We need better leaders than came before

November 10, 2010 in Leadership, Movement Building with 9 Comments

“In building a movement, the students currently involved have to be better leaders than the previous generation because the movement is larger and more complex”

Brian McCollister (Campus Crusade director at Ohio)


I had never thought about it in these terms but it makes sense- If your movement of college students is growing in size and scope year after year, your students need to be raising up better leaders than they are.

But you’re probably familiar with John Maxwell’s Law of the Lid that essentially says this:

“If on a scale of 1 to 10 your leadership ability is a 4, the best you will attract is 1, 2, and 3 leaders. You will never attract 7 and 8′s.

7′s and 8′s will only follow 9′s or 10′s.”

In general I agree with this Leadership Principle and it relates to my earlier post on “Followability“.  I’ve found this to especially be true for men’s ministry: guys tend to only follow other guys they look up to and respect. They will not follow lesser men.

So here’s the question I’ve been wrestling with:

  • Taking into account the Law of the Lid, how is it possible for students to raise up better leaders than themselves?


What has been your experience with this?  What are the necessary conditions for students to be able to raise up better leaders than themselves? How can staff help them do that?



photo courtesy of bingisser

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  • http://Website G Runn

    Good thoughts Tim-need to give it some thought-but worth thinking about. GR

  • http://andrewjwise.com Andrew

    I think I have an idea of how you might respond but I think it will add to and clarify the discussion if you can first answer “Why do more complex and larger movements require better leaders?”

  • timcasteel

    Thanks Gary. Would love to hear what you figure out!

    Andrew – Great question – do you have any answers to that question?

    I would say just from a logistics standpoint, a larger organization brings with it larger problems and more complex solutions.

    Our current student leader of our weekly meeting has to put together a meeting that hosts at least twice as many students as his predecessor did.

    A student leading an area of campus now has 6 Bible studies and 12 leaders to lead instead of just leading his/her own study. They have to be leaders of leaders. Not just leaders on the front lines.

    Andrew – What’s your idea on how to respond to this?

  • http://andrewjwise.com Andrew

    My take:

    First, you always want better leaders regardless of the size and complexity of the movement, because if you have people with a better ability to lead others they are more likely to be successful in making multiplying disciples, which will increase the size of your movement and enable you to move towards the goal of reaching the target.

    As for the complexity created by a larger group, it seems like the additional need would be mostly managerial. In other words, you already need good leaders anyway. But now they have to be better managers too.

    So… in light of that distinction, here’s my two cents for students:
    1) Recruiting better leaders than themselves in general:
    – As a movement, focus on developing existing student leader potential (bring 4′s to 6′s). I won’t go into how because there’s been so much written on that.
    – When students are talking to better leaders, focus on vision casting. If you are able to paint a compelling picture of the cause, then you may be able to attract higher leadership levels because they are compelled by the cause. In other words, make it about more than just following you.
    – Build relationships with higher-level leaders. The relational factors introduced could help transcend the Law of the Lid. Friends are more likely to spend time with you and care about the things you care about regardless of your leadership ability.

    2) Recruiting leaders who can manage complexity (logistic / organizational aptitude)
    – Pinpoint where on campus these leaders are most likely to be. Is it an honors dorm? The Greek system? Student government? Send top people gatherers to these places and place a special focus on them. (Ex: your weekly meeting leader and at least 4 of your student staff began as freshmen in the honors dorm)
    -Focus on student ownership. When students are given opportunities to lead/manage, they are able to use those opportunities for leadership growth. Even a fantastic leader who comes into your organization would need time to get used to the way you function and time to gain the respect of the people.

    That’s all the thoughts I have for now I guess.

    I’ll conclude with this thought: leadership throughout the Scripture is way more (though not necessarily less) than people skills, so we should always be searching for and developing leaders that are mastered by the glory of God, dependent on Him in prayer and faith, and who are disciplining themselves to pursue godliness and holiness. Give me a 5 who prays and lives out what he preaches over a 10 who can get the most people to the Cru meeting any day.

  • http://mattmccomas Matt McComas

    Let me know when you get this figured out and can clue me in.

    In the mean time, thanks for using a Pac-10 picture :)

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