In a recent blog post Michael Hyatt noted the five qualities of great leaders. They all started with the letter “i.” The qualities are insight, initiative, influence, impact and integrity. The post is excellent, making important points about each of the qualities. The one that jumped out at me, though, is that Hyatt noted the words Influence and Influenza both come from the same root! I had never made that connection before. Influence and influenza are both contagious, the one to our benefit the other to our detriment. Our influence as leaders is intended to spread to others, those in our immediate spheres of influence first, and then to ever expanding spheres of influence. At least if our goal is to be leaders of leaders.
While the “flu” is indiscriminate in its spread, moving from one host to another by virtue of contact, influence isn’t nearly as spontaneous. In order to influence others, particularly in order to influence them for their good we must be intentional, and we must live out all the other qualities of leaders that Hyatt identifies. As we mature as leaders, we eventually become aware that our lives matter and that our influence must be directed where it will matter the most. The flu may attack anyone in its path, but we must not take that approach as leaders. One of the most important truths I have discovered in practice over the past five years is that I have the same amount of time in a day, week, month, or year, but I must invest that time radically differently if I am to be a leader of leaders. I must invest more time in less people in order to influence more people.
Let me say that again: I must invest more time in less people in order to influence more people. At one point, my goal was simply to share the truth of Jesus Christ in His love with as many people as possible, and to help as many people as possible to come to trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. As they did, I would help them grow in their faith, so they would influence other people to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord. That’s a great goal, but it’s thinking of influence more or less like influenza, rather than as a leader who wants to make the maximum, possible impact. For example, at one point in New Life’s history, I wore a lot of hats. I did a lot of the pastoral care, worship, discipleship and even a fair amount of personnel development. While my primary task was to have the insight needed to see what was most important for the big picture future of New Life, I was often caught up in the details of everything else.
Over time as we have seen God bring more and more people to New Life, and as we have helped them trust Jesus as Savior and Lord and grow up in Him, we have been able to add staff members who have skills in specific areas such as pastoral care, worship, discipleship and so on. We have made it clear since the beginning of New Life that each of us must equip leaders in our areas to develop others, but while the clarity of the task was never in doubt, I often did too much of the ministry “in the trenches,” and didn’t invest enough time in equipping and developing leaders. I also didn’t invest as much time as I needed in equipping myself, and gaining new learning from others so I could be the best equipper of leaders I can be. All of this stems from my understanding of influence. The question becomes: Am I going to influence a handful of people who will influence a handful of people, who will influence…., which means that over time we can influence a tremendous number of people, or am I going to try to “infect” everyone myself? That answer to that question determines the ultimate extent of my influence–and yours.
If you want to be a “hands on” leader–and we all start out as hands on leaders if we care about people–you will never influence as many people as you could if you determined to be a leader of leaders. The choice is always ours, and the truth is we must always be willing to be hands on in a particular moment, but we must always remember that in order to influence the most people we can, we must change the focus of our influence. It must become intentional and concentrated to make the most difference over the long haul. I hope all of us are in leadership for the long haul!
Here’s to leading better by investing our influence in fewer people (leaders) who will invest their influence in far more than we ever could on our own–today and tomorrow!