Not long ago, I ran across a two part quote that I’ll actually touch on this Sunday:
Good leaders inspire people to have confidence in them (the leader).
Great leaders inspire people to have confidence in themselves.
Whoa. In my dealings with the other staff here at Good Shepherd, do I want to inspire them to have confidence in me or in themselves? In my leadership of the church body as a whole, do I want to inspire people to have confidence in me as a pastoral leader or in themselves as Jesus followers?
I wish I could say with simplicity and clarity that I want to inspire people to have confidence in themselves. But reality is neither that simple nor that clear. I can have mixed motives when it comes to exercising leadership and inspiring confidence.
But now that I have this new way of looking at the issue, I know what question I’ll be asking myself each morning: who can I inspire to have confidence in themselves today?