Leadership and Character

 The political cauldron is boiling.  Presidential and congressional candidates are in full campaign mode. Each candidate tries to persuade us they can guide us through the threatening storms of war, social unrest, climate crises and economic recovery.  Some cite their business success and financial achievements. Others tout their political experience.  But the most important element for effective leadership might be the most difficult to discern.  In his book, Return on Character:  The Real Reason Leaders and Their Companies Win, Fred Kiel concluded that the most important trait for successful leadership is character.

 According to the Harvard Business Review, “In this groundbreaking book, respected leadership researcher, adviser, and author Fred Kiel offers that evidence-solid data that demonstrates the connection between character, leadership excellence, and organizational results.”

 Kiel identifies four basic traits that set effective leaders apart:  integrity, responsibility, forgiveness and compassion.  Leaders with character tell the truth and own up to their mistakes.  Most importantly, they care about people.

 By contrast, those with weak character demonstrate a negative view of human nature. Their behavior is fear based.  “They assume that they know better than anybody else what people should be doing.”  They are judgmental, quick to place blame on others.

 The positive and negative traits identified by Fred Kiel are consistent with the Bible.  Among the negative “deeds of the flesh,” the Bible lists “enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions.”  The positive fruits of the Spirit are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:19-23).   

 In 1908, Leo Tolstoy identified Abraham Lincoln’s greatness when he wrote, “Why was Lincoln so great that he over-shadows all other national heroes?  He really was not a great general like Napoleon or Wahington; he was not such a skillful statesman as Gladstone or Frederick the Great; but his supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar moral power and in the greatness of his character.”

 King David had his flaws. His shortcomings are clearly laid out in Scripture. But He remains one of the great leaders of history. The Bible says of David, “He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (Psalm 78:70-72).

 The way forward will ultimately be determined by the character of our leaders, our nation and ourselves.  The Scripture says, “We know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts” (Romans 5:3-5).

Bill Tinsley's novel, We Beheld His Glory is FREE as an eBook on Amazon October 15-16.  Join the 12 on their journey with Jesus. 

Menagerie

 Life’s priorities change when you get old. I called my 81-year-old brother who has been homebound for 5 years as a double-amputee diabetic.  He asked me to hold on a minute.  The stray dog that wandered over to their house was hungry and needed to be fed.  And the stray cat that his wife hauled to the vet where she spent $200 to have its ear infection treated was also there.  The cat, which they call Catter, always wants to watch the dog eat.  And, of course, afterward, the cat wants to be fed.  And the birds!  The birds are emptying the bird feeder every other day.  “It’s like Grand Central Station,” he said.  So, I hung on until they cared for their menagerie.

 I informed him that they aren’t the only ones who feel the pressure.  I told him I have started feeding the  rabbits that live under our deck. I even had to rescue a bunny that fell into our window well. So, now I chop up a carrot, peel off a leaf or two of lettuce and leave it on the deck for them.  And, then there are the birds, the squirrels and the mice. We have a bird feeder out back that I have been able to hang from a limb so the squirrels can’t get it, and another outside our kitchen window I built for my wife on Mother’s Day.  I mounted it on a pole which I greased to dissuade the squirrels. Those critters can empty a bird feeder before you know it.  And the mice. When I went to retrieve the sack of bird seed from our shed it had a hole in the bottom where the mice have been gorging themselves in secluded safety.

 When we were working and raising children, we did well to feed the family cat.  We didn’t have time to notice these wild and roaming creatures.  I assume they would get along just fine without us.  But it brings us pleasure to help them out with a few scraps, some bird seed and a little attention here and there.

 Since we moved to Colorado, we have made an annual pilgrimage to Estes Park to view the elk in the fall.  They come ambling out of the woods into scattered clearings, the bull elk’s bugle call echoing through the canyons.  They make themselves at home, not just in the open spaces, but on the golf course and in the streets.  One bull elk walked into a store and sniffed the merchandise.  Once we were delayed while the local police directed traffic through a herd that blocked the road.

 It is humbling to realize that we are but one species of God’s marvelous creation.  These animals, and millions more, have occupied this earth and survived for eons.

 According to Genesis, God takes pleasure in all of his creation and allows us to have a part in it.   “Then God said, ‘Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”  … God made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and everything that crawls on the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good,” (Genesis 1:20-25).

Liberty and Justice

 Every time we voice our pledge to the flag, we are reminded of our American commitment: “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”  Justice is important.  We cannot have liberty without justice.

I once stood beside the execution table in the death chamber at Huntsville, Texas. The sense of the place was haunting.  Many have gone to their deaths in that room guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted.  Others, it appears, were innocent. John Grisham’s novel, “The Confession,” underscores the difficulties.  Although a work of fiction, his story of a young black man wrongly convicted in Texas and executed in Huntsville is chilling.  It is reminiscent of scenes from Steven King’s novel, The Green Mile. 

 Last Tuesday, September 25, the state of Missouri executed Marcellus Williams even though the victim’s family and the jury that convicted him opposed the execution. The prosecutor’s office that convicted and sentenced him also admitted they were wrong. 

 The best-known person ever condemned and executed for crimes he did not commit was Jesus.  He was wrongly accused before the courts of his day and appeared before the Roman governor, Pilate, who, after yielding to social and political pressure, sentenced him to die.  He was then tortured and crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem according to Roman law.

 I still believe we have the best judicial system on earth.  But no system can rise above the people involved in it, including lawyers, judges, juries, officers and those called upon for testimony.  As believers who worship the One who suffered the world’s greatest injustice we need constantly to commit ourselves to truth, honesty, integrity and ethics that preserve the freedoms we hold so precious.

 Justice, of course, extends beyond the courtroom.  We establish or erode a just society every day by the way we live, by being truthful and honest in all our dealings.  My middle son once stood in line for more than half an hour to return a few dollars to a department store that the clerk had mistakenly given him in change.  When he finally reached the counter, the workers in the service department were dumbfounded.  No one had ever stood in line to return money.  Their system wasn’t set up to handle it. An older man standing in line behind him and watching, stopped him.  “Young man. If you ever need a job, you call me.”

 Every lie, every slander, every dishonest deed destroys a nation. Every truth, every encouragement, every honest action, builds up a people.  Deuteronomy 16: 20 says, “Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.”  Micah 6:8 states, “What does the Lord require of you?  To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”