The Heart of the Matter

Recently I finished reading another book on Leadership, this time one written by Sandy Shugart and entitled Leadership in the Crucible of Work.  I've read dozens of books on leadership and, hopefully, have learned a thing or two from each..... but this book was different.

Not that I didn't learn from what I read in Sandy's book - quite the opposite, in fact - it's just that what I learned is so distinctively different from what I have read before.

Instead of the usual leadership theories, models, and "how to" checklists, this book approaches leadership from a more experiential - maybe even spiritual - perspective.  It's about the "heart" in leadership.... and it was just what I needed.

How does a leader handle the fact that he isn't always right, that he makes mistakes, and that even when "right," the decisions that a leader must make and the actions he must take often hurt people that he cares about......  people that I care about?  Sandy writes about his own leadership, and he writes about the role of forgiveness:

"Every day I need the forgiveness of the persons I may hurt by even my best decisions.  Every day I need the forgiveness of those who care for these persons.  And every day I need to forgive myself.  If I don't, my only real alternative is to pretend not to care, or to learn not to care. . . We can be deformed by choosing not to care, shifting responsibility to the ones we wound, growing tough and calloused.  Or we can be formed, even transformed, by forgiving ourselves and others." (p.125)

There are a lot of other really powerful - and maybe paradoxical - messages in this book.  Ones about the necessary role that failure plays in our leadership, about the damage we can do when we over-identify with our institutions, about maintaining hope when there seems to be no rational basis for being hopeful, about "doing good," which is different than doing our jobs well........ and Sandy writes about the role of forgiveness.

Eagles singer/songwriter Don Henley writes in his lyrics to "Heart of the Matter":

"I've been tryin' to get down
To the heart of the matter
Because the flesh will get weak
And the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinkin' about forgiveness
Forgiveness"

I need to listen to the song again.....
I need to read the book again.....