Building a Healthy Leadership Legacy
It was an early morning of school drop-offs. One of my children had been successfully delivered to his school, whereas in route to doing the same for another was faced with some unexpected difficulties.
This particular day I had decided to avoid the highway and to take the city roads because they were usually less challenging with traffic. However, the closer I got to the second school, the more traffic I noticed. I could see tiny glimpses of the traffic on the highway from a distance, so I knew that something was wrong for the city roads to be heavily impacted by the highway overflow and to become a parking lot as well. Stuck at a traffic light, and less than 5 minutes from my desired location. A car in front of me decided to get out of our lane and go in the direction of the highway. Then another vehicle to the left of me squeezed into the space from where the previous car once was to do the same.
I knew that I had a brief moment to make a decision if I was going to stay in the traffic and go the route that was most familiar and comfortable to me or if I was going to take a risk and follow the two cars ahead of me?
I took the risk.
I'm not going to lie it was scary. I don't like to venture too far off my routine during morning drop-offs. I quickly turned on my phone's GPS. However, the familiar GPS AI voice that normally brings me some level of security and comfort was telling me to go back to the traffic that I had just escaped from. I took another risk and decided not to listen. Then I was met with another sea of vehicles seeming to move at a snail's pace adjacent to the highway. These cars weren't trying to go on the highway, they wanted to take a backroad.
"Did I make a mistake?" I thought as I now was in what seemed like the worst traffic.
Again, I witnessed a few bold drivers taking a detour to a smaller road. After about the third or fourth car, I again had a small window of opportunity to do the same or to stay where I was and follow the majority.
I followed the minority.
I'll save all the other minor details, but may I emphasize as I followed these cars in front of me not traveling a road familiar to me; I noticed that one by one, cars began to re-route to merge back into the traffic they once were delivered from. Until, to my remembrance, there was one car left in front of me. I felt to continue to follow him regardless of what was going on around me. At this point, my GPS was going crazy with rerouting options, but I ignored them all and kept following the driver ahead of me.
Could it be that maybe they traveled this road before and knew a better way?
It turns out that we got to our destination on time. Safely. No one was lost or late to school. By taking the risk and traveling in an unfamiliar area, I avoided the majority of the intense traffic and saved a lot of time.
Leader, the same could be said with building a healthy and godly leadership legacy. You're going to be traveling some roads unfamiliar to you. It's going to be scary, intense, and even questionable at times. But there are 2 things that I want you to take away from this:
Take the risk. Be willing to go where no one or very few have gone before. You may look crazy, and people may give you their opinion on what you should do or the direction you should go, but in the end, it will be worth it to listen to the small voice. Why? Look at #2.
It's always profitable to follow the instructions given in Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The word of God says, "broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are on it; but narrow is the way that leads to life, and few find it. To truly be healthy leaders and leave godly imprints in this world, we're going to have to be okay with being the minority and pioneering some things without the pomp & circumstance of the majority. Jesus has gone before us. Leading triumphantly! He knows a better way. He is the Way.
Scriptures to read and study. Matthew 7:13-14, 2 Timothy 3:16, Mark 8:36, John 14:6, Joshua 1:9, & Romans 12:2.
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