The Curse of the Visionary Leader

OKA: Don't Ignore Jonah

You may or may not know the story. First, maybe you heard the children's version of the tale; Jonah didn't want to obey. He was given a task: "Go to Nineveh!" Instead, he knew it was ratchet there (yeah, I said it bc it was true), so he ran the other way. God has a whale swallow him up for three days. He spits him up on dry land, and then says again "Go to Nineveh!" Jonah, having just gotten out of a SURIOUS time out, obeys, makes a bee line to Nineveh, and of course, everyone there repents!

Moral of the Story: We should all obey and trust God for our happy ending. Then end.

Except it's not the end. It's not the end, because Jonah, like all of us, was human. He was a respected and renowned prophet but alas, still a flawed human.

If you don't know the full scope of the story, Jonah obeys and everyone is saved (albeit more in a fire insurance sort of way), but that is enough for God to respond in mercy as he does. But Jonah...he pitches a fit, feels life is futile, wishes to die, and we last see him under a bush just ticked off. God even gives him space to pout and shade, and still, he wants to move into that space versus pass through. How ridiculous!

We as strong leaders would NEVER get to a place where we thought we knew better than God or did not want to deal with a problem so we avoid it.

We NEVER get so stuck in despair or fight or flight that we can't recognize the fruit.

We NEVER swallow up all the joy with our pouting or our unwillingness to recognize our faults in front of our teams.

NEVER.

And that story begins to feel less far-fetched.

See Jonah had a long record of his gifts, his anointing, his words from God. He was established. He had been blessed with the privilege to see vision and see that vision come to pass (that might hit close to home more easily).

When the time came for the next stretch goal, however, he wanted to avoid the potential pain. So what did he do, he looked for a way out- a workaround. If he went to serve in Tarshish, surely he wasn't disobeying because he was still serving God. The definition root of the word sin is essentially "missing the mark."

When we operate in comfort or avoidance, we miss the mark, and we miss the blessing from hitting the bullseye. We all know God can do anything with or without us, but also, our disobedience withholds potential to help someone else hit the mark. As leaders and pastors, we have to boldly obey and do the hard thing, the stretch thing every time to fulfill our assignments and, importantly, teach our teams to be so bold as well. Jonah paid the dumb tax so we don't have to, but also...

I walked into my office once and my team greeted me excitedly. We not only had scored a highly sought after client in town, but that morning a couple of national publications had come out and our work was in multiples. When I filed the llc years before, in my shared apartment, all by myself, I could have never envisioned what it had become. It had not been easy or smooth or even profitable always, but it had become something.

I digress. Back to that morning. What did I do? I smiled. I breezed to my office. I closed the door, and I continued to spiral in my anxiety of what hadn't happened yet, why we didn't have x, y, or z, and irritated with my team for not having the same sense of urgency to be harder, faster and better.

I had become so attached to MY vision, I couldn't see the blessings happening from the initial work. I couldn't celebrate the wins and thank God for what He used that team to do, because I was too stuck on the fact that it didn't quite look like what I thought it would.

Reading Jonah recently, we unfortunately tend to have a lot in common. We want more be it judgement and justice, be it financial, or even rest when the truth is, we simply aren't recognizing the blessings of what we do have in front of our faces. If we aren't careful, we stand to lose the things we fought for, because our lack of gratitude, of generosity and grace can separate us from our teams and our vision.

The whale moment happens and we learn, we recover and we grow. To truly move forward though, we have to be willing to rip out our plans for what works, to give the vision back to Him every day and to walk in peace that He's got it, the outcomes are always better than our own, so take time to see the blessing.

Visionary leaders often feel pressure to deliver the next big thing, which can breed anxiety or perfectionism. This can dim your ability to see what God is currently doing—or what your team has already achieved.

Here are a few ways to practically work on this:

• Pause & Celebrate: “At the end of each week, share 3 wins—big or small—with your team. Reflection ties us back to gratitude.”

• Vision Touch Points: “Instead of charging ahead, pause quarterly to revisit your vision and invite feedback. Unity requires shared ownership.”

• Gratitude Rituals: “Start meetings by naming one person or moment that inspired you this week. Language shapes leadership culture.”

When we rip our agenda from our grip and place the vision back in God’s hands, freedom follows. Weak teams, weary leaders, and blurred direction can be realigned by remembering: the outcome belongs to Him.