Leadership: Building Trust, Bearing Pain, Bringing Hope

People ask me on occasion what my definition of leadership is - in my own words.

Here goes: a leader builds trust, bears pain, and brings hope.

And I’ve got hope on my mind this week.

We’re tipping into Easter, the time where Christians around the world celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the source of true hope. For those who live out their faith in the midst of their leadership (which is the majority of the leaders I serve), we are not the source of hope. It does not derive from ourselves. It comes from what we celebrate this Easter weekend.   

As I think about hope, I was reminded of Emily Dickinson’s short, but meaningful poem on hope.

Hope is not a feeling.

It’s not crossing our fingers and “thinking good thoughts” or simply wishing for the best.

It’s not the same thing as optimism.

It’s a faith rooted in what is to come.

And for me, as a leader and as a human, the source of my hope is found in am empty tomb. I believe Jesus is the ultimate leader, who built trust with us, who bore our pain (and still does), and who brings our ultimate hope. And this makes me grateful. He is the kind of leader I want to follow with my life.

May you have a wonderful, meaningful, hope-filled Easter.