There is always a price to pay for leadership. Nothing great comes cheap. There will be things you will have to deal with; if you are not ready to die, you will never live. Here are some of the killers you will need to pay the price to overcome in leadership.
a) Criticism
Being a cutting edge leader will always attract a measure of criticism. Most will be unfair but you must soldier on. Many will make assumptions about you, your life, your decisions and actions.
You don’t have to defend yourself all the time; you don’t have to explain yourself all the time because you are not on trial! If you slap a pig, your hands will get dirty.
b) Loneliness
Leadership that matters is not a walk in the park. It can be lonely. The burden of confidentiality, the burden of vision that is not easily understood and accepted will isolate you sometimes. You must not be afraid to be alone sometimes.
c) Opposition
Leadership attracts opposition. Because you are a change agent, you will be opposed because people do not ordinarily like change. Entrenched minds will seek to oppose you because you threaten their way of comfort. Be prepared to stand.
d) Betrayal
If you have not been betrayed as a leader before, please get ready. It will come somewhere along the line. It is a ploy of the enemy to derail your assignment, pollute your influence and make you bitter.
CONCLUSION
As a leader, know that some or all of these things will seek to fight you in order to stop you or severely hinder your effectiveness. I encourage you to never buckle under their pressure. Maybe at this moment, you are battling hard against formidable odds. My counsel is, don’t give up! Whatever it is, will never last forever.
Live with a sense of destiny. By this I mean, you wake up every morning with the deep-seated possession that, I WAS BORN FOR THIS! Wake up with the knowing that you have an assignment.
Right now, you may be questioning your calling, your ministry, your positioning etc. I want to sound it loud and clear in your spirit that you are in the Kingdom for such a time as this! There is something on your life. That is why you are still breathing; you will never die. I quote David Livingstone, “ You are immortal until your life assignment is over.”
Winston Churchill, the Great War leader was called in 1940 to lead Great Britain. He became a phenomenal leader in times of great national crisis. In one of his speeches, among the many things he said, he made this point. “ It seems that all my life has prepared me for this trial, this challenge.”
Whatever you have faced let me assure you today, it has prepared you for this challenge of 21st century leadership. Your pain, your shame, your setbacks, your betrayals are never wasted. You were born for this! GO DO IT!