What Would A Great Leader Do?
Scrawled across my office whiteboard is a haunting and helpful question, especially as I face painful challenges in my current leadership season: What would a GREAT leader do?
How would a fantastic leader dig into my organization’s challenges and opportunities? What would they do to navigate the turbulent and dangerous waters of transition and financial constraints or to manage the longings, losses, and frustrations people inherently feel in change? Asking that question helps me get outside of my own head and peek above the fray to see more of a bigger picture than the crisis du jour. In many ways, Poole’s Leadersmithing offers answers to how a great leader would intersect with these challenges (if not precisely what they would do)[1].
A great leader, it seems, would allow these challenges to be moments of development not just for themselves but to help build great leadership in other people. There is no perfect moment to build leadership (or perhaps it’s better to say every moment is the “perfect” moment), and I appreciate Poole’s reminder that “leadersmithing takes a lifetime,”[2] both in becoming a great leader and in cultivating great leadership with others. This takes some pressure off in getting the smithing right every time or to perfect every element of leadership now—progress, even when slow, is progress.
J. Robert Clinton speaks of the necessary lessons and seasons of leadership development—with a sense that God is at work in leadersmithing and will not allow leaders to advance until they “pass” the lessons of “word, obedience, [and] integrity.” [3] Again, this means that every season—especially the most challenging ones, Clinton and Poole seem to argue—is ripe for developing leaders and leadership. I appreciate Poole’s invitation to look at the “hand” you’re dealt to see what needs to be developed and maximized; examining that hand in real-time as a leader addresses crises or challenges prepares them to be even more effective in the next crisis or problem.
In moments of difficulty and overwhelm, I find the temptation to relay the pressure I feel onto others is pronounced. A great leader, I believe, will jettison the profanity of pressure and choose instead the sacred space of invitation – Poole calls this pushing versus pulling, with no surprise that, by and large, people want their agency honored and to be full-value participants in the work they are doing.[4] I think this is part of what it means for Christ-rooted leaders to bring a “non-anxious presence” with them.[5]
A great leader would cultivate collaboration and trust, going “first” in healthy accountability. Kim Scott calls this “radical candor,”[6] and Patrick Lencioni says it’s part of “the advantage”[7] of healthy organizations. My experience has been that for an organization that isn’t used to seeing or participating in healthy accountability, implementing collaboration and accountability is met with suspicion, even when accountability starts with and for the senior leader. This is another change and, thus, another place for stakeholders to grieve[8].
So, a great leader would sit with people and give space for their grief and sorrow even while casting a compelling vision for a better future. They would identify places where the change can get ready traction and early wins. They would shake the bushes for resourcing and invest relationally in stakeholders, maximizing their personal brand signature and modeling work-life balance. The list goes on (and on!).
It seems like a great leader would probably be exhausted. (That one, I have mastered!)
In all seriousness, I’m grateful for the question, as haunting as it is. I’m thankful, too, for the tangibly practical development framework that Poole unveils—a framework that has been crafted in her own crucibles of leadership and development. Most of all, I’m grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit and a small community of discernment in which to ask, “What would Jesus have us do and when?” as we seek to use all the tools—including those of leadersmithing—he has entrusted to us.
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[1] Poole, Eve. Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership. New York: Bloomsbury Business Press, 2017. Kindle.
[2] Poole, Eve. 182.
[3] Clinton, J. Robert. The Making of A Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development, second ed., revised and updated (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2012), 62.
[4] Poole, Eve. 24.
[5] Cuss, Steve. Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2019.
[6] Scott, Kim. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity. New York City: Saint Martin’s Press, 2019.
[7] Lencioni, Patrick. The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012.
[8] Poole, Eve. 108.
About the Author
Jeremiah Gómez
I get to be Sarah's husband and Jubilee's and Zechariah's dad. I also get to serve as lead pastor at Trinity Church, a dynamic church in the Midwest where we're diligently seeking to Love God, love others, live sent, and be transformed together in community. I love the privilege of working across differences, championing healing and reconciliation in many forms.2 responses to “What Would A Great Leader Do?”
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You would hope accomplishing a Doctorate in Leadership would allow us to feel like we have arrived, but a good leader will never fully arrive. As you mention, Poole’s reminder that leadership is a lifelong process of growing and learning, leads us to never be content with staying the same.
I find it unfortunate that “accountability” has become a loaded work. I have seen it become heavy in meaning; feelings of being watched over, being micromanaged and not seen as trustworthy. Do you think that “transparency” has become the new unencumbered word for accountability? Do you think it contains enough of the true meaning of accountability for it to be a substitute?
I hate to admit, even I cringe a bit at the word accountability because of the abuses in how it’s been used, especially in the church. I’m seeking to embrace another term and would like to know your thoughts!
Thanks for your response, Jess!
I agree, “accountability” can be loaded, especially when someone has experienced abuse or toxicity that gets labeled as accountability. Whatever it’s called, I think it only works if the leader “goes first” in it–by that, I mean that they are held to standards first and model what it looks like to function in humble collaboration. They also have to go first in demonstrating how caring and beneficial accountability can be–following up with people on their goals and asking what they need to keep chasing them communicates that individuals success really are important to the leader.
“Transparency” has elements that can be helpful, but transparency without teeth doesn’t do anything to protect people or advance mission.
I’m not sure what better terms there are, but I think its up to us to point to and function in a way that is healthy and freeing for those we lead.