There is no major invention today that never went through progression or development. To the average man, the final attractive product is their most important concern and not its developmental stage. Indeed, this is the mindset of most people who see high position as an enjoyable and luxurious adventure. But then, no one climbs the leadership ladder without giving it a contemplative thought.
Furthermore, no one climbs life’s greatest ladder without going through the acts of followership, mentoring, sacrifice and being dedicated to service. It pays to be an efficacious leader of high repute. As a matter of concern, anything worthwhile in this life has a price tag on it. True leadership, even when it is practised by the most mature and enthusiastically stable individual, will always demand a price. It is generally true that the greater the achievement, the higher the price to be paid for it.
The same is true of good governance. Jesus Christ Himself seemed to have this thought in mind when He said, “If you really want to find your life, you must lose it” (Luke 9:24). It is important to know that any valuable thing has a price to be paid for it. The real question is: How much are you really willing to pay in terms of diligence, sweat, endurance, faith and durability to obtain it?
True professionalism or excellence in leadership does not just happen; it comes about only through much persistence or tenacity of purpose. Let us now focus our attention on five of the encounters that confront today’s leadership and learn to develop the right attitude to face them.
Criticism
If you are afraid of being blamed, disapproved, disparaged and reproached, you may not be qualified to lead. Criticism is a great price paid by leaders. A friend of mine once said: “If you cannot handle criticism, it means that you are emotionally immature.” This defect eventually shows up and impedes progress toward the attainment of one’s goals. Every leader must expect some form of criticism, be it destructive or constructive! Destructive criticism is meant to tarnish your image and keep trusted people away from you. Constructive criticism on the other hand, if well-handled, improves upon your self-esteem. Indeed, both criticisms if well-handled can work for your good rather than for evil.
In the leadership realm, I have come to accept this fact that those who criticize you the most are often those who help you grow in your leadership skills. It may be hard to accept it at that time, but it will help you mature greatly. The only way we can really get to know ourselves better is through the acknowledgement of the constant feedback from other people. Certainly, we don’t know how we come across to other people unless they tell us. As a matter of fact, we need their responses to help us grow on the job. You will always have people who never like the way you speak before an audience, handle managerial issues or even the way you dress.
Others may simply not like you for any obvious reason and may perpetrate spiteful stories about you. What must you do? You must steadfastly stick to your integrity no matter the verbal attack. As for people, they will never stop talking about you. Some become exceedingly happy when you are being run down by detractors. They throw their weight behind those detractors in tarnishing your image to their advantage. But then, you shouldn’t forget about this statement: in this life, you can never please everyone. Some may love you for your dream whilst others may deeply hate you. However, this is the price to pay as a leader.
Sycophants or bootlickers help us feel better about ourselves but we don’t actually profit from them because of their flattery. Real change and emotional growth come by facing our weaknesses and personality defects as others see us. This is the price tag of leadership! Once a leader is in a position of wider exposure, his visibility makes him more liable to criticism. But the mature leader is able to handle this and make the necessary adjustments and corrections. A mature leader is able to say, ‘Thank you for the criticisms and corrections. Undeniably, they have added additional value to my life by opening my eyes to less concentrated areas.’ If you are working on becoming a global leader, be prepared for criticisms. But remember to grow stronger than ever from them.
Isolation
Another price a leader must pay is the willingness to be alone because he has lost his freedom in the service of others. A true leader will promote others and their interests, values and goals even at the expense of his. At the same time, the effective leader must strive to fulfil his own potentials and goals without being immersed in the group. This leaves him living in a balance alone, somewhere in-between, because, he has to both identify with and be isolated from people for a reason.
A resilient leader must be able to identify readily with people. Other times, he must be ready to walk away from the crowd and be alone. Jesus often did this in His ministry. Though the leader may be very friendly by nature, he must at times be prepared to tread on an isolated path in order to receive more ideas to propel the institution or organization to a higher level of exploits. The leader must welcome friendship but he has to be mature enough to possess enough inner strength to stand alone even when there is much opposition with regard to the performance of duty.
A critical study of most of the great leaders in the Old Testament of the Bible clearly reveals that no matter how much they were tremendously used by God, most of them like Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel among others were often men who repeatedly lived in hermit. Usually, they were misunderstood, verbally abused and threatened by people because of their direct rebukes of the people’s evil manners.
Loneliness is so difficult to handle in the sense that most leaders may feel they need others to emotionally be with, especially during hard times. In fact, in those difficult moments they appear as private individuals. God made us to be social creatures. That basic drive of our personality exposes a need for belonging and acceptance by our peers. It is only natural to want to be close to people and share your burdens or responsibilities. It can be very difficult to make decisions that greatly affect the lives of others and still have to maintain the separation needed. Loneliness is a throbbing price leaders must pay in becoming effective and efficient.
Abuse of Power
Throughout the history of mankind, power has become accepted as a basic characteristic of leadership. Power makes a lot of friends. It attracts all sorts of people to one’s abode. Power draws the attention of the opposite sex into the offices of leaders. Power makes you enjoy a long array of entourage at certain meetings. In fact, when your name is mentioned at a function, you receive a standing ovation.
People rush to have an encounter with you because fame comes along with power. In any organization, when a person is given authority, he is put in a legitimate position to exercise control and influence.
For some people, occupying a high position in the society is hard to handle and can become their downfall. It is a constant danger that leaders must pay a price to keep themselves from falling into this dangerous temptation of exploiting people to their advantage.
A well-known saying goes like this: ‘power corrupts but absolute power corrupts drastically.’ At the highest level of success, only a few are able to handle power and fame. Some make silly choices, follow strange ideas and strive to keep their positions ‘protected’ by kicking against any head that arises to challenge their authority. If there is any price to pay as a leader, one must desist from abusing power and authority.
Negative Pride and Jealousy
Pride can be in two-fold: positive and negative. Being content with one’s personality or an achievement whilst giving thanks to the Maker is the good form of pride. Again, positive pride does make you believe in yourself and your abilities whilst giving credit to people who have contributed to your success. However, being swollen-headed by achievements and your instant popularity without acknowledging God’s provisions and the backings from trusted people is what I term as negative pride.
In effect, false pride and jealousy go hand-in-hand. Popularity can definitely affect a leader’s performance. Feelings of infallibility and indispensability will decrease a leader’s effectiveness. Let us note that it is not uncommon for leaders to go through deep depression. A leader who has been admired over a long period of time is especially susceptible to danger.
He may overreact when others are promoted, exonerated, or selected for certain positions he expected. Jealousy then becomes the fruit that he will manifest. Jealousy is the uneasiness one experiences especially when other people are doing better than them. A jealous person will ultimately become suspicious of his rivals.
When a leader gives in to the temptation of popularity, it can become problematic because his popularity can get in the way of his performance. A leader is much more effective if he can position people’s attention towards the group or organization that he leads. Loyalty must be to the group first. The leader must point people to the organization’s target and not to himself.
A leader should be respected and held in high esteem in order to get the job done better but vain popularity can be purchased at too high a price. When the price of humility is not paid and false pride develops, it is easy to accept the rationalization that one is more liable to make mistakes than others. Unless a person perceives his true self-worth and is led by meekness, he may easily fall into this trap. Despite much experience and maturity, leaders who often fail to see the bigger picture of humility become prone to making mistakes.
A leader must have convictions and know what he believes in, but that is quite different from the infallibility illusion. Closely related to infallibility is the feeling of being irreplaceable or nonpareil. Some leaders feel that their organizations, churches and nations cannot survive without them, and they cling to authority as long as they can. This can be a real danger because development and progress can be held up for years when the leadership should have been passed on to someone else also or even better qualified.
Use of Time
Of all the things we have to work with, the most important one is the time available to us. There is a price to pay in the use of our time because it seems that our human nature is generally lazy. So, we have to change this part of our nature. When we learn how to control our time, then we have truly learned how to manage ourselves. We must budget our time carefully just as we budget our money.
Time is a tool to be used to our good advantage. If you were given two leaders of equal abilities, the one who uses this tool of time most efficiently will perform better than the other. Any leader who uses his time effectively for creative thinking and problem-solving will always stand out for global impact. Making sensible use of your time for major accomplishment is a great price for leaders to pay. Today, if we don’t learn to manage ourselves well, we will at all stints encounter the difficulty of managing our time when we become leaders.
Conclusion
Let these raised concerns enlighten you to stay focused on your leadership crescendo in order to positively influence your space of influence.
The writer is an Academic, Visiting Lecturer, Leadership Consultant and a Reverend Minister with the WordSprings City Church, Kumasi-Ghana. This article is an extract from the writer’s book, The Cost of Leadership.
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