The Leader's Temptations - Part 1

Those of us who are committed to living what I call an intensely intentional life are subject to some unique temptations. We experience the euphoria of achievement and the agony of defeat (does the Wide World of Sports Image of the skier's crash come to mind when you read that phrase?).

The temptation in those moments is to think that they are permanent conditions rather than just moments.

Recently I read some wise words on this from J.I. Packer. In his book, A Passion for Faithfulness, he discusses "two impostors" that often plague those of us who are intent on living the intensely intentional life. These impostors share a common characteristic in that they each present themselves as definitive and final.

The first impostor is Triumph. When we experience a significant success - a triumph - we feel that after this nothing else will matter. The second impostor is Disaster. In the moment of a disaster, we feel that this is the end of everything.

Neither of these feelings is real. The moment of triumph will pass and all too soon give way to new challenges, new stressses, and new frustrations. And the disaster is never as devastating as we perceive it to be. In fact, the seeds of growth and renewal often begin to take root in the soil of what we feel is a disaster.

As my friend, and long-time CEO, Zem told me: "The crisis that you think will end it all on Monday will be over by Thursday."

Those of us in leadership bear the responsibility, indeed the burden, of caring for others. And because of this we are likely to feel the ups and downs of leading and living more acutely. We are tempted when we experience a great success to stop striving and simply kick back and coast for a while. After all, we deserve to bask in the glory of our hard-fought success.

When we encounter a set-back, we are often tempted to throw in the towel. (A similar phenomenon occurs for professors when we receive rejection letters from journals: You quit the profession for at least two days!).

Yet, we must realize that despite our feelings and the resulting temptations, neither the euphoria of victory or the dejection of defeats and set-backs are permanent conditions. The crisis - or the victory - you experience on Monday will be over by Thursday.

When tempted to coast or when tempted to quit, perhaps we should remember Paul's admonition in Phillipians 3: 13-14:

"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."