A Transforming Vision Begins with a Transformed Leader

Posted on Apr 12, 2022 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Men's Christian Living, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Johnny Hunt

Every transformative organization begins with a transformed leader. To keep leading well, you must keep growing personally.

Transformation is an ongoing process. It never stops. God sets leaders aside for Himself and wants to continually work with them. Transformation takes place first in the mind. The Bible talks repeatedly about being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

Your thinking must always be challenged and stretched.

One day I told my staff, “If you were in charge, what would you do more of, or less of, to reach our community?” Once they opened up, the meeting got extremely enlightening. But you can’t do that if you have a group of yes-men around you. They will not challenge your thinking or stretch your mindset.

If you want to keep growing as a leader, build a safe haven for your staff or your key people to offer diverse thoughts. Whoever they are, invite them to challenge and stretch your thinking. You need to hear them, even if you don’t agree with them. I’ve told staff members, “That’s a great idea, but I don’t feel we ought to go that way right now. Let’s remember it for future use, though.”

The bottom line is that being a change agent in the lives of others and in your organization starts with being changed yourself. How is God changing you? Any new things in your life? The change must start with you. God can’t work through you until He first works in you.

Let’s see how this works from a purely human perspective. What got you to where you are? You have skills, abilities, personality traits, back- ground and experience that have contributed to your success.

Consider your intellect. You can’t be a dummy and lead an organization (we’ve tried). You must be able to learn new things, think through issues, process challenges. You don’t, of course, have to be the most brilliant person in the room. You may believe you need to be a genius to make it, but it’s just not true. While intellect is important—it helps to know something about finances, leadership, building projects, giving wise counsel, etc.—it’s less important than you might suppose.

Besides intellect, we all have certain abilities. Maybe you’re a great organizer or administrator. Frankly, if I didn’t have an assistant, I’d never know where I’m supposed to go next. Your abilities got you noticed, and you caught someone’s eye because of them.

Most leaders also have charisma, the ability to attract others. I’ve never known a single successful leader, however, who got along on charisma alone—at least, not for long.

Is education the key to a successful leader? Some organizations won’t hire you unless you have a doctoral degree, and yet, many of those leaders quickly come and go.

My late friend John Bisagno never graduated from college. Yet, many say that the books he wrote thirty years ago had the power back then that Rick Warren’s have today. While I thank God for education, I’ve never known someone to make it just on education.

How about the experience? It’s interesting to watch my employees evaluate new staff members. Some of them doubt education means nearly as much as experience. You may hear someone say about a young person who just spent seven years in school, “Well, she has no experience at all.” Really? I think that’s an insult to a woman who just graduated with an MBA. The debate goes back and forth, but here’s the point: Neither education nor experience by themselves are enough to get you down the road. May I say something to you? The things that got you here are not necessarily what you need to get you there. It will take more to get you there than what got you here.

Going forward always requires additional growth. You need to keep reading, praying, seeking the Lord, reflecting, going for long walks, and thinking about everything you’re doing. Ask yourself, “How can I do a better job? How can I empower those around me? How can I better connect with our people?” Continually review everything in your life.

The plain fact is that going from here to there requires a different kind of growth. Squeeze as much as you can out of what you have, but at some point, you’ll get most of what you’re squeezing. That means you must explore some new areas of growth. In particular, make the transition from talent growth to transactional growth, which refers to becoming and doing something of a different kind than before. Trans means “beyond,” and transactional growth refers to what others can accomplish, guided, and inspired by you, the leader.

Why do we have so many underperforming organizations across America? We have them because too many of us leaders are trying to accomplish the work by ourselves. My hands can touch only so much. I can engage only so many—but if I multiply myself through others, it’s just amazing what we can do.

I tell people that every organization is designed for the size it is. You must break that whole design…but until you change your thinking, it won’t happen.

This small, almost subtle shift in thinking from doing to leading can have a profound impact on your organization. As a leader, it can never be about what you alone can get done. It’s always about what you can lead others to do and what they can accomplish. The best leading always comes out of being. When you’ve been with people a few years and have earned their respect, it’s amazing how willingly they will join you and follow you.