The Burden of a Leader, Part 1

Every great leader carries a burden. It's what makes you passionate, tenacious and effective. This burden comes from bearing the full weight of the organization on your shoulders.

After 9 years as a pastor, I came to discover one thing:  as a leader, no one in your organization can share your burden. Otherwise, they'd be doing your job. Somewhere else maybe. But if it were theirs, they wouldn't be working for you. This burden is yours and yours alone.

The sooner we realize this fact, the sooner we can star leading with maturity. Great honor comes to the one who carries the burden. Others watch in awe as we lead with the organization on our shoulders. We can spend our lives inviting others to share it with us, look for friends to empathize with us, even get angry for being the sole burden-carrier.

But there's a reason they say it's lonely at the top... it's called "the burden." And it's ours alone to bear.

Comments

[Travis Thompson]

I needed to read that. Thanks Ben . . .

[Robbie]

Thank you for sharing this. I needed to hear it. I am going to pass it on to some friends in ministry.