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February 27, 2009
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
A Leader's First Duty, by Rubel Shelly
The first duty of a leader is personal integrity. Whether in politics,
athletics, business, education, or family, who the person is counts for
more than what she does. His title, fame, or salary can never
compensate for a lack of character.
We all know it is true, but we seem to have ignored it of late. So we
have been willing to overlook a person's out-of-control lifestyle so
long as he can still score points and win games for our team. We have
tolerated flagrant excess and sexual infidelities so long as the
bottom-line stayed strong. We have put up with everything from perjury
and kickbacks in public officials to abusive language and unfair
treatment by owners and bosses. "After all," we said with straight
faces, "someone's personal life has nothing to do with his competence
for a public role."
But character, integrity, and honesty are alternate names for the
thread that runs through those trustworthy people whose leadership we
can trust. If a man or woman will deceive the mate to whom public
promises were made and betray the children born to that union, he or
she won't hesitate to step on you and me. People who are deceitful in
one area of their lives will deceive whenever they deem it necessary.
And the deciding factor will be their selfish interests, not the public
trust or the good of stockholders and investors.
What the likes of Madoff, Blagojevich, A-Rod and others call to our
minds is what our mothers taught us as little children. Play nice. Tell
the truth. Don't take things that don't belong to you. Treat people the
way you want them to treat you.
People who rise to fortune, stardom, or high position tend to be
exposed soon enough when their character is fundamentally flawed. But
we have been willing to vote them back into office, buy their music,
invest in their schemes, pay to see them play, and otherwise support
them in their public roles. We lied to ourselves by saying we just
didn't see the connection between private life and public life, who
they are as people and what they do as professionals.
We lied to ourselves by saying we just didn't see the connection!
Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus studied 60 successful CEOs of major
corporations and found that almost all of them were still married to
their first spouse. People who value commitments and promises value
them at every level. If they live them at home, they live them at work.
If they don't honor them in their personal lives, they may not be
working to do so in their business lives either.
The Bible says this:
Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever follows
perverse ways will be found out (Proverbs 10:9).
This ancient proverb is confirmed to us again and again. We deny it to
our shame and dismay.
What is true of the headline-makers is true for you and me as well.
---------
(c) 2009 Used by permission. From Rubel Shelly <rshelly@rc.edu>'s
"FAX of Life" printed each Tuesday. See Faith Matters for
previous issues of the "FAX of Life."
RELATED LINKS:
* The Leadership Issue
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200701/20070111_leadershipissue.html
* Audience of One
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200410/20041020_audienceofone.html
* Leadership without Words
http://www.heartlight.org/hope/hope_990922_withoutwords.html
* RubelShelly.com
http://www.rubelshelly.com/
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200902/20090227_firstduty.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
THE REASON FOR GOD: BELIEF IN GOD IN AN AGE OF SKEPTICISM, by Timothy Keller
Responding to the questions of open skeptics and ardent believers,
Keller draws from literature, philosophy, reason, and real-life
conversations to explain how faith in a Christian God is a soundly
rational belief.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?256
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
each purchase you make, you're helping to support Heartlight's
ministry. Thanks SO MUCH for your help!
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