peter kritas

LEADERSHIP AND SPIRITUALITY

Written by Peter Kritas

If we want to awaken our Spirituality we must embrace both sides of events being good or bad equally. Life is like a magnet of positive and negative energy. Searching for a one sided magnet is futile. Searching for a one sided life is equally as futile. It is wise that we embrace the cycles of happiness and sadness equally along our journey of life, for they will both guide us to our most authentic self. True love includes a balance of both synchronously. I believe there is a Grand Orderly Design (God) in the universe and this can be seen by the science, magnitude and intelligence of what exists.

Many Entrepreneurs and Leaders around the World are harnessing their power to make a difference. Today, more than in any other time in history, extraordinary individuals are equipping themselves to create more wealth, and contribute more wealth. In 2006, Bill Gates, the richest man in the World, announced he would dedicate his time to his charity foundation. Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the World, announced he would give 85% of his fortune away. These men have a higher purpose and are in tune with their Spirituality.

In all callings there are occupational hazards and the perils of a Leader and their Spirituality are especially subtle. Leaders are not immune to the temptations of physical wealth and attainment, but the dangers most to be guarded against lie in the realm of the Spiritual. Leaders must remember that physical power will endeavour to take advantage of every inch of ground that it concedes in every other area of one’s life.

Visionary or Leader
A person who possesses marked gifts of Leadership may reach a place in their organization that compels them to choose whether their role is to be one of popular Leader or unpopular visionary. This has been my experience when I founded MailPost Australia. When someone becomes conscious of the fact that they are a Leader in their own organization, they have reached a major pinnacle for change management in their business. They must now choose one of two courses, that of Visionary and Creator or a Leader of men. If they seek to be a Visionary and a Leader, it has been said to me by many that they will be apt to make a failure of both. If they decide to be a Visionary only insofar as they can do so without losing their Leadership, they become a diplomat and cease to be a Visionary at all. If they decide to maintain Leadership at all costs, they may easily fall to the level of a politician who pulls the wires in order to gain or hold a position. In MailPost I decided to focus my attention to be a Visionary and Creator and assist the business in the backend as in March 2009 it seemed like there were many that wanted to lead the business and I chose to step down as Chief Executive in MailPost Australia. In this case looking back on the situation it was not the best timing to succumb to the pressures of change management for the same reason that change management is quite risky when an organisation is not in a start up or unstable state.

Of course, there is no clear-cut dichotomy between the two roles and the one does not necessarily exclude the other. But a situation can very easily develop like in my case, in which one has to choose between a Visionary Role that is conceptually based and a people centric Leadership role. Can we be both? Herein lies the paradox.

Samuel Brengle was one of the truly great Leaders of the Salvation Army. A man of scholarship as well as of unusual Spiritual power, he outlined the role to Leadership in challenging words: “It is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves, but rather, like Paul the apostle, by counting those things that are gain to us as loss for Christ. That is a great price, but it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would be not merely a nominal but a real Spiritual Leader of men, a Leader whose power is recognized and felt in heaven, on earth, and in hell. He chose to be a Leader of men rather than a Visionary, and that was the secret of his power that manifest the growth of the organisation.

Pride
The very fact that a man has risen to a position of Leadership and prominence tends to engender a secret self-congratulation and pride which, if not checked, will unfit them for further advancement, for “everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination ” (Prov. 16:5)… strong and searching words, are they not? Nothing is more distasteful than self-conceit. That first and fundamental sin in essence aims at enthroning self at the expense of the universal God.

Sin is a word used to express the non-adherence to the universal laws. Of the myriad forms that sin assumes, none is more abhorrent than Spiritual pride. To be proud of gifts given or of the position we have been elevated to, is to forget gratitude for all we have received.

The ego can become enflamed when we achieve good things and Pride is the sin of whose presence its victim is least conscious. There are, however, three tests that will help us discover whether or not we have succumbed to it.

The Test of Precedence
How do we react when another is selected for the assignment we expected or for the office or business we coveted? When another is promoted and we are overlooked? When another outshines us in gifts and accomplishments?

The Test of Sincerity
In our moments of honest self-criticism we will say many things about ourselves and really mean them. But how do we feel when others, especially our rivals, say exactly the same things about us?

The Test of Criticism
If you lost your position in an organisation or censured for your work, does that arouse hostility and resentment in our hearts and cause us to fly to immediate self-justification? Or do we simply go to a place of acceptance and understanding and move off to a place of wisdom? Do we hasten to criticise the critic?

Popularity
There will always be those unwise souls who grant undue deference to their Leaders and advisors, and who tend to exalt one above another forgetting that we are all fellow-workers for one common purpose. Popularity is the most dangerous Spiritual state imaginable, since it leads one so easily to Spiritual pride which drowns men in a state of Spiritual ruin. It is a symptom to be watched with anxiety since so often it has been purchased at the too heavy price of compromise with the world.”

An exaggerated yielding to Leaders is a mark of Spiritual immaturity. And an acceptance of such fawning deference by the Leader is an evidence of the very same weakness. It is not wrong to be greatly loved by those whom one has endeavored to serve, but there is always the danger that devotion may be deflected from the Master to the servant. Leaders are to be “esteemed very highly in love for their work’s sake,” but that esteem should not degenerate into adulation.

That Leader is most successful who attaches the loyalty of his team more to the outcome of the Project than to themselves. He can rightly draw encouragement from the fact that his service has been fruitful and appreciated, but he must refuse to be idolized.
What Leader does not desire to be popular with his constituency? Certainly there is no virtue in unpopularity, but popularity can be purchased at too high a price. Jesus made that crystal clear when He said, “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.” And He expressed the complementary truth when he said, “Blessed are ye when men revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.”

Success exposes a man to the pressure of people and thus tempts him to hold on to his gains by means of physical methods and practices, and to let himself be ruled wholly by the dictatorial demands of incessant expansion. Success can go to one’s head, and will unless one remembers that it is the Team as a whole and the divine that accomplishes the work, understanding that everyone is dispensable, and that the organisation will be able to make out with other means whenever a Leader is cut down to size.

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Elation and Depression
In every work, there are inevitably times of discouragement and frustration as well as days of uplift and achievement. The Leader is in peril of being unduly depressed by the one and unduly elated by the other.

Depression is the comparison of your current reality to your unrealistic expectations. If one does not find a downside to their fantasies then one will not find an upside to their reality. Sometimes positive expectations can be a delusion, but that does not mean to say that one should not have positive expectations as they are the mindset that creates the building blocks and movement in life. There two sides to every coin as there is good and bad for example, if you were to video tape someone during their life and took scenes out you could make someone into a hero or a villain, and that applies to every human being, even Jesus Christ.

The seventy disciples of Jesus returned from their mission, highly elated with their success. Jesus quickly checked this natural but soulish reaction. “Do not rejoice in this, that the Spirits are subject to you,” He admonished them, “but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20). He directed their attention to their work that had been noted and not their ego thinking proudly of their achievements.

After the drama on Carmel, Elijah experienced such acute depression that he wished to die. The Lord did not approach his overwrought, self-pitying prophet with a Spiritual probe. Instead, He made him take two long sleeps and eat two square meals. Only then did He begin to deal with the deeper Spiritual problem. He was able to show Elijah that no real basis for his discouragement existed. There were still seven thousand of his compatriots who had never bowed the knee to the pagan god Baal. By fleeing, he had deprived the nation of the Leadership of which it was in desperate need.

It is realistic to face the fact that not all our ideals will be realized. Cherished idols prove to have feet of clay. People on whom we lean will prove broken reeds. Even Leadership that has been deeply sacrificial will sometimes be challenged. But the Spiritually mature Leader will know how to discern the true origin of depression and discouragement and will deal with it accordingly.

Then there are seasons when everything goes well. Goals are reached; planned endeavors are crowned with success. In those times the mature Leader knows on whose brow to place the crown of achievement. There is a quote that sums up the wise attitude to that mindset in these words: “If successful, don’t crow; if defeated, don’t croak.”

Jealousy
Jealousy is a near relative of pride. The jealous person is apprehensive and suspicious of rivals. Every Leader, at some point along the way, will be tempted to be jealous.
Being a Leader often means that we are out front…and when we see others get out in front of us many times the result is NOT celebration but frustration.
SO…we get jealous…but disguise that jealousy in conversations with other Leaders as “concern.” (Which…if we were REALLY concerned with another person wouldn’t we just talk to them rather than talk about them?)
Being jealous is an extreme danger because it is a sin rooted in a heart that refuses to give gratitude…and instead focuses on what God is doing for others…and begins to covet. (Remember Saul became outraged when he was credited with thousands and David his tens of thousands…and that jealousy was the beginning of the end for him!)
Envy gets the best of them…and instead of focusing on reaching the goals of the work at hand they begin interrogation tactics on any work that is seeing success in order that they can justify why they are so much better than the other guy!

How do we combat jealousy and envy? Simple…two things …

1 – Celebrate the success of others – seriously, when another person succeeds–CELEBRATE! The last thing the organization needs is management or Leaders taking shots at one another and disguising it as “protecting the business” when it is really that Leaders damaged ego because they perceive that their “glory may be fading!”

2 – Don’t let yourself switch to negative mode – One of the things that really drives people up the wall is when a person begins to experience some success and you begin a conversation about that particular person with negativity that is the result of a lethal combination of insecurity and pride! When someone else succeeds…CELEBRATE; after all, we play for the same COACH, we’re on the same team!
Because…if we don’t learn to celebrate success we may cease to see it because God knows our motives are not about “HE” or “we” but rather all about “me!”

Infallibility
Spirituality does not equal infallibility. The fact that a person is indwelt by the Spirit and seeks to be led by the Spirit will doubtless mean that he is less liable to make mistakes than those who do not; but since he is still in the flesh, he is not infallible. Even the divinely called and Spirit-filled apostles made mistakes that required divine overruling.
The Leader who knows God, and probably knows Him better than his colleagues, is in danger of falling unconsciously into this subtle peril. Because his judgment has usually proved more accurate than theirs, because he has prayed and thought and wrestled with the problem more earnestly than they, it is difficult for him to concede the possibility of mistake and to yield to the judgment of his brothers. He must be a man of conviction and be prepared to stand for what he believes, but that is different from assuming virtual infallibility. Willingness to concede the possibility of an error of judgment of one’s brothers enhances rather than diminishes influence.