that seemed to capture the essence of what the ultimate leader looks like. I eventually landed on Philippians 2:5-8. It reads, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being; [and he] humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
Could there be a more beautiful and powerful example of leadership than that captured in these verses? Here is the most powerful leader there is – God himself, the creator of everything seen and unseen, who is capable of doing infinitely more than we could ever ask or imagine[1] – acting in an incredibly humble, servant-minded, obedient, empathetic, and sacrificial way for the benefit of those below him. This is the kind of leader I want. Heck, it’s the kind of God I want! And it’s the leader and God revealed in the Bible.
I then began to think about our current leaders in government and business. I tried to imagine any one of them living out such a radical example of leadership. I thought about Jesus washing his disciple’s feet, including the feet of those who would soon abandon him and probably his betrayer, the night before he was arrested[2] – an act considered so degrading at the time that Jewish slaves couldn’t be required to do it. I tried to imagine Steve Jobs or Larry Ellison washing the feet of their competing CEOs, or Saddam Hussein washing George Bush’s feet the night before he was hanged.
I then looked on the Web at pictures of some of the palaces that our business leaders and celebrities call homes and the cars they drive. A review of the scriptures reveals that Jesus had no home of his own[3] and that he had no “car.” In fact, the only recorded example of him using anything other than his feet to get around on land was when he borrowed a donkey (not a stallion or fancy chariot) to ride into Jerusalem the week he was crucified.[4]
I thought of Jesus associating with lepers, foreigners, beggars, cripples, tax collectors and prostitutes – people others considered beneath them. I thought of him taking the time to praise and interact with “insignificant” people, like a poor widow placing her last two cents in a Temple collections box.[5] I thought of the love, grace, compassion, and vulnerability he demonstrated – at times moved to tears in front of others,[6] and healing all of the sick and diseased people that were brought to him, not just those he cherry picked.[7] I thought of how he championed the underdog, famously saying “blessed are the meek, mournful and merciful” and that such people would inherit the Kingdom of God and be comforted and shown mercy.[8] And I thought of how much Jesus was like us, how he displayed the same range of emotions as me or any other person, including anguish, distress and grief.[9] To use Philip Yancey’s words, “God… ‘found out’ what life is like in the confines of planet earth. Jesus got acquainted with grief in person, in a brief, troubled life…”[10]
There’s a well-respected author named Simon Sinek who recently published a book entitled Leaders Eat Last. I would assert that the ultimate leader is one who dies first – to his or her selfish interests for the benefit of those under and around him/her, and even literally if circumstances warrant it. Jesus is that ultimate leader, and the type of God I want to follow.
FOOTNOTES: [1] Ephesians 3:20 [2] John 13:1-17 [3] Matthew 8:20 [4] John 12:13-15 [5] See Luke 21:1-4 [6] See John 11:35, Luke 19:41 and Matthew 9:36 [7] See Matthew 4:24, 8:16, 14:36, 15:30; Mark 6:56 [8] See Matthew 5:3-10 [9] See Matthew 26:36-38; John 12:27 [10] Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995, Page 18