The Subtle Attraction of Hero Worship

Okay, I’m going to take a risk.

 

I honestly don’t mean for this to be about conservative vs liberal, left vs right, Republicans vs Democrats, or whatever.

This isn’t even about policies.

I merely want to use this as a mini-study in leadership, which is what these posts attempt to explore. The following pictures are interesting to me as it relates to how leaders promote and portray themselves.

In the world that I worked in, I was fascinated by churches’ perception of their pastor. I remember walking into a large church’s lobby that had a huge picture of the pastor and his wife. It was the first thing that you noticed.

Dang.

We wouldn’t allow me—or any of our pastors—to even have one of those reserved church parking spots with the requisite sign: “Pastor Parking Only”. As a matter of fact, all staff was encouraged to park as far away as possible to allow space for others. It was a small nod to servant leadership, as entitlement always seems to be “crouching at the door”.

We tried hard to downplay titles and any apparatus resembling a pedestal. If our job was to “equip the saints” for ministry, then anything that made one appear to have special dispensations or favor seemed counter-productive.

The apostle Paul seemed wary of any form of “hero worship”. In addressing the problems of divisive factions growing in the Corinthian church, he implicitly places blame in the way believers create “celebrity pastors”. Matter of fact, he reminds them that in general, Christians are not the sharpest crayons in the box: “Not many are wise…or powerful…or of nobility”, but Paul writes that God chooses such so that “no human being might boast in the presence of God.”  1 CORINTHIANS 1:29 ESV

I’ve written many times before about the preeminence of humility in leadership (here, here, and here), but it’s not just for church leadership. Robert Greenleaf coined the phrase “servant leadership” for the secular world way back in 1970, and Jim Collins brought the receipts in empirical data thirty years later.

When leaders begin believing their own press, it doesn’t end well for the organization. And when they promote themselves above the mission, proceed with caution. Authoritarian leaders often take narcissistic approaches to cement their position before the people, from the abundance of portraits and statues of Kim Jung Un to the banners of Putin. Typically, it’s not until a leader has died does an organization or government decide to honor them in such apparent ways for lasting accomplishments. But not so for a living authoritarian: they must have respect expressed in the present.

Are there ways, however subtle, that you’ve taken advantage of your position to feed an inner need for respect, power, or recognition? And how do you keep the organization from positioning you on a pedestal?

Dave Workman | The Elemental Group

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