“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

It would be so awesome to be able to predict who are going to become the next leaders in our organizations or even within our political system.  If it was orderly, consistent and predictable, how much easier all of our organizational processes and systems would be?  But, it’s not, is it? It’s messy and sometimes because of unexpected changes the next leadership choices can look and feel as if they were random decisions.  I was marveling on a senior leader in an organization where I used to work. Had you asked me back then to predict that this person would have someday been one of the handful of the most senior leaders, I would have been totally wrong.  But, years later, through many organizational changes, strategy shifts, people coming and going, this person grew, developed and stood the test of time, which is not easy.  So, we never know where our rising leaders are going to come from, so our best approach should be to look at everyone as potential for the future!  We will probably be surprised on who rises above the rest.

One predictive that we can count on comes from the words of the Apostle Paul.  If we want to rise to be leaders, let’s remember that if we do so with full humility that we will have the best chance of finding our way forward.  But, if we go into our work with our pride and egos leading, we could find ourselves being set back.  As we work to bring glory to God within our work, humility will always stand out as an attractive trait.

Reference: Luke 14:11 (New Living Translation)