Hiding Behind Servant Leadership

By Doug Franklin January 7, 2013

I love the way Jesus leads. He has this really deep value for people, while always staying focused on his mission. Through his disciples’ questions and everyday experiences, Jesus created a sustainable movement. In three years he showed how important service is to leadership. Many people today want to look at Christ for developing models of leadership development. I think this is a good idea. Jesus’ leadership was grounded in humility, caring for the weak, fighting the abuse of the powerful and speaking hard truth to the religious elite. Jesus gives us a fresh perspective on leadership and we need it. I have also noticed that people who don’t want to deal with the hard parts of leadership – evaluation, strategic planning and decision making – use Jesus’ leadership style as a shield. They usually connect these hard aspects of leadership as “business style of leadership” and reject these principles because they don’t know how to use them effectively. They have renamed leadership “servant leadership.” Servant leadership is more spiritual and less worldly, and somehow by renaming leadership they can keep control and not lose their position in leadership even though they don’t know how to lead. Truth is, Jesus did all those same aspects of leadership many of us are afraid of, but we choose to ignore those examples. If you think you can keep your leadership position by just renaming and redefining leadership you’re wrong. Not everyone can define leadership but they know it when they see it.