How to prepare your soul for more effective leadership in 2022

Scott Cochrane Jan. 8, 2022

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There will be hundreds of posts readily available to help you set new leadership targets for 2022.

Today, I want to ask you a very different leadership question: "Is my soul in a better place today than it was a year ago?"

For 12 months of 2021 you did the hard work of leadership. You led through the crisis of a pandemic that has likely struck a blow to your team or organization. You:

• Made tough decisions
• Rearranged teams
• Disappointed people for a greater purpose
• Said "no"
• Challenged your team to remain engaged in this turbulent season

All of these necessary tasks can take a toll on the leader's soul.

The writer of the biblical book of Proverbs states emphatically, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" (Proverbs 4:23). For leaders, this means taking time at the end of a full year to examine the condition of your inner being.

So before you tackle another year, before you set down another list of goals and resolutions, take time to wrestle through these questions. Reflect on your last year of leadership:

• Is my heart towards people more, or less, compassionate than a year ago?
• Am I growing more (or less) irritable than I was a year ago?
• Does laughter come to me more or less easily than it did a year ago?
• Is my appreciation of natural beauty more heightened than it was a year ago?
• Would people describe me as more "winsome" than I was a year ago?
• Is my connection with God more fulfilling today than it was a year ago?

This list is far from exhaustive, but I would urge you to reflect on these kinds of questions before you even think about tackling a new hill in 2022.

Because while resolutions and goals really are important, a healthy soul trumps everything.

As the Proverb says, "everything flows from it."

Happy new year.

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Scott Cochrane serves on the executive team for the Willow Creek Association, as Vice President, International Ministries. He was born and raised in Canada, where he became connected to the Willow Creek Association, first as a marketing director and later as the ministry’s Chief Operating Officer. Following a five-year stint as Executive Pastor of a large church, Scott returned to Willow Creek Canada in 2009 as Executive Director, and in 2012 relocated to Illinois to take up his current post with the Willow Creek Association. Learn More »

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