True Leadership
Daily Devotions Introduction
Leadership. A concept that has been misunderstood since the beginning of time. Many have mistaken management for leadership. Many in management positions have erroneously thought themselves leaders when all they had was an organizational skill, the ability to manage situations and systems, or an outgoing personality.
Management is about working with things (systems), leadership is about working with people. Working with people is far more important than working with things — not that working with things, methodologies, procedures, strategies, tactics, and systems, is not important — it is. But if we only work with things, there is only so much we can accomplish. If we work well with people, we can teach people to work with things and other people and thereby accomplish far more.
If nothing else, we need to learn to lead ourselves. If we cannot lead ourselves, we cannot lead others well, not to mention the mess we can make of our lives. We will not find someone leading others well who does not first lead themselves well. Oh, we may lead others for a bit, or we may lead others because we are Positional Leaders (Level 1 — the lowest level of leader — someone gave them the position) but soon those who do not lead themselves well, or who do not study how to lead, will reach the “lid” on their leadership ability and become stagnant in their ability to move themselves or their organization. We must constantly be raising your leadership lid/knowledge/ability so that we are able to help others grow themselves and help others grow others! It’s a continuous process. There are different levels of leadership and many get stuck at certain levels until they learn how to grow their own leadership lid.
Where do the best leadership principles come from? The Author of Life. No one knows better then He who created the heart, mind, and soul. There are a lot of leadership concepts in practice around the world. The best principles are those that God has graciously shared with us. The principles that continually work well are the ones that resonate with the heart and mind. If we are dealing with things (management), we can have a more calculated interaction with them (the “things”). But if we are dealing with people, God has given us proper ways for working with one another — and even if we don’t believe in God, when we steal from God by using His principles, leadership always goes better — because it’s how we are made to function in the first place.
I’ve been on all sides of the leadership spectrum — from a believing and non-believing perspective. From being a worker-bee, to a leader/CEO, to learning and teaching leadership from the top leadership experts in the world.
Leadership is about people — always has been, always will be.
No one is born a leader. Leadership is taught. Some personality types have a good propensity for leadership but still need to learn the principles of good leadership in order to not fail leading others. Some people call those who have a bent to be outspoken and oriented toward delegating good leaders, or those that are entrepreneurial in nature good leaders. In fact, without deep, proper leadership training, those personalities just mentioned tend to be the poorest of leaders. They may be great at starting an organization, but soon it requires more people to grow the organization, and the lack of true leadership understanding will cause most to fail.
Even church leadership isn’t guaranteed to succeed. Although leadership is one of the spiritual gifts God gives to some, he doesn’t give it to all — or even most. In my church leadership counseling, consulting, and training, I have encountered way too many preachers that are not good leaders. They are good at preaching but not good at leading people — the very heart and purpose of a church! So much so, I wrote a book on it. Fortunately, those who are supposed to lead a church, the elders (not an individual preacher), typically have the personality for good leadership and can and do learn to lead best. Not always, but they typically have the character for learning to lead well. More on personality in a later chapter.
Leadership is a learned skill — and the best principles come from a true understanding of people and how they are created. The bible deals well with the heart of mankind and how to love and lead others.
This book is a years worth of daily devotionals (365) covering many, many leadership characteristics and the supporting biblical understanding of those characteristics. I have pulled from my 45 plus years of experience (good and bad), from leadership training, as well as from all the other great leadership concepts from my leadership mentors and teachers over the years, and finally — and most importantly — from God and His teachings. Each principle will add to your true understanding of leadership and help you grow as a leader in all aspects of life, including yourself, your spouse, children, friends, coworkers — even your boss! (yes, you can lead up!). And you can learn to use these principles in every sphere of life (spiritual, family, physical, career, financial, intellectual, and social).
Although you can start anywhere in this book, it’s best to start at the beginning — thoughts and concepts build on earlier ones. Having said that, each principle does stand on it’s own.
Many of the top leadership trainers in the world live by these principles as well as others who borrow from them to make their points. Even psychologists and neuroscience bring forth findings which don’t typically deviate from these principles — because all truth is God’s truth.
It all starts with the Golden Rule — treat others the way you want to be treated. Or maybe better said, to treat others the way God treats them — with steadfast love and kindness. The second great commandment that Jesus left us is to love our neighbor as ourself. That includes those you lead. Who is your neighbor? Anyone around you.
One final thought. Don’t simply put these things into practice to be a better leader — though that is a noble task — put them into practice because they are the right thing to do. If you do these things for selfish gain, you’ve already missed the point. Though, in one sense that’s okay — we will deal with that as we go through these concepts of true leadership. Don’t agree with a concept or thought? Wrestle with it! Struggle with it. Test it. Allow these things to change your heart and mind toward yourself and others and purpose to practice these truths in your daily living.
Be intentional!
Much love & blessing,
Royce White, December 2025
Author & Trainer
P.S. — you can contact me and my community for further input or with questions at TrueLeadership@WeAreCaris.com
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