Leadership theory has historically been non-Biblical territory. I want to change that. The Bible is full of excellent leaders who can be defined by today’s leadership literature and many who have written their own model of leadership. When exploring leadership types, today’s literature examines the nuances of “exceptional” or “successful” leaders. The definition of each is left to the author of the book or article. It is, however, more important to explore the characteristics of a leader in various situations rather than calling out a name and making that person forever an exemplary leader. We all have episodes where we were good leaders and then regressed to episodes of not-so-good leadership. The preponderance of the evidence should define the adjective associated with a leader’s style and accomplishments.
Leadership is a process (Boggs, 2022). It is not a static point in time. Leadership requires a give-and-take between the leader and those he/she supervises—Leader-Member Exchange Theory—and has types such as Transformational, Servant, Steward, and Adaptive (Northouse, 2019). However, it has been my experience that leaders at various times exhibit various characteristics of many leadership styles. The situation of leadership will impact the ferocity of a dominant style to meet the challenge of the moment. For example, in my own research on leadership during mergers and acquisitions, it was abundantly clear that communication style and leader-member proximity played more importance in maintaining engagement and retention (Boggs, 2022). This finding would be different in less stressful, more stable times.
What are the characteristics of an exceptional leader in today’s church, ministry, school, industry, or family? Each leadership opportunity provides a different set of circumstances for the leader to navigate. For this post, I want to explore Job as a leader. Generally, modern leadership literature would not consider Job a leader; after all, he lost everything. Those who depended on him or worked for him were allowed to run amuck without supervision (Job 1:13-22). It can be argued that Job’s lack of command over his staff (aka family) caused their demise and his own industrial collapse. But God!
I won’t unpack the entire Book of Job, but to bring it to 21st-century parlance, we have the problem, the engaged consultants—aka, the “friends”—leading to the ultimate solution. Job is struggling with the fact that he made a mistake and lost everything. The compounding issue is that what he lost was his family and his entire business. Therefore, the grief process, self-loathing, and pity party are all playing out. Then, his consultants pile on with their own assessments of why Job lacks character and why God had to punish his lack of faith and service to God. Who could blame him for questioning the world? However, Job seems to lay the causal factors at God’s feet. God has abandoned him, God is laughing at his tragic circumstances, and nobody loves him. Poor Job.
God summarizes the real truth in Job 41:11b, “Everything under heaven is Mine.” God asks poignant questions beginning in Chapter 38. The reader can feel Job sinking into his seat and hanging his head. God asks where Job was when He created the earth and hung the stars. He asks if Job can tame the largest animals known on the earth as He can. God’s point is that since the world and everything in it belongs to Him, He can do what He needs to do to benefit and teach man. Job humbly recognizes his mistake. And this is where Job becomes the leader. He accepts the rebuke, admits his mistake, and accepts full responsibility. That is a leader. He also does not turn on his “consultants.” He prays for each of them. It is after he humbles himself and prays for them that “the Lord restored Job’s losses” (Job 42:10).
A leader must be willing to admit fault, take responsibility, and do whatever is necessary to resolve the issue. Part of admitting error is checking your pride and not making excuses. God calls this humbling yourself. That is hard for each of us. I know I have personally had to eat humble pie on a few occasions and with varying levels of success. It goes better, and the results are more edifying when I own my mistakes. Humbling ourselves and seeking God in prayer is always a good approach. In this case, Job prayed for his friends even though they had made his life miserable for a while. He did not take his revenge even after God rebuked them.
Sadly, we are seeing a division in our country where individuals, churches, schools, businesses, etc., don’t own their mistakes or admit when information is incorrect. Even worse, civil discourse on a litany of subjects is not tolerated. Instead, the culture embraces canceling contact or amping up errored rhetoric. Recently, I had an exchange on cultural issues framed within a Biblical worldview with someone who does not hold a Biblical worldview. My hope was that a civil discussion would follow with the mutual sharing of reasons and ideas. Alas, no counterarguments were offered, merely heated rhetoric, snide attempts to quote Biblical verses, and invoking the ad hominem argument that I was mentally ill for holding my views. I was ready to engage and listen to this person’s reasoned arguments but instead was removed from their social media accounts. Why is this now typical behavior when truth cannot be refuted with logic and fact? Please don’t misunderstand me; I don’t care about being canceled from their social media feeds. They were not the first and likely won’t be the last. The true sad point is the death of civil discourse
Regardless, a leader takes the high road. Be willing to admit errors and seek understanding while moving to a mutual resolution. If a mutual position cannot be identified, it is ok to agree to disagree. I will always take the Biblical worldview position, but others won’t. We can still lead and civilly engage.
Boggs. K. (2022). A Qualitative Journey from the Influence of Leadership Style to the Importance of Communication on Engagement & Retention of Employees in a Healthcare Organization During Merger & Acquisition. Proquest.
Northouse. P. G. (2019). Leadership; Theory and Practice, Eight Edition. Sage.