Leading from the heart

There are four things I'm asked to speak or write about the most: cybersecurity, physical security, writing, and leadership.

There are nearly endless resources for leadership. A few of them are good, but others not so good.

Since I'm being asked about this the most recently, I'll likely have a few other posts in this area. Still, this will likely stay at the top when thinking about leadership as one of the most important posts.

In the current stage of life, I'm in, I lead in four different areas.

I work with homeless and abused children and try to lead them to a way of life off the streets and one filled with belief, healing, faith, and positive momentum.

I lead a group of technologists to hunt down human traffickers and get the authorities' information to rescue the victims.

In my day-to-day life, I'm blessed to have a job I love with a company I love and lead a genuinely gifted department for that organization as a Vice President.

Most importantly, I use these three instances and others to lead people to God. It's a life-saving venture that I believe has nothing above it.

Yet, I'm only able to lead now because of recognizing the gifts that God gave me and being observant of those that were good, great, and bad leaders.

Almost everyone I've known in my life has had a bad leader at some point. A person above you that placed blame rather than taking accountability, who took undue credit rather than pointing to those that deserved it, who brought you down rather than lifting you.

It's important to recognize these things because they can teach you a great deal about leading others.

One place I learned the core tenants that I base how I lead on was working with the Teams in the Army.

I took these lessons and carried those through various stages in my life.

I was asked a couple of years ago to talk about this where I work. While the initial meeting it was requested for didn't occur, my leader took what I'd written up and asked that I share it with his team.

At that moment and others to follow when people would ask questions about what they'd heard of me talking about it, I realized many don't lead as I do.

Please, don't take this as me patting myself on my back. It's not.

Growing up, I never thought of myself as someone that would lead others. It just went against what I felt inside and what was being exhibited externally.

But as I grew in age, maturity, and awareness, I noticed that I was leading throughout my life in various ways. Upon realizing this, I learned the gift that God had given me and began learning and observing. I learned many things, but one of the key ones is authenticity.

The simplest way to put it is that I lead from my heart.

Since I'm now asked often to discuss how I lead, I thought I would put those principles here.

Some will think this doesn't pertain to them, but I believe everyone leads in one way or another. I hope these can help as you navigate that gift of being able to do that.

As with all things in my life, there are biblical principles to this. So, as I go through them, you'll see the verses I use to correspond to each, so this responsibility's weight is never lost with me.

With that, we'll start this list.

Ego has no place in leadership.

Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

None of us were born into our rank or titles. Most likely, we worked hard, continued learning for ourselves, looked to others to learn from, and so on. We were also likely in the same or similar position to one of our team members prior. If you make yourself unapproachable because all you can focus on is how great you are to have gotten where you are, you are not managing or leading. You will fail.

Remember where you came from and encourage those on your team.

Share the experience you have with your team and acknowledge that you don't have all the answers, and allow your team to help you. This not only helps with building avenues of communication but allows your team to build trust and dedication in themselves and each other.

Provide clear intent on your objective or goal.

Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

If the reason you are doing something isn't clear, then you can expect the execution of the project or task to be just as muddled.

Define your team's reason for action.

James 2:18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

No matter the situation or circumstance, as your team's leader, you must know your team's reason for action. This goes well beyond "they gave us an order" or "the boss told me to." When acting as a team, there will always be one unifying standard within your team. As your team's leader, it's your responsibility to define and nurture this.

Never go against a member of your team while others are present.

Matthew 18:15 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

When you disagree with something a member of your team is doing or saying, address this with them individually. You can say that this is something you need to discuss offline with your team member to the group. But never call out your team member with others there.

By taking this out of a public forum, you've shown that you respect them but, more importantly, you've reinforced that they can trust you to put your team before yourself.

You've also allowed your team member to speak to what their thoughts or actions are on the matter. If you still believe it is the wrong decision, you've turned a potentially embarrassing situation into a learning opportunity that will only strengthen your relationship if appropriately handled.

Cross-train not only with and among your team but cross-train yourself with other leaders in the organization.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.

Fundamentally, the primary goal for cross-training among a team is so the knowledge and responsibility of a role are not resting solely with an individual or a small group.

However, when appropriately led, you're sharing knowledge and investing in your team as a unit so they can then begin anticipating and participating in a project or task rather than just being a reactionary force. When you've led your team to the point they can anticipate and participate in a task or project, you will find that efficiency, communication, and accountability all increase.

To properly lead your team, you must understand the other groups that interact with and impact your team. By doing this, you're enabling yourself, and more importantly, your team, to have an understanding of the processes, procedures, and mindset of where their current or future project or task's previous and next destinations are. Rarely does a team's project or task only impact them. Knowing the inception and conclusion points of a project or task not only strengthens your team's ability to work together on the job but builds relationships and trust with the other groups involved.

Accept that there is risk and fail forward.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

There is rarely, if ever, an action, project, or task that doesn't contain some level of risk. Understanding and accepting this ahead of time is key to the survival of what your team is doing.

Suppose your team is led by the fear of the risk or failing rather than accepting the possibility and preparing for it. In that case, you will find that your failure rate increases. Lead with the mindset of adaptability, accountability, honest communication, and genuine relationships. You will see a drop in the rate of failure.

People constantly say that you should "fail fast," and this isn't wrong. It's just incomplete. If you simply "fail fast," you are hopefully gaining some wisdom and experience from that event, but you're usually spending most of your time analyzing what's behind you. When you "fail forward," you're still benefiting from the attributes of "failing fast," but you've never lost sight of your target and what your next objective is. By "failing forward," you don't lose but gain ground each time while maintaining objectivity and awareness.

Know your team on a professional but also on a personal level.

Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."

You may have someone brilliant in their skillset, but you are doing a disservice to them and the team until you know what makes the person do what they're doing. By investing the time to know them on this level, you learn what drives them, what gives them purpose. As you learn this, you learn how they best fit within your team and place them where they should be, NOT where they could be.

When you place a team member where they should be rather than where they could be, you create and lead a team that can work cohesively as a unit rather than managing a group of individuals working for themselves first and everything else second.

You must become adaptable.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

A plan rarely goes from beginning to end without challenges. As leaders, we must adapt to any given set of circumstances and know that how we react to these interruptions is key to how our team is going to react.

You need to be honest with yourself on how you react to unexpected challenges. Ensure that what your team sees is confidence in their abilities and yours to adapt to the challenge in front of you.

If you are inflexible in situations that require your ability to adapt to a fluid situation, you limit your team's ability to adapt to the new environment. This must not happen.

Take ownership.

Romans 14:12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Whatever arises within your team, as a leader, the responsibility for this falls on you. Take ownership of this and work to fix it but never lose sight of the fact that no matter where the origin of the issue lies, the onus of this is on you.

Speak last in meetings with your team.

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

In meetings with your team, speak last. As a manager or leader, if you start listing off items that you want to cover before giving your team the chance to speak, they will focus on your things, not the ones they may need you for. By speaking last, you empower your team to speak on successes, challenges, and other items while not focusing solely on what you brought to the meeting. After your team has spoken and their needs are addressed, you will often find that many of the items you brought into the meeting have already been addressed.

In closing, if you noticed anything, I hope that it's the fact that others should always come first when we lead. Many think it's about them, but it's not.

Leadership takes many things, but a few of the most important to me are integrity, courage, selflessness, compassion, dedication, empathy, and love.

Jesus gave us the best example we could have on leading, and that's a model I plan to follow as long as I'm able.