Everything I Needed to Know about Leadership...

...I learned from my Safeway manager.

I worked for Canada Safeway, a large grocery store chain, during high school. I packed groceries, collected shopping carts outside, stocked the shelves, unloaded the semi's when they arrived, and swept up at closing time.

Our store manager was a serious, no-nonsense guy who (unknowingly) taught me a ton about spiritual leadership:

There was no job that he asked us to do, that he wouldn't do himself.

• If the shelves looked somewhat in disarray, he'd straighten them.
  
• If things were crazy-busy during peak hours, you'd see him bagging groceries for a cashier, just like the rest of us.
  
• If you were trying to do a price-check, he'd direct you to the appropriate aisle if you looked lost and panicky -- without making you feel stupid.
  
• If the carts needed collecting from the parking lot, and we were all crazy-busy with bagging groceries, he'd go out and gather the carts for us.
  
• Even if it was pouring rain like the days of Noah, and the carts needed gathering, he'd...
  
  ...well, okay, he'd send us out to do it, and he'd bag groceries in our place (every analogy breaks down at some point).

Whenever I read Jesus' words on leadership, "whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant" (Matthew 20:26), I think of my Safeway manager. By setting an example which clearly told us that no job was beneath him, regardless of his "position", he modelled true biblical leadership.