What’s Wrong with Being Bossy?

I saw a quote the other day that has become my favorite:

“If you’d just do what I tell you, I wouldn’t have to be so bossy!”

Of course, it was written by a 4 year old, but I still love it. Maybe that’s because I’m bossy. I always have been. I can blame it on being the oldest and having leadership tendencies, but the truth is, even without those things, I would probably still think I needed to tell everyone what to do.

So, I know all the downsides to being bossy. I’ve had some hard lessons to learn. And—just in case I didn’t learn them myself—I am now re-learning them with my girls. We are all pretty bossy. And I know it’s not a trait that is celebrated, but I was once told a weakness was just a mis-used strength.

I think that’s the case with bossiness.

The world is full of people willing to follow. People who don’t want to take responsibility for their actions and want someone else to make decisions for them. Some of them are even bossy people—as I’ve found out with my own kiddos. But, I would rather they were occasionally bossy rather than always look to others to boss them.

While I don’t necessarily pray that my girls will be bossy, I do pray that they will be leaders. And I hope that I step into leadership when it’s required. While leadership is not synonymous with bossiness, a bossy person can be a great leader—if someone is willing to help re-direct them and to model for them how to get people to do things without feeling like you are bossing them.

In the Royal house, none of us girls has quite figured out that balance between the two yet. But we’re trying. And we are not giving up. And I pray every day that I raise up leaders who lead well—in their o-so-different ways.

And I pray that for myself, too. I just need more people to pray it so that it sticks for me. :)