CHARACTER AND PITFALLS OF LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP CHARACTER
• Definition:
Character is a leader’s inner sense of moral strength that determines how he or she acts when no one else is looking.
• It’s foundational to leadership success.
• Character and trust are tied together.
• The leader’s character inspires the confidence and trust of others.
• Leadership effectiveness depends greatly on trust, which must be earned by a demonstration of good leadership character.
• A leader is one who leads the way, and people choose to follow leaders they trust.
• Closely related to character is integrity.
• The Bible uses the term “blameless” to describe integrity (Gen 17:1; 2 Pet 3:14).
• Integrity means consistency between what we believe, what we say and what we do.
• The ultimate test of leaders’ credibility is whether they do what they say.
• Leadership involves making unpopular decisions and taking difficult actions.
• It takes integrity to do the right thing when it may be unpopular.
• Essentially, a call to spiritual leadership is a call to character formation.
• In Galatians 4:19, Paul desires a change in the Galatians’ character to become conformed to the character of Christ in reality, not in mere appearance.
PITFALLS OF LEADERSHIP
Definition:
- A pitfall is a trap or a snare that you can fall into before you even know what has happened.
• Often leaders shipwreck their careers, their organizations, and their families by making careless, foolish choices, which tarnish, discredit, and humiliate them.
• Some leaders go from victory to victory.
• Others begin with great promise, but eventually fall and become forgotten.
• No one sets out expecting to fail. So, what happens?
• Leaders’ failure can usually be traced to mistakes they could easily have avoided.
• Let’s examine some common pitfalls that cause spiritual leaders to fail.
Common Leadership Pitfalls
1. Pride
2. Sexual Sin
3. Cynicism
4. Greed
5. Mental Laziness
6. Oversensitivity
7. Spiritual Laziness
8. Domestic Neglect
9. Administrative Carelessness
10. Prolonged Position Holding
1. Pride
• Pride is the leaders’ worst enemy.
• It has caused the downfall of many (Prov 16:18).
• Pride drives leaders to seek the limelight.
• Pride overinflates the ego (Dan 4:29-31).
• Spiritual leaders are God’s servants, but pride can cause them to act as if God were their servant, obligated to answer their selfish prayers and to bless their grandiose schemes.
• God hates and opposes pride
- (Prov 6:16-17; James 4:6; Lk 18:14).
• Pride is a sin that festers in people, making them unreceptive to God’s guidance and the wise counsel and support of other people (1 Sam 13:13-14; Jn 15:5)
2. Sexual Sin
• Has the power to destroy a career, a family, and a reputation, all in one blow.
• Safeguards against sexual temptation and its destructive devastation:
– Enlist “accountability partners.”
– Practice what you preach.
– Consider the consequences (Prov 7:24-27; 14:12).
– Develop healthy habits (e.g. spousal protection).
– Pray and ask others to pray for you.
3. Cynicism
• Leadership is a people business.
• People always let you down – they will criticize, question the leader’s motives, and second-guess his decisions.
• Thus, making the leader cynical – distrustful, skeptical, and suspicious of them.
• When leaders focus on the negative, seeing only problems and weakness, they lose the optimism required to overcome difficult challenges.
• A leader must have a positive attitude.
• A cynical spirit reflects a lack of belief in God.
• A critical spirit in spiritual leaders reveals that their hearts have shifted from God.
4. Greed
• Money and possessions can be either good or bad in a leader’s life.
• The hunger for material things can destroy spiritual leaders; it can tempt them to act unethically.
• Money is not the most important thing in life; Obeying God’s will is.
• Wise leaders…
a. Do not allow themselves to be enslaved to money; they use their money to glorify God.
b. Know that the measure of their success is not the size of their bank account but the quality of their lives.
c. Invest their lives in things that bring the most lasting and gratifying rewards.
5. Mental Laziness
• Problem solving is an essential function of leadership.
• Creativity and innovative thinking is necessary in leadership.
• Leaders cannot afford to become intellectually stagnant.
• Good leaders never stop learning.
• Methods that worked a decade ago may be ineffective today.
• Leaders who aren’t continually growing will eventually find themselves with skills that are obsolete.
• Wise leaders seek the company of wise people.
• They read books and articles that stretch their thinking.
• They read the biographies of great leaders and thinkers.
• Spiritual leaders tap into the eternal wisdom found in Scripture.
• They allow the Holy Spirit to guide and align their thinking with God’s will, not society’s latest fad.
• Leaders don't jump to conclusions. They process the facts and seek to determine the truth of their situation.
• Spiritual leaders spend purposeful time with God, allowing him to guide their minds to the truth regarding the condition of their organization.
• Great leaders are thinkers. They are transformed by the renewing of their minds (Rom 12:2). They never stop learning or evaluating, so they never stop growing.
6. Oversensitivity
• If you cannot handle criticism, you shouldn’t be a leader.
• Criticism, second-guessing, and motive-questioning are unpleasant.
• But they are inevitable aspects of leadership.
• A leader takes a decisive action and is criticized for being too reactionary.
• A leader cautiously refrains from taking action and is chastised for indecisiveness.
• One way or the other a leader will be criticized!
• How leaders should respond to criticism…
• Honestly examine their hearts to be sure the criticism is without merit
• Leaders must face criticism with integrity before God and before people
• Ultimately it is God’s approval and not people’s that matters most
• When leaders know they have obeyed God, they set aside the desire to defend themselves
• They find their security in God’s affirmation
• God’s promise: Isa 54:17
• The wisdom of a right decision will prove itself over time. Wise leaders let God prove the purity of their motives and the wisdom of their actions.
• True leaders are more interested in doing the right thing than they are in their popularity.
• Sometimes, the right thing to do is not the most popular.
• Spiritual leaders must keep criticism in perspective.
• Criticism will come, and it will hurt, but it must not be allowed to derail leaders from God’s call upon their lives.
• Before giving in to the temptation to quit, leaders should revisit what they know God asked them to do.
• Remember John 15:20!
7. Spiritual Laziness
• Leaders are driven people; they see to it that things get done.
• Spiritual leaders often get busy with ministry while spending less time with God.
• “doing” vs. “being”
• Life apart from Christ is meaningless. Wise leaders never forget that (Matt. 6:33).
8. Domestic Neglect
• Get your priorities right:
– God first, then family, then ministry.
• Every leader must balance the responsibilities of their leadership role with their commitment to their families – leader at work; leader at home!
• Nelson Mandela…
– Fight to liberate his people; goal achieved.
– The Nobel Peace Prize; president of South Africa.
– Suffered two divorces.
• Mandela confessed that although he loved his wives, his work always came first and his marriages suffered as a result.
9. Administrative Carelessness
• Leaders are, by nature, visionaries.
• Focusing too much attention on the vision – where the organization is going.
• Neglecting to build the organization to arrive at the destination – to achieve the vision.
• Like a traveler who looks at the road map and knows exactly where he is going.
• But forgets to monitor and maintain the fuel and oil levels of his vehicle.
• Leadership demands both focus and balance. Are you task-focused or people-focused?
• Accomplish the task, but don't ignore or trample people along the way.
• Wise leaders build up the people who will achieve the organization’s vision.
• Clear, timely communication is absolutely essential to a successful organization.
10. Prolonged Position Holding
• It is better to leave them longing than loathing,” so goes the old maxim
• Wise leaders know when the time has come to exit graciously and allow a new leader to step in
– Julius K. Nyerere, Nelson Mandela exited well – earned respect of many
– Robert Mugabe has overstayed his presidential welcome – not wise!
• As a leader once you are no longer as effective as you used to be, it is time to come up with an exit strategy
• Older leaders tend to have difficulty giving their blessing to the emerging generation of leaders
• Leaders with integrity recognize when they have made their most worthwhile contributions.
• Then they graciously hand over the reigns of leadership to the next generation.
• King Hezekiah is the classic biblical example of a leader who overstayed his mandate.
• He had been a good and righteous ruler of the nation of Judah (2 Kings 18:5).
• After ruling for fourteen years, Hezekiah contracted a terminal illness.
• The prophet Isaiah told the king to get his house in order for it was God’s will that he should soon die.
• King Hezekiah wept bitterly and prayed for his life to be spared.
• God granted his request and promised him fifteen additional years of life.
• During his extended rule, Hezekiah made two major blunders:
– First, he showed all the treasures of his kingdom to envoys from Babylon who visited him.
– Such foolish indiscretion would later cost his successors – the Babylonian armies came to forcibly relieve Judah of the same treasures.
– Secondly, Hezekiah had a son – Manasseh, but failed to raise him to the fear of God.
• During his extended rule, Hezekiah made two major blunders:
– Upon Hezekiah’s death, Manasseh became king.
– Manasseh commenced the longest, most wicked reign in Judah’s history.
– By the time Manasseh’s reign ended, Judah's immorality and idolatry were so perverse and had reached such intolerable levels that God’s judgment on the nation was irrevocable.
– By prolonging his leadership beyond what God had planned for him, Hezekiah planted the seeds for his nation’s moral demise.
Conclusion
• Developing a healthy awareness of the pitfalls that can bring failure and disgrace to leaders is the first step to avoiding them
• The second step is putting safeguards in place that will provide protection in times of temptation or indecision
• Third, leaders should have before them the continual reminder that:
• Their organization is more about people than it is about productivity.
• They are not indispensable.
• The most effective, efficient thing they can do for their organization is to maintain a close, vibrant relationship with God.
Here are some questions to consider:
• Do I pray regularly with at least one other leader?
• Are there other leaders with whom I am free to be candid about my personal struggles?
• Who holds me accountable to follow through on what I know to be God’s will?
• What safeguards have I built around my relationship with my spouse? Are they adequate to protect me from temptation?
• How am I presently studying and applying God’s Word to my life?
• Have I built safeguards around my time with God?
• When was the last time I clearly heard God speaking to me? How did I respond to what he said?
• Do I have people who are willing to challenge my actions when they think they are harmful?
• Is the fruit of the Spirit growing in me? (Gal 5:22-23). Am I becoming more and more like Christ?
Reference
Henry Blackaby and Richard Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2001).
Thank You.
Rev. Gerald Ole Nguyaine.
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