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Most leaders don’t burn out because they lack ability.
They burn out because their giftedness keeps working while their soul slowly runs dry.
And by the time they notice, they’re already standing on thin ice.

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One of the quiet dangers in leadership is that you can keep going long after your soul has stopped growing.

You can still speak well.
Still lead effectively.
Still produce results.

But inside, something has gone flat.

The well is running dry.

It happens when leaders begin living off their natural giftedness instead of cultivating an intentional life with God.

Giftedness can carry you a long way. Communication ability. Vision. Energy. Personality – they open doors and create influence.

But they can also mask an empty soul.

And eventually the leader who’s still looking good and felt alive not so long ago becomes dry, dull – and often a little sullen.

You’re still functioning, but no longer flourishing – many of us leaders have been there for sure.

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Why Leadership Should Get Better With Age

As I round the corner into my sixties, I’ve become convinced of something.

The second half of life should be the best! The years after 45 (which is when a lot of male leaders especially start to go into a crisis) should be some of the most productive years of leadership.

If you’ve paid attention to your life.

If you’ve learned from inevitable failures and disappointments.

If you’ve taken time to understand yourself and your calling.

Because by this stage you should have discovered:

• what your real purpose is
• what actually matters in life
• what doesn’t matter nearly as much as you used to think
• how to rebuild yourself and ‘strengthen yourself in the Lord.’

You’ve surely taken a few knocks by then, but if you’ve reflected well, those knocks make you better instead of bitter.

And spiritually something else should be happening.

Your faith should no longer be only about your growth.

It should increasingly be about what God wants to do through you in others.

That’s where leadership matures.

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Paul’s Coaching of Timothy

Paul gives one of the most practical leadership instructions in the New Testament when he writes to Timothy when he says,

“Set an example for the believers.”

The word example there is fascinating. In Greek it’s tupos, and it means a mark made by a stamp – like the face of a ruler pressed into a coin.

But Paul isn’t telling Timothy to ‘be impressive,’ he’s telling him to leave an impression.

Because leadership isn’t about dazzling people, if it’s about discipling them.

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The Leadership Lesson I Learned Too Late

It took me far too long to realise this:

If you cannot develop others, your leadership will not last.

We come and we go. Influence that only flows to you and through you eventually stops, but influence that flows through others multiplies. That’s the kind of mature leadership Paul is modelling and talking about.

And he says it shows up clearly in five areas.

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The Five Marks of an Example Believer

Paul tells Timothy to make an impression in:

Speech
How you talk. Whether your words build people up – or tear them down.

Conduct
The way you live when nobody’s applauding.

Love
How you treat people – especially the ones who cannot help your progress but you can help them.

Faith
Your actual walk with God, not just your ministry or talk about Him.

Purity
Your integrity, especially in relationships with those you might be attracted to or those who are attracted to you (thankfully that part happens less when you’re older 🙂

All FIVE matter because if you fail publicly in one of these areas, the truth is it messes everything up because leadership is built on trust and character failure unravels all that charisma gain in no time.

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Watch Your Doctrine – But Watch Your Life Too

Paul then says something leaders must never forget:

“Watch your life and doctrine closely.”

Truth matters; Belief matters.

But behaviour matters too.

There’s always a connection between your interior life and your exterior leadership.

If the inside weakens, the outside eventually collapses.

So watch it and watch out, because people are watching. And more important, God is too.

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Stay Sharp

Paul finishes with a word every leader needs.

Persevere.

Stay sharp. A blade that isn’t sharpened becomes dull.
And dull tools make the work harder than it needs to be.

The same is true of the soul.

If you stop sharpening your inner life, eventually leadership becomes heavy.

But if and when you keep tending to the soul, Paul says:

“You will save both yourself and your hearers.”

That’s leadership longevity and formation at its best.

Sharpen yourself and you will shape others.

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One Question Every Leader Should Ask

Ask yourself now:

Am I living off giftedness – or from intentional formation?

Giftedness may open doors. But only formation of character will keep you there.

I am praying for you as you read and please pray for me too now because it’s only if you keep sharpening the blade of your soul, that the later years of leadership will become your strongest, joy filled and most fruitful yet.

Not because you’re more impressive, but because your life leaves a deeper impression on others.

QUICK NOTE:

I have come off social media except Linkedin because I wasn’t liking what it was doing to my soul. If you don’t want to miss my blogs please take a moment to subscribe right now. Thank you!

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