Lead Like a Mother

Last week, I kicked off our new series on leadership. Today we get to look at our first Biblical example, a strong female leader named Deborah. For the full post, watch the video, otherwise read below for the highlights.

In case you missed my post last week, I talked about different definitions of leadership. The one we’ll be using is:  leadership is influence. By that definition, we are all leaders. We all have the ability to influence people.

Let’s take a look at a woman who had tremendous influence over the people of Israel and see what leadership lessons we can learn from her.

Judges 4-5 give us the cultural, historical context of what was taking place while Deborah was leading (judging) Israel. Israel was being oppressed and the Lord heard their cry. He had a plan and was going to use Deborah to help implement it.

Did you know that Deborah was likely the only female judge in Israel? That was news to me and I find it rather remarkable. I can’t even imagine the kind of influence she must have had on her people.

Deborah would sit under the Palm of Deborah and hold court, settling people’s disputes. I love that she wasn’t hidden away and people didn’t have to go through throngs of guards to get to her.

She made herself accessible. That’s the first leadership lesson from Deborah.

Think about what that might look like in your leadership context. How might you make yourself more accessible to your people?

The second leadership lesson we take away from Deborah has to do with a man named, Barak. The Lord wanted him to lead an army of men against Israel’s oppressor. He was willing to do it, but he wanted Deborah to go with him.

Deborah agreed to go with Barak and she did. That was the kind of leader she was. She didn’t expect someone to do something she wasn’t willing to do.

That’s the second leadership lesson – Never ask someone to do something that you are unwilling to do.

This even applies in my own household. Whenever we get home, I ask the kids to take off their shoes and put them on the shoe rack. If I do it as well, my ability to influence them in a positive way is much more effective than if I don’t do it. I want to lead by example.

The third leadership lesson comes from Judges, chapter 5. It’s known as Deborah’s song and Deborah talks about how she arose as a mother in Israel. A mother in Israel? Hmm, what did she mean by that and how did it impact her as a leader?

The idea is that she wanted to protect and defend Israel, just like a mother would protect and defend her children.

Leadership lesson number three:  lead like a mother.

When I was the Director of Human Resources at my previous job, there were times when I had to deliver some unpopular news. I was never quite sure how it would be received but I always knew my supervisor had my back. He would defend me should the need arise.

Knowing that he would defend me gave me the courage I needed to do hard things.

Deborah, as a “mother in Israel,” also developed a maternal affection for her people. It reminds me of the quote by John Stott that I shared in my last post. Leadership isn’t about power, it’s about love. The motivation from which we lead should be love.

We will have far more influence on people if we lead out of love.

I hope you’ve found these leadership lessons from Deborah helpful.

The last thing I want to leave you with is found in Judges 5:31 and the final part of the verse says, “But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in it’s strength.” Imagine the sun when it’s rays first shoot forth in the morning. Talk about radiant!

So let us go be radiant this week and in the weeks ahead as we influence those around us.