Real Leadership Series

Several years ago, a 19-year-old man, desperate to get to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, hopped a bus and demanded that the driver take him there.

Some say the man was drunk, others that he was disturbed. Either way, only a few of the passengers were concerned, and everyone stayed calm.

That’s because the hijacker wasn’t holding a gun, waving a knife, or carrying a bomb. He was completely unarmed. Also, the bus he wanted to hijack was already headed to Haneda Airport.

The harmless hijacker was quickly arrested. The Tokyo Times commented that the man “just wanted to make a scene; which if nothing else, he did manage to do successfully.” (“Hopeless Hijacker,” www.Tokyotimes.org, 3-24-05; www.PreachingToday. com)

There are a lot of people who want to make a scene. They want to be the center of attention, but that does not make them a real leader.

After all, if your objective is to keep people happy, take them only where they WANT to go. However, a real leader takes people where they NEED to go even if they don’t want to go there at first. It’s like Tom Landry once said, “Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.”

So how does a real leader do that? How does a real leader influence people to achieve more than they ever thought they could? How does a real leader motivate people to be all that God has called them to be?

This is an important question for parents and grandparents, for business leaders and teachers, and for anyone who wants to be a positive influence on others. How does a real leader inspire people to real greatness? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Joshua 18, Joshua 18, where we see how Joshua effectively led an obstinate, stiff-necked people to possess the land God had promised them.

Joshua 18:1-3 Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them. There remained among the people of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned. So Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? (ESV)

The people of Israel are gathered at Shiloh, the geographic center of the Promised Land and the spiritual center, as well. The tent of meeting, or the Tabernacle, is there, hosting the Shekinah Glory, a powerful display of God’s presence. God has subdued all their enemies, and yet seven tribes hesitate to take what God has given them. Instead of moving out to posses the land, they huddle together around the Tabernacle. So Joshua gets up on the side of a mountain. He points to the land surrounding them, and says, “Take possession of what God has given you!”

Joshua doesn’t have to say much, because the land is right before them. All he has to do is point it out and tell them to go after it. Joshua displays the Promise right in front of them.

He shows the people exactly what God has for them, and that’s what you must do if you want to motivate people to go after all that God has for them.

CLEARLY DEFINE THE VISION.

Show people the future God has for them. Display the dream as plainly as you can.

That’s what a government worker did for John Ortberg and 150 others reporting for jury duty. As Ortberg tells the story:

“It was 9:00 on a Monday morning and [he] was one of 150 unhappy campers sitting on plastic chairs crammed into a sterile basement room in the San Mateo County Courthouse, reporting for jury duty. They all had one thing in common: They wanted to be somewhere else.

“Until Larry happened.

“Larry works for the government, and however much we pay him, it's not enough,” Ortberg says. “In a few short minutes, [Larry] won over the crowd of prospective jurors and infused [them] with a sense of honor and purpose. ‘I know you're all busy people,’ he said. ‘But I want to say thank you. I want to tell you, on behalf of the judges and our legal system and the county of San Mateo and, really, our nation, we're grateful for your service.’

“Although almost no one is happy about getting a summons to jury duty, Larry said, it's actually incredibly meaningful, and it's the foundation of a justice system in which people have a right to trial by a jury of their peers. He told [them] a story about a ninety-five-year-old woman who was no longer able to drive, but who took three buses to get to the courthouse so she could serve. When she arrived, Larry asked her, ‘Did you call ahead like you're supposed to, to find out if you're even needed for jury duty?’ She said, ‘I couldn't. I don't have one of those push-button phones.’ Turns out, she still had a rotary dial phone.