Integrity/Character, Relationships and Competency

Proverbs 22:  ¹A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich; a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank. [The Message]

We are in the long and laborious process of choosing the leader of our nation, the President. We have various values to assess leadership values. But in today’s political debates it is very hard to figure out what those criteria of leadership are.

There was study done some time ago asking folk what they admired most of their leaders, and the most often stated response was integrity.  Amen to that. The coach John Wooden once said, “Be more concerned with you character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

In the book, Leaders that Last by Dave Kraft I mentioned in the last article, he writes about a seminar he led entitled “Critical Factors for success” which he listed in three categories: 1. Character in your person, 2. Caring in your relationships, 3. Competence in you endeavors. I like his values and the order he puts them in. He then goes on to quote Arthur Friedman, “Men of power are feared, but only men of character are trusted.”

In my leadership of churches over the years it was clear to me and I tried to make it clear to the congregations I served that they were not my boss and I was not their employee. My boss was God, and I was responsible to God for the care and leadership of the congregation and they were as well. In the Presbyterian form of government that was also true that the Session, which included pastors (teaching elders) and ruling elders, were responsible to the Presbytery (the highest level of government in the church) for the welfare and care of the congregation. And, it was my experience when congregations realized that they worked well, and when they forgot it, became more concerned with personal issues, druthers, preferences and personalities, they were at sea. Leadership was lost or in big trouble.

As we look for a national leader I believe these are leadership criteria we should be looking for, but you see little evidence of it, or reporting of it or that evaluation taking place. Several looking for the most important office in government seem to just plain lack competency, they often are more abusive of relationships with those they disagree with than reconciliatory, and as for integrity, the most important characteristic; it’s hardest to find.

Now to be honest, I do see those characteristics in our President, Barack Obama, but I think political pressures make it difficult for him to maintain them. As to the morass in the Republican Party that has veered so far from the conservative tract, those values seem to have been lost.

I have written that the dominant morality of today is the morality of expediency. These candidates seem to follow that morality, and have found that fear tactics, and outright lying about their opponents is very effective. And the values of character (integrity), relationships, and competency are lost in the rush.

This also says a great deal about us as a nation. While I believe the ultra rich has pretty much stole the national leadership and we have become a type of oligarchy; we have allowed this condition to take place. So, our character is called into question as well as we have not done all that we should have done to stop this condition and even condemn those who are trying to restore democratic principles.

While I do not believe in the mixture of church and state, I certainly believe the religious values mentioned ought to dominant political debate and they are not. If we seek to faithful in our religious beliefs I believe it will make far better citizens and encourage those folk who share our basic values to be the true leaders of the land.