Leadership Development

I often read leadership books so that I am better able to lead Acts 2:42 Ministries as well as in my tutoring coordinator role in Cleveland schools. I recently finished The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni. The five temptations he states are:

Choosing personal status over company results

Choosing popularity over accountability

Choosing uncertainty over clarity

Choosing harmony over conflict

Choosing invulnerability over trust

I could sum up the book with Proverbs 16:18

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

Many of these temptations stem from an inability to get over one’s pride and live for the greater good of the people in the company. At the end there were a series of questions to identify which temptations the reader is most susceptible to. While I saw tendencies in each of these, by far it is choosing popularity over accountability. I knew this already as I can be very people pleasing and find when I am in leadership my prayers are for boldness. What surprised me was another temptation I identified with was choosing uncertainty over clarity. I could see this after truly answering the questions. I can stall on decisions and it can be damaging to those that I am leading. I would rather discuss things which is good to a point but then becomes unproductive.

Overall this a pretty quick read as 3/4 of it is told in a story format. It can quickly identify leadership weaknesses since there are only five things identified.