Marker #6: You are disconnected from your team members.
Developing genuine relationships with employees is difficult as an organization grows.
If, however, you see your team members more as cogs in a system than as valuable partners—or worse yet, if they perceive that you view them that way—you may be haughtily operating as “a steam engine attempting to pull the rest of the train without being attached to it.”[ii]
Marker #7: Spiritual disciplines are secondary, if not nonexistent, in your life.
Disciplines like Bible study, prayer and fasting are more than simple Christian practices; they are obedient actions of persons who recognize their need for a strong relationship with God.
If you are leading externally without spending time with God privately, you are leading in your own strength.
That’s sin.
Marker #8: No one has permission to speak truth into your life.
Leaders who fall are often not accountable to anyone. Few of us are fully self-aware, and all of us deal with a heart that is “more deceitful than anything else” (Jer. 17:9).
Feedback is critical, particularly from those who can test whether we exhibit the fruit of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-26). If no one plays this role in your life, your lack of accountability is likely evidence of pride.
Marker #9: Other people see you as arrogant.
Take a risk—ask others what they really think about you. Talk to the people who report to you. Interview those who formerly worked with you but then took other positions.
Be specific in asking, “Do I ever come across as arrogant?” Even the most emotional (and perhaps exaggerated) responses likely reveal some level of truth. Hear it.
Marker #10: This post bothers you … or doesn’t bother you.
If these words bother you, you may be coming face-to-face with reality in your life.
If they don’t bother you, you may be failing to see the arrogance that characterizes all of us.
My own arrogance haunts me as I write these words. Please pray for me.
