Leaders do this when they choose to cover up a leader’s sin rather than risk the consequences of exposure, when they spend money for purposes other than what the money was given for, when they engage in “pastor math” to inflate the image of their church. As right as these decisions may seem at the time, they are terrible decisions with massive ramifications.
4. Delegate decisions only you should make.
Sarah offering Hagar may have seemed like a dream come true to Abraham; his wife was telling him to sleep with another woman. This, however, was not Sarah’s call. Abraham was entirely in control of his own body. Only he could decide if he should sleep with Hagar. Abraham’s mistake is identical to Adam’s when he took Eve’s suggestion to eat the apple. This not a decision to be delegated.
There are decisions that must be made by a leader. Gathering data, asking for advice and listening to more experienced leaders are crucial, but at the end of the day, certain decisions should never be delegated. Everyone suffers when a leader won’t accept that responsibility.
5. Refuse to deal with the consequences of your bad decisions.
Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
Sarah obviously has responsibility in this situation, but Abraham’s job as a leader is to clean up his own mess. By this point in the story, there will obviously be consequences for Abraham’s terrible decision, but rather than dealing with those consequences, he abdicates his responsibility and turns it back on Sarah. The results are predictably catastrophic.
We all make bad decisions, but when we do, it is our responsibility to clean up our mess. When we expect others to fix it, or we try to ignore it completely, we are acting like my 3-year-old granddaughter. We are not 3-year-olds, we lets own our stuff and deal with the consequences.
How are you at making terrible decisions?
I find that I excel at making really bad decisions, so I am focusing on decision making in the Bible to learn the difference between those who make bad decisions and those who’ve figured out how to make good ones. Let me know what you’re learning along the way as well.
