All Hat, No Cattle

SUMMARY: Too many leaders today are proficient at rising to a position of power, and they might even have the systems in place to keep them there, but they have not moved the ball down the field during their time in leadership. They occupy places of importance but have no track record of impact. They are “all hat and no cattle,” as they say in Texas. Having a position of importance isn’t the end game; it’s the means to the goal. Leaving a footprint of service, blessing, and accomplishment is the best evidence of noteworthy leadership.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 12:11

After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for ten years. When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun.

Elon judged Israel for ten years, then he died. End of story! And you will find his administration not that unusual in the book of Judges. There were plenty of other leaders who occupied positions of import but had no track record of impact. They were “all hat and no cattle,Devotional ” as they say in Texas.

I don’t want to be a leader like that, and you don’t want to sit under the leadership of a man or woman like that, be it a pastor or a president. Too many leaders in our day are proficient at rising to a place of power and authority, and they might even have the systems set up around them to keep them there, but they have not moved the ball down the field during their time of leadership.

Now, to be certain, there is nothing wrong with having a position of importance, nor with desiring that. Those positions can provide much larger opportunities for impact. But a position of importance is not the end game; it is the means to the goal. Leaving a huge footprint of effective service, blessing, and mission accomplished is the best evidence of noteworthy leadership.

So what does it take to have both importance and impact? Let me offer some thoughts:

First, while you can position yourself to be important, I believe letting God promote you to places of power and authority is the better way to go. Of course, you need to show yourself winsome, committed, visionary, and skillful, but it is the sovereign hand of God that is the greatest PR machine in the universe. Let God promote you.

Second, get a vision—and not just a vision for your own fame or success. How will the people you lead be better off because of your leadership? How will your organization—family, church, business, community—creatively and compellingly make a difference by collaboratively marshaling your corporate energies to do what you do? Just how do you expect to change the world?

Third, make sure you have the character to match your charisma. Charisma will attract followers; character will keep you in leadership.

Fourth, serve the people you lead. They best lead who serve—a philosophy that is not talked about all that much in our culture, but was clearly modeled by the greatest leader of all time, Jesus Christ. Leaders of impact are truly servants of the public.

Fifth, through your influence, make it your chief aim to make Jesus famous. I am not speaking only of what we would term “spiritual leaders,” pastor types. In whatever you do—at home, in the marketplace, in the academe, in the halls of government—you are on duty for Christ. As the Apostle Paul says, “In whatever you do, do it with all your might, as serving the Lord, not men; it is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

If you desire to lead, you desire a good thing. But check your motives, make sure your goals are worthy, submit yourself to God, get filled with his Spirit, then get out there to serve the people and to make Jesus famous.