What if one of the earliest and most compelling examples of executive coaching is found in the Bible? I want to offer that perspective through the account of Jethro advising Moses, one of history’s most consequential leaders. Their interaction in Exodus 18 offers a timely picture of what many leaders still need today: wise counsel, shared leadership, and the humility to accept help.
In Exodus 18, the relationship between Moses and his “advisor/coach/father-in-law,” Jethro, points to a primary fallacy in leadership:
Scripture also offers a solution for overcoming that misconception: leadership is to be shared.
If you want to be respected as a leader, and truly lead well, you have to remember that it is God we are all seeking to serve. That means we need a servant’s heart.
Cue the text:
“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28
With that in mind, let’s explore leadership within a school setting. I argue it is not a “one-person show”!
Often, leaders need to be reminded of this truth, or at least shown how easily this mistake can take root without the leader recognizing the burden and weariness that has become the source of less-than, or in some situations, ineffective school operation.
A weary and worn leader who has “lost his fastball” (sorry, I’m a big baseball fan!) can infect anyone and everyone.
In fact, the impact of some of the greatest leaders has been limited until they recognized their need for help.
Until the right partner—one who complemented, and was trusted by, the leader—was positioned as their partner, advisor, or “coach,” Lincoln, Jefferson, Ruth, Billy, and Moses fell short of their potential to inspire others and guide their organizations through difficulty in pursuit of greatness.
But once linked to the right partner, these “greats” accomplished in incredible ways.
I hope you, as a leader, aspire to greatness, but I also hope that you are humble enough to seek help.
Remember, we are all a part of the body of Christ (Romans 12), and therefore are built for fellowship and need each other if we are ever to be complete, including complete leaders!
Because my life has been primarily shaped by two organizational entities—Church and School—I hope to demonstrate how these leadership lessons can be applied by school leaders to the responsibilities they champion and the teams they lead.
Like Moses, Institutional Leaders (Heads of School and College Presidents) should focus on the big stuff.
At the same time, also like Moses, it is necessary and healthy for all other responsibilities to be shouldered by a team of capable and committed leaders who are uniquely gifted, equipped, and experienced (remember the Body of Christ) to advance the school’s mission through implementing its vision and strategic plan.
This matters because leadership in Christian education is not only about operations. It is also about preparation for Kingdom work.
In Matthew 9:37-38, Jesus emphasizes the urgent need for workers, stating:
“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
I believe this highlights the shortage of laborers to spread the gospel to all people, in all of society, through all means, including their vocational calling.
Schools, and Christian schools in particular, are instruments for preparing such workers to go out into the fields and serve the harvest.
Young people can be encouraged, inspired, mentored, and educated in mission-centered schools that prepare them to live out their calling in medicine, engineering, education, the trades, ministry, and a host of other vocations.
But preparing students in this way requires school leaders with vision and the support and resources needed to carry that vision forward.
As school leaders carry the weight of mission, people, financial, and institutional responsibility, the questions become more personal: What happens when leadership becomes isolating? What does wise support actually look like in practice? Jethro’s counsel to Moses helps us see what shared leadership, trusted guidance, and the humility to accept help can look like when the burden gets heavy.
As we continue the story, the leadership lessons become even more personal.
Leading a team through your own wilderness can make us weary, distracted, confused, lost, and lonely.
The responsibilities of leadership are often isolating. Without the freedom to express your concerns, uncertainty, vulnerability, and personal interests in a safe space, with a trusted partner, it can be overwhelming.
You are not alone, so stop ignoring your need if you have one. Take heart, I suspect Moses felt very alone at times!
Decisions for moving an organization and its people forward can become:
Without help, even the greatest leaders can become mired and misguided, causing the institution to stray from the pathway it is provided (mission drift).
When we look, we can often find the Holy Spirit working in our midst by positioning and equipping others who show up as friends, colleagues, mentors, and COACHES to help guide you to those rivers in the desert we are promised (Isaiah 43:19).
It is for this reason that I also believe Jesus provides one solution for your consideration as a school leader.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30:
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.’”
As a school leader, are you willing to yoke yourself?
Moses had Jethro; who do you have?
So, with himself yoked to Jethro, what counsel did Moses receive from his advisor?
Like any good coach, Jethro began by asking Moses questions:
And then Jethro makes this observation: “This is not good!”
From there, Jethro suggests a new approach to leading the people. He instructs Moses to:
None of this advice reflects the assumptions for leading that Moses was demonstrating, which were to:
Which is more indicative of your leadership?
Or will you and your team spend 40 years in the desert searching for life-giving streams as you journey toward your own promised land, when you could have reached it in 11 days (Deuteronomy 1:2)?
Perhaps the most important excerpt from this passage on Jethro and Moses is when, in verse 18, Jethro tells Moses that he is not only going to wear himself out shouldering all the burdens of responsibility for his position, but that he is also going to wear out his own people!
That is the mic-drop moment for me!
I doubt that any school leader wants a calculus teacher, or security officer, or athletic director, or school nurse, or alumni director, to be worn out due to his/her oversight.
Apathy becomes a threat when talented people do not feel valued, and thus, organizations lose the ability to innovate.
Innovation is paramount for any school to remain relevant in the marketplace.
Knowing how to preserve, protect, and promote your mission, while embracing the innovative means and modalities for how your mission is delivered, is critical for your financial sustainability.
Leaders: you cannot do this alone.
You need inspired, equipped, and capable teams eager to share your burden of responsibility, so don’t wear out your people!
As Jethro says:
“If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.”
So my advice to school leaders is this: learn from a great advisor or coach, and lead your team together, holistically, toward your goals, in achievement of your strategic plans, by learning from one of history’s great advisors, Jethro, just as Moses, a great leader, learned these lessons himself.
It took God’s positioning and equipping of Jethro to point out the obvious solutions that helped Moses and his followers back on the right path and out of the valley and onto the mountaintop where they would see the promised land of HOPE.
But the story for leaders does not end there.
Moses never stepped foot into the Promised Land but instead handed over the mantle of responsibility to Joshua and the future generations, but it was through his leadership and servanthood to God and His people that opened the door for future generational impact.
And, if not for Jethro, how might history have been written differently?
How are you like Moses?
I hope we are all doing it for Christian Education, and the thriving future of those schools whose mission is to equip workers for the fields.
Finally, whether you, as the leader, ever see the promised land, is irrelevant.
You are doing this for the advancement of Christian education, and for the fulfillment of your school’s mission, for generations to come.
Maybe you will be lucky enough to enter the Promised Land yourself, but more likely, you will have led your people so that your successor, and your successor’s successor, may, like Joshua, be blessed by the way in which you used your spiritual gifts in response to God’s purpose for your life, in fellowship and service to the body of Christ.
I know that is my hope and prayer for my own life!