Tuesday, December 18, 2007
THE LONELINESS OF LEADERSHIP
It is easy to recognize the loneliness of leadership that comes from being alone out front. Often a leader knows a direction or path that people need to take, but the people cannot see it. Sometimes the leader is all alone and ridiculed for his/her call to follow. Think of Elijah alone on Mt. Carmel facing 850 prophets who have an opposing message. Even after his victory on the mountain Elijah later knew a deep loneliness.
But there is another kind of loneliness that a competent leader experiences -in part due to his/her competence and the willingness of all to follow. When people view a leader with complete trust and faith and are more than willing to follow, there is a loneliness in the burden of responsibility that perhaps only the leader can see.
This latter burden is exemplified in a scene from the Memoirs of W.T. Sherman. In the middle of what ultimately turned into a 2,000 mile march from Memphis to Washington, Sherman begins the most famous part of the march - from Atlanta to the sea.
He was striking out on an unprecedented military maneuver. Up to Atlanta the Union army was able to maintain a single, tenuous supply line from Chattanooga. An army must be supplied or becomes virtually useless. Sherman decided that supply lines could not be maintained indefinitely in enemy territory and that trying to do so required too many men and arms. So he would continue across the South cut loose from all supply lines and communications (in an age before wireless communications). His 62,000 troops and 20,000 horses and mules would live off the land, meaning, of course, off southern farms. It was an audacious, risky undertaking.
But his army seemed not to care. By now, especially after the fall of Atlanta, they completely trusted "Uncle Billy," as they called him. Sherman remembers the beginning of the march:
"The day was extremely beautiful, clear sunlight, with bracing air, and an unusual feeling of something to come, vague and undefined, still full of venture and intense interest. Even the common soldiers caught the inspiration, and many a group called out to me as I worked my way past them, 'Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond!' Indeed, the general sentiment was that we were marching for Richmond, and that there we should end the war, but how and when they seemed to care not; nor did they measure the distance, or count the cost in life, or bother their brains about the great rivers to be crossed, and the food required for man and beast, that had to be gathered by the way.
"There was a 'devil-may-care' feeling pervading officers and men, that made me feel the full load of responsibility, for success would be accepted as a matter of course, whereas, should we fail, this 'march' would be adjudged the wild adventure of a crazy fool."
The men and even Sherman's officers did not "bother their brains" about the hundreds of details and the thousands of decisions required for success because they completely trusted their leader who, though, certainly had to bother his brain night and day with the great responsibility he had shouldered.
Great and competent leadership in which others place such trust can be a very lonely burden. This has been the experience of competent leaders in war, peace, government, schools, churches, companies and families. It is lonely at a the top. All of which is why a Christian leader finds great comfort, solace, wisdom, and power in the company of his/her God. We will always need great, competent leaders, but partly because the price is high, they are hard to come by.
But there is another kind of loneliness that a competent leader experiences -in part due to his/her competence and the willingness of all to follow. When people view a leader with complete trust and faith and are more than willing to follow, there is a loneliness in the burden of responsibility that perhaps only the leader can see.
This latter burden is exemplified in a scene from the Memoirs of W.T. Sherman. In the middle of what ultimately turned into a 2,000 mile march from Memphis to Washington, Sherman begins the most famous part of the march - from Atlanta to the sea.
He was striking out on an unprecedented military maneuver. Up to Atlanta the Union army was able to maintain a single, tenuous supply line from Chattanooga. An army must be supplied or becomes virtually useless. Sherman decided that supply lines could not be maintained indefinitely in enemy territory and that trying to do so required too many men and arms. So he would continue across the South cut loose from all supply lines and communications (in an age before wireless communications). His 62,000 troops and 20,000 horses and mules would live off the land, meaning, of course, off southern farms. It was an audacious, risky undertaking.
But his army seemed not to care. By now, especially after the fall of Atlanta, they completely trusted "Uncle Billy," as they called him. Sherman remembers the beginning of the march:
"The day was extremely beautiful, clear sunlight, with bracing air, and an unusual feeling of something to come, vague and undefined, still full of venture and intense interest. Even the common soldiers caught the inspiration, and many a group called out to me as I worked my way past them, 'Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond!' Indeed, the general sentiment was that we were marching for Richmond, and that there we should end the war, but how and when they seemed to care not; nor did they measure the distance, or count the cost in life, or bother their brains about the great rivers to be crossed, and the food required for man and beast, that had to be gathered by the way.
"There was a 'devil-may-care' feeling pervading officers and men, that made me feel the full load of responsibility, for success would be accepted as a matter of course, whereas, should we fail, this 'march' would be adjudged the wild adventure of a crazy fool."
The men and even Sherman's officers did not "bother their brains" about the hundreds of details and the thousands of decisions required for success because they completely trusted their leader who, though, certainly had to bother his brain night and day with the great responsibility he had shouldered.
Great and competent leadership in which others place such trust can be a very lonely burden. This has been the experience of competent leaders in war, peace, government, schools, churches, companies and families. It is lonely at a the top. All of which is why a Christian leader finds great comfort, solace, wisdom, and power in the company of his/her God. We will always need great, competent leaders, but partly because the price is high, they are hard to come by.
