Perry Noble on Leadership

I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately and how I can be a better leader. I'm still a work in progress and desire to continue to take my leadership to the next level. Perry Noble, Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina wrote a great blog post at www.perrynoble.com outlining 10 critical aspects that prevents us from being great leaders.

#1 – You think you are better than the people you are leading. (No one loves an environment where they are constantly looked down upon and spoken down to!)

#2 – You think you are smarter than the people you are leading. (Reality is…you’re probably not. AND…if you are then your insecurity limited you to only bringing stupid people to serve around you…not wise!)

#3 – You think the people you are leading should take care of you…but you refuse to take care of them.

#4 – You don’t respect the people you are leading. (If there is someone in the room who causes you to roll your eyes everytime they speak…either they should not be there OR you need to do a serious gut check and make sure you aren’t intimidated.)

#5 – When you are threatened by the people you are leading. (There is NOTHING more dangerous than an insecure leader. Saul freaked out when they gave him credit for slaying thousands and David credit for slaying tens of thousands…and, well, it didn’t end well for Saul.)

#6 – When you run over those you are supposed to be lifting up.

#7 – When you believe the people around you should do what you say because of the POSITION you hold rather than the PERSON you are!

#8 – When you allow unresolved conflict to dominate everyone’s thoughts but you refuse to bring it out in the open for fear of the discomfort it may cause. (If you team can’t enter into uncomfortable conversations then your team will NEVER accomplish anything significant!)

#9 – You don’t love the people you are leading. (Jesus was an effective leader because He genuinely LOVED the men He led! AND…also because HE WAS JESUS! :-) )

#10 – You don’t listen to the people you are leading. (If you view your leadership team meeting as an opportunity for you to only teach rather than share your heart and learn from others…it’s probably a really boring meeting!)