I was thinking of an inspirational leader to highlight in the month of April and two things kept coming to my mind, Easter and one of the values of Live Lead Love Group, loving others. What do those two things have in common? Jesus. Easter is a time when Christians get together and celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of the main things Jesus taught was to love others. As often quoted from the Bible, Jesus taught to “Love one another.”
So, what does Jesus and love have to do with leadership? People throughout the world have varying opinions on Jesus and who he was. Christians believe He is the Son of God and Savior of world. That He came down to this earth to take upon Himself the sins of the world and be crucified and resurrected that we all might be forgiven of our sins and be resurrected after we die. Others believe that He was a prophet that went around and taught people religion. While others just know Him as a man that lived a long time ago that people tell stories about. No matter what you believe about Jesus and what He did while on this earth, there is one thing that is clear. He was a leader! Whether he went up to some fishermen and asked them to follow Him or taught people on a mountain or healed the sick and made the blind to see, there was one trait that He always exuded and that was love. Jesus loved everyone. That is what made Him such a great leader. People felt His love and wanted to be around Him. They wanted to be like Him. They were willing to do whatever He told them to do. Why? Because of love. Jesus never made it about Himself. He was all about loving and helping others.
On all accounts Jesus was a perfect person. He had perfect love for everyone. So, I would dare say that loving everyone came easy to Him. He even loved the people that crucified Him. But we are imperfect and oftentimes struggle with loving even those people that it should come naturally for, like family and friends. If we struggle loving friends and family, how are we supposed to love those that we lead or others that we may not even know? There are a couple things that I feel will really help us love others.
First, I think that developing emotional intelligence as a leader will help you find the empathy and compassion that is needed when dealing with other people. Check out my blog post, The Best Leadership Trait: Emotional Intelligence, for examples of emotional intelligence and how to apply them in the workplace.
The second thing that I feel should be developed is charity. Charity can be defined as the pure love of Christ. Again, we are not perfect so we probably will not have as pure of a love as Christ did, but we can certainly try. I also see charity as an action word. It is said charity is kind, envieth not, is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, and is not easily provoked.[i] Those are some good traits to have that show charity. There is one, though, that Jesus did all the time that encompasses all the other traits of charity, and it is quite simple. Jesus “went about doing good.” In other words, he showed His love for others by serving them.
Often, leaders or people in general, think it is all about them. They are the big person on campus and the world revolves around them. But a true leader, no matter their position, will go about serving others. It is not about them. It is about others. So, if you want to develop charity, serve others. By serving others you will love others.
Here at the Live Lead Love Group, we feel that loving others is a very important part of leadership and just making the world a better place. The world could definitely use more love. So, to end this blog post, I would just like to lay down a simple challenge. Jesus “went about doing good” and I challenge you to do the same. Do something good every day for another person that they might feel the love, and we can make the world a better place together.
[i] 1 Corinthians 13:4
Beautifully said!