By Steve Smith
A Leader’s Focus Leadership Thought:
Vision is imperative to Leadership. To get -where you’re going, vision must be sharp, clear, and focused.
Scripture Reading:
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. -Proverbs 4:25-27
Leaders must stay focused. Focused Leadership equals Forward Leadership. Unfocused Leadership equals Flailing Leadership. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word focus used as a noun means the distinctness or clarity of an image rendered by an optical system or the state of maximum distinctness or clarity of such an image. It can mean the center of interest or activity or close or narrow attention; concentration. It can also mean a condition in which something can be clearly apprehended or perceived.
When used as a verb to focus means to cause to converge on or toward a central point or to concentrate. It means to render (an object or image) in clear outline or sharp detail by adjustment of one’s vision; to bring into focus. It means to adjust to produce a clear image. It can mean to direct toward a particular point or purpose or to converge on or toward a central point of focus; be focused. It can also mean to adjust one’s vision so as to render a clear, distinct image or to concentrate attention or energy on something.
Leaders must stay focused on three main areas:
The Leader’s Lord
The Leader’s passion must be to please the Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do. If we loose focus of our Lord then that passion dissipates and our purpose becomes unclear and unfocused. This only results in a lack of true, clear leadership.
Leaders must realize and make sure that they understand that first and foremost in their leadership responsibilities, in their ministries and in life itself, their personal relationship with Jesus Christ must take priority over everything else. Without an ongoing, growing, close relationship with God a leader will surely fail. We must maintain our focus in life as a leader and if our focus on the One we’re following is obscured for any reason everything else in life will be out of focus as well. “Lord, ‘show me your glory’ and keep me focused on that more than anything else!”
The Leader’s Life
A Leader’s life must be irreproachable. If we loose focus of our daily life and lifestyle, if we fail in our daily devotional life, then our character will suffer and we compromise our leadership effectiveness. We must stay focused in our personal life and make sure that we measure up to God’s standards of what He expects of us as leaders.
A leader’s life includes all of the things he lives for. We must keep everything in proper perspective, in focus. Leaders must allow their lives to revolve around the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has called them to do as leaders. Yet, with this in mind leaders must also realize that their success as a leader includes the lives around them. A leader must never forget the many lives that their life affects. Neighbors, co-workers, family, and friends are all in audience to a leader’s life. Saints and co-laborers in the kingdom are as well. More important than this, though, no leader should ever overlook his or her family members. The Bible tells us that if we cannot lead our own household well, then how can we lead others well. It would be a tragedy if we led others well but did not make sure that we did everything in our power to lead our family well also.
The Leader’s Legacy
A Leader must focus on his legacy and this includes his 1.) Family, and his 2.) Friends. Interpersonal relationships in a leader’s life are important to God and they need to be important to us. A leader’s family is so very important. If we can’t effectively lead our own family then how can we effectively lead others? Our positive influence on our friends is important also. Do they influence us always? Or, do we influence them in a positive way? The influence we have as a leader with our family and friends only comes through continuously strengthening our relationship with them. This takes personal communication. This takes time and energy. This takes focus. What will your family and friends say of you as a ‘leader’ in the years to come? Focus in on this area and determine that your legacy will be a positive, godly one!
All three of these areas are strongly related, connected, and intertwined. If we truly focus in on our Lord Jesus Christ and have a true, pure motive to please Him it will cause us to focus in on our daily lives and personal relationship with Him, which is of utmost importance. When we focus on the Lord as we should, then the daily focus it will cause in our Life will cause us to focus in on our Legacy, the relationship we have with our Family and Friends. The desire to leave behind a good, godly Legacy will continue to cause us to desire to always focus our passions on the Lord. It creates a continuous cycle that never looses focus.
Distractions bring destruction to direction. Leaders can’t afford to let anything, small or great, distract them as they lead in the kingdom of God.
Cleat- vision for a leader is imperative.
Stay Focused!
The above article, “A Leader’s Focus,” was written by Steve Smith. The article was excerpted from chapter one in Smith’s book, A Leader’s Way Up.
The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.
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