If you are a person of faith, then you truly know from reading the Bible that through His words and actions, Jesus was a powerful and influential leader. Through his words and actions he created leaders as a leader.

But, what happened after Jesus stood up from the table at The Last Supper shocked and confused his twelve disciples. Let’s read about this event in the Gospel of John.

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.²And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, ⁴rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. ⁵After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. ⁶Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”⁷Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this..”

So, what can the leaders of today learn from what Jesus did that day?

Jesus washed their feet. The actions witnessed this day are the epitome of servant leadership. Leading requires action and that action is of the service to others. Showing servant leadership means that you have a responsibility to serve your followers. I can understand how this can be hard to grasp when thinking within the realm of a rank or title structure hierarchy.

Servant Leadership: If you are not serving, you are not leading.

It must take a great amount of humility for someone so powerful to kneel before the disciples and perform this act. This should tell us that it isn’t the title or position you hold that makes you a great leader, but it is the heart inspired action you take that makes you a great leader.

It is important to humble yourself, just as Jesus did to have a greater impact. Just imagine the lives that will be positively affected by you taking more heart-inspired action.

When serving is done right, it looks a lot like giving.

By serving those you lead, you are essentially giving unto them.

Leaders can mimic the kind of servant leadership Jesus portrayed by:

Paying special attention to the needs of those they are leading.
Losing any thinking that your title or position is too great to be able to do what may seem below you.
Thinking about how those people are affected by your actions. Take it to heart and have confidence in knowing that you had an impact.

This kind of service is selfless. Serving is done without expecting anything in return. This is the most powerful and effective type of service.