What is your sphere of influence? (66-5)

When defining leadership, many people have used the very succinct definition by J. Oswald Sanders where he simply states “Leadership is influence.” Every leader has a sphere of influence, people to whom their influence is direct and an extended sphere of influence where their influence is transferred through the next generation. According to Genesis 6:9 God chose Noah to be an influencer of an entire world starting over because “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time and he walked with God.” Read Genesis 6-11.

Just a glimpse at Noah’s sphere of influence comes when we understand a few facts about Noah’s life.

Noah influenced God. God was making a decision concerning the total destruction of His creation and in Genesis 6 “The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth …So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe out mankind, whom I have created,’ …But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” The way Noah lived his life being “… blameless before men and walking with God” influenced God to not totally “… wipe out mankind.”

Noah had influence to those around him before the flood. Again according to Genesis 6 when describing those outside of Noah’s family God said of men “… every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” For Noah to remain “… blameless among men” in this environment he had influence. For Noah’s family not to have been killed or outcasts but for other men to consider him blameless – Noah had influence.

Noah had the rare opportunity to personally influence every human being born on the face of the earth right up to Abram (who later was renamed by God as Abraham). According to Genesis 9:28 “After the flood Noah lived 350 years” and according to the account of the descendants of one of Noah’s son Shem in Genesis 11:10-28 Abraham was born approximately 292 years after the flood. Abram could have been 52 years old when Noah died.

Every leader has a sphere of influence. According to John Maxwell’s book The 360 Degree Leader, every leader has influence up, to their peers, and down to those on their team. If God allowed Noah to influence Him, his peers and 10 generations after him, something about Noah had to be special. That something according to Genesis 6 was Noah’s character.

How are you doing at building your character at the same time you are building your skills? Effective leaders know that character is the most important element in leadership.

Memorize Genesis 6:9 “… Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”