When someone describes you as a "leader" your mind jumps to you ruling the country, ruling your workplace, ruling the world! ...but the reality is you won't do much ruling at all.
I have always been told I was a leader and I always thought that meant I would be in charge of something great, but here is the reality I've been learning to walk through: Leadership is a journey of 90% being put in positions far less glorifying and 10% "ruling the world".
I try to think of great leaders and the greatest I can think of is Jesus Christ. He had twelve grown men drop money, friends, stable homes, and comfort to follow Him. So what made Jesus so great? It wasn't just that He was the Son of God or that He had twelve men following Him, it was that He was humble, graceful yet just, loving, willing to do anything and everything to glorify His father, even if that meant washing feet.
There is a misconception when it comes to being a "leader" that I believe media has instilled in our minds. If you are a leader, you run your company with an iron fist and you hire someone to clean your toilets, and you don't even know that person's name because you have someone paid to know names. But, this is the leadership I have been walking through:
I am getting paid far less but working longer hours because I do my job well. I am getting far less serving shifts and far more front desk shifts because they need someone to fix the mess the front desk has become. I clean up vomit in the bathroom and then clean up the restaurant, walking out with only $25 in cash. How can my managers say they appreciate me and see how hard I work if they keep putting me, at what I believe to be, the bottom?
My dear friend was expressing to me how at her new job she was up for two positions, one less glorifying and one far more up her ally and fun. I told her that if she is put in the less glorifying one to walk in it with joy, because working in joy in a position you don't like speaks much louder than being promoted faster. She ended up getting the less glorifying position but then texted me about how much praise she has gotten from all her coworkers about how amazing of a worker she is. Now, it is time I listen to my own words.
Being a leader doesn't mean ruling the company with an iron fist, paying someone to know people's names, it means doing the work that others see themselves as being too good to do. Being a leader means joyfully working more for less, because you see a need. Being a leader means training others around you up, not because you need them to do your dirty work, but because you see how far they can go and how much they can do. Being a leader means walking in your 90% with grace, humbleness, and joy, because without that 90% being in positions less glorifying, you will not be ready to handle the 10% ruling the world.
Matthew 20:26-28 "But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."
I have always been told I was a leader and I always thought that meant I would be in charge of something great, but here is the reality I've been learning to walk through: Leadership is a journey of 90% being put in positions far less glorifying and 10% "ruling the world".
I try to think of great leaders and the greatest I can think of is Jesus Christ. He had twelve grown men drop money, friends, stable homes, and comfort to follow Him. So what made Jesus so great? It wasn't just that He was the Son of God or that He had twelve men following Him, it was that He was humble, graceful yet just, loving, willing to do anything and everything to glorify His father, even if that meant washing feet.
There is a misconception when it comes to being a "leader" that I believe media has instilled in our minds. If you are a leader, you run your company with an iron fist and you hire someone to clean your toilets, and you don't even know that person's name because you have someone paid to know names. But, this is the leadership I have been walking through:
I am getting paid far less but working longer hours because I do my job well. I am getting far less serving shifts and far more front desk shifts because they need someone to fix the mess the front desk has become. I clean up vomit in the bathroom and then clean up the restaurant, walking out with only $25 in cash. How can my managers say they appreciate me and see how hard I work if they keep putting me, at what I believe to be, the bottom?
My dear friend was expressing to me how at her new job she was up for two positions, one less glorifying and one far more up her ally and fun. I told her that if she is put in the less glorifying one to walk in it with joy, because working in joy in a position you don't like speaks much louder than being promoted faster. She ended up getting the less glorifying position but then texted me about how much praise she has gotten from all her coworkers about how amazing of a worker she is. Now, it is time I listen to my own words.
Being a leader doesn't mean ruling the company with an iron fist, paying someone to know people's names, it means doing the work that others see themselves as being too good to do. Being a leader means joyfully working more for less, because you see a need. Being a leader means training others around you up, not because you need them to do your dirty work, but because you see how far they can go and how much they can do. Being a leader means walking in your 90% with grace, humbleness, and joy, because without that 90% being in positions less glorifying, you will not be ready to handle the 10% ruling the world.
Matthew 20:26-28 "But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."
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