About This Guide
This guide is for leaders who want to see people the way God sees them. You manage people, but have you ever paused to feel the weight of that phrase? These are not resources to be allocated or headcount to be optimized. They are human beings, each one carrying hopes, fears, dreams, and burdens you will never fully see. Each one bears the image of God.
In this guide, you will learn:
- The theological foundation of human dignity (Imago Dei)
- Three dimensions of the image of God in every person
- How Jesus treated people as image-bearers
- What research reveals about human-centric leadership
- Four practices to become a more Human leader
- Warning signs that Human is eroding in your leadership
The Weight You Carry
You manage people. That is the language we use. But have you ever paused to feel the weight of that phrase? These are not resources to be allocated or headcount to be optimized.
They are human beings, each one carrying hopes, fears, dreams, and burdens you will never fully see. Each one bears the image of God.
In the hurried pace of meetings, metrics, and quarterly reviews, it is dangerously easy to forget this. We reduce people to their productivity. We see them through the lens of their performance reviews. We speak of "human capital" as if souls could be traded on a balance sheet.
What if the way you treat the humans in your organization is inseparable from how you honor the God who made them?
When we fail to see people as image-bearers, we fail to lead as Jesus did.
The Dehumanization Crisis in Modern Leadership
Something has gone wrong in how we lead. A 2024 survey found that only 23% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work. The majority, 77%, are either disengaged or actively disengaged. They show up physically but have checked out emotionally.
Why? Because they do not feel seen. They feel managed, measured, and monitored, but not truly seen.
The dehumanization of the workplace did not happen overnight. It crept in through efficiency movements that treated workers as cogs. It was reinforced by management philosophies that prioritized systems over souls. It accelerated through technology that made people interchangeable, replaceable, disposable.
Even well-meaning leaders fall into the trap. In the pressure to perform, we start seeing our teams through the lens of what they can produce rather than who they are. We become frustrated when their humanity, their illnesses, their family challenges, their emotional needs, interferes with our plans.
The disengagement epidemic is not primarily a motivation problem. It is a dignity problem.
The Imago Dei: Reclaiming the Foundation
“Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV)
This is where leadership transformation begins. Not with a new technique or framework, but with a recovered vision of who people are.
The Imago Dei, the image of God, is not a concept reserved for Sunday school. It is a daily reality with profound implications for how you lead. Every person you encounter, from your highest performer to your most challenging employee, bears God’s image. This dignity cannot be earned through performance or forfeited through failure. It simply is.
The ancient Hebrew understanding of “image” (tselem) meant more than physical likeness. It carried the weight of representation. In the ancient world, kings would place images of themselves throughout their kingdoms to represent their authority. God has placed His image-bearers throughout creation to represent His character and carry out His purposes.
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness.”James 3:9 (NIV)
How we treat people indicates how we value God Himself.
Three Dimensions of the Image
Theologians throughout church history, from Augustine to Calvin to modern scholars, have identified three primary ways humans reflect God’s image. Understanding these will transform how you see your team.
Substantive Dimension
Every person possesses inherent divine traits. We have the capacity for reason, creativity, love, and moral awareness. Your employees are not just skill sets to deploy. They are beings with souls, capable of extraordinary thought and profound emotion.
Relational Dimension
God exists in perfect community as Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit in eternal relationship. He created us for relationship, both with Him and with each other. Your workplace is not just a production facility. It is a web of relationships that can either flourish or wither based on how you steward them.
Functional Dimension
God gave humanity dominion and the call to steward creation. Your people have been designed to create, build, cultivate, and contribute meaningfully. When you position them to use their gifts and grow in their callings, you are participating in God's original design for human flourishing.
Every person on your team carries divine traits, is designed for relationship, and has a calling to fulfill. Lead accordingly.
Jesus: The Model of Human Leadership
If you want to see what “Human” leadership looks like in action, look at Jesus. He did not lead from a corner office, demanding reports and reviewing metrics. He walked with people. He ate with them. He knew their names, their stories, their struggles. He asked questions not to gather data, but to demonstrate care.
The Woman at the Well (John 4)
She was an outcast Samaritan with a messy past. Jesus could have walked by. Cultural norms said He should. But He stopped. He engaged. He saw her not as a scandal but as a soul. He restored her dignity by simply acknowledging her humanity.
Zacchaeus (Luke 19)
He was a despised tax collector hiding in a tree. What mattered to Jesus was not Zacchaeus’s status or reputation. He called him by name. He invited Himself to dinner. He saw a man worth knowing when everyone else saw a traitor worth ignoring.
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”Matthew 20:25-26 (NIV)
The world's model says leadership is about climbing over people. Jesus says it is about lifting people up.
The Ninth Pillar
Within the Superhuman Framework, Human is the ninth of ten pillars. It flows directly from the Love cornerstone. When you know you are loved (inner room), you can see others as loved (outer room).
Human connects to Helpful through the practice of serving people rather than using them. When you see someone as an image-bearer, service becomes natural because you recognize their inherent worth.
Human connects to Humble through valuing others’ contributions above your own recognition. Humble leaders see their team members as partners, not subordinates.
Human connects to Honest through truth-telling that honors dignity. You can speak hard truths while still treating someone as an image-bearer. Honesty without humanity becomes cruelty.
Human prepares you for Holiness, the capstone pillar where all ten come together. A set-apart leader treats people differently because they see people differently.
“Unlike strategic initiatives that can be implemented overnight, becoming a more Human leader requires ongoing transformation. It is not a checkbox. It is a way of seeing.”
What Research Reveals
The secular research on human-centered leadership confirms what Scripture has always taught. Here is what the data shows.
The Data on Human Leadership
Human-centric leadership works. According to Gartner, employees with human-centric leaders are 37% more engaged, and highly engaged employees boost team performance by 27%. This is not soft leadership. It is strategic leadership.
Servant leadership creates trust. A 2024 study found that servant leadership positively influences psychological safety, which in turn reduces negative behaviors and increases engagement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.
Wellbeing is now strategy. Employee wellbeing in 2025 is no longer a perk but a performance strategy. Organizations are integrating wellbeing into every layer of their infrastructure: mental health, financial resilience, work-life autonomy, and empathetic leadership.
When employees perceive they are being treated as tools rather than people, they experience increased depression, decreased loyalty, and higher turnover intentions. How you see people is not soft. It is strategic.
Human Leadership in Practice
Here is what it looks like to lead humans, not just manage headcount.
See Before You Speak
Before you address performance issues, before you deliver feedback, before you make decisions that affect someone’s livelihood, ask yourself: Do I see this person as an image-bearer? You can hold high standards and honor someone’s humanity at the same time.
Value Presence Over Production
Your team knows when you are only interested in their output. They feel it when you walk through the office without making eye contact. They sense it in meetings where you are already forming your response before they finish speaking.
Create Space for Struggle
Humans struggle. They face family crises, health challenges, seasons of doubt, moments of failure. A Human leader creates environments where people can bring their whole selves, not just their productive selves. Compassion is not the opposite of accountability. It is the foundation for it.
Practice Restoration
Jesus did not just heal physical ailments. He restored people to community. When someone fails, when trust is damaged, you have a choice: discard or restore. Human leaders choose restoration whenever possible, not because it is easy, but because it honors the dignity God has placed in every person.
The Superhuman Leader does not manage headcount. They shepherd souls.
The Inner Room Connection
You cannot consistently see others as image-bearers if you have not first settled your own identity as one.
The outer room expression of Human leadership flows from inner room formation. Before you can dignify others, you must know that you yourself are dignified. Not because of your title, your revenue, your LinkedIn connections, or your accomplishments, but because God made you in His image and calls you His beloved.
Leaders who have not experienced this identity shift often struggle with one of two extremes.
Devaluing others happens when you do not know your worth comes from God. You try to establish it through comparison. You climb over people. You use them for your advancement. You see them as competition rather than collaboration.
Devaluing yourself also happens when you do not know your worth comes from God. You will be crushed by criticism, paralyzed by failure, and unable to lead with confidence. Every setback will feel like a referendum on your value.
The gospel settles both. You are deeply flawed and infinitely loved. You are a sinner saved by grace and an image-bearer commissioned for purpose.
Four Practices to Become More Human
Transformation does not happen through information alone. It happens through practice. Here are four concrete steps you can take this week.
The Image-Bearer Pause
Before every meeting, every difficult conversation, every interaction with your team, take five seconds to remind yourself: This person is made in the image of God. Watch how it changes your posture, your tone, your approach. This is not a religious ritual. It is a reorientation of sight.
The Story Question
This week, ask one team member: "What is something about your life outside of work that you would like me to know?" Then listen. Really listen. Not to gather information for a performance file, but to see them more fully as a human being.
The Dignity Audit
Review your recent communications: emails, Slack messages, meeting agendas. Ask: Do these honor the dignity of the people receiving them? Or do they treat people as tasks to be managed, problems to be solved, resources to be optimized? Sometimes a small change in language reveals a significant change in perspective.
The Restoration Opportunity
Is there a relationship on your team that needs restoration? A person who has felt unseen or undervalued? Someone you have written off, even internally? Take one step this week toward repair. It might be a conversation, an apology, or simply showing up with genuine interest.
Small shifts in seeing lead to significant shifts in leading.
Warning Signs: When Human Gets Lost
Even well-intentioned leaders can drift. Here are warning signs that the Human pillar is eroding in your leadership.
Functional Language
You describe people in functional terms only. "My marketing guy" instead of "Sarah." "The sales team" instead of individual names. Language reveals how we see.
Resenting Interruptions
When a team member's question feels like an imposition rather than an opportunity, something has shifted. People have become obstacles to your productivity.
Decisions in Isolation
You make decisions about people without talking to them. Reorganizations, role changes, and layoffs planned in isolation treat people as chess pieces rather than partners.
Avoiding Difficult People
When you find yourself hoping certain people just go away, you have stopped seeing them as image-bearers worth investing in.
Indifference to Struggle
Compassion fatigue is real. But when you hear about a team member's hardship and feel nothing, it is time to reconnect with the source of your own compassion.
If you recognize yourself in any of these warning signs, do not condemn yourself. Recognize the drift and return to the foundation: you are an image-bearer leading image-bearers.
The Invitation
You did not stumble into leadership by accident. God has placed you where you are, with the people you have, for purposes beyond quarterly results and annual reports.
Every day, you have the opportunity to treat the humans in your organization as tools to be used or as image-bearers to be honored. Every interaction is a choice. Every meeting is an opportunity. Every email carries the weight of how you see the person receiving it.
The world is watching to see if faith makes any difference in how Christians lead. When you choose to see people as God sees them, you are demonstrating the kingdom of God in the marketplace.
This is the way of the Human pillar. This is what it means to lead like Jesus. And friend, you do not have to figure this out alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
The term "image-bearer" comes from Genesis 1:27, where Scripture declares that God created humans in His image. This means every person, regardless of their role, title, or performance, carries inherent dignity and worth because they reflect something of God's nature. As a leader, recognizing your team members as image-bearers transforms how you treat them, from resources to be optimized to souls to be honored.
Human leadership is not about avoiding hard conversations or lowering standards. It is about holding high expectations while honoring people's dignity. You can deliver difficult feedback, make tough decisions, and maintain accountability, all while treating people as image-bearers. The difference is in the posture: seeing people as partners in a mission rather than problems to be managed.
Imago Dei is Latin for "image of God." It refers to the biblical teaching that every human being is created in God's likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). For leaders, this means every employee, customer, and stakeholder carries divine dignity. When you treat someone as merely a "resource" or "headcount," you deny the Imago Dei. When you see them as image-bearers, you lead in alignment with God's design.
Yes. Human leadership does not mean avoiding difficult decisions. It means making them with dignity intact. Sometimes organizations must downsize, restructure, or part ways with employees. A Human leader does this with transparency, compassion, and respect for the person's worth. They communicate honestly, provide support during transitions, and never treat the process as merely administrative.
The Substantive dimension means your employees are not just skill sets, they have souls capable of creativity, reason, and moral awareness. The Relational dimension means your workplace is a web of relationships to be nurtured, not just a production facility. The Functional dimension means your people are designed to create, build, and contribute meaningfully, your job is to position them to flourish in their callings.
This is one of the hardest aspects of Human leadership. The practice of the "Image-Bearer Pause" can help, before interacting with a difficult person, take five seconds to remind yourself they are made in God's image. Also examine your inner room: leaders who know they are loved by God despite their own flaws find it easier to extend grace to others.
Research shows human-centric leadership drives measurable results. Gartner found employees with human-centric leaders are 37% more engaged, and highly engaged employees boost team performance by 27%. When people feel seen, valued, and dignified, they bring their best selves to work. Human leadership is not soft, it is strategic.
Human flows from the Love cornerstone. When you know you are loved (inner room), you can see others as loved (outer room). It connects to Helpful through serving rather than using people, to Humble through valuing others' contributions, and to Honest through truth-telling that honors dignity. Human prepares you for Holiness, the capstone pillar where all ten come together.
Restoration begins with acknowledging the breach. Have an honest conversation about what happened and its impact. Take responsibility for your part without making excuses. Ask what repair looks like from their perspective. Then follow through consistently over time. Restoration is not a single event but a process of rebuilding trust through demonstrated changed behavior.
Research shows that while 96% of CEOs report they are doing enough for workforce wellbeing, only 69% of employees agree. This 27-point gap reveals that intention is not enough, what matters is how your leadership is perceived by those you lead. You may think you are leading humanly, but perception is reality for your team. Regular feedback and genuine listening can close this gap.
This is a false dichotomy. Efficiency and humanity are not opposites. In fact, organizations that honor people's dignity consistently outperform those that do not. The key is integration: build systems that scale your care, create cultures where dignity is structural (not just personal), and remember that sustainable performance comes from people who feel valued.
Watch for these signs: describing people in functional terms only ("my marketing guy" instead of names), resenting interruptions as obstacles to productivity, making decisions about people without talking to them, avoiding difficult people rather than investing in them, and feeling indifferent to others' struggles. If you recognize yourself in any of these, do not condemn yourself. Recognize the drift and return to the foundation.