Jim Collins in his monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, wrote some prophetic words,

“Social sector organizations [e.g. churches, and other non-profit organizations] increasingly look to business for leadership models and talent, yet I suspect we will find more true leadership in the social sectors than the business sector.“

Secular leaders are discovering that there is much to be learned from the leaders of non-profit organizations, and in many instances, from churches!

Forbes.com has recently pulled back the blanket on some of these great leadership lessons!

In the highlighted study they found that, “It turns out CEOs may have a lot to learn from their counterparts running evangelical megachurches.”

The eight leadership lessons they discuss are:

1. Casting vision
2. Modeling servant leadership
3. Practicing gratitude
4. Harnessing passion
5. Doing things well
6. Learning to say no
7. Taking stock
8. Using the pulpit

(Read the whole Forbes article here)

The article states, “many CEOs try to improve their leadership through precepts that ultimately have a biblical basis. ‘In the past, the church would go to secular leaders for leadership lessons, but now, it’s vice versa,” says Doug Schmidt, senior pastor of Woodside Bible Church in Troy, Mich., one of the nation’s fastest-growing congregations, where attendance is more than 4,000 each Sunday. “The secular books I’m reading on this sound a whole lot more like the Bible.”

This is a great illustration of the relevance and effectiveness of a biblical paradigm of leadership!

(Thanks to Todd for the head’s up on this article)