Lead Like Jesus - The Review

The book "Lead Like Jesus" by Ken Blanchard is a great read. I generally try to read books that give nice bullet-pointed lists of things to change in order to make your life a bit more perfect, which is exactly why I chose to read this book. Not because it gives nice bullet-pointed instructions, but because I realised that I needed to read a book that would make me think, not just accept the contents as the way to do stuff. I have not been disappointed.

It actually took me a while to get into the first few chapters, which deal with a few important key questions before setting on the adventure of discovering Jesus style leadership. In simple language, the three questions that we are encouraged to grapple with in the early stages of the book are.

1. Am I a leader
2. Am I willing to follow Jesus as my "leadership role model"?
3. How do I lead like Jesus?

Blanchard describes leadership as "a process of influence", suggesting that "any time [we] seek to influence the thinking, behaviour, or development of people toward accomplishing a goal... [we] are taking on the role of a leader".

I think this is possibly the best description of leadership I have come across, and has helped me to think more specifically about the areas in which I consider myself to have leadership responsibility. The book makes a very clear distinction between "organisational" and "life role" leadership, which I have also found quite helpful. It's been quite a challenge to think through the different requirements for each role. For example, Life role leadership "focuses on growing and developing people and supporting mutual commitment" , whereas organisational leadership focuses on "measured accountability for long and short term results under constant scrutiny by a variety of stakeholders".

Once Blanchard has worked through the 3 big questions, clearly defining WHY Jesus is a perfect "life role model", he then moves on to look at 4 key areas that we need to work on in order to lead more like Jesus did. These are:

1. Heart - Our motivation as a leader, whether as a head of a family, church, or a large corporation
2. Head - Our beliefs and viewpoints about leadership
3. Hands - Why we should set clear goals and measure performance, consistently following up with those we lead
4. Habits - Why it is important to refresh and renew ourselves as leaders?

In brief, our motivation should always be one of humilty and grace - to seek to honour God - Blanchard uses a great TLA (three letter acronym) to help our thinking on this one. He talks about checking our "EGO", suggesting that in leadership we will either "Edge God Out" by putting our trust in something other than God and valuing opinions others than God's, or we will "Exalt God Only"  which takes far more work and involves "altaring" (deliberate miss-spelling) our leadership EGO. The result of this being that we replace false pride and fear with humility and a confidence that comes directly from knowing who we are in Christ.

Usually I get annoyed by books that are filled with clever TLA's as they can make an author appear smug, but in this case, I found the idea very helpful. It's a great way to check how we're doing regularly - how are my pride levels? Am I fearful for my position, or confident in God's sovereignty over my life?

By far, the strongest point in the book came in the section looking at the HEAD of a leader. Again, Blanchard breaks down the way we think about leadership into two key areas - our role as a visionary, and our role in implementation.

Most organisations have a very clear chain of command, starting at the top with the leader, who has several heads of department working for them, and many more people working at ground level, serving the customer but needing to refer back to top management before making any major decisions. We regularly hear sales teams saying "I'll have to check that with my supervisor", and ask to speak to the manager when we feel that we've been treated unjustly. Blanchard agrees that the visionary role of leadership needs to come from the leader of an organisation, casting a credible vision that describes where the company is headed, but from that point suggests that the "normal" structure should be turned on its head, with the leader at the bottom of the chain, doing all that he can to support, release & equip his team, empowering them to make tough decisions, knowing that the leader is fully supportive of them and actually wants them to succeed.

And best of all, Blanchard backs up this idea by looking closely at Jesus' leadership with his disciples. Jesus was all about training his disciples to do "greater things" than He had. He equipped them and then released them, sending them into difficult situations with nothing but a reliance on the power of God. (I'd love to think that I had the guts to send people out in that way, but my mind always seems to be filled with backup plans).

The last two sections of the book look at hands and habits of a leader. In summary, the book suggests that a key activity of effective leaders is be be a performance coach who makes an ongoing investment into the lives of those who follow. It talks about the different stages of developing leaders around you, and although the needs of people will be different at each stage, the role of the leader stays the same - to provide what the learner needs to advance to the next stage.

And finally, healthy leadership habits, it is suggested, help us to leave a positive leadership legacy, honours God, puts the love of Jesus into action and turns our success into significance.

I could easily write far more about this book as there are many more deeply profound ideas which I have not even touched on here. It is going to take me a long time to finish unpacking much of what I've discovered through reading this book, and although at times I found it quite a tough read, I am extremely glad that I persevered and grappled with the content at a personal level.

If you want to be challenged to think more about modelling Jesus in your leadership, I would definitely recommend reading this book. It will challenge you more that you could imagine. The big question - will you (and also, will I) take up the challenge to change and model Jesus in the way I lead others?

Watch this space...