The Leadership Limp
In a culture obsessed with image and bravado, what I’m about to suggest might surprise you. In fact, for many leaders, it’s outright scary.
But I am convinced that effective and resilient leaders are those who walk with a visible limp. Others have made this observation in their own way. But it is one that seems so easily forgotten, neglected, or opposed.
We are tempted to believe that the most capable leaders are those who appear to have it all together, who have never tripped up too badly, who seem to possess an uncanny ability to artfully navigate the most treacherous obstacles without any apparent difficulty.
I promise you that those leaders do not exist.
Sure, some leaders really are a cut above the rest of us. But most of the leaders you will encounter are not like that, no matter how they may appear. And no leader is immune from failures and disappointments. We are all human. We are all fallen. Every single one of us.
The key distinction is how leaders learn from those experiences and incorporate them into their sense of who they are and what God has called them to do. In other words, identity and vocation get shaped--and reshaped--by experience. That’s not to say that our ontology is fluid. We are who God says we are, male and female, created in his image and for his glory. But the experience of leading, with all of its successes and failures, will shape our sense of who we are and to what we devote our lives. The question is whether a leader will actively learn those lessons through careful self-assessment, biblical reflection, and trusting friendships.
Leaders Who Have Made Mistakes
Every leader makes mistakes. In fact, most of us are aware of multiple mistakes made well before lunchtime. Some of them are strategic decisions that we simply misread. There may be no inherent moral question involved. We simply took a course of action and led our organization toward a plan that, in retrospect, just didn’t work out as expected.
Team members notice when a leader accepts responsibilities for errors in judgment, missed opportunities, and strategic miscalculations.
When that happens, leaders have a number of options. On the one hand, they can accept responsibilities and own the decision. That requires an obvious measure of vulnerability and maturity, not to mention basic integrity. If you’re a CEO, it will likely mean explaining to your board why that decision was made. Whatever your job, it will mean owning the decision with your boss. And for leaders it always goes down the organizational ladder as well. Team members notice when a leader accepts responsibilities for errors in judgment, missed opportunities, and strategic miscalculations.
Unfortunately, too many leaders seem unable to do this. Rather than owning a mistake, they may be prone to deflect and blame team members. They may try to minimize their role in the decision. And perhaps most disturbing of all, they might choose to deceive and lie in the most overt ways imaginable. We would hope Christian leaders would be immune to such temptations, but reality suggests otherwise.
Leaders not only make mistakes. They also sin. We sin against God and one another. Sometimes it’s in conspicuous and shocking ways, but more often it’s more veiled. It may be the narcissistic leader who treats employees in an almost abusive way, berating them and humiliating them in front of colleagues. But more often than not, our sin shows up in subtle ways and, if we are not careful, our consciences can be seared and the ruts of patterns of sin grow increasingly deeper.
If a leader seems intent on convincing you of their moral perfection, run the other way. If they seem incapable of ever apologizing and you can’t think of a time you heard the words, “I’m sorry” pass over their lips, be warned. The question is not whether we will make mistakes, or even if we will sin. As leaders, our calling is to learn from our mistakes, to repent of our sins, and to seek to grow in both wisdom and godliness. That requires honesty with God, ourselves, and others. And on the other side of that, we will lead differently. It may look like a limp, without some of the careless swagger of before, but it’s a gift.
Leaders Who Have Been Hurt
Lead anything at any level and you will pick up some scars along the way. That is the inescapable reality of leadership. If you are responsible for making decisions, which is an essential component of leadership, then you will inevitably have people who will disagree with those decisions. They might outright oppose them and sometimes do so in ways that are hurtful. Those you thought were allies are revealed to be quite the opposite.
Lead anything at any level and you will pick up some scars along the way.
One of the hardest things for any leader can be to see a gifted and trusted team member leave. It can even be difficult to not take those departures personally, to see them as a repudiation of the organization and of your leadership. And so the temptation comes to pretend like we are not affected by those exits, to be as stoic as we can and simply find their replacement. To do otherwise seems to show weakness. But what if there is a better way? What if part of being an effective leader and a follower of Christ means that we take it upon ourselves to actively seek ways to bless those who God is calling to new seasons of work or ministry? I realize that will be more or less possible given a myriad of circumstances. But surely that can be our aim.
I’ve told others before that I hope the Lord gives me tough skin and a tender heart. And I do hope he will. But even still, none of us carries body armor all the time. Slander and betrayals will hurt, even if no one else senses it. Rather than growing embittered, cynical, or distrusting of others--each of those are poisonous to leadership--we have the option of choosing to turn those over to the Lord. We have the option of sharing with a trusted friend, pastor, or counselor about those burdens. That is the better path, one that redeems suffering and actually makes a leader even more capable of serving their team members. Those that work with and for you will experience hurt and hardship. If they think you have no ability to empathize with them, no wisdom or support to offer them in their time of need, your effectiveness as a leader will be sorely limited. It’s okay to walk with a limp.
Leaders Who Depend on the Lord
This sounds obvious, but you and I know it’s far easier said than done. Every leader is tempted to trust in their own abilities and skills, assuming that successful outcomes are directly tied to them. But the reality is that none of us can predict tomorrow, let alone the next budget quarter. We would all like to think we are expert commentators on our industries, but somewhere in the back of our minds, we know that we can so easily get it wrong.
As a Christian leader, you must build disciplines and spiritual practices that will daily remind you of your own finite limitations and of God’s infinite power, wisdom, and faithfulness.
As a Christian leader, you must build disciplines and spiritual practices that will daily remind you of your own finite limitations and of God’s infinite power, wisdom, and faithfulness. If you lead a Christian organization, you also have a responsibility to communicate that throughout the organization and, insofar as you can, shape a culture that takes that conviction as a “first principle.” For example, that moves prayer away from a polite religious gesture at the beginning of a meeting to a declaration of absolute dependence on the Sovereign Lord of the universe. It liberates teams from the crushing weight of functional deism that would lie to us, telling us that the future rests entirely on our shoulders. And should allow any leader to take inventory of their lives and those things that matter most for eternity.
Leadership brings with it long days and high levels of pressure. That is not going to change. But leaders who are deeply mindful of their dependence on God are far better equipped to make it in the long haul.
That may mean being honest in a meeting about a pending decision and admitting to your team, “I really am not sure right now what we should do.” If that sounds terrifying to you, I get it. None of us want to be indecisive, let alone appear to be. But what benefit do you, or your team, gain from bluffing your way through a decision, trying to put on a good show? In the long run, your leadership will be far more effective by acknowledging the difficulties involved in the decision and calling others into the process with you as you all seek the Lord’s wisdom. You’ll still have to make that decision--the buck always has to stop somewhere!--but you will do your part to shape an organizational culture and a leadership team that turns to the Lord early and often.
In the end, every Christian leader has one universally shared element of our job descriptions: We are called to point those we lead toward a greater knowledge of and joy in the living God. That means surrendering the idolatry of vanity and trying to appear perfect. But it invites us to a gospel-shaped path, picking up our cross and following Christ, where we limp our way along, redeemed and secure in Him.
