Ten Lessons I Learned from Effective Leaders

I have been a student of leaders and leadership for over four decades. Observing leaders globally in a variety of ministries and organization has informed my leadership perspective. Although there have been a few negative examples along the way, the positive lessons I have learned far outweigh them.

The notes accrued after reflecting on each encounter filled multiple notebooks. Most of those notes were doomed to never again see the light of day, much less touch the asphalt of practical application. But contemplating the positive lessons from these notes has produced insightful instruction for my leadership journey. Many of the concepts have been engrafted into my personal leadership paradigm.

Here are Ten Lessons I’ve Learned from Effective Leaders:

1. No one person can reach a city, country or region for Christ; we need each other.
   “I’ve come to realize that God rarely gives a great idea to just one person.” —Better Together by Paul Fleischmann

2. Dedicated servants are not immune to the heartaches, disappointments or losses of life because of their faithfulness.
3. Missionaries, teachers and pastors may commit to serve people in a specific location because of a burden; but only a love for Jesus Christ will keep them there.
4. Transparency, honesty and truthfulness are greater leadership encouragers than hype.
   “We’ve all likely been burned by a leader whose character hadn’t caught up to his calling and gifting.” —Empowering Leadership by Michael Fletcher

5. People really do stay at one church, school, or mission field consistently reaching people for decades and believe it to be the norm. I am not inferring God does not prompt people to change ministries. Unfortunately, I have seen far too many changes based on other motivations.
6. Young leaders are eager to listen to veterans because they desire to draw on their wisdom and experience. Do not buy into the common misconception that young leaders will not listen because of your age.
7. Veteran leaders, because of their wisdom, listen and learn from young leaders.
8. Some of my greatest heroes are people whose names you will never know.
9. Often the quietest people have the most to say; you just have to know how to get them to talk.
10. Biblical leaders are committed to discipling and developing other leaders, not using them to accomplish their own agendas. Based on biblical values, they are committed to “reproducing reproducers,” 2 Timothy 2:2.

These are a few of my “takeaways.” I encourage you to think them through so you can make application. Perhaps some of them resonate with you.