A recent article in Business Week gave the reflections of two senior executives and the lessons they learned in managing companies who were stagnating. These comments have great insight for leaders, even leaders in the Church.
Daniel H. Mudd, CEO of Fannie Mae:
“I’ve learned to be more humble and try to distinguish problems that are fixable from those that are not.”
Some vital lessons from this quote:
- Leaders must constantly guard against pride.
- Success can become the worst enemy for leaders.
- Leaders have blind spots. Great leaders surround themselves with people who care enough about the mission to help leaders see these blind areas.
- Some things cannot be fixed or solved. Mature leaders accept this and put their energy where they can be the most effective.
- Leaders must learn to deal with failure. Failure is part of leadership.
“I regret the couple of cases where we started with the outcome we needed instead of starting with the principle.”
Some vital lessons from this quote:
- Leaders can focus so much on results they forget integrity.
- Leaders must identify the core principles before working on projects.
- If leaders do not understand the principle no one else will.
- The most important task for leaders is to keep the organization focused and operating on principles.
Gregory Q. Brown, Co-Chief Executive for Motorola:
“We thought we knew what was best for customers, as opposed to listening in an unfiltered and unemotional ways to what customers were telling us.” Some vital lessons from this quote:
- Leaders must not fall into the trap of believing they have all the answers.
- People will praise leaders when they are successful and this can provide a false sense of security.
- Emotions can be dangerous for leaders. Emotions can taint a leader’s view.
- Leaders must remain in contact with the true needs of the people.
“We have to be more vigilant about ensuring that there is a healthy level of candour and transparency throughout the organization.”
- A leaders’ work is never done.
- Free-flowing healthy communication is the most important asset for leaders.
- Communication must flow inward and outward, not in one dimension.
- Miscommunication is a form of communication.
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I think about the word of our Lord from Matthew 20:25, 26a where He told the disciples that the rulers of the Gentiles 'lord it over them', and those that are great exercise authority over them, yet it shall not be so among you... I think this is key to understanding the Kingdom of God; that this worldly authoritative approach 'shall not be so among you'.
ReplyDeleteA 'worldly' power structure is very dangerous; especially in times of crisis. It's the oldest trick in the book to consolidate power to a central head to take advantage of people's fears, etc., and it is one of the most effective tools in the devil's kit. It is dangerous in the Kingdom because where power is easily consolidated the enemy can control from the top- then he can poison the whole. This is why there must be a willingness to hear what the Spirit is saying within the Body because the Holy Spirit is searching out the mind of God and relaying it to those that 'have an ear to hear'. It is much harder to deceive a multitude of counselors than it is a single man.
This is also why there is an autonomy among the churches in Revelation 2,3. If one church spoiled it could not effect the whole. That is, if one church refused to hear what the Spirit was saying, the Lord could remove that candlestick without effecting the rest. Over time the churches were consolidated with a Gentile power structure and suddenly the Pope called the shots. The unbelieving Jews also did a similar thing in placing all authority into the hand of the Rabbi's. In both cases the Holy Spirit's voice was effectively shut out and men were left to jockey for position. Men then stood in the place of God. What a terrible price is paid for a simple refusal to hear our Lord when He said, 'it shall not be so among you...'