Blind Mistrust/ Distrust

“Do you trust me?  Do you really trust me?”  As leader’s we want the answer to be a solid yes don’t we.  We want the people underneath us to be able to trust us.  So, whether spoken aloud or through our actions, we ask this silly little question continually.  “Do you trust me?”  Yet, I wonder how often the people we lead ask us the same question.  I wonder how often we aren’t asked, in the course of a given week, “Do you trust me?”  Further, I wonder what our posture to their question articulates.  Do we really trust our people?  It’s into this conversation that chapter 3 of Leadership From the Inside Out speaks a word this week, and frames our view from the Open Road.

Drawing upon the infamous example of the Presidential administration of Richard Nixon, Michaelson illuminates the destruction that can happen when a leader has limited, or no, trust in his people.  For Nixon, it cost him his second term in office and public disgrace.  Nixon is not remembered for his first term in office.  Nor is he remembered for the positive results of this first term.  Rather, Nixon is, and most likely always will be, remembered for the embarrassment that was Watergate.  You see Nixon’s complete distrust of his people created in him a spirit of paranoia.  Paranoia crippled him to the point that it over-rode his moral and ethical judgment, and when confronted with the dastardly deeds that Nixon had authorized, on his watch, he further covered them up rather than face the real issue.  Ultimately, as previously stated, this cost him the presidency shortly into his second term in office.

I too have journeyed into the land of distrust.  I have led, albeit unwillingly, from a posture that silently affirmed to my people that I did not trust them.  You see distrust rears its ugly head every time I give one of my people a job to do and then immediately go behind their back and do the very thing myself.  Thus conveying to them that I didn’t really need their help in the first place.  Worse yet, I can do a better job than you do, so just let me do it myself.  Or, how about when I delegate a task but do not give a thorough enough explanation in order for them to complete the given task.  Then, worse yet, when they fail at the task I wonder aloud why they failed.  As painful an admission as this is, I’ve had both of these experiences happen to me.  Now, I must admit that I did not willfully do this.  Yet, nevertheless, through my silent language this is exactly what I did.  And, when the way I had handled myself was brought to my attention, I had a choice to make.  Was I going to deal with my unintended leadership mistake, or, as Nixon did, was I going to cover it up.  I chose wisely during this time and met these concerns head on.  I dealt with the unintended damage that was created.  

Yet, I can’t help but wonder now, several years later, as I am forced to look back upon these events, if there may have been a way to avoid this ugliness to begin with. I wonder what would have happened had I given full specific instructions on what needed to be done, leaving the how up to them, and trusting in their knowledge to get it accomplished.  I wonder further what would have happened if I left them to the task and did not micro-manage the details, or worse yet perform the task myself.  I wonder what kind of work environment would have been created if I did these two simple things. Most probably, I would have recognized the competence of my employees and would have accomplished far more.  Above that however, I would have created an environment where teamwork was paramount to performance.  This environment would have led to happy healthy employee morale, instead of poor morale and deficient productivity.

You see, in looking back, coming face to face with the ugliness that we have created, we have a choice, much like Nixon did.  We have the choice to further cover up our actions and seeming stupidity, or we have the choice to address the chink in our leadership.  Nixon’s “desire to cling to power as a way to deal with his insecurity ultimately left him blind to his own vulnerabilities and thus unable to control himself.”[1] Would that we do not make this same mistake but rather address the issue before it is too late.

For a fuller treatment of this particular issue see:    http://leadershipunleashed.typepad.com/leadership/distrust/

For today, this is my view from the Open Road

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[1] Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley.  Leadership From Inside Out.  New York, NY: The Crossroads Publishing Company, 2004.  Pg 29

Money

I’m a fan of old time rock and roll!  Real old time rock and roll.  Although I love Elvis, The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, and others, most of my listening preference abides in the 70’s.  This decade gave rise to groups such as Creedance Clearwater Revival, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Eagles, Kansas, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, and so many many others.  Ah, I love reminiscing, great decade, even greater bands.  Now, in your best grandfatherly voice repeat this line, “They just don’t make music like they used to back in my day....”  This is truly how I feel.  Rock and Roll has indeed come a long way, but they just don’t make it as they used to.  In case you are wondering, and lest you make a faulty assumption, I can clarify things a bit for you.  Indeed, it’s true, I am an old head banger that’s all grown up now.  Yet, despite that fact, and despite the fact that it’s just not as cool as it used to be to rock out with the air guitar, or head bang with the air drums, there are some things you can never remove from a person no matter how hard you try.  One such thing for me, depending on the subject, is having song lyrics from this great era frame the present reality. So, as I read the second chapter in LFIO[1] entitled In the Service of Mammon, a lyric from Pink Floyd’s song Money played through my head.  The lyric goes like this: “Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today.”[2] You know, maybe when Floyd sang this in 1973 they were on to something.

I say this because I have watched over my life in leadership, some twenty plus years now, multiple times where an organization or a company, a church, or a non-profit, even a person that was well respected fell victim to serving the almighty dollar.  Money is placed before family, friendships, members, and everything else.  Its acquisition is the primary motive and so leadership becomes a game of keeping the one with the deep pockets happy.  “We can’t do this or that because Mr. Money won’t be happy.”  Although other examples could be illustrated, all these give rise to the one most damaging effect this has on any organization, which is that the organization takes its eyes off their over-all goal.  In essence, it compromises the organization’s integrity.  Yet, sadly, this damage is not always evident, even to the leader or those in leadership, immediately.  In fact, most often this is not evident until the poison has infiltrated the entire organization.  You see, “the basic test we all face...is whether we have control over the power of money or whether the power of money controls us.” [3]

So, is there a way to live in this tension?  Is there a way to live so that the mammon (money as well as material possessions) in our organizations-whether that is the church, a local non-profit, your business, even inside your own family, does not control us? For me to live in this constant tension I need to go back to the words of Scripture. I need to hear Jesus say:

“...do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds!  And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!  And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.  Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.  “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions, and give alms.  Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Luke 12:22-34 NRSV)

I need to hear these words from Jesus because when it comes right down to it chasing the almighty dollar is really a heart issue isn’t it.  I need to be continually reminded of this.  It’s as if Jesus comes and stands before me, and most probably you as well, and says, “Do you trust me to be enough?  Do you trust me to supply all your needs?”  You see, when Christ shapes our reality, then the promise is “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:19 NRSV)  No longer does Mr. Money, be he a real individual or your imaginary traveling companion through this life, control the organization or my leadership there in. Rather leadership is placed on the one who can handle it all, and supply it all.  Leadership is placed in the capable hands of Jesus Christ, freeing us to serve God as opposed to the idol of wealth.

Though countless more could be said on this important issue in leadership,

Today, these are just my thoughts from The Open Road.  

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[1] Leadership From Inside Out is a book that is written by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson.  This book, as stated in last week’s post, frames my reflections for the next ten or so weeks.

[2] Waters, Roger.  "Roger Waters - Money lyrics.”  AlltheLyrics.com. http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/roger_waters/money-lyrics-602091.html (accessed February 20, 2013).

[3] LFIO, 18

Destructive Forces

Over the next several weeks, I will be taking the opportunity to interact with the information contained within the pages of Wesley Granberg- Michaelson’s book: Leadership From Inside Out (LFIO).  As a former business executive myself, I have had the privilege of reading some of Michaelson’s other material and so I am looking forward to reading this particular book and seeing what it offers.  Specifically, as God has called me in a new direction, I am curious to see the overlap his leadership style will have as it relates to pastoral leadership.  To this end, I offer you the next ten weeks.

In chapter one of LFIO Michaelson deals primarily with three specific things leaders do indeed need to control, namely money, power, and sex.  These three needs “have the capacity to destroy any leader.”[1] One can almost remember the scandals that rocked the television evangelistic ministries of such people as Jim and Tammi Faye Bakker, or more recently the bankruptcy of the Schuller enterprise, mostly due to abuse of power, mismanagement of funds, and even, at least for the Bakker’s, allegations of sexual abuse.  Sex, money, and power are very real concerns within the context of ministry.  Yet, we cannot seem to avoid these concerns, as the church of previous eras has thought possible, instead we must find a way to take back these three things bringing them back into the fold of God’s redemptive care. Yet, is this possible?  Is it possible to re-frame sex, money, and power?  I believe the answer is a Biblically affirmed yes.

The apostle Paul in I Timothy gives this advice for new pastors, Paul denotes the term bishop, in I Timothy 3:1-7 (NRSV), 

The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way— for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.

It would seem that Paul also knew from early on how easily it would be to be ensnared in the false allusions of grandeur the office of pastor, or head of church, brought with it.  In fact, Paul goes one-step further by offering key characteristics for the leader of a church.  You see, as I look at Paul’s list, I am ever mindful of just how important these qualities for leadership within the church actually are.  These characteristics are the antithesis of love of money, love of sex, or abuse of power.  Thus stated my question becomes one of going back to the Biblical witness of Scripture.  Why do we claim that we must have control over the powers of sex, money, and power in our own lives instead of paying attention to the words of Scripture? I ask this question because it would seem very clear to me that if I were to follow Paul’s list in the above passage the abuse of power, sex, and money would never be a topic for discussion. I would never allow myself access to the destructive forces these three things are when taken outside their natural bounds. 

One final thought regarding the temptation to abuse any or all three, sex-money-power. This thought comes from several pastors I have the privilege to call friends. Live in community.  Be willing to be open and honest with, if not all of your congregation, at least a select group of friends. Call this your accountability group; God knows we all need them.  Let them know when you are struggling and why.  This will further insulate you against the damaging effect of falling prey to the devil and his schemes.  I chose to openly live in community with several people, and indeed this has helped me avoid several temptations I would otherwise have succumbed to.  There’s something about having to be brutally honest with somebody when you begin to feel the temptations creep in.  Live in intentional community with others that understand the loneliness that accompanies full time ministry. 

In conclusion, in a world that is crying for leaders, especially trusted leaders, I echo Michaelson’s sentiment.  The search for trustworthy leaders begins by looking for leaders who have demonstrated the inner capacity to deal creatively and responsibly with the issues presented by sex, money, and power in their personal lives.[2] Further, I believe that these issues can be dealt with from a Biblical perspective and consequently become strengths instead of weaknesses and moral failures. It will however take leaders that know themselves well and stand up to the challenges presented. 

Although this is a bit of a different topic than we have dealt with previously,

This is my view from The Open Road

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[1] Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley.  Leadership From Inside Out.  New York, NY: The Crossroads Publishing Company, 2004.  Pg 13

[2] Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley.  Leadership From Inside Out.  New York, NY: The Crossroads Publishing Company, 2004.  Pg 16