Warren speaking about influence

From the Resurgence Conference recap (http://theresurgence.com/2012/10/09/day-1-at-r12-a-recap), Rick Warren spoke about influence, and I like the main points from the recap because it resonates from what I have learned in the past years about leadership from a Christian context. These are his main points and I added my comments regarding each of them:


“The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who don’t have influence.”

• Leadership is about doing something for the people you're leading (Nehemiah 5)
• It is not about over-lording them, but to serve them

“The pathway to influence is service.”

• Jesus, the Lord we follow showed us that to lead is to serve (Matthew 20:26)
• To impact others, it not just about words, but also deeds of love (1 John 3:18)

“Forgiveness is instant. Trust is earned over time.”

• Leaders are humans and will make mistake, so need to be repentant and transparent about our shortcomings
• To earn trust from others, leaders need show a character of integrity and proven track of record from past experiences 

“The price of influence is criticism.”

• Never can get approval from everyone, even Jesus was not approved by His own people (Luke 15:1-2)
• There is a cost of leading, besides time and energy spent, there will be people who will oppose (Nehemiah 4)

“The leader’s role is to help others use their influence wisely.”

• Leading is not about doing everything yourself, so that you end up all exhausted (Exodus 18)
• Leading is also about developing new leaders (John 21:15-19)