If pride in a leader grows, it becomes a toxin to the soul that makes it increasingly impossible to serve from an authentic heart of love and desire to serve others.
Pride steals our freedom to love and serve others, holds us captive to a certain image and in bondage to a need for control.
Pride is preoccupied with things like:
- Where am I on the org chart?
- How fast am I rising?
- Will what I’m doing get me where I want to be?
- Do people think highly of me? (Insecure is “What do people think of me?)
Pride can make a smart leader do really dumb things. It has been described this way, “Pride is like a drug that can take over your life.”
The antidote to the toxin of pride is humility.
Humility isn’t thinking poorly of yourself, its thinking honestly about yourself. It’s the combination of knowing the truth about yourself and simultaneously understanding God’s great love for you. When you see yourself and value yourself in the same way God does, you are headed in the right direction. (From “Confident Leader.”)
Insecurity, envy and pride are common soul toxins. The good news is that with awareness and determination to resist, we can overcome and maintain a consistent heart of servant leadership.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
