When the Soul Leads: A Deeper Look at Leadership

“The best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self.” – Ruth Haley Barton

I’m currently in the first week of a renewal leave—a sacred pause from the usual rhythm of ministry, leadership, and decision-making. This isn’t just a break for rest (though that’s certainly part of it). It’s an intentional time to reset the inner life from which everything else flows.

One of the resources I’ve been sitting with during this time is Ruth Haley Barton’s Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. Her words are striking not because they’re novel, but because they’re true in a way that stops you in your tracks. She reminds us that leadership doesn’t start with vision-casting, problem-solving, or even strategy. It starts with the soul.

And that has me thinking: What kind of soul is driving my leadership?

We spend so much of our energy—especially in church leadership—focused on outcomes: attendance, programs, budgets, and metrics. And underneath those outcomes are layers of internal drivers we rarely slow down to notice. I’m talking about the need to please people. The pressure to keep everyone happy. The hidden addiction to achievement. The temptation to smooth over conflict in the name of “peace.”

These are the things beneath the surface. And they shape us more than we like to admit.

More Than Just Feelings

Don’t get me wrong—reflection isn’t about wallowing in our emotions. This isn’t some invitation to self-indulgent navel-gazing. It’s about courageously facing the interior landscape of our lives with honesty and hope. The point isn’t to be more emotional—it’s to become more integrated. More whole. More rooted in the truth of who we are and who God is forming us to be.

That formation doesn’t come through performance. It comes through surrender.

And if we’re leading out of a place of insecurity or drivenness—or trying to prove something to someone (even ourselves)—it will always catch up to us. Eventually our souls will either burn out or dry up. And when that happens, the people around us will feel it too.

Leading From Within

What if the most important leadership move you make this month isn’t a new initiative or a new hire—but a deeper listening to your own soul?

What if the invitation in this season isn’t to double down on your effort—but to slow down enough to notice what’s driving it?

That’s the invitation renewal gives me. But honestly, you don’t need a formal leave to take the next right step toward a healthier soul.

Here are a few practices that might help:

• Ask the deeper “why.” When you’re feeling anxious, driven, or reactive, pause and ask: What’s really going on beneath the surface? Is this about fear of failure? Needing approval? Avoiding discomfort?

• Create space for silence. Even five minutes a day without noise or screens can begin to recalibrate the heart.

• Reflect on Scripture slowly. Don’t rush. Let the Word examine you more than you examine it.

• Talk to a trusted friend or mentor. Sometimes we can’t see ourselves clearly until we’re seen by someone else.

A Leadership That Flows

If leadership is just a task we perform, we’ll eventually hit a wall. But if leadership is a life we live from the inside out, it becomes something deeply rooted and enduring. It becomes sustainable.

I’m still learning this. Still unlearning some habits of performance and people-pleasing. Still discovering that my value doesn’t come from what I do, but from who I am in Christ.

As Barton writes, “The soul is the place where God meets us at the level of our real selves.” If that’s true, then caring for our soul isn’t extra—it’s essential.

And from that place, leadership becomes less about what we do and more about who we’re becoming.

So whether you’re leading a church, a team, a family, or simply your own life—may your leadership flow from a soul being made whole. Because when the soul leads, everything else begins to change