Ambition

Leading with a Limp: Turning Your Struggles into Strengths
by Dan B. Allender, Ph.D.

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A reluctant leader gets to boast in the foolishness of God. It is this wise conundrum that sets the tone for the unique mark of biblical leadership. When something goes well, we are not to say, "It is all of God. He gets the praise. I was just being used by him." That is partly true, but not true enough. We can more rightly say, "I had a great idea, and I worked like a madman. But left to myself I would have created a nightmare. God turned good, clean bones into dancing flesh." The truth is that I am pretty smart and I work very hard, but the goodness of my creation, just like the breath of my body, is a gift. Can I take an ounce of credit for my mind or for my capacity to endure the high levels of boredom required to get a PhD?

A reluctant leader knows that her calling to lead is ridiculous, but she bears the high glory of God's decision to call weak fools into the work of leading others. Consequently, a reluctant leader smiles at the striving ambition of power-hungry leaders to make more and keep more.

Ambition

The ambitious leader pushes relentlessly to do more, to build a bigger organization, and to attract more notice. Of course the reason for building something bigger is always to do more good for the cause. We can serve more people if we have more staff, more airtime, and more money. But enough is never enough.

It should be clear, however, that the issue of ambition is not primarily a matter of size. There are organizations with thousands of employees that are not driven by ambition. Conversely, I've met leaders of organizations consisting of two people who burned with the frenzy of growth. The mark of ambition is the zeal for bigger, better, and more-no matter the cost to people or the process. The ends justify the means because it is better to burn out than to rust out.

Ambitious leaders sing the vision and spin the cost. Rather than acknowledging what must be sacrificed to move from point A to point B, ambitious leaders extol the need and the benefits of the death march. The ambitious leader has a clean-shaven face, a stylish haircut, and a starched uniform. He plays a military march as his soundtrack, and when anyone questions the timing or wisdom of the plan, that person is viewed as a troglodyte or traitor. Not so with the reluctant leader. He is more like the battle-weary master sergeant who has trained many freshly minted West Point grads in the realities of their craft. The reluctant leader has been to war and knows that almost nothing justifies sending men and women into harm's way. The reluctant leader knows that perhaps one war out of one hundred is fought for a just cause, so he is not caught up in the hoopla of bigger and better. He refuses to serve the larger good by telling lies to get people involved. When new buildings need to be built or new programs grown, the reluctant leader works hard to minimize the cost to the constituents and looks for every possible way of utilizing space or revising existing programs.

The reluctant leader is not looking for luxury or a large office, nor does she invest in the makings of a kingdom. One way to identify an ambitious kingdom builder is her refusal to plan for succession. There are countless horror stories about leaders of Christian organizations holding on to power late into life. Such refusal to prepare for succession in advance hamstrings the organization from developing high-capacity leaders at lower levels. Meanwhile, the top executive begins to see every potential leader as a rival and a threat.

Perhaps just as destructive as having no plan is the ambitious kingdom builder who aspires for his son to inherit his throne. Seldom is the son equal to the father, and as a result the organization becomes a shell of its former self. There are significant exceptions, such as Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, but the notable failures are too obvious and plentiful to mention.

The reluctant leader doesn't merely give accolades to others. It is her true joy to see others awaken to their potential and exceed their greatest dreams. It is the hope of every good teacher to have students who take their work further than the teacher was able to do. To besurpassed is the ideal. To be replaced ist he goal, not a sign of failure.

These are the hard realities of reluctant leadership. It is a calling that is ridiculous and counterintuitive and paradoxical. And the only sane response is to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. If you are in fact able to escape to a more private and quiet existence, then count it a blessing of God's kindness. He has decided to spare you the costly experience called leadership.

But there is another possibility. If God is real and involved in your life and wants you to be a leader, he will corner you and direct you back into the good that you are to live. So if God captures you, stop running, count the cost, and lead. The more passionately a leader tries to flee but is cornered by God to serve in leadership, the more clearly she understands that her service is an exposure of her weakness and a revelation of God's goodness. It is God's design to use reluctant servants to usher in glory.

Copyright © 2006 by Dan B. Allender, Ph.D.

About the Author

Dan B. Allender, Ph.D., is the President of Mars Hill Graduate School, in Seattle, Washington. He taught in the Biblical Counseling Department of Grace Theological Seminary for seven years, then was a professor in the Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling program at Colorado Christian University, Denver. Dr. Allender is the author of The Wounded Heart and has coauthored two books with Dr. Larry Crabb: Encouragement: The Key to Caring and Hope for the Hurting. With Dr. Tremper Longman he has coauthored four books: Bold Love, Cry of the Soul, Intimate Allies, and Bold Purpose.