If you are in leadership (and especially if you are in church leadership) then you have probably discovered the reality that God loves you…and everyone else has an incredible plan for your life!
One of the struggles that a leader MUST wrestle with is who to listen to when it comes to making decisions. The Bible tells us that we should not lead alone (Proverbs 15:22) and the Bible has several stories of people who made bad decisions because they listened to the wrong people (see I Kings 12:1-16.)
However, in today’s society it is IMPOSSIBLE to listen to everyone…with the barrage of information and opinions coming our way via Facebook, email, twitter and other avenues a leader who tries to focus on the opinions of everyone will simply lose his mind and most likely his leadership position if his obsession becomes making everyone happy.
So…who do we listen to? Who is it that should ALWAYS have access to us…and we should ALWAYS desire their thoughts and ideas…here are EIGHT things…I should always listen to…
#1 - Those who know me, who have spent time with me and understand that there is a person behind the personality.
#2 - Those who have seen me at my best and worst…and love me anyway.
#3 - Those who do not automatically assume the worse about me and always give me the benefit of the doubt. (ALWAYS beware of the person who seeks to pounce on you as soon as they hear something bad!)
#4 - Those who are willing to stand with me in a tough time—THOSE WHO BLEED WITH ME CAN LEAD WITH ME!!!
#5 - Those who offer correction for the purpose of building up rather than tearing down (people who always seek to tear you down should be ignored! If they do not correct/confront in love then they are nothing more than a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal - see I Corinthians 13:1)
#6 - Those who are willing to take a confrontation straight to the person rather to an online audience.
#7 - Those who are not always looking for a reason to attack/hate you.
#8 - Those who have the goal of restoring you when you mess up and not wounding you!
(For further reading on this you should REALLY check out James MacDonald’s post here…IT’S AWESOME!)