Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. – Exodus 32:32, King James Version (KJV)

My wife loves to bake. She doesn’t have much free time these days, but when she does, you can rest assured she’s found a sweetie recipe in the cookbook, dusted it off, and dirtied up the kitchen in hopes of satisfying the family sweet tooth. When she’s done, all is well in the house – until, that is, the guilt-ridden spouse feels the need for extra time on the treadmill!

In honor of a good baking recipe, many experts have tried their hand at compiling a recipe for the perfect leader. Although I am no expert, and although I do not presume to know how to put a complete leadership recipe together, I would like to throw into the mix one of my favorite ingredients: compassionate ownership.

Moses embodied compassionate ownership, and nowhere did he demonstrate it better than in Israel’s sin of the golden calf. The “ownership” part of compassionate ownership means that leaders take responsibility for the actions of their teams, period. Moses didn’t engage in blame-shifting, as Aaron did. He didn’t try to hide, as Adam did in the Garden. He volunteered to face the Judge in hopes of saving his people from wrath, and he was willing to face the consequences of his people’s actions, even though he wasn’t at fault himself.

The “compassionate” part of compassionate ownership means that leaders love their teams more than they love themselves, and they demonstrate their love by putting the needs of others first. Moses had nothing but heartache and headache from his brethren, but when God wanted to destroy Israel in order to start over with Moses, Moses had no interest in starting a nation called by his name. He only thought of his people – as frustrating as they were – and he begged God to take his life in order to spare theirs. Although punishment did fall on Israel, God spared the nation from destruction because one man, Moses, took compassionate ownership of his people.

There will be many times when you will have the chance to lead. During some of those times, your team will fail, and you’ll have a choice to make. Will you point fingers at your team, blaming them for failing to perform? Or, will you take ownership of the failure, take compassion on those who messed up, and lovingly guide them in the way they should go?

Shop hundreds of Christian-themed products at our new store! A portion of each purchase goes to support the work of Today’s Quote From God. To visit the Today’s Quote From God Store, please click here.