Who Am I Writing For?

When I started writing this book, I thought I was writing it for leaders.

All leaders.

After all, leadership is universal. Whether you’re leading a church, a business, a nonprofit, a classroom, a team, or a family, many of the fundamental questions of leadership are the same.

But something has happened as I’ve written.

The clearer the book has become, the clearer the audience has become too.

I know who I’m talking to.

Kingdom-minded leaders

I’m writing primarily for leaders who see leadership as something they’ve been entrusted with.

Leaders who believe their influence, position, and authority aren’t simply things they’ve earned. They’re gifts from God and opportunities to steward well.

I think of them as kingdom-minded leaders.

And I don’t just mean pastors.

Some of the leaders I have in mind will lead churches and ministries. Others will lead businesses, departments, nonprofits, classrooms, teams, and organizations of every kind.

They work in different places and pursue different missions, but they share a conviction: leadership is stewardship.

If God has entrusted people, influence, or responsibility to me, then what I do with it matters.

That’s who I find myself thinking about as I write.

Getting specific doesn’t mean getting exclusive

At first, narrowing the audience made me a little nervous.

Would defining who I’m writing for make the book less useful to everyone else?

I’ve actually come to believe the opposite.

There’s something freeing about knowing who is talking and who they’re talking to.

Think about listening to a long-form podcast conversation between two people from a world you don’t inhabit. Maybe they’re talking about entrepreneurship, coaching, ministry, medicine, or some other field entirely.

You know the conversation isn’t specifically aimed at you.

And that’s okay.

You don’t have to spend the whole time wondering, Is this for me? You can simply listen to a clear, honest conversation and take whatever is useful from it.

That’s how I’ve come to think about this book.

I want to be clear about where I’m standing and who I’m primarily talking to. And then I want to invite anyone who’s interested to listen in.

The leader underneath it all

There’s another reason this clarity matters to me.

The more I’ve studied leadership and the more I’ve experienced it myself, the more convinced I’ve become that Jesus offers the most compelling vision of leadership I’ve ever encountered. The more experience I have, the more profound his teachings are.

He knew where he was going.

He had extraordinary clarity about his mission.

He developed people.

He served.

He told the truth.

He confronted when necessary.

He showed compassion.

He entrusted meaningful responsibility to others.

And he ultimately measured greatness very differently than the world around him did.

I want the leaders who already follow Jesus to see more clearly what his way of leadership means for the way we lead today.

But I also hope someone who doesn’t share my faith can read this book and discover something compelling there.

Because I believe when leaders lead in the way of Jesus, people thrive.

Teams get healthier.

People grow.

Organizations become places where human beings can do meaningful work and become better along the way.

That’s the kind of leadership I want to keep becoming more like myself.

And it’s the kind of leadership I want this book to help multiply.

Come join the conversation

So if this sounds like you, I’m excited to share the finished book with you someday.

I’m writing with you in mind.

And if someone came to mind while you were reading this – a leader in the marketplace, ministry, a nonprofit, or somewhere else entirely – invite them to follow along too.

I’d love to have them in the conversation.