Take Two

I’ve been thinking a lot about servant leadership and followship here of late and have done some writing here, here and here. Let me briefly discuss a few of the pitfalls of leadership and why it is imperative to be accountable (aka follow) someone.

Robert Trapani, a recognized expert in family and ministerial life, notes that almost all leaders fall because of one or more of these things: sex, money, or power. When leaders fall due to sexual failings, it seems these make a much bigger splash in the press. It’s not necessarily because more leader fall via this route it’s that, to use a cliche, sex sells. Not only has it be sensationalized regarding our political leaders (see here, here and here) but also, unfortunately, by those in the pulpit (see here and here). When leaders fall because of financial issues it is often due to issues eerily similar to those who fail because of sex. Strangely enough, my limited experience with people who have failed in these regards the root issues had less to do about sex and money and had much more to do with relationships and identity issues. I could go on all day with all manner of pop psychology but the fact is these two issues are more direct to address because they are rooted in the flesh.

Power is a completely different issue and yet it’s not. The issues with sex and money are often rooted in power. Specifically, one feels that he is so powerful that he will not get caught or is immune from the pitfalls that ensnare others. There’s a second kind of power issue. This is the one where a leader becomes so autocratic that they are unable or unwilling to listen to another. These folks usually blow up so big that they well, blow up.

At the root of all of these issues is a lack of accountability. Everyone in leadership needs to be accountable to someone, ie, be under someone’s authority. If you’re an employee it’s your bosses; if you’re a congregant it’s your pastor. Bosses and pastors are also in need to someone to be accountable to such as boards, organizations and peers. One of the best methods of accountability is the peer pressure method. Specifically, find a peer or two and give them the right to speak into your life at any time about any thing and give up the right to be offended by it. Agree to not only receive it as constructive criticism but act on the feedback because in your heart you know this person’s evaluation makes you better. The scariest thing you can do is give control away to another. It’s the only way to have true accountability.

As I mentioned before, great leaders are always good followers.

The most clicked on post in this blog is this one with the little girl singing the Lord’s prayer. So far, over 200 people have hit that link (I mean, she is really cute). The second most popular link in this post I did a few months ago on followship. I’m going to add a few additional thoughts on to that post.

I’ve talked to folks I have worked with, both in business and in ministry, and it appears (and I agree) that I am a follower/leader. Specifically, I try to lead from the middle. As I previously mentioned, every leader must be a follower. He must be accountable to someone from whom he has derived his authority. I know of men who are great leaders who, the moment you meet them, their personality takes up the room and you can sense their greatness (I’m not being facetious here). Kenneth Haney is one of these type of men. He’s a visionary and whatever room he’s in even if he isn’t in charge he’s in charge (I hope that makes sense). I am not that kind of leader.

My leadership style is to surround myself with folks who complement my weaknesses (as they are many). For instance, the Sunday School Secretary here in Ohio was a Youth President for the ALJC some time ago. He is very strong at running youth camps. For this reason, I am completely hands off when we go to camp. I don’t feel, just because I’m the director, that I have to be hands on in-charge when there is someone far more capable of doing the job. Ditto for any number of things be it (in the church realm) leading service, doing promotion or whatever. In the business world, I am more of an operations type guy. My business partner is the perfect yin to my yang. She is a rainmaker, a marketer with an immense number of connections in her Rolodex. My job is to make sure the bills get paid, the email works properly and, in summary, make sure the trains run on time. In both cases, because we have complementary strengths, we become accountable to one another to complete the task. Leading by following.

Doris Kearns Goodwin in her book, Team of Rivals, explain how Abraham Lincoln did much the same thing. Take folks with varying strengths (and even agendas) and put them together. While it appears Lincoln had lost his mind (keeping his friends close and his enemies closer) he in fact build a strong team by not having to be the “alpha dog”.

Bottom line, every leader (not named Jesus Christ) is accountable to someone. By understanding this we become better leaders. The saying is that absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is one pitfall of leadership. I’ll discuss others in a later post.

I was out with my brother-in-law, Ken, and the assistant pastor from his home church who is up here for a few days. As a side note, he is from Lufkin, Texas and is both amused by the six inches of snow we have and not so amused by the 12 degree temperature last night. We picked Brother Perry up from the airport and then went to Easton to see if we could get Ken’s phone fixed. We also had a great dinner and spent some time walking around. We meandered into Barnes and Noble and, since we are all readers, managed to pick up some books. I got the latest by Bishop T.D. Jakes, Reposition Yourself, and am reading it now. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

As we were talking in the bookstore, I mentioned that I had a DVD of Bishop Jakes preaching at Bishop Mitchell’s church in New York City. Bishop Mitchell gave me a copy of it when I preached for him last month. Bishop Jakes is speaking to a group of leaders and the message itself is very good but one part really reached out and grabbed me. Here’s what it was.

Bishop Jakes noted that there were generally two types of leaders although the rare person was both. He said that there are builders and bankers. Builders are visionaries who come into nothingness and see what can be and prepare and build that vision. They essentially create something from nothing (which is why they are builders). Because these folks are visionaries, we hold them in high esteem and many strive to be a builder (even if that isn’t their particular gift).

Bankers are different. A banker is not someone who handles your money. Bishop Jakes noted that he is from the coal country of West Virginia and a banker is someone who banks the ashes of a fire around the coals enabling the fire to stay hot all night. Bankers are people who take what a builder creates and maintain and grow it. Bankers are gifted in management. Bishop Jakes’ point was to, if you are a banker and gifted in management, not despise your gift. The kingdom needs people to manage and maintain and grow as much as it needs folks to blaze new trails. I thought it was a tremendous comparison.

Discover your gift and and develop it. To try and be something you are not is tremendously frustrating.

I was on a conference call the other night with Ambit Energy and a statement was made that really stuck with me. The speaker, who has made a tremendous amount of money as well as built several successful organizations, said that “good followship makes for great leadership”. The nutshell of his thought was that you can’t be a leader if you don’t know how to follow. Jesus, in his interaction with the Roman Centurion, has this principal emphasized. Jesus offers to go to the Centurion’s house to heal his servant and the Centurion tells Him that he also is a man “under authority”. He did not say he had authority but that he was under authority. The implied statement here was that whatever the centurion said was backed by the full might of the Roman Empire. The Centurion also understood that whatever Jesus said was backed by all of Heaven in that He was sent by and in fact was God. The authority however, was based on the ability to submit to a higher authority.

This brings me back to the statement from the call- good followship makes for great leadership. I have worked with a number of great leaders both in business and the ministry and I can say that every single one of them were great followers. They had to learn how to place themselves in submission to another and, by doing so, made the one that they were following greater. This behavior propagates itself among the followers who become leaders in their own right. But the recurring theme was that leaders must know how to first follow. As I mentioned in this post, it was only when I learned to follow that I again began to lead. It’s a fascinating principal.

Anyhow, that’s a random thought for Friday. Outreach tomorrow and then the first extension service on Sunday. Stay tuned!