BIBLE
STUDY: LESSONS FOR LEADERS
“…And
now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is
love.”
By
Kwame S. Salter
1 Corinthians 13 is often read and quoted at
weddings and in sermons. For many, this biblical verse is sappy and preachy.
Yet, upon closer examination it provides a powerful lesson for anyone who seeks
to build a strong relationship with a person or group. The verse extols the
power of love; ranks love above both faith and hope. Hard core business leaders
wonder, like Tina Turner in her hit song, so plaintively asked, “What’s Love
Got to Do with It?” What exactly in this thing called love that a business person
can get his or her head around? Typically, love is defined as a “deep, tender,
ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that
arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of
underlying oneness.” OK, got it?
For those
of us in leadership positions, the question that still begs an answer is
“what’s love got to do with it?” Well, part of the definition speaks to “a
sense of underlying oneness.” It is this part of the definition that is
operational in the following discussion. Leaders, to be effective, must create
a sense of the team acting in concert—with a sense of underlying oneness.
Therefore, in reading my explication of Corinthians 13, insert the phrase
“underlying oneness” every time the word love shows up. So, let us get on to
the explication of this powerful verse section by section.
If I speak in the
tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or
a clanging cymbal.
Think about the leader who is a smooth, articulate
and poised speaker. The words are magic. He/she can explain or justify
anything. Walking onstage or at the lectern, their words are mesmerizing,
enchanting and, almost, musical. They hit all the right notes, say all the
right things, and titillate the senses. For sheer entertainment value they are
without peer. Unfortunately, after the sound and fury of their motivational
speech dies down, what is left is a sense of emptiness—because their day to day
actions are not in line with their pulsating rhetoric. The organization is
adrift and leaderless when people need them most. Listening to them is like
eating the proverbial Chinese dinner—you are hungry again 30 minutes later. You
are hungry for follow through and substantive decision making. You are hungry
for a sign or signal that they care about the ‘little people’ who keep the
organization going day to day. They are good at building speeches, but not high
performance teams.
If I have the gift of prophecy
and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,and if
I have a faith that can
move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
How many times have we been blown away by the
super smart leader who is able to explain the complexities we daily grapple
with while displaying an unshakable confidence in his/her predictions and
strategies? How many times have these geniuses failed because they sought our
compliance and not our commitment? Sure, they know what to do, but they failed
to realize that how it gets done goes beyond statistical modeling and personal
IQ. How it gets done is in the hands of the people who they view as variables
in their success equation. In reality, the people are the constants in their
equation. And, if you look down on the people because you consider them
intellectually inferior, you will fail. In spite of your high IQ and
confidence, you will fail. With apologies
to William Arthur Ward who talked about teachers, I would say that: The
mediocre leader tells; the good leader explains; the superior leader
demonstrates; and, the great leader inspires. Without a committed team, you are
nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It
does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud…it is not rude, it is not
self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Building high performance teams requires patience,
respect for each team member and modesty once the task is successfully
achieved. Great leaders are approachable, even keeled and fair. These leaders
make sure that there is enough credit to go around. They know when things go
well that they should sit down and let the team take the bows. And, on the other
hand, when things sputter and go awry, the leader must stand up and take the
blame. These enlightened leaders don’t need to ‘hog’ the spotlight. Most
importantly, these leaders do not keep an indelible list of everything you did
wrong. Their objective is to “catch you doing something right” and reward you.
They can critique your performance without diminishing you as a person.
Uncontrollable temper outbursts are not part of their operating style. They want
you to be successful because you will make them successful. Their philosophy
can be reduced to three words, “Give, Get or Go.” In other words, give something
to the collective effort, get something from your mistakes or go—but go with
dignity.
Love does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth…it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres.
So much of the complexity that bogs down
organizational effectiveness and efficiency is not in our technologies,
processes or systems—but rather in us. Too often, the leader sets the wrong
tone. Some leaders play individuals against one another, gossip about one
employee to another employee or just outright lies about an employee’s
competencies or strengths. As such, I would submit that close to 80% of the
complexity that slows down a company’s march to meet its strategic objectives,
comes from inauthentic relationships between people. We are encouraged to lie
about forecasts, deliverables, and key performance indicators to please the
bosses. Our turnaround time is often dependent on who is requesting help.
Leaders who are not authentic create inauthentic organizations and
counterproductive competition between and among employees. In fact, in many
organizations work is defined more by so-called personality conflicts, mind
games, political posturing and power plays. Leaders sometimes forget that the
definition of work is “activity that leads to a result.” Some of the behavior in today’s organizations
mimic the popular and voyeuristic ‘reality shows’ that pockmark today’s
television programming.
In summary, if leaders could truly grasp the
concepts and teachings in 1 Corinthians 13, the workplace would become more
civil and supportive—dare I say, more productive.
