A few years back I was sitting with a leader at the beach and I asked him why his students and volunteers were doing all the work while he sat in a beach chair. The response I got was "I'm leading by delegating." That always stuck with me to this day not because it was a great bit of leadership advice, but because it was completely opposite of what I believe should happen.
Real leaders don't lead from an armchair, they lead from the front. Leaders aren't leaders if no one is following, and people don't want to follow someone who sits while they work. The kind of sacrificial leadership I see in Jesus is the leader that is willing to do the worst of jobs in order to make the ones they serve see they are more important than themselves. The perfect example of this is when Jesus washes His disciples feet. I would gladly sit and wash my Lord's feet. I would do it happily and with pride, but it is Jesus that sits us down to wash ours. If my God would lead from the front, how could I ever for a second think that I am above that.
So how do you delegate? Do you find yourself giving everyone else the worst of jobs and yourself the best most of the time, or are you taking the worst?
