Humble Leadership

O.K. So I'm at Catalyst and Malcolm Gladwell is speaking about the dangers associated with over confidence in leaders. He gives many examples from history of how when leaders had a wealth of knowledge and information they became over confident and it had disastrous results...everything from civil war battles to the stock market crash of 1929 as well as the current economic downturn. Because I love history so much and Malcolm makes things that would normally be mind-numbingly boring seem very interesting to me, I'm really enjoying his talk. Then he said something I wasn't prepared for...

"In times of crisis we don't need leaders to be daring and bold; we need leaders who are humble."

I love that quote. It has always been easy for me to admire the leaders who are decisive and swift. We often talk about how we shouldn't be risk averse, and I agree with that. And yet, being afraid has never really been my problem. If anything, I'm usually seeking out new cliffs to dive off of. My real problem tends to be pride and over confidence in me.

Don't misunderstand me; we should beyond a shadow of a doubt be bold and confident in Jesus. We should be sure that what He has started in us, He will complete. But we have to throw away the idea that somehow we are able to meet whatever challenges come our way because of how educated we are, or how well read we are, or however else we might complete that sentence. In short, there is nothing that I have done that makes me equipped to face the challenges ahead, but because of Jesus I can be confident of victory when I humble myself before Him and let Him live His life through me.

I must decrease...He must increase!