Tom Hemingway stated the three C’s of leadership are competence, courage, and compassion.   I have spent a lot of my life leading, developing leaders, and studying about leadership, and it seems we tend to focus on competence and courage.  I’m not so sure we stop and think enough about the third C: compassion. Do you care as much about others as you care about yourself? That’s what I’d like us to think about this week.

 Now history shows us that you can succeed, you can accomplish the mission, you can make money, you can build buildings, and you can win games without loving your people, because a lot of people have done it that way. But I am convinced that you, your business, your ministry will never be extraordinary in the long run without genuine concern for other people.

So how do you do this? Okay, love, yeah, I think I know what that is, but I will tell you, it comes down to one more word. When it comes to leadership and love, that word is “sacrifice.” If we are going to love our people, it’s going to cost us. It’s going to cost us to sacrifice for our people.

I believe if you ask any extraordinary leader what does leadership and love have to do with it, they would tell you everything. My great hope is that as each of us become involved in leadership, that we will go out with a desire to be extraordinary. But if you want to be extraordinary, it’s not just about competence and courage. That third C is part of the foundation, the C of compassion. Love your people, and you will see amazing things occur.

(Adapted from a presentation by Mike Williams at the Christian Leadership Summit on May 30, 2015)