(AUDIOBOOK) 25 Essential Bible Verses for Christian Business Leaders

This is is an excerpt from the chapter entitled "Leadership":

Proverbs 29:2: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

Romans 13:3-4: “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”

The idea here is that Christian leadership in the workplace should make a difference. There should be things that the people in the workplace should not have to experience: racism, sexism, favoritism, or workplace violence. Any occurrence of these things should be dealt with swiftly and courageously. Courage may be needed to take actions that demonstrate unequivocally that these types of things will not be tolerated. 

There are some things that should be present because you are there: a sense of direction and purpose, a sense of fairness, encouragement, enthusiasm, relative peace, freedom to be creative, and permission for everyone in the workplace to do their very best. There should also be an assurance that good work will be rewarded to all regardless of gender, race, age, physical or other disabilities.

Reflection: Do you see yourself as a courageous leader? Would the people that you lead describe you as courageous? What things or people have you put off confronting? Are you “too comfortable” confronting? Specifically, does your confrontation style also convey a sense of concern for the individual and the organization? If you have a quick confrontation “trigger,” have there been a lot of casualties and collateral damage? How could you strike a better balance between needed confrontation and conveying in a genuine way that the person has value both to you and the organization?