Are you succeeding as a leader?

A bishop recently sent me the following question:

How do you measure your success? I struggle trying to figure out if I am doing a good job. Even on my mission, we had numbers that we kept track and unfortunately, many missionaries based their overall feeling on success based on baptisms, discussions, or contacts. I cannot in good conscience measure my success as bishop on sacrament meeting attendance, ministering interviews, welfare needs of the ward, or temple recommend statuses of our members. How can I know that I am doing the job that God expects me to complete?

At first, my mind went to how thought-provoking this question is.

I even created a related “question of the week” for the newsletter and social media.

Also, my heart broke for this good leader.

Here he is, working so hard, and he simply wants to do a good job for the Lord.

But is he?

At Leading Saints, we share all sorts of resources and perspectives that we hope can help any leader find “success.”

However, I never want that to be the focus.

As leaders, I hope we are constantly asking how we can be more effective.

But we really have no reason to ask if we are successful.

Jesus was successful, so you don’t have to be.

There’s no quota to hit (even though many try).

There’s no goal to increase by 10% year by year (even though many try).