Share Newsletter | Leading By Sharing | Episode 3 | Tuesday, April 16th, 2024
The brutal side of good leaders.
You must wonder how ‘good’ leaders can have a ‘brutal’ side. Puzzling, isn’t it?
They do, at least from the followers’ point of view. The follower is often at the receiving end and ‘he who wears the shoes knows where it pinches.’
A good leader must also have a brutal side and I highlight some of them below, using the example of Jesus while interacting with His team.
1. Good leaders mind their business.
Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." [14] But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"
Someone called out to Jesus to intervene between his brother and himself in sharing their inheritance. He must have believed that Jesus, a leader of influence and authority, would surely call his brother to order.
His request seemed appropriate and well-suited for a person like Jesus, who was known for justice and uprightness.
However, Jesus promptly turned him down. He was direct, decisive, and emphatic. He declared it wasn’t in His place to meddle in their private family affair.
He further seized the opportunity to teach the man a vital lesson - that a man’s life is not measured or rated based on the abundance of his material possessions.
The fight over an inheritance is almost always one over material possessions!
The main point we are drawing attention to here is how brutal Jesus’ response must have sounded to the guy.
What a disappointment it must have been for someone who had seen Jesus as the ‘go-to’ leader.
But it was the right thing to do and the leader had no qualms insisting on it.
He knew enough to mind His business. If the matter had to do with the personal development efforts of the man, Jesus would have offered help as promptly as he had declined to intervene in that matter.
How would you have handled such a situation?
2. Good leaders are tough on truth.
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? [62] What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? [66] From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. [67] Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
Leaders also come across as brutal in their insistence on truth. They never compromise the truth.
They operate according to sound and proven principles of leadership. Their attitude is to allow any follower who cannot submit to their application of the truth to bow out of their team.
Just like Jesus did, they even let members having difficulty accepting and operating by their truths stop following them.
Whereas other leaders are afraid to lose followers and would rather pamper them, these strong leaders would rather walk alone because they are committed to truth than have people hanging on to them who expect them to vary their truths.
Check out my book titled DOES THIS OFFEND YOU? to receive greater insights about nurturing leaders based on truth.
3. Good leaders don’t tolerate abuse of purpose.
Good leaders react aggressively against acts and activities that abuse the purpose to which they are committed.
Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. [13] And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"
A clear and compelling example of that is seen when Jesus made whips and drove away from the Temple the people changing money and trading.
They turned the ‘house of prayer’ into a ‘den of thieves.’
He didn’t take that occurrence likely at all. Until that time, no one had seen Jesus so offended. They had never observed Him in physical aggression against any person or group.
You don’t need much convincing to take note of this seemingly brutal response as a great act by a leader, aimed at preserving and advancing purpose.
A good leader must be considered passionate in the protection of the pursuit of purpose, even if the attendant redaction is viewed as brutal by those without understanding.
4. Good leaders tolerate prodigal sons.
Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. [12] And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. [13] And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
Prodigal sons present a challenge to every parent. Most parents will consider them a big disappointment.
The problem with the prodigal son is asking for a share of the inheritance from a father who is still alive.
They demand a share of what is a gift and is entirely at the behest of the parent. What a tragedy!
The average parent would never agree to such a request from any child. Such requests will be promptly denied and even rebuked.
However, the good parent-leader will gladly oblige the request. Not because it is right to make but so that the child can go on to suffer.
In the parable of the prodigal son, the father gave the younger son the inheritance he requested because he knew that he would ultimately suffer after he had blown it all.
In that sense, he was brutal. He gave the son away to go and suffer to the point of living with the pigs and desiring to eat out of their food.
His ‘brutal’ action ultimately taught the son a great lesson. He returned and was restored.
That’s what brutal fathers do as good leaders to foolish sons to get them back on track!
That’s what brutal fathers do as good leaders to foolish sons to get them back on track!
5. Good leaders are militant against mandate challengers
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" [23] But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
In his ignorance, Peter challenged the mandate of Jesus when he pulled his master aside and chided Him for saying that he was going to die.
His action and outburst were a direct affront to the mandate of His master, Jesus.
He must have been surprised at Jesus’ ‘brutal’ reaction to what He taught was an act of love toward the master.
Well, the master never jokes about anything that challenges or acts as an obstacle to the achievement of his mandate.
Thankfully, Peter took the brutal response in his stride. He quickly understood that it was a no-go area in his dealings with the leader.
Are you able to react so brutally against challengers of your leadership mandate, even if they are ignorant?
A wise leader must learn that the protection of the mandate is the topmost priority in their pursuit.
6. Good leaders differentiate their team members.
He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. [7] Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?'
Members of a team typically want to be treated the same by the leader.
In asking for the same treatment, many mistake it for a call for fairness.
However good leaders insist on differentiating their members based on contribution.
They insist on recognizing and rewarding contributors, those who have the right results to show for all they have invested in them.
They also insist on ‘cutting off’ those who consume resources and have no contribution to show.
In the parable of the barren fig tree, Jesus asked the gardener to cut down the barren fig tree because it was producing no fruit, only encumbering the land.
The act of differentiation with its consequences is seen as ‘brutal’ by many when in fact it is an excellent practice by a good leader.
One of the most spectacular things about life is that ultimately, everyone will separate into one of two groups - the sheep and the goats!
A leader has the responsibility of nurturing as many willing goats as can be found into sheep.
No leader can do anything about goats who prefer to remain as such.
The leader’s job is about locating goats and nurturing them into sheep, if they are willing.
END.
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