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EXAMINING THE CAUSE FOR FAILURE IN LEADERSHIP
22 APRIL, 2018, Sunday, 4th Week of Easter
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Acts 4:8-12 ©
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The name of Jesus Christ is the only name in which we can be
saved
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Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter said: ‘Rulers of the people,
and elders! If you are questioning us today about an act of kindness to a
cripple, and asking us how he was healed, then I am glad to tell you all, and
would indeed be glad to tell the whole people of Israel, that it was by the
name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the one you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, by this name and by no other that this man is able to stand up
perfectly healthy, here in your presence, today. This is the stone rejected by
you the builders, but which has proved to be the keystone. For of all the names
in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 117(118):1,8-9,21-23,26,28-29 ©
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The stone which the builders rejected has become
the corner stone.
or
Alleluia!
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
for his love has no end.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in men;
it is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
The stone which the builders rejected has become
the corner stone.
or
Alleluia!
I will thank you for you have answered
and you are my saviour.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the corner stone.
This is the work of the Lord,
a marvel in our eyes.
The stone which the builders rejected has become
the corner stone.
or
Alleluia!
Blessed in the name of the Lord
is he who comes.
We bless you from the house of the Lord;
You are my God, I thank you.
My God, I praise you.
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love has no end.
The stone which the builders rejected has become
the corner stone.
or
Alleluia!
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Second reading
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1 John 3:1-2 ©
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We shall be like God because we shall see him as he really is
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Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,
by letting us be called God’s children;
and that is what we are.
Because the world refused to acknowledge him,
therefore it does not acknowledge us.
My dear people, we are already the children of God
but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed;
all we know is, that when it is revealed
we shall be like him
because we shall see him as he really is.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn10:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my own sheep and my own know me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 10:11-18 ©
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The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep
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Jesus said:
‘I am the good shepherd:
the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.
The hired man, since he is not the shepherd
and the sheep do not belong to him,
abandons the sheep and runs away
as soon as he sees a wolf coming,
and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;
this is because he is only a hired man
and has no concern for the sheep.
‘I am the good shepherd;
I know my own
and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father;
and I lay down my life for my sheep.
And there are other sheep I have
that are not of this fold,
and these I have to lead as well.
They too will listen to my voice,
and there will be only one flock,
and one shepherd.
‘The Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me;
I lay it down of my own free will,
and as it is in my power to lay it down,
so it is in my power to take it up again;
and this is the command I have been given by my Father.’
EXAMINING THE CAUSE FOR FAILURE IN LEADERSHIP
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 4:8-12; 1 JOHN 3:1-2; JOHN 10:11-18 ]
Today is Good
Shepherd Sunday. All of us are called to be shepherds after the
heart of Christ. We exercise the office of shepherd as civil
leaders, corporate leaders, teachers, priests, church leaders or even as
parents. Regardless how old or young we are, we will always be exercising
some form of leadership. We are not just being led but we also lead
according to our capacity.
We all know how it is to
be in leadership. We can never please everyone. It is
extremely challenging to unite people with different personalities, interests,
views and perspectives to work together. No matter what we do, there will
be people who oppose us, slander us and resist whatever we try to do for the
greater good of the community. But this is the trial and test of
leadership as well. Jesus as our cornerstone has been rejected by
His own people as well. Both the Acts of the Apostles and the
responsorial psalm reiterate the same thing about the stone rejected by the
builders. So leaders should not be surprised when they are rejected as
well. But it is also important to examine the reasons why there are
people who oppose us in leadership.
We can of
course blame the sheep. Most of us are into this blame game whenever things go
wrong. Instead of looking at the issues objectively, we look for
scapegoats to blame for our failures, unhappiness and frustrations. Instead
of looking into ourselves, our tendency is to assign the fault to other people
or the structures. This could be the case for us as leaders. We
conclude that our failures and disappointments are all because they did not
listen to our voice. Instead they chose their own way. They are
self-willed and they chose to go astray. The problem is with them and not
with us. We feel that they do not know us and cannot feel with us in our
struggles. Most of all, they do not appreciate how much we have done for them.
But adopting
the blame game will not solve the pain and frustrations we face as
leaders! We will only become more bitter and resentful. So instead of
picking at the faults of those sheep under our care, it would be more
worthwhile that we look into ourselves and understand why our sheep are not
hearing our voice and therefore not following us. At the end of the day,
there is a communication breakdown. It might not just be at
the information level, but at the level of the heart. Can we truly say
with Jesus when He said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know
me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life
for my sheep”? I think it would be fair to say that we do not really know
our sheep and they do not know us. This is the reason for the
miscommunication and lack of communication between leaders and the led.
Why don’t our
sheep have confidence in us? The reason is simply because they do not trust that we can
lead them to greener pastures, or worse still, that we do not have their
interests at heart. So trust and confidence is not just a matter of
competency and ability in leadership, but more than that, whether we really
care for them. In fact, our sheep can forgive us for the lack of
leadership skills, but they cannot forgive us if we are self-serving, putting
our interests and convenience before theirs.
What could
cause the lack of trust and confidence? It could be due to the lack of
transparency.
They do not know what we are doing. We do not take time to explain to
them our vision, mission, our plans and concerns. They are just receiving
commands and orders from us. They feel that we are making use of them
like pawns for our ambition. This is true even for parents. Our
children do not do what we tell them because they do not understand our
concerns, our struggles, and our constraints, especially when they ask for
favors or money. They are afraid to tell us the truth or share their problems
and struggles for fear of rejection or being marginalized and falling out of
favour with us. They don’t see us as caring for them and that we are
laying down our lives for them.
They do not
know us perhaps because we do not let them know us. We do not spend
time with the sheep, like the shepherd who lives with them. They feel
that we regard them as a flock of sheep, as a mass rather than as individuals
with different strengths and weaknesses, needs and difficulties. We do
not really know our sheep because we live in our ivory tower. In a word,
we are not in touch with their pains and dreams and aspirations. We do
not know them by name, that is, personally, and therefore cannot share their
sufferings, hopes and expectations.
Accordingly,
for effectiveness in leadership, the leader must take pains to explain to their
members and share with them his vision and challenges so that they can
better appreciate the limitations and the anxieties of their leaders.
Indeed, this was the case of Jesus the Good Shepherd. The bible tells us
that the shepherd always lives among his sheep, day and night. He is
often alone with his sheep. He will talk to them, play with them, always
leading and protecting them. That is how the sheep come to recognize the
voice of their shepherd. Jesus always takes pains to share with His
apostles and disciples His vision of life, God and creation. He even
prepared them for His eventual death and resurrection. If there is a lack
of trust, it boils down to the lack of communication and sharing.
Secondly, the
lack of trust in leaders has to do with the way we exercise leadership.
Quite often, we exercise our leadership using an authoritarian style, where we
rely heavily on the exercise of institutional authority, a style of command
that is top down. As a consequence, those under our charge see us as
dictatorial, uncompromising, ambitious, insensitive and arrogant. They
feel we are judgmental and exacting, especially when they make mistakes. We
lack compassion and understanding. Instead of being forgiving and
encouraging, we put them down. Such an approach will only hurt our sheep.
Instead of using the staff to guide them, to lead and correct them, we use the
staff as a rod to beat them and punish them. Without gentleness and
meekness in leadership, we will destroy and wound them further and
deeper. Harshness and arrogance are not the ways Jesus dealt with His
disciples. It is always one of humble servanthood. Compassionate
leadership is the only way to gain trust and respect from our sheep.
Thirdly, they
do not feel that we genuinely care for them as persons with feelings and needs. We care more for our
projects and ambitions. Like the bad shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel 34, we only
use them for our interests and to achieve our goals. We take their wool
to receive honour, recognition and respect for what we do. We drink their
milk, making use of them for our benefit. So they feel used by us.
They do not see that we are more interested in their well-being and their
happiness than the success of our projects. Some of them are lost, but we
do not take the trouble to seek them out. Others are wounded but we do
not have time to heal them. Some are sick but we do not take the trouble
to nurse them. Some are hungry, overworked and tired but we do not feed
them, give them formation and love.
Once we treat
them like workers instead of brothers and sisters, we begin to regard them as
our propertyto
do as we like with them. But that is against the truth that we share the
same Heavenly Father, as St John tells us in the second reading. We are
all children of God. Indeed, although I have been using the term “our sheep” I
must qualify this, for strictly speaking, those under our care, whether our
children, employees or members, do not belong to us and they are not our
sheep! But they are the sheep of God since Jesus is the only Good
Shepherd. They are our sheep insofar as we are exercising shepherding on
behalf of God. If they were our sheep in the narrow sense, then we can do
with them as we will, since they are our property. But precisely as
St John says, we are all children of God; we as leaders are accountable to God
our Good Shepherd in the way we manage His sheep.
To gain
confidence from those we lead, leaders are expected to walk the talk. We are called to
lead. This means we must be ahead of our sheep. To walk ahead is to
show the way and walk the way. We are called to be exemplars of the
values that we hold. In the final analysis, it is the lack of of integrity
and fidelity to our calling that cause leaders to lose their credibility and
hence, the distrust of our followers. So long as we do not practice what
we preach, do what we tell them to do, we cannot expect to command their
respect and trust. Using our office to coerce them to do what we want
will only breed anger and resentment and even hatred. If Jesus is our
Good Shepherd, it is because He lived what He preached. It was His
fidelity to His Father unto death that earns Him our trust. He walked before
us before He asked us to follow after Him. That is why He said, ‘The
Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No
one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will.”
In the light
of our failure as leaders, or even when we, like Jesus, have truly been grossly
misunderstood and rejected, let us come to the Good Shepherd for healing. Not only do members
need healing, but even more so leaders, because we bear the burdens of those
under our care. Unless we seek healing, we will only allow our
wounds to hurt others, for indirectly and often unconsciously, our pain, anger,
resentment, the sense of betrayal and injustice will lead us to be negative
towards them, regard them as our enemies and even take revenge on them subtly.
Leaders are wounded healers. This presupposes that they are healed before
they can tend to the wounds of others. Otherwise, we only expose our raw
wounds, turning them away. We cannot heal others unless we ourselves are
constantly seeking healing from the Lord. As parents and leaders, we need
to turn to the Good Shepherd for healing.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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