Becoming A Real Leader

When the COVID pandemic upended our world in 2020, I (like everyone else) watched all sorts of companies, businesses, and churches flounder and fail in the face of adversity. And while many of these organizations were unable to survive due to no fault of their own, many, many, many more failed due to poor leadership at the top and an absence of leadership development throughout.

But there were other organizations that didn’t just survive the pandemic, they grew and flourished. And while I’m sure there were some that just “got lucky,” the institutions, businesses, nonprofits, and churches that I personally saw thriving throughout 2020 and into 2021 all had one thing in common - an incredible leadership culture from top to bottom.

And one of those organizations I observed was a church in Newark, Delaware called The Journey. Their founding pastor, Mark Johnston oozes leadership - you get around him and you want to be better, do better, and accomplish more. But that’s not why he’s a great leader. He’s a great leader and The Journey is growing and adding locations, because he is constantly looking for women and men to develop. It doesn’t take long after you enter his orbit before either he - or more likely someone he’s mentoring and developing - has come alongside you, invested in you, and helped you see where and how you can make a contribution.

So, when I was looking for someone to write a blog post about identifying and developing leaders, Mark was the first person who came to mind. Read on and you’ll quickly see why.

What is a “leader”?

Is it a person who calls the shots? Claims the title? Makes the big bucks? Takes the credit and shows up at the press conference to accept the blame?

My definition of a leader is someone who relentlessly develops other people.

That means if you’re the leader, it’s not your shot-calling, title-claiming, big-buck-making, credit-taking, or even blame-explaining that sets you apart.

It’s your people-developing.

Some leaders leave a trail of original inventions in the wake of their genius. Some leave a trail of bodies in the wake of their dysfunction. But great leaders leave a trail of people who are better than they were before in the wake of their developing.

Leaders equip people. In our organization we call it “empowerment,” and it’s a core value. Empowerment means, “We never do leadership alone - we build relationships, inspire people to live out their purpose, and give them opportunities to succeed.”

Ultimately, leaders don’t just lead organizations, departments, projects, or even teams. We lead people. And the best leaders don’t just lead people to where the leader wants them to go; they lead people to where the people they’re leading need to go.

So how do we do that? Here are five priorities for scaling your leadership from the completion of tasks to the development of people:

Perspective.

One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves about our leadership is, “Why do I want to be a leader?”

If the answer is because it sounds fun, seems like a natural next step, or will increase my bottom line, I’m already not a leader.

There’s only one good reason to be a leader, and that is because we desire at our core to make the lives of other people better.

Why does this matter? Because every day, it plays out in our leadership. If my motivation is primarily my own ambition, I’ll dump on people. I’ll give them stuff to do that may make my life easier but won’t make their leadership better.

If my motivation is primarily the success of whatever project or initiative I’m working on, I’ll delegate to other people - less offensive than dumping, but still not very meaningful in the long run.

If my motivation is to avoid stress and the messiness of human relationships, I’ll diminish other people - I’ll either ask too small and insult their potential or drive too hard and set them up to fail.

But when my motivation is to make other people’s lives better, I’ll develop them.

So start with your perspective: Why did you want to become a leader? How can you shift your motivation from self-advancement and self-protection to others-development? That kind of humility is the perspective of great leaders.

Proximity.

Developing people requires regular time around… people! It’s amazing to me how many leaders think the higher we climb, the less time we have to spend around people.

(Or, extroverted leaders may spend plenty of time around people: but not make that time count.)

When we’re in the room with people, we’re doing our most important work: asking questions, offering encouragement, casting vision, nudging people toward their best.

And doing that again and again and again until we’re all done leading (for me, I’ve decided that will be when I die).

We do this to develop people, and to model for the people we’re developing how they should be developing people.

In my context, this means being intentional about the time I spend with people: doing more of it than I’m comfortable with so developing people stays my priority. And it means lovingly insisting that the leaders around me do the same - that they always have someone shadowing them (we don’t do leadership alone), are caring for the totality of the people they’re leading (we build relationships), and are regularly making healthy “asks” of others to take steps of leadership (we give people opportunities to succeed).

And that takes lots and lots of proximity.

How do you need to rearrange your calendar this week to achieve more proximity?

Potential.

Great leaders have x-ray vision when it comes to the potential of others. They can see it in its rawest form, buried beneath inexperience, insecurity, or even incompetence.

And once they see it, they can’t unsee it. They are drawn to it, intrigued by it, and have to do something about it.

This is the flip side of proximity. While great leaders spread a wide net of influence, encouragement, and vision, they also expertly cast a single hook toward people with the potential for significant accomplishment. They give people with potential a little bit more than they can currently handle, and then help them navigate the gap and fill it with greater faith in themselves.

My favorite leader of all time is Jesus Christ. You don’t have to believe in him like I do to see how good he was at this. Look at his first 12 disciples! Young, inexperienced, brash… yet after three years under his mentorship, they started a movement that changed (and continues to change) the world.

Jesus was available to crowds. But he was also unabashedly focused on a few people who had 10X potential. 

Scratch out a list of three to five people in your orbit right now who have potential (regardless of their position or popularity). Over the next 90 days, intentionally put them in the room with you. Block the time and don’t let anything interfere with it. Stretch those people a little further than you think they can handle. Because that’s what leaders do: invest in others’ potential.

Projects and Positions.

I’ve put numbers four and five last on purpose: because they’re typically what leaders who decide to develop others jump to first.

We hand people projects or positions and expect them to succeed - and roll our eyes in frustration if they don’t. But without a clear perspective, regular proximity, and an investment in people’s potential, the project will probably be mediocre for the organization and the position unfulfilling for the person who accepts it.

That said, sometimes leaders hold back on letting go of real leadership to the people around them. They delegate tasks and hand out raises, but keep people stuck where they are by retaining all the actual decision-making power, or by lowering invisible lids on people’s advancement.

That’s not leadership! Remember our “why”? We’re in this to make the lives of other people better. We do that by granting real authority to the people we’re leading, and by letting them ascend as high as they can - even if that means they eventually eclipse us. While everyone else is celebrating the accomplishment of the project or the offering of the promotion, we’re silently (and meaningfully) celebrating the small part we got to play in making it possible for someone else to succeed.

Where are you holding onto power instead of giving it away? Who do you need to promote? (Hint: yourself doesn’t count) Call someone in and give them real responsibility. Re-structure the org chart so that your prominence decreases and someone else’s increases. Leaders are secure. They know their most important job is not achieving credit or paving their own path, but developing people - so they empower others with projects and further others with positions.

What is a real leader?

Someone who relentlessly develops other people.

Are you a real leader?

You can’t tell by your title but only by your priorities, lived out every day in the act of developing other people. 

The good news? You can start now.