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:
- Casting vision
- Modeling servant leadership
- Practicing gratitude
- Harnessing passion
- Doing things well
- Learning to say no
- Taking stock
- 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)
paulpetersonlive.com 
It only makes sense!
I have never quite understood why churches have attempted to model themselves after the business world when we have the the opportunity to learn directly from Jesus.
I am actually surprised that this has not come to the forefront sooner since leadership is exposed in a church where the motivating factors have to be almost entirely internal. Business can leverage the salaries of their employees while church leaders have to connect people to an internal motivation (the Holy Spirit). When the motivation is less tangible the leadership must increase.
Sorry for the lack of crystal clear thinking here! I am in a rush but needed to comment:-)