Leading from the Old Testament-A Win-Win

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.  Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV)

Anyone who has ever worked closely with me can tell you that I love the win-win scenario.  You know, a situation where all parties get something that benefits them.  Now it's one thing for a leader to that, but it's another thing entirely for God to take that approach.

Being God, He could have just told Abram to move or else He would turn him into a toad.  In the Old Testament, God would take that tone with some of His enemies, but not those who sought to connect with Him and obey Him.  In the above text, God took time to show Abram what he would gain by obedience.  At later chapters showed, Abram didn't always get it right, but his heart stayed with God. 

I believe this is a great lesson in how to treat people we lead.  Even in situations where we could prevail based on our positional authority (and let's face it, God has all of that you could ever want), explaining benefits to someone and gaining their buy in is inevitably more effective

Leading From the Old Testamant-We Were Born to Lead

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)

I thought a good place to start with scripture-based leadership was at the beginning-Genesis 1.  During the Cration process, God declared that man (both male and female!) were born into leadership roles, having dominion over the planet.  While some have taken that to an extreme and used that scripture to destroy natural resources and polute the planet, it is undeniable that our species are literally born leaders.  Some may have influence over nations or large corporations, while others may only have influence over a few friends and family members, but we can ALL lead.

We were born that way.