My friend: the leader
It
is frightening and scary these days when it comes to leadership. I have
experienced this first hand at work. We have people there that are called
managers. They manage to get by day by day. Do they manage to lead us forward?
Well no, they tell us what we want to hear and what the company wants us to
hear. In a way, they are the “Thought” broker. A person who passes along
information to make the right decision. The problem as I see it, is that these
managers have been put in places of leadership.
The other day (In Canada) the Prime
Minister has said we need to think as feminists. That’s all fine and dandy if
those issues were dire. What is dire is the economy, yet we have heard nothing
on those fronts. This man was hired because he wants to be our friend. This friend
tells us what we love to hear over what we need to hear. It’s the same in the
United States. Obama was hired as their friend because Mr. Bush was the bad
father figure. Look where we are today. A staple in America (Detroit) is
bankrupt, polluted, and poor. America is going down fast and your friends can’t
stop it: A leader could.
They say that parents can’t be
friends with their children. They say that workers should not be friends with their
bosses. I get a sick feeling when I have to think that way. I really like some
of my bosses. I have seen them at the things I do outside work. I have taken
trips with my kids. In the end, I am dad, and they are sons. Friendship has boundaries
because we were built that way. Leadership has to exist or we perish. You don’t
have to believe it but every dressing room championship had lofty leaders. Those
leaders had few friends, but they lead with heart and ferocity.
I have heard many stories of the
Calgary Flames hockey championship in 1989. Many of the players said they hated
the coach Terry Crisp. Yet, to a man, they all said he took them to the promised
land by force. The same can be said of Bill Belichek of the football Patriots. Love
him or hate him he leads teams to victory. Our countries and families don’t
need friends, they need leaders. This friendship epidemic across North America
is killing this land.
What does God have to say about
leadership. Oh sure, I could spout many scriptures and bore you to death. Many
people say the middle of the Bible is psalm 119. They are wrong. The middle is
2 Samuel 11:1 and it says “In the
spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the
king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and
besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.”
David is considered the greatest
King in Israel history. Yet, he made several bad choices. The reason I say this
verse is the middle of the Bible is because their history went a different way
after this choice to say home. This country went from prosper to perish within
a few hundred years of this choice. David should have led by example but
instead he led with his heart. They needed a leader but they got a compromising
friend who refused to make the hard decisions.
God has set us up to lead by example. Some were born
to lead and others to follow. Both are as important as the other. A “General”
makes decisions that kill or save lives on a battlefield. They are not popular
choices. A warrior makes choices that can cost a “General” and homeland their lives.
We all work together, but the fact remains, we need leaders more than we need
friends.
This day and age believes we need
friends more than leaders. The economic problems are over 10 years old now. We have
only hired people in leadership that tell us what we want to hear. What we need
is another matter. How does a child admit they need their parents? Well it
comes with time. In time, the choices we have made in leadership will come back
to haunt us. The line “Chickens always come home to roost” will have meaning in
the next 50 years. I just wonder if it’s too late. Have we let this masquerade
of the nice friendly leader go too far? I guess only time will tell.
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