Well, The elections are over, and the “losers” are protesting. The world is stunned that a non-politician who ran a belligerent campaign, and whose personal life is filled with questionable and even despicable behavior has been elected president. That he has apparently failed to receive as much of the popular vote as his challenger, adds to the displeasure of those whose candidate lost. As I said yesterday, the immediate changes to our lives won’t be great, although the protests indicate that many believe the results are a harbinger of terrible things to come.
How are leaders to respond in such times? How are we to respond over the long haul when the short-term outlook is filled with uncertainty? As always my response to those questions comes from my faith in Jesus Christ: We respond with calm and assurance, because we know that He who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. In other words, we don’t panic as so many are doing. We don’t act out as a two-year old who didn’t get his or her way in the check out line at the grocery story. We maintain our character. We consider the facts and respond with wisdom.
The protests surprised me, to be honest. I believe in the American system of government, and the peaceful election of leaders, and transition of power. We have become a nation of two-year olds in my lifetime. When we don’t get our way, the tendency is to act out. When we think we are “right” about a matter we tend to yell and scream to make our point. As I say so often when I’m speaking about the truths of God,”When you’re right, you don’t have to shout.”
I’m not saying that Donald Trump is right, and therefore we ought not to yell at his being elected president. I’m saying, the democratic process we use is the right one for us, and we must abide by the results it produces or protest in decent orderly ways. Particularly as leaders, we must remember that the systems and processes we put in place in our companies, our churches, and yes, even our government, are intended to bring meaning, purpose, order and predictability to our lives. When we disregard them, because we don’t like the outcome in brings disorder and potentially chaos. That’s why we must lead in such times, through the crises, because crises come and go, and as we demonstrated wisdom and calm through them it becomes the long haul.
As I move toward the benchmark of sixty years on the planet, I have become more and more certain of one thing when it comes to leading for the long haul: Infantile responses to matters we don’t like, or with which we disagree are never beneficial. As leaders, we don’t have the luxury of acting out in such ways, because we don’t like outcomes or in order to change decisions that have been made. The way leaders address such matters is to pause and reflect before we act. I was talking with someone the other day, who has a strong tendency to overreact in situations he doesn’t like. He said he had started to pause, pray and reflect in such situations and was amazed at how much more positive his actions have become as a result.
Undoubtedly, we could take that advice as a nation right now. Most assuredly we, as leaders, need to take that advice all the time, but particularly as we go through crises on our way to the long haul. Every time we decide and act with wisdom in our daily lives, we are forging a long haul that is worthy of emulation. At the end of the day, one of our most important legacies as leaders will be the way we led over time. Anyone can lead effectively for a day, a week, or a month. But the test of leadership is seasons, decades and lifetimes. How are you responding or reacting to the crises of your life right now? What safeguards do you have in place to ensure that when life brings you something you don’t like or even hate, that you respond with wisdom rather than with raw emotion, or an impulse you will regret? What plans do you have in place to lead effectively over the long haul?
The way we respond to such questions will determine how we respond or react in the inevitable crises of our lives and of our leadership. May we respond in such ways that we are demonstrated to be leaders, true leaders, over the long haul.
Here’s to leading better, by pausing to reflect before we act, so our leadership will be effective–not only today, but over the long haul!