Redefining Leadership: Part 2 (A Personal Shift in Perspective)
For much of my life, I found myself in leadership positions. I was the oldest sibling, student council president, team lead in my professional work—you name it. So when people talked about leadership, it made sense to me. I had the roles, responsibilities, and opportunities to match.
But everything shifted when my mother-in-law passed away.
She was not someone you’d describe as a traditional leader. She didn’t hold a formal position or title. Yet at her funeral, the impact of her life became overwhelmingly clear. The parking lot overflowed. The church filled to capacity. People spilled into the street. She had quietly influenced hundreds of lives through simple, faithful presence.
The Power of Quiet Faithfulness
She didn’t lead with speeches or authority. She led by example—by caring deeply for the people around her and living a life that reflected her faith. You couldn’t spend five minutes with her without sensing the presence of Jesus, even if she never mentioned His name.
That moment was a turning point for me. I realized that real influence doesn’t require a title. It comes from how you live your life, how you treat people, and how faithfully you show up in your relationships and responsibilities.
Influence Is Your Calling
At Unbound, we teach our students this truth early and often: you don’t have to discover your purpose. As a Christian, your purpose has already been given to you—to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
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That kind of love always influences. It moves people closer to—or farther from—the One who made them. The way you love and serve the people you interact with today has real, eternal weight.
Whether you’re parenting young children, working with a team, or buying ice cream at the end of a long day, you are influencing people. The only question is whether you’re doing it intentionally.
Living with Deliberate Influence
This is why Unbound places such a strong emphasis on living deliberately. Influence isn’t optional. It’s happening all the time. The challenge—and opportunity—is to use that influence with purpose.
You don’t need a stage or a strategy. You need to be present, faithful, and aware of the people God has placed around you. Every day is filled with interactions that can either reflect Christ—or miss the moment.
It’s a sobering thought. But it’s also incredibly hopeful. You don’t have to wait for some grand opportunity to start making a difference. Your influence starts right where you are.
Want to hear the full conversation that inspired this article?
Tune in to the Be Unbound podcast—available now wherever you listen to podcasts. Or, watch the episode below!
Jonathan Brush is the President and CEO of Unbound, a homeschool graduate, and a homeschool dad of six. He worked for nine years as a Director of Admissions for a private, liberal arts college, and then spent over ten years working in non-traditional higher education.
Jonathan loves Unbound and Unbound students and dreams every single day about new ways to connect them to each other. He gets to work with the world’s best team and the most amazing student body in the history of the world (which is just as awesome as it sounds), and field questions about Rule 4 violations (ask an Unbound student to explain). Jonathan and his family make their home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.