Does A Best Leadership Style Exist?

So much is said [and written] about leadership. All questions are answered, it seems. How
should you lead? What are the requirements to be a successful leader? How should a leader
handle his/her followers? What are the better leadership styles? Everyone knows how to
delegate, discipline, and develop your followers. We are also taught how to determine and use
vision, mission, motivation and the like. In general, we live in times where the science of
leadership, in all aspects has been thoroughly covered. Or has it?
I have often queried the fact that leadership gurus feel so secure in their statement that a one
best leadership style does not exist. How can they make such a statement when they have not
properly researched the leadership style of the most important leader of all times? In my thesis
and subsequent series of books on True Shepherd Leadership [go to
http://www.shepherdleader.co.za for more details], I provide much evidence that a best
leadership style does in fact exist, and that Christians are in fact instructed to apply the same
leadership style. It is not as if we received a hint, pointing to the fact that if all else failed, we
could perhaps consider this as a last resort, or handy alternative. We are admonished to go and
do as Jesus did. We were supposed to lead according to the style that Jesus described and
exhibited. We are supposed to be True Shepherd Leaders according to the example of Jesus.
Questions that need to be answered are: [a] How did Jesus lead, and [b] how do we know that it
is the best leadership style?
Let us start with the second question, which to my mind is the easiest to answer. How can we
say that the True Shepherd Leadership style, [the leadership style of Jesus Christ] is the best of
all leadership styles? My suggestion to the doubtful ones is always to answer the following two
easy questions: [i] Was Jesus in fact the most important leader ever on this earth, and [ii] would
Jesus [being the Son of God] use an inferior leadership style, considering that He had all
knowledge from eternal past to eternal future at His avail?
Beginning with the first question, all you need do is go to your local newspaper to prove that in
fact Jesus is the most important leader ever. How does the newspaper prove this? Look at the
date. It declares that today, [whatever the date], came up a certain number of years, months and
days after the birth of Jesus. Wonderful is it not? Your calendar, diary, newspaper and
magazines all witness to the existence of Jesus. Now, how many newspapers have you seen
dated from the birth of Hitler, Kennedy, or Napoleon? If somebody had been printing such
dates on papers, I have not seen any. I will not spend any more space to prove that Jesus is the
worlds most important leader ever, but if you disagree, do some research yourself on who had
the greatest influence on the human race ever, and I am confident you will also come to the
same conclusion.
Secondly, how do we prove that Jesus applied the best ever leadership style? Answer this: Why
would the Son of God, who had foreknowledge of everything from the beginning of the earth,
NOT utilize the best leadership style available? In all honesty, I have not heard any worthwhile
argument against Jesus exercising the best leadership style.
But, for the sake of the doubtful ones, let us think this over. The eternal all-knowing God
provided mankind with a complete and perfect redemption plan. This plan was not only
perfectly planned, but also perfectly timed. Making a study of Gods redemption plan, you
cannot but stand in awe. Everything was so perfectly planned, and nothing was left to
coincidence. You can look at many examples, such as for instance crucifixion as mode of

capital punishment, or the total eclipse of the sun after Jesus death. Jesus crucifixion was
foretold by prophets hundreds of years before. The words that Jesus uttered on the cross are
recorded in the book of Psalms. There are so many facts making up the totality of the
redemption plan, that it is unthinkable that God would have left anything to chance.
Why then, would He not have specifically designed and planned the leadership style of Jesus in
the same meticulous manner? Jesus leadership style would have been perfectly planned as
everything else, and therefore I cannot be convinced that He made use of a leadership style
which was anything but the best.
Returning to the first part, namely what was the leadership style of Jesus really like, let us
consider a few facts. Jesus [again without coincidence] came to earth in a time when farming
[and especially sheep farming] was well-known and widely practiced. If a person came to any
local school today and started talking about the behaviour of mountain sheep, chances are that
no child in the school would have any knowledge about it. Not so in Jesus time however.
Sheep, sheep farming, and the behaviour of sheep were well known. Sheep farming were part
of the community.
Hence, unlike today, when Jesus declared I am the Good Shepherd, His audience knew exactly
what He was referring to. They knew sheep, and they knew shepherds. They knew what good
shepherds would be doing well and what poor shepherds would be doing wrong. They knew
about wolves, lions, and other dangers that threatened sheep. They also knew that there were
people out there that pretended to be real shepherds, but who were actually only doing the job
of a shepherd for the money they could make out of it. However, as soon as any danger
threatened, their loyalty to their own bank accounts showed, as did their disloyalty to the sheep.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the Perfect Shepherd. He is The Shepherd of all shepherds. Jesus
knows about the needs of sheep as well as the needs of shepherds. He is the only person to
have lived both in heaven and on earth, and having experienced the personal presence of God
as well as the physical hardships of mankind. Jesus is the only person worthy of being given
the title of Good Shepherd.
And when Jesus spoke to His disciples on this subject, and wanted to teach them how they
should behave towards their followers when they take over the flock after He went back to His
Father, He began by describing it in two well-known sentences, namely: I am the good
shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:11 KJV)
Is there such a thing as a best leadership style? I believe there is. It is the
leadership style of Jesus Christ, which I call True Shepherd Leadership.