26Jan

Live Sticky: you’ve got all you need to lead

Jesus knew how to live and lead sticky. He influenced the thinking, the behavior, and the development of others. There wasn’t a town or a city He entered where hearts and minds did not respond. When He engaged the people in conversation, they listened. When He spoke the language of eternity and performed miracles, lives changed. His ideas and His love stuck.

Jesus’ life matched His message. There weren’t grey areas around His integrity or identity. The challenge for us today is to effectively engage a needful planet and lead the conversation like Jesus. Leadership books repeat the characteristics: leaders go against the grain, take personal risks to achieve a greater goal, and create culture. They’re mission-centric. They speak of vision, possibility, and teamwork. Great leaders are exceptional communicators and standout influencers. Great leaders get personal.

Influence is all about Who you know. Jesus demonstrated remarkable leadership in His relationships and, in turn, gained phenomenal influence. As His follower, having been given authority through Christ, you too can gain influence in the communities you build in this Web-based mission field.

“But what if I’m not a leader?” you might ask. Perhaps not by the world’s standards, but in the eyes of Christ, you are a leader because you have the Leader living in you. Simply put: leadership is in your spiritual genes! Bystanders, naysayers, and benchwarmers are not handed Great Commissions. Every Christ follower is custom made for this mission.

7  ways to lead sticky online:

  1. Be teachable. Wisdom mulitiplies when you realize you’ll never fully “arrive” this side of heaven. Great leaders are lifelong learners and value the ideas, knowledge, and insight of those around them. Being teachable builds trust and gives you permission to speak into the lives of others.
  2. Live in light of eternity. Fit your perspective to heaven’s not the other way around. Great leaders possess great hope beyond life’s momentary trials.
  3. Be a bold contender for the faith. Be willing to consistently state what you believe based on the One you serve. Speak truth even when there’s a personal cost attached.
  4. Be accurate. Communicate facts when it comes to news. Don’t pass on hearsay or advance unqualified facts. Always, always attribute information, quotes, ideas.
  5. Transmit truth. Make sure that your theology is sound and that your paraphrasing of scripture in your commuication doesn’t adversely affect God’s truth. (This seems to be an epidemic online—beware and lead well here).
  6. Serve others. Model kindness, compassion, consistency, humility, inclusion, and a servant spirit online.
  7. Pursue integrity. Check your heart, mind, and motives in a situation or relationship. Hold them up next to the leadership (and heart) of Christ. Then, proceed.

To take a deeper dive on leadership we recommend bookmarking these blogs that successfully fuse faith and leadership: Ken Blanchard, Laurie Beth Jones, Ron Edmondson, Nancy Reece, Kenny Silva, Wayne Hastings, Jenni Catron, Michael Hyatt, and John Maxwell.

Do you see yourself as a leader? What inspires you to greater leadership? What intimidates you?

Post/Tweet this today:
Bystanders, naysayers, & benchwarmers are not handed Great Commissions. You were made 4 this mission. #LiveSticky

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  • http://kennysilva.net Kenny Silva

    Such stellar advice right here: “Fit your perspective to heaven’s not the other way around.” Pressure from the outside will always tempt us to fit the Gospel into the terms of our environment; our business, community, etc. We’re called to so much more. We have to fight that worldly temptation and live our lives and lead those around us in the light of the Gospel.

    “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

    Thank you so much for the mention. I love what you are doing here and am honored that you would list me among such an amazing group of leaders.

  • http://waynehastings.blogs.com Wayne

    This is tremendous advice. We can learn and influence when we hold true to “sticky” principles.

    Thanks for the mention. It’s a real honor to be part of this group.

  • Anonymous

    Wayne – you are a beacon of leadership mixed with love and when we can pull that out and point people there, we are TRULY helping them grow. Keep doin’ what you do, brother. It matters.

  • Anonymous

    Agree – when you can choose your perspective, your chances of being wiped out as a leader by crisis diminish considerably. Hooking yourself to the eternal makes the temporary tameable, yes? Thanks for leading Kenny and always taking time out to truly listen. :)

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  • Tami Heim

    Amen on that one. Wayne – I appreciate your influence on my life.

  • http://modernservantleader.com/ Benjamin Lichtenwalner

    Be teachable: I often suggest that most of us will likely never become perfect servant leaders. However, we must always continue to learn and grow if we are to truly serve our stake holders.

    Serve others: What inspires the servant leader is first the desire to serve then realizing their optimal method of service is to lead. (Greeleaf, paraphrased).

    Excellent points, all of them. Thank you for sharing!

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for chiming in Benjamin! In agreement: we will not hit perfection but with Christ as our model, we can inch closer to “well done” as leaders. I appreciate the “desire” thrown into the servant mode. There are times, I admit when I need to pray for more desire to burn through my heart & my intentions. Serving just because “we should” isn’t serving at all. Great points!

  • Troy

    Great read. Thank you so much for the info.

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  • http://twitter.com/MegMeeker Meg Meeker

    Great insight on living and leading with humility and truth!