Dr. Ravi Zacharias is the founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, an organization that exists "to reach and challenge those who shape the ideas of a culture with the credibility and the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ." He makes it his goal to reach people where they are—"in the university, the arts, politics, business, and the church."

We've long admired Ravi Zacharias and his audio show "Let My People Think" but recently he got our attention again with his books The Grand Weaver and The End of Reason. We were excited when he agreed to talk with TheHighCalling.org about his views on leadership, mission, pleasure, spirituality, worship, and work.

« Read Part 2: The Wisdom to Distinguish

What have you learned about leadership from the team of people you work with at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries?

I was very naïve about this, but people need good, strong leadership. Its value is underestimated. I foolishly assumed everybody is a self-starter. I tried to give everybody the vision that I wanted them to run with, and then expected the organization to run well. Years later, I realized how critical leadership is and how seriously I should've taken it. One makes mistakes, blunders along, and then thinks the work was just totally unnecessary.

Was there a particular moment when you realized how difficult it was and how much people needed leadership?

The first time something happens you say, "Oh well, it was probably the individual's responsibility or they made the mistake or whatever." If it happens the second time or third time, you say to yourself, "No, it's not them. It's the leader." The leader has to lead well and lead properly, and you know, those skills are not readily visible in many. I'd be the first person to admit that I wish I were a better leader than I have turned out to be. My calling is that of a preacher and teacher and an apologist. To lead an organization—sometimes that has felt like a secondary calling for me.

How have you measured success in your leadership?

I look at it in two ways. Today, I am more equipped and better able to meet the needs of my calling as a speaker and as a writer, the calling that I sense deeply in my heart, for which God had wired me and positioned me. I would measure that in terms of both my inner peace—my closeness with the Lord—and in the response we get from audiences all over the world.

The second way I measure success is by asking, "Have I built an organization that has fulfilled its optimum potential?" I would say I sense a fair degree of contentment with where I am personally, but I would also say we could have done a much better job.

I have to admit I was a little afraid of this interview, because I'm kind of overwhelmed with what you've done. So to hear you say that "it is not all you had hoped it would be" is startling to me.

It's a very candid thing, Marcus. I wished I had done a better job of leading this organization. I just think we could have done a much, much better job had the right person been at the helm of leading this organization. I have been constantly committed to a vision, a burden, a passion, a need, and a calling. I have given my best to it, and I have no regrets, but in terms of the cohesiveness and the measured impact and growth of it, I wish I had to do this all over again. I would have made many, many different turns along the way.

This is where Billy Graham excelled. People have not realized what an incredible leader he was. We think of him as a speaker and preacher, who had this huge audience globally. But he had an an eye for the right kind of person to lead various aspects of his ministry, from George Wilson to Cliff Barrow to Sterling Houston, and then you know like Bev Shea and the musicians. I wonder why his teams stayed together so long. I think it's two-fold. Number one, it was a culture much more given to loyalty and commitment in that generation. But number two, I think his incredible eye and insight into the right kind of person was key to his leadership.

You have talked about writing mission statements for your business and your life and marriage. What are some of the practical steps people should take if they want to write that kind of mission statement?

When you write a mission statement for your life, you have something to measure it by. It is critical that individuals have converging missions for their lives. Imagine, for example, a meeting is called by the CEO and they're sitting around and the whole discussion is on the software and the breakdown of this or that. As they are about to end the meeting, one of the men around the table says, "But what about the shirts." And the CEO says, "What do you mean 'what about the shirts'?" The man replies, "Isn't that what this company is about, the manufacturing of shirts?" The whole discussion has been sidetracked around other issues, but the main reason for their existence was never discussed. If you have diverging lines of mission, a person may have a complete personal ambition in something to excel and be the best speaker he wants to be. But that person has to know how to work with a team or you are basically preparing somebody else to launch his or her own calling in ministry. If you're called to launch other people into ministry, okay. But if not, then that person wouldn't be a good team player. The most difficult aspect I've found in building this organization is building a team.

What have you learned in this struggle about building a good team?

First and most important characteristic in every team member is humility. Unfortunately, we are all victim to the same thing. Speakers and those who are in the public eye often fall prey to big egos. As C. S. Lewis said, "It all boils down not to what they are saying, but the way they are saying it." This is a very critical thing that happens. If I had to do it all over again, I would start looking slower in building a team, and I would do it with a person whose first characteristic to me was that of humility.

Before we ever sit down to write mission statements, how do we discern the specifics of our mission?

First, establish what your personal walk with Christ is going to be; then it should blend with the calling to which God has called you. Your calling is basically God's claim upon your life. In the book, The Grand Weaver, I basically said "God shapes your burdens and beckons you to your service to Him in the place and pursuit of His choosing." Then you establish a mission statement on how you're going to do this.

My calling was to be a proclaimer and to speak and to teach others to go and do the same. So, I'm a proclaimer and persuader on the one hand, but I also prepare other young men and women on how to do that persuading and proclaiming. I have to balance it all. Sometimes I would rather just go and speak and proclaim, but I have to take away from that in order to go and teach, disciple, and mentor. One of my main responsibilities now is the mentoring of younger apologists.