5. You keep justifying your bad actions and decisions.
There’s a certain point in the journey where you realize there’s a problem but refuse to deal with it.
How do you know you’ve hit that point?
When you start justifying your bad behavior and decisions.
You start saying and believing things like:
—If you had this much pressure in your life, you’d do it too.
—Nobody understands how lonely I am.
—It’s impossible for me not to be this way given everything I’m carrying.
Well, believe that if you want to … but also believe that your complete implosion or erosion of authority is much closer than you think.
Leaders who justify their bad behavior lose their authority to lead.
Conversely, leaders who recognize it and seek help almost always get better.
Some Hope
If you’ve read through this and now have that sinking feeling, there’s hope.
If you get help, all of these conditions are reversible.
And what’s really great is I think leaders who have been broken this way but then get healthy actually become better leaders than they were before.
It creates a humility and vulnerability in you that helps you lead from a place of great strength.
So get help. And look for the light at the end of the tunnel. It shines pretty bright.
I wrote an entire chapter about becoming a healthy leader and leading a healthy team in my new book, Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Can Help Your Church Grow. You can learn more here.
In the meantime, what are you learning about the collapse of character in leaders?
Any other signs you’d add to the list?
