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One thing I’ve learnt, being a leader in various platforms is having the desire to serve than to rule.
by Shobana Chandran
There is an old saying that goes ‘A leader is born and not made’. To a certain degree this may be true. I believe a leader is born with a purpose – a purpose that is destined by God. In today’s world there are so many 101's on how to be a leader. Many of these tips, articles and books are very resourceful to leaders today. But one thing I’ve learnt, being a leader in various platforms is having the desire to serve than to rule. This may contradict with today’s teaching, but let me explain further
"There is an old saying that goes ‘A leader is born and not made’. To a certain degree this may be true. I believe a leader is born with a purpose”
The Call to Lead is a Call to Serve
There was once a famous king called King David. As opposed to the kings we have today, King David did not come from a royal lineage of kings. He was a shepherd boy who was appointed to be King.
Being a shepherd boy, he saw leading the people that were under his care, through the eyes of a shepherd. To him, being a king was equivalent to being a shepherd. And he knew in order to be a good shepherd, he needed to, first, know what it meant to be a sheep - he chose to give importance to the needs of a sheep.
As leaders it is vital to understand and see things from our people’s needs and perspective.
Even as a shepherd boy, David knew his call was to lead, guide and protect a flock of sheep. Even at a young age, he also knew the call of a shepherd was to plan, take risks and face danger!
Planning and Taking Risks
As a shepherd, David took it upon himself to know of places that would have green pastures. In a desert, green pastures were hard to come by, but David learnt and understood the climate, by surveying the land in order to be able to guide the sheep to green pastures.
And this was an important quality for a shepherd to acquire. In leading his people, David put what he had learnt into governing his nation. Understanding the ‘climate’ and ‘surveying’ the land were important skills needed to lead his people to the right places.
'David put what he had learnt into governing his nation. Understanding the ‘climate’ and ‘surveying’ the land were important skills needed to lead his people to the right places'
In today’s context, a leader needs to do his homework by understanding various stakeholders and carrying out own research before executing plans.
As a shepherd, David knew his flock would not only need green pastures but still waters. Knowing that the nostrils of a sheep is very close to its mouth, providing still waters was crucial.
Even such a daily routine such as this, served as an insight to David governing his people. Leaders ought to understand the capacity of their team and offer tasks that would benefit the well-being of the team.
Throwing far fetched executions to a brand new team would only lead to exhaustion and ‘suffocation’.
Guiding and Facing Danger
Shepherds always know where they are headed. Even for David, he knew where the right places were. But getting to these places, he was always faced with two challenges – one, guiding the sheep to the destined place and, two, being prepared for whatever danger that may come along the way.
Sheep, generally have a tendency to go astray, in fact it is part of their nature. But it is a shepherd’s role to guide the sheep back to the right path. Even in leading his people as a king, David knew, it was only natural for people to do things that were not aligned to his plan and vision.
One important lesson he got from being a shepherd, was to guide the sheep back, and not to pull the sheep by force, back to the right path.
A good leader should allow his people to make mistakes. A good leader should know how to guide one back to the vision and not dictate one to follow his vision.
Allow your people to make mistakes, enable ways for them to learn from their mistakes and guide them back to the vision you have at hand.
Achieving this vision you have at hand for your people, requires a journey - a journey that may face danger. As a shepherd, David knew that any form of danger could harm him and his flock, during his journey.
As a shepherd he prepared himself to face such dangers. Likewise, as a king, David knew in order to lead his people to the destined vision, they would face danger. Just like the wolves, lions and bears David had to face, David equipped himself as a king to face his enemies. As a leader it is important to equip ourselves with adequate knowledge, appropriate skills and a handful of confidence to embrace the dangers that lie ahead.
"Leadership requires us to have a relationship with our people. In a nutshell, leadership is not a call to rule, but a call to serve."
There’s so much to learn about leadership from the life of this shepherd boy. Leadership is call to lead, guide and protect the people under our care. Leadership requires planning, taking risks and facing adversities and challenges. Leadership is allowing people to make mistakes, and guiding them through their mistakes to make better decisions. Leadership means getting to know our people and their needs, wants and desires. Leadership requires us to have a relationship with our people. In a nutshell, leadership is not a call to rule, but a call to serve.
by Shobana Chandran
About the Article Contributor :
Shobana Chandran, or better known as Shoby, heads the enrichment division at a renowned Speech and Drama school, a school where she has been serving at for the past 13 years. Growing up, Shoby has led many groups and projects – leadership has always been something that’s close to her heart. She has always been passionate about inspiring people under her guidance and care. Shoby strongly believes that leadership is a call that empowers others – leadership has the gift of motivating or demotivating someone. Leadership done right will groom more leaders and thinkers. Shoby has had the privilege leading small and big projects in various platforms, thus learning from various people. She believes leading people is very much related to learning from people, that includes learning from her two children who are 10 and 7 years old. “Everyone around us has something to contribute in our learning,” – that’s something Shoby relates to every day.
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