When a leader fails

When a leader fails

I’ve been thinking about leadership and hypocrisy lately, particularly in small beginnings. When a great leader starts his journey, small decisions present themselves. Who that leader is in the smallest, most unnoticed decisions is actually who he is in the larger ones.

You don’t become disingenuous overnight. You begin the slide toward hypocrisy and duplicity by choosing to fudge once, then again, then again. You begin to see yourself as invincible once you’ve succeeded in those little sins, then believe your own press that because you are helping people, you can slip here and there.
But eventually truth wins out.

"All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

When we taste power, we have a choice. We can choose to continue to make wise decisions no one sees, or we can fudge a little and justify. We can ask others to hold us accountable, to grant transparency in everything we do, or we can bully and hide our increasingly corrupt decisions. We can open our hearts to naysayers, really listening, or we can vilify anyone who questions us.
So how do we respond when a big leader let’s us down?

5 Choices.

1. See their story as a cautionary tale. None of us is outside the reach of temptations lure. We may say that we have utter integrity, but we forget how clay-footed we are.
Every new story should remind us that truth exists and pushes its way to the surface eventually. We cannot cover it up. To do so is like submerging a beach ball in the ocean for a lengthy period of time. Eventually our strength to suppress our antics subsides, and the truth pops up.

2. Make good choices in the darkness. Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10).

There’s no such thing as a fallen leader who made one bad, big decision. It started first with little white lies, small deceits, and underground dalliances. You always have the choice to be honest in small things, and those small decisions prepare you to have integrity as you face bigger decisions.

3. Learn to forgive. Almost every failure I know of befell a man who could not or would not let others repent or start a new. The greatest promise of the gospel is the promise of re-birth.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Wearing the failures of yesterday into today is like wearing the clothes you wore in high school for the rest of your life. At some point they don't fit and you look silly.
So is continually wearing yesterday's failures into the future.

Let your enemies change their clothes! They are not what they were yesterday either. Quit demanding they remain what they once were.

Most of the fallen leaders I am aware of, have made a living of demonizing and vilifying those who disagreed with them or somehow fell out of favor with their leadership.

Forgiving others is one of the greatest lessons you can learn
Jonah 2:8
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy."

Those creative lies we tell ourselves to keep the fight going, ultimately hurt ourselves more than they do those we wish harm upon.

4. Be daring enough to hear criticism, then swallow and digest it. Don’t spout off your initial reaction, but rein it in. Even if someone confronts you and 90% of what they say is wrong (in your eyes), accept it graciously, then determine to heed the 10%.

Your enemies and critics will tell you what your friends never would. Hidden in their lies and misrepresented tales is some truth!

5. Don’t allow one leader’s demise to demoralize your confidence in the gospel. This life is an ironman triathlon, not a hundred-yard dash. A leader falling is one part of the journey. Learn from their mistakes.

Grieve. Get mad. But persevere.

If you’ve been personally affected by the fallen leader, seek to work through your difficulty. In time, walk in forgiveness– considering yourself!

Galatians 6:1
1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

The greatest lesson is humble, silent and honest self examination.

LM
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