There’s no shortage of leadership resources out there. Walk into any bookstore or scroll through any podcast app and you’ll find hundreds of them. Many focus on influence: how to get people to do what you need or want them to do. Others focus on recruiting, hiring, and building teams. These resources offer useful tools, and every leader needs tools. But most of them never go deep enough to answer the simplest question: what is leadership?
I believe it comes down to two things. And as with most things that matter, the clearest picture of both is found not in a business book but in the life of Christ.
1. Leadership Is Taking People From Point A to Point B
At its most basic, leadership is leading people from one place to another. That sounds obvious, but it requires two things many leaders never stop to define. You have to know where you are, and you have to know where you’re going.
Think of Moses. God didn’t call him to make the Israelites comfortable in Egypt. He called him to lead them out of bondage and toward a promised land. Moses knew where they were, and he knew where they were headed. The road between the two was long and hard, and the people complained more than once. But the destination never changed.
Knowing where you are means being honest about your current reality. What’s working? What isn’t? Where are the gaps? You can’t plot a course if you don’t know your starting point.
Knowing where you’re going means having a clear destination. In an organization, that’s what a mission statement is for. It shouldn’t be a plaque on the wall that nobody reads. It should be the North Star that every decision points back to.
Proverbs says, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint” (Proverbs 29:18). Without a clear vision, people drift. If you don’t know where you’re going, your people will feel it. They’ll feel lost. They’ll work hard, but they won’t know what they’re working toward, and eventually that wears people down. A people without direction aren’t really being led. They’re just wandering.
2. Why Are You Leading?
This second question is the one that matters most, and it’s the one most leaders avoid.
Why do you want to be a leader? Or if you already are one, why?
If many of us were honest, the answers would sound something like this: for the title, for more money, or to get off the front lines and do less of the hard work. Those reasons are common, and they’re understandable. But they’re all self-serving.
The disciples struggled with this too. James and John once asked Jesus to let them sit at His right and left hand in His glory. They wanted the seats of honor. The other ten were angry, probably because they wanted the same thing. Jesus gathered them together and turned their whole idea of leadership upside down:
“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)
“But it shall not be so among you.” The world’s way of leading is about position and power. Christ’s way is about service.
If title, money, or comfort are your motivators, you aren’t really leading people. You’re using them to your advantage. Even if they benefit along the way, it’s still about you in the end. People can sense that. They may follow you for a season, but they won’t trust you, and they won’t give you their best.
The Leader Who Washes Feet
On the night before He was crucified, Jesus did something no one expected. He took off His outer garment, wrapped a towel around His waist, knelt down, and washed His disciples’ feet. This was the work of the lowest servant in the house, and the Lord of all creation did it willingly.
Then He told them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15).
That’s the model. Good leaders lead by serving their people. Your why has to be about the betterment of those you lead, not just yourself.
That doesn’t mean everything goes the way your people want. Serving people isn’t the same as pleasing them. Christ rebuked Peter. He challenged the rich young ruler. He told hard truths that sent some followers away. Sometimes the right decision is the unpopular one. Sometimes it means holding someone accountable, saying no, or asking more of people than they want to give. But in every decision, you have their good in mind.
When your why is right, it changes how you see everything. Growth isn’t just a number on a report. Every dollar earned and every step forward is working toward something bigger: more opportunities for your people, a better place to work, room to grow, stability for their families. Your goals become a way of lifting others up rather than lifting yourself higher.
What About the Leader?
I’m not saying leaders shouldn’t benefit personally. Scripture says, “the laborer deserves his wages” (Luke 10:7). Good leadership often comes with better pay, more responsibility, and real rewards, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The question is what comes first. If your own gain is the main focus, your people will always be a means to an end. If their good is the main focus, your success becomes a byproduct of theirs. Christ taught that “he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). That isn’t a strategy for getting ahead. It’s simply the way His kingdom works.
The Heart of It
Leadership isn’t a title, a technique, or a set of tools. It’s knowing where you are, knowing where you’re going, and taking people with you for their good. It’s laying down your own interests the way Christ laid down His life.
So before you ask how to lead better, ask yourself why you’re leading at all. Get that answer right, and the rest has something solid to stand on.
