Reflection: It’s an Inside Job!
Leadership is simultaneously vital and lethal. It can be a force for good in society, or the root cause of many damages at the individual, organisational, or societal level. Even the most formidable leaders are prone to derailment and failures.
The biggest threats to one’s leadership do not come from sources external to them, e.g., disruptive technologies, experience-based economy, climate change, the pandemic. Important as they are, there is a far greater danger for leaders. Not from outside, but within the leader.
The biblical teaching of the indwelling sin tells us that the very thing that turns an effective leader into a destructive one runs through our hearts. What cripples an otherwise spiritually and emotionally capable leader is always an inside job.
The most fundamental reason why we experience envy, anxiety, shame, guilt, or burnout at work has more to do with the absence of right understanding of our desperately sick hearts than our lack of emotional management or coping mechanism skills.
The greatest enemy of every leader is our own self. The oft-quoted adage still rings very true: ‘We have met the enemy and once again, he is us’.
Prayer: Lord, as my heart is desperately sick, help me to never leave that small corner of evil in my heart unguarded, by your grace and for your glory.