Trouble Ahead
Scripture
“There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests…your task is to be true, not popular.” (Luke 6:26)
Thought
You know you’re living the leadership life when you’ve been criticized and it cut deep. It’s a tough experience for a coach, teacher, principal, pastor or CEO when you take on unfair criticism for doing the things you know need to be done.
It can be excruciating when someone catches you with a powerful blow and you feel almost as if your hands are tied because of the position you hold and the leadership life you’re living. It’s not a fair fight. If it was peer to peer you would handle it totally different.
But you can’t because you’re the leader.
This dynamic can test a leader to their very core. Can you remain poised and secure when criticized? Can you keep your honor? Can you refrain from flying off the handle or badmouthing the criticizer to another co-worker or leader?
The truth is, not everyone likes your transformational leadership heartbeat. Despite your very best intentionality and execution there is still going to be a student, or an athlete, or a teacher, or a coworker, or a member who is going to come for your throat. There might even be a group forming right now, and they are coming to undermine everything you do this year.
I wish we could say leadership was always fulfilling and that the people you pour into are always going to appreciate your care for them and the weight you carry.
In reality if that is an expectation - that the people you lead are always going to appreciate your care for them and the weight you carry, then there is deep trouble ahead.
Being a transformational leader is one of the most inconvenient roles in the world. No one said it would make you popular. No one said it would make you feel appreciated.
You’re not leading your team/school/district/church/athletic department/etc to feel popular or appreciated.
You’re leading to serve the needs of your group. And sometimes serving the needs of your group will require you to make decisions and take actions that will make you the least popular and least appreciated.
That’s why you’re the leader. Someone has to do it and if you don’t, who will? This is the very thing you have signed up for and the very thing that will drain the life out of you if you do not tend to the deeper needs of your leadership life.
Take heart and draw the approval your soul needs from the secret place - your walk with Jesus.
He knows far more than you do about being under-appreciated and unpopular. You won’t find a leader who can relate more to what you’re feeling than Jesus.
Call to Action
When was the last time you felt you were unfairly criticized? Write out 2-3 emotions you felt from that experience. Ask God to give you the confidence you need to keep going.