You cannot lead others until you first lead yourself. And, you cannot lead yourself until you first understand who leads you. And, you cannot understand any leadership until you understand the Leader of All Things.
You may believe in God, but you will encounter other people who have not figured out Who leads the created universe. All ideas about leadership—all problem-solving, heart-to-heart talks must begin with exploring this question: Where does leadership begin?
The order must be proper. Moving on to later questions of leadership are pointless and you do your friends no service to address the advanced questions of leadership without finishing the basics. The only successful leader must be a godly leader, otherwise his leadership will have severe limits.
Look at leaders who have not thoroughly answered questions about God and you will see corresponding shortcomings in their leadership results. Always look at leadership from the perspective of godliness, whether in your own growth or in those you work with. The mid-to-high level leadership tactics are generally godless children attempting a rebellion. But the higher, “expert” methods of leadership always pursue questions and answers about godliness.
Christians from the Sunday morning culture are often anemic where leadership is concerned, unless they have significantly augmented their Christianity with Bible study and mentoring that Sunday morning has no control over. Christians who have known a “least common denominator” Bible teaching devoid of the basics have not had the opportunity to grow into advanced levels of the Bible’s teaching. Basic Christianity understands that leadership begins with godliness, but eventually we learn more about godliness from the advanced methods of “soft power” that Jesus taught.
Whatever your challenge is in leadership, first remember that it is a challenge in “godliness” and second meditate on how Jesus’s ingenious leadership methods out-smarted King Herod and even overthrew Roman Caesars, centuries after his death.
The depth and brilliance of Jesus’s leadership is inexhaustible. Focus your research there. As you study history to learn its repetition, always go back and see Jesus working with leadership principles in ways even more masterful than the greatest Machiavellians could comprehend. Search themes of “servant leadership” and “overdone-submission”—leadership principles inseparably intertwined with godliness.