Leadership as Loving One Another

This chapter examines love as described in 1 Corinthians 13: 4–6. Using the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory as a framework, Biblical love in its different manifestations is explored, and how they are relevant in the modern workplace to build leader–follower relationships and impact organizational performance. Using the Word of God as inspiration and Jesus as an example of a leader who showed love to His followers, the following concepts emerged, encapsulating the Biblical features of love: patience, kindness, contentment, care, justice, acceptance, and optimism. A leader’s demonstration of love in its different manifestations positively impacts employee performance, contributing to leadership and organizational effectiveness.

The quality of the people in an organization impacts its overall success. The saying in athletics that a team is as good as its weakest link also holds in organizations. Many organizations are struggling with the drag effect of underperforming employees. These organizations have implemented many traditional approaches in the playbook of human resources management to no avail. The emphasis of this chapter is to offer an alternate path to dealing with this problem using the lens of love. The construct of love is an old-age phenomenon, and the account of 1 Corinthians 13 asserts that love never fails.

This chapter explores the intersection of dialogical communication, leadership coaching, and spirituality, through the lens of the “love conversation” found within John 21: 15–17. The chapter defines dialogue as a useful tool within communication. Next, dialogue and spirituality are explored as useful tools in coaching alongside wisdom culture as a connector of spirituality, dialogue, and coaching. Finally the chapter executes an inner texture analysis of the “love conversation” in John 21: 15–17, which explores the interplay of “agape” and “philia” within the dialogue between Jesus and Peter. Investigating John 21: 15–17, this chapter extracts the implications of the “love conversation,” which are: (a) the meal, (b) the matrix, and (c) the mission to aid in future leadership coaching processes. The hope is for these implications to address the gap between spirituality and leadership coaching, sparking more research for the academy and more resources for practitioners.

The purpose of writing this chapter is to show that leadership is like parenting one’s children. As indicated in John 21, Jesus opened his mouth to address his followers as his children. Following that, Jesus performed everything a good parent could do to ensure the safety of their children. Jesus showed the disciples his care, tenderness, service, love, and patience. He nurtured their body and soul to remain strong in their callings. And parental leadership style is not limited to the church. An organization whose leaders reflect parental leadership style, whether the church, government institution, or for-profit organization, remains healthy, strong, and profitable because leaders serve self-sacrificially.

This chapter examines the centering nature of Agapao within paternal and maternal managerial leadership. It does so within the context of Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians. In it, we see Paul's masterful use of the rhetorical strategy of persuasion to argue the need for the people of God to continue in the faith until maturity (1 Thessalonians 2: 12). Paul leverages the imagery of the communal family, which Guy (Introducing early Christianity: A topical survey of its life, InterVarsity Press, 2011) argued he borrowed from what was already familiar to citizens living within the Rome city-state. Only Paul introduced it under a new context and paradigm that set the context for using the paternal and maternal leadership motif. Northouse (Leadership: Theory and practice, Sage, 2018) argued that the paternal leadership style places heavy emphasis on task and job requirements and less on people, except to the extent that people are tools for getting the job done. Further, Northouse Leadership: Theory and practice, Sage, 2018) posited that “the maternal style represents a low concern for task accomplishment coupled with a high concern for interpersonal relationships” (p. 73). Paul used both metaphors, showing himself as both father and mother to the new converts at Thessalonica. Couched in the familial community where Agapao in leadership thrives, Paul intended to encourage, comfort, and urge through care and instruction this new community of believers, in the face of adversity, on to maturity and a deeper relationship with Christ.

The present study conducted an exegetical inquiry of agape (Melé in Leadership through the Classics. Springer, 2012) leadership by probing the following attributes of loving leaders: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. The Bible has much to say about agape love, and in particular, it has specific instructions concerning applying the attributes of loving leaders set forth above. Using socio-rhetorical criticism (Robbins in Exploring the texture of texts: A guide to socio-rhetorical interpretation, Bloomsbury Academic, 1996), an exegetical study of ten pericopes provided a panoramic emersion into the scriptural support for the attributes of loving leaders. Many of the five major elements of socio-rhetorical interpretation were used, including inner texture, intertexture, social and cultural texture, ideological texture, and sacred texture. The research question is: What does it mean to become an agape leader? The attributes of loving leaders such as compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience were examined from a biblical worldview and applied to contemporary leadership to answer the research question. The study found that a careful examination of the attributes of a loving leader answers the research question: Agape leadership embodies the attributes of loving leaders. The significance of the study offers a baseline understanding of agape leadership and provides other researchers a launching point for further research.

As a leader, one method of demonstrating love to your followers is through providing the examples of stewardship. From this context, the chapter goes into detail behind the concept of vocational stewardship, and this includes the faces in which stewardship can form in the different areas of time and scenarios. With the understanding of the faces of stewardship, all four principles of stewardship, including responsibility, ownership, accountability, and reward, are demonstrated throughout the chapter. Each of these examples of principles is presented within the biblical stories of Noah, Adam, Titus, and the Parable of Talents. With each of these representations, a leader can truly comprehend the method and importance of the impact that stewardship has on their followers.

The current work applied the conceptual model of the positive work environment to show how engaging others with a 1 Corinthians 13 love translates to positive outcomes in a healthcare environment. Hartel and Ashkansasy proposed that the positive work environment is characterized by three key characteristics: positive organizational climate, social inclusion, and human flourishing. A review of the literature provided support for three propositions: Engaging others with a 1 Corinthians 13 love promotes creation of positive organizational climate in a healthcare environment (P1); encourages behaviors that foster social inclusion in a healthcare environment (P2); and creates an emotional climate that promotes human flourishing in a healthcare environment (P3).

The past two years have revealed widespread dissatisfaction among employees in the U.S. labor market. This situation is inconsistent with a joyful workforce. W. Edwards Deming stated that people were entitled to joy in work and argued that American management was abusing its workers. Deming’s idea of joy centered on the workers’ understanding of their role, place, and worth to the organization. In Scripture, joy is derived from occasions celebrating the worthiness of events or people. This value of the individual comes from God as the creator of humanity in His own image. The love that Jesus expressed through the crucifixion for humanity’s salvation signified man’s worth to God. Love of God and of others are the two greatest commandments of God, and they also seem to be the most neglected. Thus, Jesus and the apostles had to remind their followers often to love each other since self-love is sinful. The origin of self-love goes back to the early days following creation when Cain jealously murdered his brother Abel. Many contemporary organizational leaders operate from the motive of self-love, resulting in misery for many workers. Loving leaders recognize the value of their followers as individuals. Such knowledge contributes to employee joy. Joyful workers are happier, have better social relationships, and give discretionary effort. Organizational outcomes also improve from joyful workers through better productivity, financial performance, and customer satisfaction.

This chapter examines loving others by serving first through (Patterson, K.A. (2003). Servant Leadership: A Theoretical Model. Regent University.) contemporary servant leadership model, Robert K. Greenleaf’s founding concepts, and Jesus Christ’s life as the most remarkable example of servant leadership and love. The Bible forms the context and understanding that support the approach to serving others first. Through several scriptural and scholarly references, the framework of this chapter presents a study of servant leadership and the differentiating aspects that separate this leadership style from other related perspectives of love and concern for others; love and service to others; Biblical; Business; and faith and learning concepts.

Servant leadership theory is built upon the premise that service to followers is the primary responsibility of leaders (Greenleaf, R. (1977). Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. Paulist Press.). Perhaps one of the most notable demonstrations of servant leadership is found in the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. This exegetical study explores Luke 10:25–37 using the parable genre analysis framework proposed by Osborne (2006), guided by the following research question: Does the Good Samaritan demonstrate any servant leadership qualities, and if so, how do they compare or contrast to modern forms of servant leadership? Exegetical findings are intersected with servant leadership theory subscales to add insight, critique, and refine the contemporary approach to servant leadership.

This chapter focuses on Benevolent Leadership (BL) as a leadership approach encompassing Agapao love principles. Specifically, the chapter presents the BL model proposed by (Karakas and Sarigollu, Journal of Business Ethics 108:537–553, 2012;Karakas and Sarigollu, Journal of Business Ethics 113:663–678, 2013;)) to analyze Boaz's Old Testament Biblical character as an example of BL, and how this leadership style remains relevant for meeting three identified critical needs in organizational leadership dimensions today. Among others, these three critical needs in contemporary organizational leadership contexts include an increased need for a sense of belonging/community, providing for workplace spirituality, and an increased need for ethical leadership. How do contemporary organizational leaders best meet these needs? Does the Bible provide any clues or models to help guide present-day organizational leaders in this regard? The discussions that follow in the chapter present the Old Testament Biblical character of Boaz as a model of BL that provides a comprehensive response to these question.

This chapter explores the integration of leading with agapao love in the framework of transformational leadership theory through the lens of Nehemiah. Combining agapao love and transformational leadership characteristics and behaviors drives innovation and organizational success. This case study highlights how Nehemiah exemplifies idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation through his exemplary leadership style and actions through the principles of leading with love. Nehemiah serves as a role model, involves his followers in decision-making, addresses their unique needs, and inspires them through a shared vision. The discussion presents a persuasive argument for integrating love and compassion within leadership practices, emphasizing the potential of this approach to drive positive organizational outcomes.

Servant leaders are motivated to serve their followers by agape love. Sendjaya et al. (J Manag Stud 45:402–424, 2008) defined servant leadership as having six distinct characteristics: voluntary subordination, authentic self, covenantal relationships, responsible morality, transcendental spirituality, and transforming influence. David started as a shepherd boy and brought a nation that cowered from fierce enemies to the pinnacle of its power and glory (Seevers in The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press, 2016). A study of the life of David revealed all six servant leadership characteristics in David’s leadership behavior.

This chapter summarizes the foci of the chapters by unit.