Four Leadership Lessons I Learned in CCO

It happened for the first time a few weeks ago. Someone with whom I am working professionally (and closely) was unaware that I had served as a CCO missionary for 18 years.

I figure this is a fitting time to share with all of you four valuable leadership lessons I learned as a CCO missionary.

Leadership Means Self Gift

There is no such thing as servant leadership – either you are a servant or no leader at all. The key to Christ-centred servant leadership is wanting what is best for the people you lead even when what is best for them may not be best for you.

The key to Christ-centred servant leadership is wanting what is best for the people you lead even when what is best for them may not be best for you. Click To Tweet

St. John the Baptist models the way when he says, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Raising the next generation of leaders is something in the DNA of CCO as an organization.

CCO founder, Andre Regnier, was often asked by the Holy Spirit, “Will you allow a younger leader to rise above you? Will you be okay if a less experienced leader assumes more organizational authority?” Time and again, Andre responded with a heart-felt, “Yes!” Few leaders and fewer founders would comply so heroically.

As this has continued within CCO, many young leaders have been well formed to take on more leadership responsibility inside CCO and beyond. Andre’s influence hasn’t diminished, rather, it continues to grow globally as a thought leader in the New Evangelization.

Leadership Means Having a Teachable Point of View

A wise person once said that a leader with a point of view is worth 100 IQ points. Clarity of conviction puts you further ahead than someone with a higher IQ but no point of view. Passion is the ultimate advantage in leadership.

A leader with a point of view is worth 100 IQ points. Clarity of conviction puts you further ahead than someone with a higher IQ but no point of view because passion is the ultimate advantage in leadership. Click To Tweet

There is something even more important than having a strong point of view – a  teachable point of view. Leaders that are teachers are the best leaders because they are multipliers. They multiply impact by the clarity of their values and idea.

Leaders that are teachers are the best leaders because they are multipliers. They multiply impact by the clarity of their values and idea. Click To Tweet

Leaders with a teachable point of view have a clear sense of their values. Values are that small set of principles for which you would give your life in service. That kind of passion is contagious. Clarifying their values has been a decades-long pursuit for CCO. They have crystal clarity on a few simple tenets that have given them motivation and guided their most important decisions. In my time with CCO I learned that: Methods are many, principles are few; methods always change but principles never do.

Leaders with a teachable point of view are focused on a few transformational ideas. Transformational ideas often begin with a whisper but when fully embraced, they have changed the world. Think of Martin Luther King Jr’s iconic, “I have a dream speech.” Before he ever had the nerve to say those words publicly, he whispered them privately.  In my 18 years with CCO, I learned that whispers can be powerful tools of transformation when the Holy Spirit uses them to compel action in the hearts of young leaders. It all comes down to faith that, “God will do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine according to His power at work in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

Leadership is a Walk in the Dark

Andy Stanley says, “Leaders not go to places that their people have never been, they go to places they’ve never been!” Leadership is a walk in the dark, it’s building a bridge as you travel across it.

In my time with CCO, I had 11 different job titles. When I started with the movement, there were 6 people on staff, when I left I think we had 87 full-time missionaries. I’m sure they are well over 100 staff now. With each new position, came a new area of leadership. Time and time again, I learned that if change weren’t necessary, leadership wouldn’t be necessary because management would do just fine.

In my time with CCO, I had 11 different job titles. Time and time again, I learned that if change weren't necessary, leadership wouldn't be necessary because management would do just fine. Click To Tweet

CCO is a leadership intensive organization – requiring leadership at every level – because they are constantly innovating and improving. I was continually put in environments of leadership that I was neither trained for nor equipped to handle. But it was never so big a stretch that it snapped me. Rather, the consistent stretching inspired learning, prayer, inquiry and humility to ask for help. The best organizations are those that continually challenge their emerging leaders with just a little more leadership responsibility that they are ready to handle. I am grateful for this environment and wished that every Catholic organizations would embrace the same.

The best organizations are those that continually challenge their emerging leaders with just a little more leadership responsibility that they are ready to handle. Click To Tweet

God’s Curriculum for Growing a Leader

Leaders are learners. If you stop learning, you will stop leading. Period.

I have a Masters degree in organizational leadership. I have made every effort to study the subject for the better part of 20 years. My shelves are full of books that I have earnestly tried to assimilate into my own practice. And my phone has hours of leadership podcasts waiting to be consumed … again.

But when it comes to growing a leader, God’s ways are not our ways. Books are great, podcasts too. HBR, Inc. Forbes, Success are all wonderful publications sure to add value to any leader. But God’s curriculum is this: the school of adversity. I call it the diamond life.

When it comes to growing a leader, God's ways are not our ways. Books are great, podcasts too. HBR is a wonderful publication, but God's curriculum is this: the school of adversity. Click To Tweet

All of us are on a journey of maturity, fathered by God, becoming the leaders He created us to be. God forges leaders through hardship, difficulty and struggle – the diamond life.

Leaders are like diamonds. Diamonds are forged deep within the earth’s crust. They are formed in places characterized by intense heat, pressure and darkness. Diamonds are forged through adversity, difficulty and overwhelming circumstances.

But once they are fully formed then harvested and polished, the diamonds are resilient and, because of their beauty, often given as gifts for others. The best definition of leadership is this, “Leadership means self-gift.”

In my time of service with CCO, I learned that the process of maturity that God is Fathering us through can be intensely difficult at times BUT it has an end in mind. There is a goal. Its exciting, noble and certainly something to be desired. But it’s also to be feared in the sense of being pursued not as something to be grasped but received with right reverence and honour.  The goal is to rule in His name and for His glory.

Christian author Dallas Willard said it like this: “The primary work of God is finding leaders to whom He can entrust His power.”

It is common and sad but accurate nonetheless, that the story of some leaders is being entrusted with power and bringing harm to themselves and those under their care.

The reason for so much of the suffering we see around the world is that we have lost our kings and queens. Yes, we find men and women in power. Yes, they hold titles and positions, but they are not true kings and queens. They don’t operate as sons and daughters animated by the heart of the Father.

They are propped up kings and queens, leaning on their title and position to influence others. They wield power over people, but few have power with people.

Good kings are sons of the Father, matured through adversity. Good queens as well. They use all they have to make their kingdoms like the kingdom of heaven for the sake of the people under their rule.

Good kings are sons of the Father, matured through adversity. Good queens as well. They use all they have to make their kingdoms like the kingdom of heaven for the sake of the people under their rule. Click To Tweet

The entirety of your journey as a leader, being fathered by God through the diamond life, is for this end – to prepare you to handle His power.  Jesus said, “Do not fear, your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. And I confer on you a kingdom just as my Father conferred on me” (Luke 12:32 and 22:29).

Conclusion

I am grateful for the many years I was privileged to serve alongside some fantastic leaders in CCO. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to grow and learn from some of the best and for the gift of life-long friendships. Cheers!