Leadership is a journey fraught with peril. Numerous temptations lurk. In today’s episode John and Jim explore three less talked about, more subtle temptations that threaten to sneak up on and ambush a leader.

3 Leadership Temptations:

• Wanting everyone to like us.
• Demanding everyone in our church to be rowing in the same direction.
• Expecting everyone to embrace your vision, playbook, and values.

What is a leader to do to avoid getting entangled in these more subtle temptations?

• Wanting everyone to like us.
  • Not being constrained by the obsessive need to be liked is not the same thing as obnoxiousness.
  • Jesus had deep compassion for people. He dealt with them gently, carefully, and when needed . . . pointedly.
• Demanding everyone be rowing in the same direction.
  • Your leadership team must be rowing in the same direction as you are.
  • You will not get 100 percent unity on organizational direction from everyone who attends the church you lead.
• Expecting everyone to embrace your vision, playbook, and values.
  • Not every member or attender will be a good cultural fit in terms of core values.
  • You will have people who disagree with your playbook and want to complicate it.
  • Every church has some people who won’t catch the vision.
  • Don’t allow the inability of those who don’t get it to discourage you from casting a bold vision, running a simple playbook, and holding true to your values.

Final Thoughts:

• You don’t need everyone to like you to accomplish your assignment. But don’t use that as an excuse to remain underdeveloped in your people skills.
• You don’t need everyone to be rowing in the same direction to get where you’re going. Just don’t ignore obvious warning signs that your leadership team may be fragmenting.
• You don’t need everyone to be passionate about your vision, your playbook, and the core values for you to reach the end zone. Keep casting vision, run a simple playbook, and use core values to shape the culture you need.