There are two kinds of leaders in the world. Some selfish leaders use their position for their own benefit, and there are selfless leaders whose desire is purely to serve others.
I hate to admit it, but I was a pretty selfish leader as a young manager. I focused on what was good for me and my career. My salespeople and coworkers were tools to help advance my own interests.
After becoming a Christian, I realized this was not the kind of leader God wanted me to be. Therefore, I needed to change from being a selfish leader to being a selfless leader.
That’s when I realized that good leaders, Godly leaders, exercise their authority in the service of others!
One great example of a Godly leader we can all learn from is Nehemiah—he exercised his authority in the service of others in three ways.
1. Good Leaders Leverage Their Authority
Nehemiah was born into captivity in Babylon, but as a young man, he rose to the powerful position of cupbearer to the king. As cupbearer, Nehemiah had close contact with and served as a senior advisor to the king.
Nehemiah heard about the desperate situation of his countrymen back in Jerusalem. Instead of ignoring the reports, Nehemiah leveraged his authority to secure permission from the king to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city.
2. Good Leaders Do Not Separate Themselves from Their Followers
Nehemiah was safe and living the good life with the king of Persia in Suza, some 1,550 miles from Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1). Yet, when he heard about the troubles of his people back in Judah, he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed for days.
Nehemiah cared about his people; He identified with their sin and the problems sin created in their lives. Then, he developed a plan to use his position and relationship with the king to help his people.
3. Good Leaders Do Not Take Advantage of Their Position
When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he had to deal with the rich and powerful and the poor and weak (Nehemiah 5). He found the rich and powerful were exploiting the poor and powerless. So he immediately confronted the rich people and convinced them to return their ill-gotten gains to the poor.
After putting a stop to the mistreatment of the poor, Nehemiah set an example for the other leaders in Jerusalem by lending money without interest, giving generously, and foregoing the benefits he was entitled to as the leader of the people.
Instead of using his authority to take advantage of the people, Nehemiah used his position to serve the people’s interests.
Good Leaders Serve Others
Whenever I am in a position where I need to assess a leader’s effectiveness, the most important attribute I consider is whether the leaders exercise their authority to serve others.
- Instead of ignoring bad situations, do they leverage their position of authority to help others?
- Instead of separating themselves from difficult situations, do they empathize with the needs of others and take action to help?
- Instead of using their position to take advantage of others, do they use their authority to ensure people are treated justly and set an example for others to follow?
If leaders selfishly use their authority to serve themselves, they are a danger to the people and the organization. On the other hand, a leader who uses their authority to serve others will build a robust and loyal organization.
More Articles
I have written many articles on a leader’s character. You can find them by typing “Character” in the search bar. Meanwhile, here are several of my favorites.
- #429: True Leadership Requires More Than Competency and Skill
- #416: 7 Must-Have Skills of Highly Effective Godly Leaders
- #403: Is America On the Same Destructive Path as Babylon?
- #383: 4 Essential Character Traits of Smart Reentry Leaders
- #373: Do You Deal with Temptations in The Workplace?
Join the Conversation
As always, questions and comments are welcome. Have you worked for selfish leaders who used their position of authority to serve themselves? What was the impact on the organization?
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Category: Personal Development | Character
When I was a young police Lieutenant, I moved from shift work on patrol to a comfortable Monday thru Friday schedule, with weekends off. One Saturday at about 1AM the police department called and woke me to report on damages from a storm that night. There were road closures and problems. I didn’t want to, but I got up, dressed in my uniform and rain gear, checked out a patrol car, and asked the duty sergeant where he needed me. I worked through the night with our officers. We got drenched from the rain. In the morning, we all went to breakfast, and had a lot of laughs. One of the patrol guys said he’d never seen a Lieutenant come out and help patrol during a storm. My Dad always told me to lead by example, and it felt good that rainy night to be in the trenches with everyone.
And this, John, is an example of why you retired as Chief! Effective leaders serve others as they lead by example.
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