Stop Enforcing Followership

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by Solanke BurningBushBoy  
12/09/2016 / Leadership

Was there a place he got to that he was not acknowledged as a leader? David ran to a cave to save his life, yet, amazingly, men ran and submitted to him there. They yielded themselves to him and he became a leader to four hundred men. 

Despite his own personal problems, he accepted them all when they came to him. He added their problems to his and provided a heartwarming leadership to these men who had different issues in life. 

He was able to defend the weak and gave hope to the hopeless. He ensured that he turned their lives positively around. He was one good leader that made Somebody out of Nobody. As they looked up to him, they found all they wanted.

A good leader will not enforce followership. He will be where he is, doing well what he knows to do and from there, people will come to him and then, his leadership starts. David’s location was not the factor that drew men to him. Be it in a cave or in the palace, people came to him because he had a life a compelling life. 

Men simply loved to be with him. It was not because of his profession, but because of who he was. It is not about where you are, but all about who you are!

A leader should not induce followership. In fact, a leader cannot produce followers; rather, followers will produce a leader. Followership produces leadership. The moment you realize that men are following you without any enticement from your end, you have become a leader. You may have a leadership title, but if you have no one following, you need to think thrice.

“So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them.” 1 Sam. 22:1-2.

What first took place was an unsolicited followership. When this was in place, he then became their captain. He didn’t first set out to become a captain only to later begin to enforce followership. He wouldn’t have been a captain if they had not come to him.

There is nothing else a man has that can make him to be a true leader, apart from his life. His life, if well lived, will produce the needed followership. It wasn’t his captain’s band or his stature that drew men to him, but his life. It wasn’t the cave and eventually the palace that attracted men to him, but his life. 

Ask yourself, do you have a compelling life? Is your lifestyle attractive enough to draw people’s attention? You have to stop manipulating, calling, begging and forcing people to make you a leader it is your life that will draw followership; which will in turn result into leadership. 

When they needed a king in Judah, they went for David. 

“Then the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.” 2 Sam. 2:4. 

Splendid! He became their king without any inducement. Even when the entire Israel needed a king, it was the same thing. 

“Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, Indeed we are bone and your flesh. Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them inTherefore all the elders of Israel came and they anointed David king over Israel.” 2 Sam. 5:1-4.

David never wrestled to become a leader at any point in his life. He did not kill or step down on anybody to get to the top. He was not a swindler, schemer or a deceiver. He was simply good at what he had to do. 

He lived his life and whenever leadership vacancy turned up, people remembered him. He ended up becoming a leader, because he exhibited a life that was worth following. For David, he had a magnetic life. The rich and poor wanted him alike.

Burning Bush Boy (Moses Ayodeji Solanke) is a Snr Editor with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and also a Christian Writer/Blogger – www.theburningbushboy.wordpress.com. He has great passion for enhancing the Christendom with media tools. He is married with three children. Email: deesolanke@gmail.co

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.comCHRISTIAN WRITERS

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