I’m drawn to confident people. I tend to avoid people who need to be right all the time. Being confident and being right are two different things. The key difference is humility.

Always Needing to Be Right Is a Problem 

Day 5’s reading in Business Made Simple by Donald Miller has this great line: “Always remember the point of conflict is progress, not proving you are right.”

 If I’m hung up on being right; my pride is on the line. I’m going to be hell-bent on proving you’re wrong. That will only stoke the fires of unhealthy conflict. Healthy conflict gets resolved when people lay down their pride.

More than once we read in the pages of the Bible that God gives grace to the humble. Pride on the other hand leads to a fall. So I think Miller’s quote from the business book is strongly congruent with biblical thinking and teaching. Humility is a virtue modeled by Jesus for his followers to pursue.

  • Humility empowers us to lay down our need to be right in order to find win-win solutions.

  • Humility values relationships.

  • Humility helps us listen rather than interrupt.

  • Humility reminds us, “I don’t know everything.” And, “I could be wrong.” That may come as shocking to you as it does for me.

Maybe that’s why the Bible frequently highlights humility, not being right, as a guiding virtue. How is God calling you to live that out today where you work?

I think humility in the workplace, where conflict is going to happen—like…a lot—often looks like being a peacemaker. Jesus mentions the importance of being a peacemaker early on in his amazing “Sermon on the Mount.” James picks up Jesus’ theme:

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:18

Here are some great visuals of what pride tends to look like at work, and most every other place.

As the beating of cream yields butter
    and striking the nose causes bleeding,
    so stirring up anger causes quarrels.      Proverbs 30:33

Fire goes out without wood,
    and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.

A quarrelsome person starts fights
    as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood.   Proverbs 26:20-21

Day 6’s Reading: Being a Leader Worthy of Respect

“Spend less time trying to be liked and more time giving your team clear expectations and you will earn their respect.”

 Do you agree or disagree?

Here’s my take on how the Bible answers that question. The Bible is full of leaders. Some respected. Others not. And there’s not just one reason that tips the scales in either direction.

In the Bible the main reason leaders weren’t respected was because of a self-centered evil at the core of who they were. They weren’t respected because they cared about themselves more than anything else. The people they led and the God they “served” were only afterthoughts. So, trying to be liked by the people on your team, or in your sphere’s of influence, wasn’t the major problem. The root sin of selfishness was.

Nehemiah is an awesome example of a highly respected leader in the Bible. He led a major rebuild of the walls of Jerusalem decades after they had been destroyed by a conquering world power. He did it with a group of displaced refuges. Impressive!

When you study his leadership, he was extremely clear on the vision for the project. He was clear on tactical details of the project. Being liked wasn’t important to him. Treating people with dignity. Being faithful to God. And rebuilding the wall was. That’s why he was respected.

So, my final answer (take it to the banker, Howie Mandel) is that the Bible seems to agree that giving people clear expectations will result in respect from people. But if your moral character is rotten at the core, even if you’re a clear and accomplished leader, you won’t win people’s respect.

People may respect your leadership prowess. They won’t respect you as a person.

 Who is this guy?

I’m a former pastor turned spiritual entrepreneur. I coach faith-based business leaders to grow their businesses and integrate their faith in order to love God and others well. In the process of loving they create environments, products, and services that make our world a better place to live, work, and worship.

In this blog I take business ideas and look at how those business ideas square with what the Bible teaches to help us connect business and the book for human flourishing. I do it because I believe co-vo and bi-vo entrepreneurs are being unleashed in unprecedented numbers to make a lasting and significant kingdom impact that our world desperately needs right now. Let me know what you think.   

Glen Stevens is a former pastor turned spiritual entrepreneur. In 2020 he started a coaching business called Teleion, LLC. Through Teleion he helps ambitious business leaders who put a high value on faith and relationships to flourish by growing their companies and integrating their faith. This positions those leaders to make our world a better place to live, work, and worship for everyone. Simultaneously, Glen is launching a multiplying network of micro-churches that truly love people who are disinterested in and skeptical of any church they know of so they can experience the life-transforming love of Jesus.


Glen and his wife, Jill, live in Fargo, ND. They have four adult children. His business website is www.teleioncoaching.com