Stand in the Storm
June 26, 2025 | Brian Hyland
This weekend, we will hear about the Global Leadership Summit, which will be held here at Kingsway in August. As I think about what leadership is, I began to write about the position & focus of a leader, and a thread became increasingly evident.
What is leadership? It is not a job title or a degree you can put in a frame. You don’t interview for it like a management position at work. What I have learned through much trial and even more error is that leadership is a choice.
Leadership is the decision to stand in the storm.
It is standing up to the backlash, sitting in discomfort, and facing uncertainty. It is approaching the stranger you've never met when every fiber of your being wants to run away. Yet the caveat is that none of what you do as a leader is for you.
Leadership has nothing to do with you. It’s selfless, it’s sacrificial, and it requires investment and growth. You must also know it is not a gradual slope; instead, think of it more like the silhouette of a mountain range revealing peaks and valleys. We will fail much more than we succeed.
Fail more than we succeed… this phrase jumped out to me. Where else do I fail more than succeed? Honestly, my daily walk as a Christian. Often, I feel underserving, wrestling with self-doubt, never enough for my own expectations, and yet, how can I measure up to all that we as Christians are called to do? Is this the impostor syndrome of faith?
When I look at my faith as a goal to achieve, I’m easily overwhelmed. However, what I need is a pivot in perspective. Christianity is not Briananity; it is about Christ and what He has already done. Leadership is about others. It’s about those we choose to lead, choosing to invest in their salvation first and then their growth gleaned from our experiences and lessons learned along the way.
These lessons can be gained through the foundations of growth, like daily scripture and prayer. We also gain learning from other leaders by reading books and listening to their experiences. We have a great opportunity to do that here at Kingsway by attending the GLS 25(which I highly recommend). As leaders, we take the wisdom we gain from others as well as our own daily practices and infuse them into the interactions and relationships we have with others. This pivot, the point where you choose others over self, is transformative.
Looking back and in full transparency, I was a bad leader at a point in my life. My focus was only on winning. I justified many things to “make our numbers”. Instead of a leader, I was a boss. Instead of leading and focusing on others, I was pushing a team to win for my own pride and credentials.
To be honest, I feared failure in the eyes of others. I feared my good enough wasn’t good enough, and I didn’t allow my team the space to fail. I did not provide a safe space for my team; instead, I focused on being the best. In doing so, I robbed them of the opportunity to grow because my perspective was solely internal. I wanted to be accepted by others, and my value was tied to success.
Having an issue at work is not failure, but failure robs a person of the learning opportunity to grow from mistakes. I failed them by not allowing them to gain experience, development, and growth from challenges along the way. My focus wasn’t on the person I should have led, but it was instead on exceeding expectations. When I micromanaged and had a lack of trust in my team, I failed them. I built walls and justified that, together, on the outside, we were winning. In one aspect we were, we were hitting our numbers, our KPI’s, so all is well, right?
How often do we focus on protecting our image, our bank accounts, our titles, or positions in the community? How often is control our god rather than trusting in our Father, trusting God? By being internally focused, we are missing out on the true reward - a deep personal relationship with Him.
Real leadership, like faith, requires vulnerability. It demands humility and asks us to recognize our own pride problem. It means choosing to create space for others to grow, even if that means there may be a valley. We are not the main character, but as leaders we can be a catalyst for others by cheering them on and providing space for them to discover their strengths and next steps in their own story.
As we approach this summer's Global Leadership Summit, I’m reminded that leadership isn’t about perfection. Being a leader is about surrendering our own needs, pride, and desire for control. Leadership is about serving others with the same grace we have been given. This is also how we should approach our walk with the Lord, realizing it's about Him and the choice He made for us.