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A REDEFINED GOAL
A Life Well Lived
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REDEFINING LEADERSHIP
one who is passionate about leading the right way for maximum outcomes
by getting me in sync with the counterintuitive, countercultural ways of
the worlds most unlikely leader, Jesus Christ.
Redefining Leadership aims to draw you as a leader to a characterdriven leadership experience that will produce maximum outcomes. Leaders who shortcut the process and lead simply for great outcomes, with little
regard for who they are and how they lead, will ultimately produce minimum outcomes and discount their legacy as a leader. My intention is not
to denigrate those who lead merely for outcomes (though I would like to
encourage them to rethink the tipping point of character in their leadership), but to make character-driven leadership an intriguing, compelling,
and biblically necessary option.
THE TARGET
All of us are uniquely wired. Our wiring consists of a special combination
of gifts, temperament, and personality that have been given to us by God
and influenced by both the culture in which we have grown up and the
impact of influential people in our lives. Thankfully, there is no cookie
cutter pattern for the ideal leader profile. If we were all the same, someone
would be unnecessary.
But in our God-woven uniqueness there is a singular target toward
which we should all be taking aim. That target is the character-driven
patterns and principles of effective leadership that are charted for us in
the ways of the Kingdom and the will of our King, Jesus Christ. These
non-negotiable principles take on an array of applications that are uniquely
expressed through our styles and differences. But in our uniqueness we
must never compromise the essentials of kingdom leadership. Leaders who
celebrate their uniqueness yet ignore character flaws by saying, Thats just
who I am, forfeit the privilege of forward movement toward maximum
leadership. They miss the target.
My friend Erwin Lutzer, longtime pastor of The Moody Church in
Chicago, tells the story of a town wag who shot an arrow at the side of his
barn and then painted a target around it, with his arrow smackdab in the
middle. . . . Bulls-eye! Leaders who perceive that successful leadership rises
or falls singularly on the outcomes they generate have painted the bulls-
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A REDEFINED GOAL
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INSTINCTIVE LEADERSHIP
If your trajectory seems to be headed toward outcome-driven leadership
dont be surprised. The attraction to the convenience of discounting character for immediate outcomes is rooted in the early history of our race.
In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve to enjoy an unhindered
relationship with him, to find pleasure in each other, and to steward the
beautiful and beneficial environment in which they were placed. They
were the best kind of people who flourished in a surrendered fellowship
with their Creator-God. Their stewarding leadership of the environment
made it a place of harmony and unstained beauty. And their satisfaction
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REDEFINING LEADERSHIP
OUTCOME-DRIVEN
LEADERSHIP
Instinctive Leaders
CHARACTER-DRIVEN
LEADERSHIP
Kingdom Leaders
Are competitive
came from managing the enterprise where God had placed them for his
glory and pleasure.
Until!
Until they were tempted to focus on themselves rather than on their
God. Until they fell to the seductive allure of self-fulfilling outcomes.
So they took the forbidden fruit and infused into the human DNA a
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A REDEFINED GOAL
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REDEFINING LEADERSHIP
us that we have been rescued from the domain of darkness and have
been transplanted into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13). The domain
of darkness is managed and manipulated by a fallen set of assumptions
and a wrong-headed set of values values that prioritize outcomes over
character. Leading by the earthside instincts of leadership is a denial of
our fundamental identity. If we by redemption are kingdom people and
followers of the King, then we must lead as such.
Its our upside-down-ness that leads us to think that successful leaders are measured by the size and scope of the enterprise, its branding, its
national and even international acclaim, its profitability, the fame and
platform of the leader. It may be assumed that since she is a successful
leader, her life and leadership are in good order. Otherwise, why would
God let her succeed? Wrong assumption! Or, if its known that the leader
is less than exemplary and has cut corners of integrity to accelerate success, it is often excused, since God is certainly blessing the work. Wrong
again! He may be blessing the work, but thats not the issue. The issue is
Jesus interest in who the leader is at the core and how he or she is leading
as a steward of the work of the kingdom.
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A REDEFINED GOAL
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REDEFINING LEADERSHIP
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PA RT 1
A REDEFINED
PRIORITY
Character Counts
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CHAPTER 1
CHARACTER-DRIVEN
LEADERSHIP
The Tipping Point
hat if?
What if leaders who from outward appearances seem to be successful turn out not to be successful in the end? What if leaders who seem
outwardly less than successful turn out, in the long run, to be the most
effective? What if effective leadership is not just about casting vision, setting goals, and motivating minions to accomplish those goals? What if
there is more to good leadership than the building of great enterprises
and the glory of the leader? What if the applause of this world for leaders
stands in sharp contrast to a deafening silence in heaven?
Leadership is a lot like life . . . its all about the definitions. Get the
definitions right and you get life right. Or in this case, define leadership
correctly and you get leadership right. Get the definitions wrong and you
get leadership wrong. In one of my favorite cartoon strips, The Wizard
of Id, the king is sitting on the throne and his right-hand guy whispers in
his ear, Rodney is outside with a wagon full of underwear. To which the
king replies, Give me strength. All I asked Rodney to do was to debrief
his troops! How we define leadership and measure success will determine
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REDEFINING LEADERSHIP
whether or not in the end we are standing there with a proverbial wagon
load of underwear.
So lets start.
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CHARACTER-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP
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defining priority of your leadership. Whether or not you believe that character counts. That if given a choice, character trumps outcomes.
Choice #2 is whether or not you will choose follower as your leadership
identity. Whether or not your leadership will be shaped by following the
will, ways, and wisdom of Jesus or by your own instincts.
Choice #3 is whether or not you will lead with the counterintuitive competencies of the kingdom of Christ or with the normative ways of earthside
leadership advice.
Your choices will be determined by your personal perspectives as a
leader. If you lead solely from a strong sense of self-confidence and a belief
in the validity of your own instincts, if you are a follower of the normative
earthside advice about leadership, you are most likely to define your leadership by its outcomes. By contrast, if you understand your own fallenness
and the need to find your confidence in Christ and his counterintuitive,
countercultural ways, and if its your desire to bring the values of the kingdom to bear on your leadership and those you lead, you have a good chance
of choosing the maximum successes of character-driven leadership.
DEFINING SUCCESS
In reading most leadership literature, it would be easy to conclude that
success is measured by the outcomes that the leader is able to produce.
Successful leaders are most often measured by the size and scope of the
enterprise its branding, its national recognition, its profitability, and at
times the notoriety of the leader. No questions asked!
But what if there is more at the core of successful leadership, particularly for spiritual leaders, than the mere accomplishment of organizational
goals, the growth of an enterprise, and the name recognition of the leader?
What if making the right choices about how you lead and who you
are as you lead; who you will follow as you lead, and what kind of competencies you lead with are first step defining measurements of successful
leadership?
The biography of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Inc., demonstrates that
it is possible for a leader to generate amazing outcomes regardless of exemplary character traits. I am a direct beneficiary of Jobss technological genius.
I am typing this manuscript on my MacAir while listening to my favorite
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REDEFINING LEADERSHIP
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CHARACTER-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP
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what a person produces is the most important value in measuring successful leadership.
What we need to realize is that if a leader has achieved great outcomes
but has failed to be exemplary and as such has failed to have a positive
influence on the people, culture, organization, and town or worse yet,
has had a debilitating effect on the lives of those they have led, the organization they have served, or the community in which they have been
placed then from Gods perspective there is something seriously out of
sync in their leadership, regardless of the outcomes.
Warning! If you believe leadership is ultimately measured by how well
you can deliver the goods, then in the end you will fail in your calling as
a leader.
It should not go unnoticed that the greatest leader to have ever lived
did not achieve immediate success in terms of outcomes. He was not highly
networked, was disenfranchised from the powerful and the elite, was
rejected by men, was poor and itinerant, and in the eyes of even his closest
followers seemed a failure. Yet, who he was and how he led was a magnet to
the masses, and to this day his leadership is heralded and admired for the
way in which he led and the example of the life that he lived as he led. And
the outcomes? He has left a legacy that has lasted far beyond his lifetime
and has influenced generations for the last two thousand years . . . generations who so admire him that they adopt his ways to the extent of being
willing to die for him if necessary.
CHARACTER COUNTS
Consistently, Scripture calls us to choose character-driven leadership. In
the story of the ten talents, those who successfully stewarded the masters estate were rewarded with this character-affirming declaration: Well
done, good and faithful servant! While outcomes are not unimportant in
the story, the affirmation is about the character of the steward that produced the outcomes affirmation about who the steward is (good and
faithful) and an affirmation about how the steward leads (servant, Matt.
25:14 30).
Paul himself was aware of the priority of character as a leader. Comparing his leadership to a race, he concludes that winning the race rises and
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CONTENTS
In Gratitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Introduction: A Redefined Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
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Joe knows leadership. And he knows what the Bible says about leading. Hes a guide worth following.
John Ortberg, Senior Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
and author of Who Is This Man?
This book is powerful. It exposes the eternal consequences of having earthly applause for our Christian leadership and ser vice, while
receiving Heavens silence. And it is incredibly encouraging because
it also reveals that leaders and ministries that seem to have earths
silence may one day be the very ones who receive Heavens applause.
After reading it, I re-examined my leadership, repented of my desire
for outcome, and recommitted my followership to more clearly
reflect our Servant King. Thank you, Joe Stowell.
Anne Graham Lotz, Speaker and author of Wounded by Gods People
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