Leaders, Be Accountable.
Preface: This is part of my 10 part series, where I deal with one principle per story. The entire series is based on my book titled, “10 Pragmatic Leadership Principles from the Bible”.
There is no disputing the fact that leaders are accountable for the aftermath of anything that happens around them. The leader may not have caused it, success or failure, but the onus lies on the leader for the eventuality.
A particular incident was narrated by the late President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam when he was working as a scientist under the leadership of Mr.Satish Dhawan to launch a rocket into space. When the first attempt failed, Mr.Dhawan walked to the press and took complete responsibility for the failure. A year later, when the second launch succeeded, the same Mr.Dhawan took the rest of the team with him to the media and dedicated the success to the team. A great leader accepts failure and credits success.
“Leaders shine by taking accountability”
In the Bible, there is an interesting story about how a simple leadership blunder led to an uneventful calamity. During the time when Eli was the priest and Saul was king of Israel, the Israelites were fighting the Philistines in a battle. The Israelites were losing the war to them. It was a huge blow for the Israelites to experience defeat, and they returned to the camp to discuss the reason for their failure.
There was a general consensus that if the Ark of God was brought into the battlefield, that might help them win the war. There is no rationale as to why they believed this was a good idea, but they were willing to do anything to win. As decided, the ark was brought in, but that did not yield any signs of victory. The Bible records that when the ark was brought, the Israelites cried so loud that the Philistines were terrified. Someone told them the God of Israel has come to fight. Hearing this, the Philistines fought even more vigorously as against God himself. They were so fierce that they crushed 30,000 Israelite soldiers and routed them completely. They captured the ark of the covenant and took it with them.
When the Philistines took the ark of the covenant, they dragged it into their temple and placed it alongside their god, Dagon. The next morning they found Dagon fallen face down in front of the ark. Puzzled, they set him straight up. The next day they found Dagon not only fallen face down but shattered into pieces. They realized that the ark possessed some inconceivable power and became exceedingly scared to touch or handle it further. Meanwhile, there was an affliction of tumors spreading among the people. So the Philistines got together and resolved to safely return the ark before it caused more devastation.
They moved it around several cities throughout the kingdom, but wherever it went, it affected the people with tumors and death. After witnessing the calamity, the Philistines convened and discussed the best way to send the ark back to Israel. They knew nothing of the Israelite customs about dealing with the ark. Yet, they determined to ensure they treat it with reverence. They followed the counsel of their elders and sent away the ark on a cart. Thus the ark reached Israel again and remained in a place called Kiriath Jearim.
Years later, when King David had settled down, he decided to move the ark from Kiriath Jearim back to Jerusalem. 1 Chronicles 13 describes how David took the initiative and summoned all the Levites and the priests to go over to Kiriath Jearim. Interestingly they hired a cart with two bullocks exactly the way the Philistines had sent the ark into Israel.
As the crowd was advancing, the oxen stumbled, and the ark was on the verge of falling. Among the crowd, a man named Uzza who was assisting the cart, reached out his hand to hold the ark from tumbling. The Bible states that God’s anger flared against Uzza for touching the ark and struck him down. To comprehend this consequence, we need to understand the background of the ark of God and the regulations surrounding transporting it.
God personally provided guidelines on how long, wide and high the ark should be, what it should contain, how to handle it, and an array of protocols concerning the ark of God.
One of the rules mentions the procedure to handle the ark.
Exodus 25:12–15 — 12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 13 Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. 15 The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed.
There were rings on either side of the ark for long poles to be inserted in order to carry it. There are still more elaborate rules about who should carry the ark, who has the right to touch the poles and not the ark directly. God instructs that only a chosen few should be designated to carry the ark and the sacred items in the sanctuary of God.
Numbers 4:15 — “After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting”
David grew up singing praises to God under all circumstances — when shepherding, when fighting Goliath, when fleeing Saul’s deadly pursuit, when battling the Philistines. He, of all, should have known God and his commandments more than anybody else. Furthermore, he was the king, a leader who is accountable to be aware of the statutes, especially those that might harm his people. David was in a state of success, and presumably, the pride of life could have blinded him of the routine.
This happens to all humans without anybody to spare. Consider our first day at work. There is a sense of discipline, devotion, and going-the-extra-mile attitude to establish ourselves. But eventually, our comfort level increases in the workplace, and the aforementioned attributes gradually begin to wade off. It is very rare to find individuals who are as committed and excited as they were when they started. This is what I call “performance fatigue”. It creeps in predominantly when people begin to get comfortable. We rarely witness traces of performance fatigue in the military. The reason being the lack of comfort there. It is stressful, and brutal punishments are a surety. You cannot lose focus, or you will be severely disciplined or killed by an enemy.
Fortunately, we do not have such grueling settings in our regular workspaces, and so the moment comfort seeps in, commitment and finesse begin to wither. This is even more prevalent in teams where leadership is lethargic and uninspiring. I have worked under bosses who lacked commitment because they were placed in a fairly comfortable position in the organization. They cared less about their teams and that prompted the team members to gradually begin underperforming and lose focus. Me as a leader, during my lul periods, I have witnessed my team being lackluster and lagging until I had to intervene and inspire them back.
David, as a leader, failed in the mission to protect his people. He was probably too comfortable and proud of the state of affairs and did not focus on things that actually matter to God. He assumed God was in his favor, and perhaps minor things like who should carry the ark could be forgone in the sight of God. These are small compromises leaders make. A little here and there is not utterly harmful, you think? Look at how haphazardly David decided to move the ark like the Philistines who knew nothing about the law.
The consequence of his blunder to not follow the protocol led to the death of an innocent civilian. It is terrifying to realize that we may not be the victims of bad decisions we make but could end up victimizing innocent lives that trust us. This is quite unsettling but very true.
Let us assume for example a health inspector hastily certified a harmful children’s food product without giving adequate attention to the rules. The impact of it is possibly a jail term for that person, but the children who are affected will have lasting consequences that cannot be reversed. A small mistake, but the repercussions are far too grave. Likewise, a traffic cop who failed to fix a defective traffic light resulting in a fatal crash killing innocent people. Again, fixing the light is a simple job but not doing it results in things unimaginably painful.
So the question to ask is, what sort of leader are you? Do you have a disposition that it is okay if we miss a little here and there? If you were capable of swimming through without any significant complications thus far, things would be ok in the future too, you reckon? Are you taking the time to check if your team is committed and inspired to work? Does the work they do follow your company’s protocols and are legally compliant? Are you aware of non-compliance, that you have not taken any corrective action simply because you are in a comfortable position right now?
David is a perfect reminder of leadership gone comfy. The more comfortable and lazy you are, the more destruction you will bring to your team. There was this strange event in one of the companies I worked for, where a group leader was so comfortable and arrogant that they did not even dread passing lewd comments about people’s looks and character, publicly. The team members did not dare to escalate since that leader was pivotal to the company’s success. A certain team member shared with me how they were hurting from the harassment of that leader.
I was not part of that team and so persuaded that team member to have the courage to speak up, but they resisted, fearing the backlash. At one point, someone else complained to higher authorities, and that self-styled leader was sacked at that point. The management was not cognizant of this harassment for such a long time until someone testified.
Leaders are torchbearers. The team follows the leader. If the leader makes a blunder, the team suffers. So leaders, beware.
Excerpt from: 10 Pragmatic Leadership Principles from the Bible available on Amazon
