I was listening this morning to the Entre-Leadership podcast and the interview was with the CEO of Southwest Airlines, Gary Kelly. We all know Southwest to be the innovator of all airlines and the former co-founder & CEO, Herb Kelleher, was the master mind of setting their culture and determining their direction. The question was asked during the interview about following a great leader and what are some tips for others in that position.
One of the privileges I have had was working with my hero and mentor and helping be a part of starting NorthStar. If you know Ike Reighard, you know he is a larger than life figure. He is an incredible leader who helped launch NorthStar into the national spotlight and put us on the map quickly due to his personal platform and connections. What God did in the first two-three years of the church was amazing and really set us off for a great future! When he decided in 2003 to pursue an opportunity with Homebanc Mortgage Company as their Chief People Officer and hand over the role of Senior Pastor to me, there were a lot of fears and questions that I began to wrestle with! Ike had done an amazing job letting me handle all of the day to day work of the church and helping to lead the staff but this was going to be a whole new adventure. There was absolutely no way I could replace him…..he is a one of kind leader and figure. I had heard of so many “martyrs” that had come after the founder and not been able to survive and make it. The larger the figure – the larger the shadow. Ike certainly cast a massive shadow.
It is now, 13 years later and I guess I have survived! Can’t believe that it has been that long. Not only have we survived, the church has thrived and had some incredible experiences during that time!!! As I listened to the podcast this morn – I thought about a couple of tips for those that may be about to step into that “shadow”:
- Determine in your own mind early that you are not that person but do not let that cause you to not celebrate who they were and what they did. I think so many times we want to create our uniqueness that we sabotage the incredible work that the other person did before us!
- Take your time! I believe that we are in a marathon and not a sprint. If we give things time, it makes the process more seamless. I look back over the time of NorthStar – we don’t look anything like we did in 2003 but we have not made huge deal about changing things….we have just adapted and changed over time.
- Let people love who you followed. It takes time for people to see you as the leader….but they will if you give it enough time. I remember early on how many times people would talk about how much they loved Ike and how he had said or done things…..I remember feeling threatened by that rather just saying “me too” about how I felt Ike. You have this fear that agreeing what a great person/leader you are – you are diminishing yourself…..but you are not. In reality – you are leaning on the trust that they developed from others through the years.
- BE You! God has created you uniquely with your own gifting & style….embrace you and be confident in you! This was super hard for me because I had grown up with Ike as my pastor & hero and it was super easy to emulate this awesome man. I had to make sure that I was leading as the man that God created me to be. Sometimes we can try to hard to NOT be them and other times we TRY to hard to be them. Neither is a good answer….the answer is being who God created you to be.
- Carry the vision. This is probably one thing that trips us up as much as anything…..we feel like we have been given a new vision and want to implement immediately and by doing so – we create distance with people. I believe that if God called you to follow this legendary leader, He will give you a new vision to build off of but part of that will be continuing what was begun and giving people time to see you as the one who now carries the torch. One of Ike’s greatest gifts is being a “vision caster”, he is a 100 times better at that than I am. He has a great ability to be able to paint a preferable future and get buy in. This made carrying forward his vision easier but made my stepping up with what God was laying on my heart a little harder. It was in 2006 that I felt that I was ready to begin to make my first big step into what I felt God was telling me to do! The great part is – the heart of Ike’s original vision we are still helping accomplish and living out and that is helping make the “great exchange”!!
- Remember it’s HIS church. At the end of the day – the church is not a person’s, we are just shepherds of His church for a season. We are called to love the church, love the community and carry His vision for that time. We honor the shepherd who was ahead of us and understand they would quickly tell us “it wasn’t mine either”…..It is God’s church and it will outlast all of us!
I am so thankful for the opportunity to follow an amazing leader! Getting to see someone do it the right way first hand was amazing! The great part – Ike has stepped into another church, Piedmont Church, and is now helping them discover the amazing things God has planned for them and their community!!!
mikelinch.wordpress.com 