Dying to Lead: Sacrificial Leadership in a Self-Centered World

Whether you find yourself in a season of success or failure as a leader, the underlying assumption of Dying to Lead is that your leading matters, and that most of the wrong turns taken by leaders and organizations come down to one thing: the fact that when you are dying to lead, your first step will be to consider the selfish parts of you that may need to die before you go and lead, and that process has to be repeated every day.

If you are in a formal or informal position of leadership—a manager, executive, pastor, parent, or volunteer leader—Dying to Lead was written for you. You have chosen to be responsible for the work and development of someone else. That’s an unbelievable responsibility, and defining leadership that way changes everything.

Dying to Lead will repeatedly bring you back to three main points. First, most likely you chose to be in a position of leadership. Even if you were asked to lead something or someone, you could have said no. while that may be a stretch for parents, you could have put your kid up for adoption (maybe not realistic, but nevertheless, a choice you could have made). You could have said no to all the other leadership roles. You made the choice. Second, if you are in a position of leadership, you are responsible for the work of others, and their work will somehow be related to the value and quality of your work. And finally, you are responsible for the development of those you lead. Dying to Lead is written for the common leader without much time to read. The chapters are short and are always followed with reflection questions to help you get to the heart of why you lead, how you lead, and what’s at stake for you as a leader. While it won’t offer a recipe for success, my hope is that it may resurrect the sacrificial leader you once aspired to be or give birth to the leader God has called you to become.