Leadership: A Person of Influence

For a leader to be relevant he must be able to meet his people where they are so that they can relate to him.

Jesus is a good example of meeting people where they are.  He could have come to Earth in the form of an Almighty Deity – He literally is one, anyway.  Instead of doing that He chose to come to us as a man so that it will be easier for us to approach Him, for He wanted us to come to Him, and He spent His life drawing people to Himself.

It’s absolutely important to be genuine to your people.  When you’re happy, they understand why because your reason is also their reason to be happy.  When you’re sad, they understand why because your reason is also their reason to be sad.  They can see themselves in you in everything, from success and failure to good times and bad times.  They know you’re also human, with your own set of frailties and weaknesses, mixed in with the nobility and virtue you strive to live up to each day in your life.  You’re relatable to them; if you can do it, then they can do it, too.  Hopefully you’re an ideal that deserves to be looked up to, a good example they can follow.

Herein one will find the charm and charisma that are attributes of powerful and effective leadership: When you are successful in connecting to the people, you are in a position of influence in their lives.  You can lead them to where you want them to go, for where you go they also follow.  It’s no wonder then that we have a tendency to root for the underdog, for someone who is “for the masses,” because they feel that such a person is one of them.

At the end of the day, we all have the same common interest of having goodness and happiness in our lives.  We will all become leaders in our own right someday, whether as heads of governments and corporations, all the way down to heads of communities and for our own family.  Use your position of influence to push for the common good; doing otherwise is just selfish and a wasted opportunity to love.