A few years ago a low budget movie became a box office smash. The story line followed a boy who had a mysterious capacity to see what other people could not see—in this case seeing and interacting with people who weren’t alive. The famous line in this movie, The Sixth Sense, was the boy’s revelation, “I see dead people.” It’s eerie but quite memorable.
A pastor said to me, “Big deal. I see that at every deacon’s meeting.”
Leaders, too, have a special intuition—a sixth sense, if you will. We probably all know leaders whose internal compass consistently works better than anyone else’s in the room. Everyone else is trying to find the right direction in a particular circumstance, and then this individual, who’s been quietly listening, speaks up and suggests a certain course, and everybody says, “That’s it. Of course, that’s it.” How did he or she do that?
I know leaders who can perceive the future better than the average person. They can see the implications of current decisions on future realities. It’s quite uncanny.
Other leaders can spot the one glittering diamond of opportunity where others see only a coal mine full of problems. I know leaders who can discern leadership potential in an individual the rest of us would write off.
How do you explain those mysterious capacities?
Recently I’ve been thinking about a leader’s decision-making process. What contributes to this intuition? Can it be developed?
For 30 days I tried an experiment. I kept a pad of paper with me, and every time I made a leadership decision, large or small, I jotted the decision down. After 30 days I reflected on those decisions to see if I could discern what factors informed my decision making. I wanted to understand this sixth sense, this mystery of my own intuition.
My conclusion? After considerable reflection, I believe that diligent, spiritually gifted, Romans 12:8 leaders will, over time, construct a value system and experience base that informs each subsequent decision. This process enables Spirit-led leaders to get wiser and better as the years go by.
As I looked at my decisions, four distinct influences became apparent. These four sources inform most leaders’ decisions, whether or not they’re aware of them.
What I really believe
One decision that landed on my desk during that time involved one of our Willow Creek Association international offices. A senior leader, who subsequently left our employ, had made multiple questionable financial commitments. There were no signed contracts or paperwork to reference, but people were asking us to pay them for work they had done.
When asked what we should do, I answered instantaneously and intuitively: “Pay them. All of them. Pay whatever they ask.”
As a Dutchman, parting with any amount of money is emotionally wrenching for me. But this decision was easy. I didn’t have to hire a consultant or consciously pray about it. It wasn’t even really economic in nature. The decision virtually made itself because of three bedrock foundations of my life.
- If I honor God in everything, God will honor me. This is not a wall-plaqued nicety. This is a bedrock, unshakable-to-the-core-of-my-being belief. I really believe that the sovereign God will show his divine favor to any leader who consistently attempts to honor God in absolutely everything.Conversely, if I dishonor God in any way, if I take shortcuts in life or in ministry, if I compromise my character, if I fail to keep my word, if I fail to obey promptings that he calls me to obey, I really believe that help from heaven is no longer guaranteed. God might give it in his grace, but I can’t expect it. And I’m not a good enough leader to lead without help from heaven.
- People matter. God has only one true treasure in this cosmos, and it’s people. Therefore, I really believe that if I treat as valuable what God treasures most in this world, He will empower my efforts.So whenever there’s a “people component” to a decision, my antenna goes way up. I often tell our board members: “Friends, if we’re going to err on this one, let’s err on the side of being gracious to people.” When we stand before God someday, we may find we extended too much grace sometimes, but we sure don’t want to find out we erred on the other side.In Luke 18 Jesus describes an unjust judge who had “no fear of God and no respect for people.” He didn’t worry about honoring God; he made whatever decisions would favor himself. And since he didn’t care that people mattered, he had no respect for them. His decisions were informed by a faulty belief system that led to corruption. My resolve is to never resemble that judge.
- The church is the hope of the world. Most people mistakenly assume that I’m pretty intense about everything in life. Not true. Ask my close friends. I don’t get amped up about restaurants, clothes, cars, recreation, money, politics, or most things in life. But without apology I get charged about this thing Jesus calls his bride, the church. Accuse me of being intense about the church, and I stand guilty as charged.I’m all over any decision that has major implications for the future, health, unity, or effectiveness of the church—I’m all over that. I’ll do almost anything or pay almost any price to make sure the church is well led. What do you really believe? Identifying your core beliefs will sharpen your leadership.
What would a better leader do?
My decisions are often informed by what I know other leaders would do in a similar situation—leaders who are wiser, more gifted, more experienced than me. Some of these people I know personally. Some I’ve never met, but they’ve mentored me by their books and tapes.
Different kinds of decisions prompt me to look to different kinds of leaders. Some decisions involve risk, and you have to consider a serious downside. The person who speaks to me most when I’m doing risk assessment is my dad. He has been dead for almost 25 years, but he still powerfully affects my risk management through what I observed in him.
Some leaders are extravagant risk takers—who bet the farm again and again. And what happens when you bet the farm again and again? Eventually you lose the farm. On the other hand, some leaders are risk averse. They never take a risk.
My father was a calculated risk taker. He provided steady, consistent oversight for his core businesses. But he used to tell me, “Billy, if you don’t take a flyer once in a while, you’ll never learn anything, and life will get very boring.” I think the expression take a flyer came from pilots testing new airplanes. My dad took his share of flyers in business—new ideas, new strategies, new products. He took some risks with people. Some flew really well; others crashed and lost a lot of money. But after a crash he would tell me the lessons he had learned during the adventure. And he would say, “It’s not the end of the world. And it was sure fun to try.”
My dad was almost impervious to the naysayers around him. When told his new idea was crazy, he would smile broadly and securely and say, “You’re probably right. We’ll all know in a few months, won’t we?”
He wasn’t a careless, always-bet-the-farm risk taker, nor was he risk averse. He just felt that a calculated flyer here and there would keep him learning and growing.
That approach continues to inform my decision making. We’re taking a flyer right now with Willow Creek’s regional ministry centers. We don’t know if they’re going to work. It’s a calculated risk. But what often gives me the guts to pull the trigger is the influence of my dad.
Some leaders bet the farm too often and kill their churches. They must have someone in their heads they really respect—maybe a commodities trader—who thrives on risk. Other leaders haven’t taken a flyer in a decade, probably influenced by a respected voice that says, “Risk is bad. Failure is worse than never trying.”
Who is informing your attitude toward risk? Is it the right person?
Many other kinds of decisions come to me.
How to handle underperforming staff? I look to two leaders—Jesus and Peter Drucker—and in that order. Jesus said, “A laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7). The implication is that an employer owes a productive worker appropriate wages.
Conversely, if a worker is not performing worthy service, their wages should cease or decrease. Peter Drucker told me once, “Bill, when it comes to paid staff, even church staff, non-performance is unacceptable.” I’ve never forgotten that.
So when we have an underperforming staff member, we call it what it is: unacceptable. Then we try to discern the cause. Is it poor job fit? Lack of training? Unrealistic expectations? We can address those. Or is it poor work habits? A bad attitude? A character flaw? An inability to work well with others? From time to time we’ve had to invite people off our staff. We do it lovingly. We often offer support and severance. But what Jesus and Peter Drucker said keep echoing in my mind.
Other decisions deal with issues of excellence. I think of two businessmen: Ed Prince and Rich DeVoss. They set excellence levels in their businesses and personal lives that seemed, as I began to really know them, so appropriate. Some people are too perfectionistic; others have an “anything will do” attitude. Ed and Rich model the right balance for me.
Another issue that lands on my desk is bureaucracy. One of our leading lay leaders will contact me totally frustrated and say, “What does a person have to do around here to get a simple yes or no? It’s been three, count them, three months since I asked permission to do this. I don’t even care what the decision is anymore or how you make it. Flip a coin, or call the Psychic Hotline. Just make a decision.”
This is happening more and more at Willow Creek, and it’s driving me nuts. But two business leaders that I’ve never met are helping me. I’ve read most of what they’ve written and much that’s been written about them—Jack Welch from General Electric and Lou Gerstner from IBM. When Lou Gerstner took over IBM, he said that getting a decision made around there was like trying to swim upstream in a river of peanut butter. So he declared war on indecision, and for the most part he’s winning the war. Jack Welch identified as his number two value at GE the ruthless eradication of bureaucracy.
When I receive an S.O.S. from anyone at church who says, “Will someone make a decision?” Lou Gerstner and Jack Welch come to mind, and they motivate me to take action fast.
So I’ll have my assistant Jean call all the affected parties to my office, and I’ll say, “We’re not leaving this room until we have an answer to the question that’s been waiting for twelve weeks. So, roll up your sleeves. We’re making a decision.”
I’m not advocating short circuiting due process. But timely decision making is essential for the life of a growing church. People deserve timely decisions. It wrecks morale to live in a constant stream of peanut butter.
There are many other types of decisions. For theological decisions I’ve had Dr. Bilezikian in my head for 30 years. With relational and psychological decisions I have two counselors who help me. In ethical and moral decisions my hero is the Old Testament leader Joseph, one of the few major leaders of all time of whom it was said had a thoroughly clean record.
It’s important to read, to be around other leaders, to be exposed to people and principles that will inform your daily decisions and influence your intuition.
Pain
The third major data source that impacts my decision making is pain from prior decisions that went bad. Sometimes someone will be trying to persuade me to go along with their concept, and in mid-sentence—almost as if they’re stepping on a landmine—I break in and say, “That’s not going to happen.”
When they ask why, I’ll say, “We tried that very thing 15 years ago. We thought we were smart and we got whacked. Then we tried it again ten years ago. We got whacked again. We thought we were smarter three years ago, and we really got whacked. We have exceeded our whack quotient. Sorry. Your proposal is DOA, dead on arrival. Let it go.”
One of the advantages of being an experienced leader is that you’ve filled a pain file with enough jagged-edged memories that your intuition is poised and ready to wave the “go slow” flag when the likelihood of more pain appears on the horizon. Younger, lesser-experienced leaders are still busy collecting their whacks, and that’s just life. Isn’t it?
Pain is a fantastic teacher. When I do mentoring sessions with pastors, after dinner sometimes we’ll put our feet up and tell each other the lessons we’ve learned the hard way, stuff we’ll never do again. And I’ve heard some doozies.
- “I’ll never make my mother-in-law the head elder again.”
- “I’ll never give a new youth pastor the church credit card for a weekend retreat.”
- “I’ll never let a guest speaker preach on signs and wonders while I’m on vacation.”
- “I’ll never tell the worship dancer, ‘Just wear whatever you want when you dance.'”
Pain is a very effective teacher. And it’s wise to learn from the pain of others.
Promptings by the Holy Spirit
A year ago I was being pressured by our programming team to decide on the topic for our January weekend series. As I wrestled with my decision, the Holy Spirit nudged me as definitely as I’ve ever received a prompting: “Preach on love.”
I argued back: “You’ve got to be kidding. That’s too mushy for January. People need their annual January body slam like ‘Fly Straight This Year,’ ‘Lose Weight,’ ‘Slow Down,’ ‘Get Out of Debt,’ ‘Stop Sinning,’ ‘Grow in God.’ You know, January stuff!”
But after a few days, the Holy Spirit just wore me down: “Will you trust me on this one?”
So I did a series called “Graduate Level Loving.” And it received one of the highest responses of any series in recent years. And it was prompted more by God than my pastoral common sense.
The decision to start Willow Creek in the first place wasn’t a carefully calculated business plan. It was just a prompting. The same with the decision to focus on seekers, to utilize the arts, and to do our believer service mid-week.
All this defied conventional wisdom. It was simply Spirit prompted.
So many of our best staff and volunteers wound up in the positions they’re in not because we brilliantly placed them but because the Holy Spirit prompted them.
That 30-day decision-making evaluation was a valuable exercise for me because it reminded me again what Scripture teaches: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, those are the sons and daughters of God” (Rom. 8:14).
Yes, we must use wisdom and good judgment as we lead our churches. But just as surely we must keep an ear tuned to heaven at all times, listening for the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirit, who from time to time speaks into our decision making.
I used to think all leaders did this regularly. But I don’t take that for granted any more. Do you really have an ear assigned to heaven? Is there enough quietness integrated into your life so you can hear the Spirit when he whispers? Do you obey the Spirit when he informs your decision making?
The Holy Spirit is a supernatural data source all his own, a source that supercedes all the other data sources and sharpens your sixth sense as a leader.
—Bill Hybels is pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. Iused to think all leaders did this regularly. But I don’t assume that anymore.
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