Servant Leadership: Build Them Up

Trump on Twitter or Tebow on LinkedIn? (I’m still not revealing who I’m voting for in November – that’s a personal choice.)

I follow Tim Tebow on LinkedIn. Each day, Tebow posts a handful of videos and notes about leadership. From a servant leader’s viewpoint, it’s clear that Tebow is either a natural born servant leader, or he’s surrounded himself with advisors who keep him on that path. In today’s LinkedIn post, (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/timtebow15_true-leadership-isnt-just-about-being-able-activity-6681636453807636480-WRmi) Tebow says simply that a leader’s job is more than just identifying a team member’s strengths and weaknesses: “It is about teaching them how to improve those weaknesses and how to capitalize on those strengths.”

Think about that for a second.

Thirty-two-year-old Tebow has seen some ups and downs in his career. He is a three-time New York Times Bestselling Author, a Heisman Trophy winner, and a former professional football quarterback who currently plays outfield for the Syracuse Mets, the Triple-A feeder team for the New York Mets. He is the chairman of the foundation that carries his name and whose mission statement is “To bring faith, hope and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need.” The Tim Tebow Foundation (Administrative Note: I am a member of the Tim Tebow Foundation.) claims Urban Meyer as a board member. Tebow has learned from some of the best, and he has had the opportunity to use his leadership skills in his young career.

So, what is so important about improving weaknesses and capitalizing on strengths that I would devote an entire blog entry to it?

To borrow and twist a phrase from President Ronald Reagan, most people live their entire lives wondering if they made an impact, servant leaders don’t have that problem. Servant leaders, like Tebow, look for ways to make an impact every day. Servant leaders look to build up, to help others improve. Businesses run by servant leaders are successful because everyone is pulling for the success of everyone else. When servant leaders celebrate a co-worker overcoming a weakness, they are celebrating the strength of the business.

Likewise, servant leaders don’t look for opportunities to exploit a co-worker’s weakness. Servant leaders don’t see another’s weakness as his or her own opportunity to advance. Instead, servant leaders put their own finger in the hole, actively work with the co-worker to bridge the gap, make themselves available to shore up the co-worker’s foundation, and steadily support the co-worker as he or she overcomes a weakness and advances. The servant leader honestly celebrates that co-worker’s achievements. In return, the business thrives, and when someone sees a weakness in the servant leader, he or she is more apt to return the favor, not crush the competition.

Finally, actively helping team members overcome their weaknesses is Biblical truth.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,” (1 Thes 5:11, NIV)

“Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.” (2 Cor 12:19, NIV)

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Eph 4:29, NIV)

So, be vigilant, servant leader, and look for opportunities every day to strengthen each other. Don’t shy away from weakness. Instead, use it as an opportunity to help – to fill a gap – to make each other better. When we do that, we fulfill God's purpose in our lives and everyone wins.

(Photo: the Tim Tebow Foundation)