A Leaders' Bias for Action

The important thing that shows us Moses’ natural leadership gift is not just that Moses notices and it’s not just that he’s upset about it, as important as those steps are. But what makes Moses a leader is that Moses takes action.

Again, it's the wrong action and we'll talk more about that later. But right now what I want to do is mark this important leadership principle here that I want you to consider: leaders have a bias towards action.

Here's one thing that's important about this bias for action: action separates leaders from critics.

See there’s plenty of folks in your fellowship that see problems and get upset about problems but have no impulse to be a part of the solution. Those people are called critics--on my good days I call them critics or analysts, on my bad days I just call them complainers.

Leaders and critics both share the ability to diagnose a problem and to be upset about it. What separates leaders from critics is that leaders have an impulse to be a part of the solution, this bias towards action to change the course of things

I have to remind myself all the time that we need critics operating in humility and love and grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to help shape our communities and point out where we need to grow. But that’s a different talk and that’s not why you’re in this room this morning

You’re in this room this morning because God has called you to lead next year and that means that you’re called to action. And honestly many of you in here may have been in the critic's camp to this point and for you to step into leadership is an important part of God’s work in you to move you past criticizing to actually participating in his work to bring change and transformation.

It is always easier to be a critic than it is to be a leader. Moses sees something is wrong and he acts on it. This impulse needs to be refined, but it is a good impulse. It shows us that he is hard-wired to lead and serve his people.