What if the most powerful leadership move you could make wasn’t scaling up, but surrendering?
In a culture that celebrates performance, rapid results, and personal branding, Dr. Nicole Martin offers a refreshing—and deeply biblical—vision for inspirational leadership that is redemptive, incarnational, and Spirit-led. On a recent episode of the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast, Dr. Martin, COO of Christianity Today and author of Nailing It: Why Successful Leadership Demands Suffering and Surrender, sat down to explore how leaders can faithfully reflect Christ in how they serve, shape culture, and steward power.
At the heart of Nicole’s message is a powerful truth: real leadership is forged in the valley, not on the mountaintop. Redemptive leadership isn’t about linear ascents or constant wins—it’s about trusting God in the ups and the downs, the triumphs and the trials. It’s a theology of leadership rooted in the cross, not just the crown.
“In redemptive leadership,” Nicole says, “we embrace the moments of crucifixion in our lives because we believe God can bring resurrection on the other side.”
This approach naturally leads to what she calls incarnational leadership—a posture of “being with” people, not simply directing them. It’s leadership that mirrors Jesus: present with the suffering, patient with the broken, and deeply attuned to the stories people carry into the workplace. As she puts it, “When we can be with ourselves in our suffering, then we can be with others—and show them Christ is there, too.”
Nicole is equally clear-eyed about the cultural distortions of leadership. In a world obsessed with influence, scale, and visibility, she calls leaders to crucify false definitions of power.
“We’ve embraced an unhealthy obsession with triumphalism—where leadership is all about rising, growing, and scaling. But the gospel teaches us to lay down our power and pick up our cross,” she shares.
Instead of hoarding influence, redemptive leaders steward a healthy distribution of power by recognizing that everyone, regardless of title, has power entrusted to them by God. Whether it’s informational, relational, or positional power, the question becomes not “Do I have power?” but “How will I use it to glorify God?”
Nicole challenges leaders to surrender three things:
In this surrender, leaders make space for God’s power to flow through them, creating workplaces shaped not by control but by compassion.
One of the greatest leadership pressures today is pace. We’re pushed to move faster, respond quicker, and perform more efficiently. But Nicole points us to a radically different rhythm: the difference between chronos time (human time) and kairos time (God’s time).
“Jesus wasn’t in a hurry,” she reminds us. “He waited to visit Lazarus. He prayed when others were looking for him. Yet He always knew exactly when to move—because He was walking in step with the Father.”
The invitation for leaders? Set your internal clock to God’s pace. Trust that He redeems lost time and that obedience often matters more than urgency.
Presence Over Performance
In most organizations, high performance is rewarded. But what if the real measure of success is presence?
Nicole calls this presence-based leadership—valuing people not only for what they do, but for who they are. She encourages leaders to build cultures that care for the whole person: spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.
In Christian workplaces, we can lead differently. Instead of merely asking about output, we can ask about Sabbath. We can care about whether a team member is rested, spiritually nourished, and growing in faith. “When people feel seen and known,” she says, “they perform better—because they’re flourishing as whole people.”
Ultimately, redemptive leadership cannot be accomplished on human strength. Nicole’s closing insight is perhaps the most crucial:
“There’s no silver bullet that makes leadership suddenly healthy and humble—but there is one factor without which all leadership fails: the person of the Holy Spirit.”
She recalled a pivotal leadership moment where, facing financial decisions beyond her expertise, she led her team in prayer using 2 Chronicles 20: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” That shared humility became the soil for breakthrough, not just financially, but spiritually.
When leaders yield to the Spirit, God does what only He can do. And the result, as Nicole beautifully put it, is a team that steps back in awe and says, “This was the Lord’s doing, and it’s marvelous in our eyes.”
Bottom Line: In a world racing toward achievement, Dr. Nicole Martin calls us back to the cross. To slow down. To lead with presence. To steward power with humility. And above all, to trust the Spirit of God to work through us in ways we never could alone.
If leadership has felt heavy lately, take heart: you don’t have to carry it by yourself.
Let the Spirit lead.