by Rebecca Barnes, editor 20 May 2004

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Ken Blanchard mumbled the publishing statistics of his world-wide bestseller, "The One Minute Manager" -- 13 million copies or so. He wasn’t impressed with himself.

Thirty-one books and a long tour on the business training circuit have made Ken Blanchard a household name. But the renowned author and speaker on leadership remains a personable and unassuming management expert. That’s because the 65-year-old gives someone else the credit -- Jesus Christ.

Many people seek God during hardships, either for help or for blame. Blanchard found Jesus at the peak of his success with "The One Minute Manager."

This story and all the great free content on Church Central is supported by: Lead Like Jesus Celebration A movement co-founded by Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manager co-author), exists to inspire and equip leaders to lead like Jesus. Advertise on Church Central.  Click here for details.

"I never really started thinking about my faith until ‘The One-Minute Manager’ came out and was so ridiculously successful. And I couldn’t take all the credit," Blanchard said.

Blanchard spoke to about 2,000 leaders during the annual Southeast Christian Church Leadership Conference, May 15.

He told how he was led to the Lord with the help of friends who explained grace and salvation to him in a way that made sense. That was the early 1980s. Then, Blanchard said, he began reading the Bible for leadership principles and to his surprise found them in the work of Jesus.

"I never went to divinity school," Blanchard said, "I just studied leadership." He realized that everything he wrote was already written in the Bible in the stories of how Jesus managed his team, the disciples.

Blanchard claims the major concept in every bestselling leadership book over the past decade can be illustrated with Jesus’ ministry. That’s why it surprised him to learn that churches in particular were turning to secular leadership training for their management teams.

He recently asked some 3,000 church leaders at another conference to share their leadership point of view with each other. A show of hands indicated only eight mentioned Jesus and only 15 talked about servant leadership.

"I don’t understand why a lot of you are going outside the church for your leadership training," Blanchard told the conference audience. He advocated using Jesus’ model not only for church leadership training, but for business training as well. "You ought to be bringing your business leaders into the church for leadership training."

His interest in Jesus’ leadership model brought about a new business for Blanchard. "I realized no one was teaching that Jesus is the greatest role model," Blanchard said. So he determined he would not retire but would "refire" to work specifically for a new training program, Lead Like Jesus, "to challenge and equip people to lead like Jesus."

Ken Blanchard talks about a new training program called Lead Like Jesus.

In 2003 Blanchard took Jesus’ leadership example a step further in creating the Lead Like Jesus program. The program emerged from Faith Walk, a leadership training program launched by Blanchard and Phil Hodges, co-author of "Servant Leader."

Southeast Christian Church staff members have been trained using the Lead Like Jesus program.

"Ken [Blanchard] has spoken for our ministry leaders and our team leaders as well," said Southeast Associate Minister Dave Stone. "His stamp and style can be seen throughout our staff and structure.

Stone said the training makes him think more consciously about Jesus’ leadership style. "Hopefully as a result, those who I am leading will see less of Dave and more of Jesus."

Anders Ahlenius of the Sports for Life ministry in Sweden attended the Blanchard seminar at Southeast.

"It was very easy to be inspired by his positive view of leading like Jesus," Ahlenius said. "For me as a leader it was very practical. He was very specific about how Jesus was a leader."

Blanchard spoke to different groups throughout the day to explain the Lead Like Jesus model. "From my standpoint, at the end of Matthew when he [Jesus] says, ‘Go and make disciples,’ I think people emphasize the evangelism part of that and I think forget what discipling means. It’s a follower, somebody who does what I say. As leaders you’re all influencing people’s thinking, beliefs and all. He [Jesus] has a mandate for us to be servant leaders."

Steve Sloan, a lay leader at the Richland Hills Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas, attended the Southeast conference and two of the sessions that featured Blanchard.

"I like his style," Sloan said. "Down to earth. He talked about putting it in the hands of God. Others talk about a system of steps. This is something more from the heart than a systematic type of thing."

Sloan followed Blanchard from the first session straight to the second to hear more, he said.

"To be called is to be humbled and to have a servant’s heart," Blanchard told the church leaders. "Because if you have that it’ll all be taken care of."

Sloan said that resonated with him. "If you’re motivated from the inside, everything else will fall into place," he said.

Blanchard said his biggest disappointment is that people aren’t using his techniques more. He said he still finds a lot of what he termed "seagull management": leaders who swoop down on a mistake and squawk and leave a mess and leave. "That’s not a good way to be managed," he said. Yet when he asks people how they know they're doing a good job, the No. 1 response he hears is, "Nobody’s yelled at me."

Blanchard said he is disappointed in Christians, too, because they aren’t using Jesus’ techniques more. "The biggest gap in Christianity is between knowing and doing. I mean, why don’t people who know better behave better," he said.

"People ask me if I’m interested in evangelism. I’m not. I think the next big evangelism movement will be driven by behaving differently."

Stone said Southeast invited Blanchard to speak as an encouragement for church leaders. "Ken Blanchard has such a great knowledge of managing and motivating people. [He] adds another layer of credibility when he reminds you that Jesus is the best example of leadership."

For Blanchard, the credibility is all about someone else.

"It’s not about Ken Blanchard. It’s about Jesus Christ," Blanchard said.

Lead Like Jesus has hosted two North American simulcasts so far. Southeast will host the third Lead Like Jesus Celebration simulcast Nov. 18, 2004.