“A good leader needs to have a compass in his head and a bar of steel in his heart.” – Robert Townsend
Wouldn’t life be easy if our teams were focused on the same things? Our schools would function better. Our businesses would be more efficient. Well, even our personal relationships would work much better. If you follow my premise, what if a leader was selfless instead of self-centered? Would organizations be better?
Let’s go over the easy one: religious institutions. Assumption one is that a preacher must be God-centered. Albert Einstein once said: “God doesn’t care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.” Clearly, it is not a problem of God, but a problem of man. Many religious leaders today do not promote the development of their lay leaders. Power is usually centralized. Governing boards, such as trustees and deacons, are dismantled. I feel that this strategy is to maintain control and neutralize the impacts of difficult people.
Miller, the author of The Empowered Leader, argues that understanding politics is important, even for spiritual leaders. Miller also feels that a leader must be an effective politician because this leader must be able to negotiate or make side deals. The author’s main theme is that the leader should not abuse his power.
Similarly, business leaders and nonprofit leaders wrestle with politics and power issues. Let’s talk politics. Draft, an organizational behavior guru, defines politics as selfish behavior or a natural organizational phenomenon. In Draft’s political model, he describes an organization with separate groups fighting for power. Look at the daily list of scandals of organizational leaders. What if these fallen leaders cared more about the organization than themselves? Can these fallen leaders be persuaded that their “hard hit” policy did not save them from destruction? Are you on the rise in corporate leadership? Do you want to be a power broker? I warn you not to forget about your customers and your employees. Think about them and the many benefits of becoming a selfless leader. Put your followers first and forget about politics. Start today, and your people will follow.
References:
Fool, R. (1995). Theory and Design of Organizations. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.
Miller, C. (1995). The empowered leader. United States of America: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
