Lesson #1: If you feel it is necessary to continually remind people you are the leader, there is a real possibility you are not.

Lesson #2: Be Last.

Lesson #3: Praise Publicly. Correct Privately. Encourage Consistently.

Lesson #4: Listen and allow input. Never let yours be the only voice you hear.

Lesson #5: Leaders move forward and grow by looking back and learning. Leaders who are successful consistently evaluate past decisions to ensure better future decisions.

Lesson #6: Followership is a prerequisite to leadership. If you have a difficult time following you will have an even more difficult time leading.

Lesson #7: Be patient. There are times when no action is the best action.

Leaders are those within an organization who take responsibility for making decisions and bringing change. They empower people to discover and utilize their natural gifting, talents, and potential. Leaders are eager to move their organization forward and anticipate results. It is easy to act impatiently. There are times when no action is the best action. Effective leaders understand their people and develop a pace of movement that benefits the organization, even if that pace is too slow for him/her. The correct pace of movement comes from studying an organization’s past successes, failures, hurts, and assessing current strengths and capabilities. A leader’s impatience can harm an organization.

I have learned this lesson firsthand in my years of pastoral ministry. Not every organization moves at the same pace. There are those within the organization who want to see things move quickly. There are times when a leader’s patience will be misunderstood as a lack of confidence, fear, or uncertainty. It shouldn’t be. Many want the leader to just “do something.” Effective leaders know it is important to choose the best over just anything. When the times comes for a leader to decide, he/she must be decisive and take responsibility for their decision. Until that point, patience must be exercised so the best decision can be made and the correct vision cast. There are times when no action is the best action until the correct action can be taken.