Every great leader has the ability to relate to their team and people in their sphere of influence. If you want to be a superior leader, you must learn to connect with people. Relational leadership dramatically raises your influence as a leader. Team loyalty requires that you relate with your team through empathy, understanding, truth, fairness, respect, and mutual accountability. If a leader will give of themselves in these areas to their team, their team will be loyal and will follow their leadership anywhere. Ignore the need for connection and your leadership influence will be limited or a disaster. Read 1 Kings 12:1-24.

King Rehoboam had an opportunity to make some reasonable concessions to the people of the nation of Israel in the early days of his leadership that would indicate he understood their situation, empathized with their circumstances and would be fair in his leadership. Even when the previous king’s closest advisers counseled Rehoboam that he could win the people’s hearts forever by lightening their workload and tax burden, he turned a deaf ear to the people’s need. Read more »

All of us have met or served with leaders who read one too many of their own press clippings and started to believe what they were reading. They forgot that they did not achieve any victory alone. Effective leaders understand the value of their team and are fiercely loyal to them. Read 2 Samuel 23:8-35.

David led one of the most famous teams written about in the Bible. Some of the battle feats are so phenomenal that if we saw them reenacted in a movie we would immediately assume the story was fictional. Josheb-Basshebeth “raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter” (v. 8). Another one of David’s Mighty Men was Eleazar who, when all the rest of the army retreated “…stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword….The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead” (v. 10). Eleazar single-handedly defeated the troops that put the rest of the army to flight. This team was so important to David that he named them individually in chapter 23. Read more »

The term “building alliances” seems to be replaced in today’s language by the term “networking.” Whether you use the term alliances or network, effective leaders pay attention to this function of leadership. Read 2 Samuel 15:32-36 and 16:15-17:23.

David used his resources to help others succeed. He genuinely befriended people and repaid loyalty. Because of these things he had loyal friends who were willing to invest their resources in his continued success. Read more »

Leadership is a gift from God. Everyone is a leader to some degree in their home, in a peer group, etc., but a select few are given more influence and given the privilege of serving others in a leadership capacity in their church, work, play, community, or nation. Wise leaders take their leadership responsibility seriously and understand that loyalty will be earned through their consistency over a period of time. Effective leaders understand the “two way” nature of loyalty and serve with consistency while continuing to strengthen the bond of loyalty. When the leader fails in their leadership responsibilities respect can erode and loyalty can be lost. Read 2 Samuel 15:1-37.

Sometime after he returns to Jerusalem following the murder of his brother Amnon, Absalom rises to power and assumes a position of leadership in Israel. In the intervening years he becomes a stronger, more forceful leader than his father, David. He wins the people’s loyalty. Read more »

A leader’s humility is sometimes measured by the manner in which they handle loss. Humble leaders don’t point fingers. They accept that even their best effort sometimes isn’t enough. On other occasions a leader’s humility is measured by how well they handle real or potential victories. Humble leaders treat even rivals with honor. Read 1 Samuel 24.

If ever a leader had a reason to grasp victory and gloat, it was David. David had been loyal to God and to Saul. He had not tried to steal Saul’s throne even though he knew God had anointed him as Israel’s next king. David’s only “crime” that had angered Saul was his devotion to God and the courage to defeat the Philistine soldier Goliath which gave him instant fame among the people of Israel. Read more »