Significant Leader Step 2 of 3
In the first post of this series, Lead From Purpose: Name Your God-Given Calling, we talked about the first shift every leader must make to move from success to significance: you have to lead from purpose.
But purpose alone isn’t enough.
To become a Significant Leader, you need a plan that does three things:
- Lead From Purpose
- Leverage Your Platform
- Live Your Potential
This post focuses on the second shift: Leverage Your Platform.
Everyone has a platform—whether they realize it or not
When most people hear the word platform, they picture something public. A stage. A microphone. A large audience. A CEO role. A thought leader with a following.
But the truth is, everyone has a platform.
Your platform might be very personal:
- the people you work alongside every day
- the customers you serve
- the team you lead
- the vendors, contractors, or clients you interact with
Or your platform may be more public:
- a leadership role with broad influence
- a company you lead
- a brand or reputation others listen to
Your platform is simply where God has given you access, trust, and influence.
And every platform—large or small—creates an opportunity to make an impact.
The real question isn’t whether you have a platform.
The question is: Are you leveraging it to its fullest Kingdom potential?
From stewarding affluence to stewarding influence
Most Christians already think about their platform in some way.
We often see it as:
- a way to make money
- an opportunity to provide for our family
- a means to give more generously
- a way to tithe or support ministry
And those are all good things.
But many leaders stop there.
They steward affluence, but not influence.
They see their platform as a way to fund Kingdom work—
but not necessarily as the place where Kingdom work happens.
A Significant Leader sees something more.
They understand: your work isn’t just about what you earn—it’s about who you impact.
Your role isn’t just a position you fill.
It’s a platform you steward.
Your work is not about status—it’s about service
Many people pursue positions for what those positions can give them: authority, recognition, control, or security.
But a Significant Leader sees their platform differently.
They see the CEO chair, the supervisor role, the sales territory, the classroom, the shop floor—not as positions to elevate themselves, but as platforms to serve others.
When a leader begins to leverage their entire platform for service, everything changes.
This is where the marketplace becomes one of the greatest Kingdom opportunities in the world.
Why the marketplace may be your most strategic Kingdom platform
We often underestimate the power of the marketplace because we compare it to church platforms. But when you look closely, the marketplace is uniquely positioned for Kingdom impact—often in ways a preacher simply isn’t.
Here’s why.
1. Time
The average person will spend over 90,000 hours at work in their lifetime. For reference, on average, people spend 40,000 hours with their family and only 3,000 hours in a church.
Work is where people live most of their lives.
2. Reach
Consider all the people that you have in your work circle– you team members, your team members’ families, vendors, customers, professional network, you thought leadership. There are more people in your “work circle” than in the average church congregation.
3. Trust
A recent Barna study found that trust has shifted drastically over the last quarter of a century. Today, people look to and trust small businesses more than churches (and way more than politicians).
4. Impact on well-being
A person’s work and the leader they work for are two of the most significant contributors to their overall well-being and satisfaction. We have all heard that people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. The people you work with and the culture you create has a huge impact on the emotional, relational, and physical well-being of people.
5. Biblical precedent
The marketplace was where ministry thrived for the Early Church. Thirty-nine of Jesus’ forty miracles happened outside a religious building. And the early church didn’t spread primarily through clergy—it spread through everyday believers living out their faith in everyday places.
Leveraging your platform requires intention
Here’s where many Level 4 leaders get stuck.
They believe their work matters to God.
They want to make an impact.
They try to “leverage” their platform.
But without a plan, their impact remains accidental rather than intentional.
That’s why in the Significant Leader process, I help leaders create their Kingdom Circle plan–a simple, personalized plan to steward your platform.
When you do, you make everyday work Kingdom work.
You leverage your affluence AND your influence.
You build your career AND you build the Kingdom.
Your Next Step Toward Significance
If this framework resonated with you, download the FREE Significant Leader Guide to help you identify where you are and how to move forward with purpose. With this resource, I also include a video training where we dive deeper into this framework.
Or, if you’re ready for a personalized conversation, schedule a Vision Call, and we can explore together how you can become a Significant Leader.
