Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the lord your God will be with you wherever you go.- Joshua 1:9
Issue: How do I do the right thing when I’m pressured to do otherwise?
Shutting my office door behind him, my boss said, “I think Mike has a nose problem. I heard that he’s heavy into cocaine. I want you to get some dirt on the guy and fire him.”
I was taken aback. Mike had been an excellent employee and one of my best salespeople for years. My first reaction was to do the right thing: I wanted to talk honestly to Mike. If, in fact, he did have a problem, I wanted to help him get his personal and professional life in order. But when I mentioned this approach to my boss, he blew up, saying, “I don’t care how you do it, just get rid of him. I want him out of here now!”
I was caught between a rock and a hard place: I could do what was right and risk being fired myself, or I could choose not to make waves and be the team player as my boss would call it, I copped out and made the easier decision, the wrong one. I saved my job by unjustly taking the job of another. My boss’s ego and my fear of unemployment hurt the entire staff. Not only did we lose a good employee, we also lost the trust of our sales team. The decision may have saved my job, but I lost a little piece of my soul.
Solution: Walk with God in courage.
A time will come when a leader’s faith will be tested beyond his or her perceived limit, a time when business pressure, intellectual logic, and fear gang up on them, to the point where an easier wrong decision takes precedence over a tougher right decision. Fear and discouragement keep us from doing the right thing. Conversely, courage enables us to rise above difficulty to reach new heights as a leader. This is the time when leaders need to be strong and courageous and do what’s right.
In coming chapter of this book, you’ll read the stories of the Honorable Al Quie, former Governor of the State of Minnesota, and Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairman and CEO of Carlson Companies, and international hospitality company whose brands include Regent and Radisson Hotels, T.G.I Friday’s restaurants, and Carlson Wagonlit and Thomas Cook Travel. Although very different in position and circumstance, they learned that having the courage to do the right thing was a life changing experience, not just for them, but for greater that at the time could only be seen by God.
Read more in book
No comments:
Post a Comment