When Joseph’s brothers realized that the one they had betrayed could now do with them as he pleased, they feared payback. Instead of retaliating, Joseph did the unexpected; Joseph blessed them and empowered them to complete the task that had brought them to Egypt. Read Genesis 45:4-7.

Each of us can learn from Joseph traits that will empower our leadership to go to the next level. Joseph had several qualities that made him an empowering leader:

Problems are part of every leader’s life. Effective leaders do not let problems paralyze them; they know that solutions usually exist. Read Genesis 37:5-36; 39:1-41:16.

Joseph dealt with everything from being tossed in a pit by his brothers and left to die, to being sold into slavery and transported to a foreign country, to false imprisonment and yet these problems did not stop him. Joseph could have taken any of these “problems” and lost faith in his situation and in God. It would be very difficult to imagine how long the last two years in prison seemed to Joseph after the release of Pharaoh’s cupbearer who had promised to speak to Pharaoh on Joseph’s behalf because Joseph had correctly interpreted his dream. If Joseph had put his faith in people instead of God, this incident could have crushed his spirit.

Effective leaders find a way for their team to win. Good leaders will give whatever it takes; they find a way to achieve their goals. Read Genesis 29:16-30.

Jacob worked seven years for his uncle Laban for the hand of his daughter Rachel, a woman he loved. On their wedding night Laban substituted his older daughter Leah and Jacob did not discover the deception until the morning after.

When defining leadership, many people have used the very succinct definition by J. Oswald Sanders where he simply states “Leadership is influence.” Every leader has a sphere of influence, people to whom their influence is direct and an extended sphere of influence where their influence is transferred through the next generation. According to Genesis 6:9 God chose Noah to be an influencer of an entire world starting over because “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time and he walked with God.” Read Genesis 6-11.

Just a glimpse at Noah’s sphere of influence comes when we understand a few facts about Noah’s life.

God established purpose for lives He created. Read Genesis 1:22-25.

God gave His creation a charge to “Be fruitful and multiply…each according to its kind.” Life needs purpose. Among the most unhappy individuals in my sphere of influence are those who do not know why they are here and what God wants them to accomplish. They are seeking direction and purpose.