Three Values of Leading

What does it take to become a great leader? There are many ways to become a great leader. We all have our opinions. The list could honestly go on and on if you ask me, especially depending what kind of leader you are and in what area you work in. I couldn’t tell you how I became great leader, because I am still learning the fundamentals in what it takes to become a leader. I can tell you how I see other leaders go from good to great just by their actions. There are many specific ways to really become an outstanding leader. The three that really stuck out to me that make the ultimate difference are these…

1.HUMILITY needs to be shown through actions, not words.

People overshadow humility more than all the other values of becoming a great leader. Humility needs to be the first thing you evaluate yourself on. It is to my understanding the most important thing all leaders need. I believe humility is more of a requirement than a value needed to establish great leadership. Since there are so many leaders in this world today that are the opposite of humble while leading great organizations, teams, and even our government, I won’t sit here trying to debate that. In my view though, I would rather follow someone that is willing to get on my own level and help me see what they see in me. Then not just talk about it, but LEAD me in it to get there. Rather than using me for what I am good for now than investing into me so I can do something great later. That’s the difference between good leaders and great leaders. Good leaders are the ones to tell their followers to climb, while great leaders are the ones pushing them up from behind. The second your followers know you care more about them more than yourself is when you’re being the most humble leader you can be.

Jesus was the greatest at showing humility. In Matthew 3, Jesus walks from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. Once John sees Jesus, he assumes that Jesus is coming to baptize him. But that’s not the case, because Jesus was the Son of God didn’t mean He put himself any higher than a man loving The Lord with all his heart. Jesus was willing to humble himself below John and be baptized. Jesus had every right in the world to baptize him, for isn’t he is the greatest of all men? But Jesus did this just to show humility. Why did he need to be baptized in the first place? Baptism is a symbol of being washed clean of sin; Jesus has never sinned. What was his purpose behind it? I think it was only to make John feel worthy of something incredible, to lift him up to his full potential in his own life, because Jesus cared about him. Think about if we started to see people as better than who they were? By allowing us to put ourselves in a humble position of being below them so when we looked up, we only saw the great in them? What could change in our relationships, community, schools, etc if we view people as being something great, because we were able to take the spotlight off ourselves, and putting it on someone else so they can see their potential!

2. DISCIPLINE starts at the mind, goes to the heart, and into your everyday life.

Self-Discipline is learning to do things you don’t want to do, to get the results you want to get. This is the foundation! On the path to becoming a great leader you have to be willing to say no to things your mind is telling you to say yes to. To become the best leader you can be you first have to create a foundation from your character and integrity, this is built by being discipline. Character is what makes a leader worth following, so before you’re worth being followed, you have to say no to good things in your life to receive the great things. The saying “you reap what you sow” is the closest thing to reality you will find in this blog. The biggest difference between good and great is that doing good is easy. Everyone can do something good, but how many people can do something great? Do something great requires effort and sweat. To be a great leader, you need to say no to good things so you have the margin to something great when it presents itself to you!

How do we know Jesus didn’t want to receive it all when Satan told him he will be given everything if he’d kneel down to him just one time? Or how about when Satan said if you jump, the angels will let you fly? Jesus was in fact a mortal man wasn’t he? Jesus said no to a couple of the hardest things this entire world is facing today. Why? Because in order to get the results Jesus had for me and you later, he had to say no to things he didn’t want to in that moment, which brings me to my last point.

3. LOVE is the icing on the cake to get you to your full potential.

When you see love as one of my values you probably start thinking about love as in loving others. That is another needed characteristic of being a leader that could fall in the subject of humility. If not that, it could be my title. Simply, because every action should be revolved around this action. This love I want to talk about is the love of what you do. You will not become a leader worth following if you personally do not love the hard work to make you the leader you strive to be. For example a baseball player can’t get better without constant days in the batting cages, or a singer that can’t progress in singing ability if not willing to practice. People are not on TV with their gifts, because they sat around and waited for opportunity. Instead they went out and created the opportunity on their own. The gap between becoming a great leader, and remaining as good leader is finding opportunities to make yourself and others better, not waiting for them.

When people see the story of Jesus and how he was crucified, they saw see a lot of pain. A lot of blood and cuts. What we didn’t see in Jesus’ walk to the cross was the sweat and heart hidden behind the pain. Can you imagine how many times Jesus’ could’ve of laid there on the ground, and get beaten to death or have someone carry him? He didn’t lay down once. Every time Jesus fell to his knees, his love and passion for us got him up. He knew failure wasn’t an option, because that meant the failure of humanity in all of us. Every strike to his body made his physical body weaker, but made his passion for us just that much stronger. Jesus is love, so behind the pain of his crucifixion, I’m forced to believe that Jesus loved the hard work to die for our sins knowing at the end it will all pay off. Jesus knew the difference between good and great was to get to where his purpose was, not to stay where his purpose wasn’t. To become a great leader we have to be willing to set up a vision up for ourselves and do everything in our heart and soul to reach out for it everyday.

These are three values of leadership I’m learning everyday in my own life that may help you in your own leadership. Like I said, their are so many more values needed to become the best leader possible but for now here are three we can start with.

-Jayson Hopper