Leadership is everyone’s business!

Leadership at the core is nothing without having people willing to follow.  Once a leader is leading, his or her influence extends to everyone.

Leadership is everywhere in society, so it is important for everyone to understand its influences. Because leadership is everywhere, it affects everyone and their business. Whether it is leaders passing legislation that affects your personal lives, working environment, and practically your everyday life, we all have been affected.  Every facet of your life has been influenced by yourself or society, and leadership is the driving force behind that influence. Always being aware of how your actions affect others is an important element to relational leadership. Sometimes leaders can lose sight of that and then they lose their power.

Leadership is everyone’s business becomes very evident when bad leaders make decisions that can affect everyone. When Hitler was at the peak of his power, the whole world was impacted by his actions. Many people had to go off to war, children and women had to work factory jobs, and millions of people never returned home to their families. One man’s leadership influence changed the course of history and effects society to this day.

Society wants to believe in leaders for the good they can bring into this world. Some critics will bash people who have taken the task of leading others. I think of Tim Tebow and how the media heralds him, and yet so many people just look for every opportunity to tear him down. Why? Because deep down we admire a man who can be successful without falling to the many pitfalls that many others have succumbed to.  A man like Tebow reveals our flaws and shortcomings, and the first reaction is to try and tear him down.  I would be willing to bet that there are people out there that would love to hear that Tebow has a drug problem, has an affair, or has an underground pit-bull fighting club. Yet, I believe that deep down there is not a single person that would not love to see him make it through an entire career without letting his positional power bring him down. Deep down it shows us that we can be better men, even if it is not playing in the NFL, and better husbands, fathers, and sons.

I talked about Tebow to compare him with two other men that we have placed on same character and leadership level, Jim Tressel and Joe Paterno.  This past week has been a hard week for me, because I was a huge Penn State fan growing up. I loved Penn State football, and I loved the tradition and iconic image that the football program exhibited.  Coach Paterno actually visited my hometown, Portsmouth, Ohio, when I was in the 8^th grade. I remember being in awe in his presence, and it was my goal to play for him someday. Unfortunately stories like Rudy do not happen in the 21^st century, and my passion for football was not complimented with a 6’7” 275 lbs. frame.  So you could imagine how I felt this past week!

I first want to say that I am not trying to place Jim Tressel’s and Joe Paterno’s actions in the same category, but I will say that their individual and organizational power led them to make their poor decisions.  First off what they did was wrong, and both would agree to that. However, I would say that their lapse in judgment was not because they thought they could get away with it. If that were the case, then they both were not the men that we thought they were. I believe they made their decisions because at the time they thought they were doing the right thing. Hindsight is always 20/20, but if they thought it was the right thing to at the time, would they likely make the same mistake if they went back in time? We can all sit back and judge these two men, but we do not know all of the facts and details of the events. To bash these two men and look at their careers as failures is to miss the point completely.

Any leader knows that when given power, it is tough to always make the right decision.  We have all made bad judgments at times, and thankfully they were not at the magnitude of the two legendary football coaches. We do expect a lot from these men, but don’t we expect even more out of ourselves? We know the path of being great leaders is demanding, hard, and the road less traveled.  Yet, sometimes we think we are doing the right thing, and we find out later that maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do.  We admit were we fell short, learn from the experience, and try to become better for it. All I am asking is that as leaders ourselves, we learn three things from this situation:

1.     To understand that we all have weaknesses, and that one mistake should not detract from a lifetime of positive service to others.

2.     That these two men are people like you and I. They may have experienced more things in life, but we all develop at different stages. As kids we look at adults as being all wise and all knowing, but when does that point come for an adult? They never take a course on adulthood 101, and as we are closely approaching graduation have we really had this realization that we know all? No! When does that time come? Our parents ask us where has the last 21 years gone, so if we are banking on the next 21 years to come to this realization, it may not be coming. Life is about living and learning, and unfortunately some learn the hard way.

3.     Would we ever want to be remembered as leaders by one poor decision? Do you think you will never mess up again? I think if we answer both of these questions honestly, I think we have to realize that life isn’t easy, and that our positive deeds should not be forgotten through one bad decision. If it is, then why do we try to do good if sinning is inevitable? …. We do so because we know it is the right thing to do, and I guarantee these two men will continue to do great and positive things.

*I apologize if I have offended anyone, but I think this is something we, as leaders, need to consider. It is easy to agree with everyone else, but does that make us right?