Bad Leaders, Good Leaders

Posted by Brent on Nov 19, 2011 in Blog Entries | 0 comments

It was several years ago.

My wife and I were part of an organization we had enjoyed. But, we had some concerns about one of the future leaders of the group. When the president announced the potential for this man to be a leader, he also asked for feedback from people – both positive and negative.

We felt like this particular person was disengaged, very hard to get to know, functioned within a severe ‘click’, and was not supportive of others in the organization (especially ones that were not in his

click). He was funny…he was a great entertainer….but he was anything but a leader.

When we shared concerns (at the president’s request), you would have thought we shot at the guy. We did it tactfully. We did it in what i thought was a loving way. But…The president was so upset and defensive, that he he ‘came up swinging’. The concerns that we had were twisted back towards us….and we were blamed for all kinds of things. Little did we know, but the president had been harboring some bitterness towards me…and it came gushing out like a geyser.

It wasn’t a fun time, but we learned some important lessons:

*leaders are human. No matter how good they are, they will fail.

*When people ask for input, they don’t always mean it.

*Sharing truth (even in love) will be heavily resisted at times.

What about you? Have you ever shared concerns with someone and have it backfire? How did you work through it?