The Best Leadership Advice You’ve Ever Received

“What’s the best leadership advice you’ve ever received?“

I was talking with our staff team a few weeks ago when someone asked that question. I ripped out my journal and started scribbling notes:

• “Work yourself out of a job. Raise others up. Your job is building people, not doing tasks. Who is your Timothy?”
• “Take your 20’s and be a poor sponge. Don’t worry about making money, but search for wisdom. Find someone who lives a life you want to imitate and learn from them, even if it means working for free.”
• “Good leaders know their limitations and weaknesses. In turn, they surround themselves with a team of people who are gifted in areas where they are weak.”
• “To avoid being criticized, do nothing, be nothing, say nothing. If you want to lead, you’re going to face criticism.”
• “Surround yourself with people who love you enough to speak into your blind spots.”
• “Faithfulness outweighs giftedness.”
• “Don’t waste time trying to prove yourself or make a name for yourself. The greatest among you is the servant.”
• “A leader who is unwilling to listen is not a bad leader, but no leader at all. Leadership begins with humility.”
• “The only thing Jesus asks of us is to obey today. Instead of trying to plan out the future, be faithful in the present.”
• “Never ask someone to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.”
• “Pick up the trash. Wash feet. Make sacrifices. Do what others are often unwilling to do.”
• “Always have time to attend a funeral. Have enough margin in your schedule each week to make room for unexpected interruptions.”
• “Who you are when no one else is looking is who you are.”
• “I read a book called The Crucifixion of Ministry and the author claimed that we don’t have a ministry, but that Jesus has a ministry, and if we want to participate with him, our ministry has to be crucified.”

If you have leadership advice to share, each Thursday we ask a question in the Alongside: Young Life leaders Facebook group and on Instagram and Twitter. This week, you’ll have a chance to answer that question!