Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Leaders Must Learn to Resist the Seductions of Success

Proverbs 23:4-5 (NLV) Do not work hard to be rich. Stop trying to get things for yourself. When you set your eyes upon it, it is gone. For sure, riches make themselves wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

Working hard and achieving success is generally good. However, according to J.L. Badaracco, Jr., a professor at Harvard Business School, in his new book Questions of Character he writes, "The basic problem with the flow of success is that life can look very good when it really isn't.” The mythological story of Icarus (who, in his exuberance with successfully flight, flew too close to the sun and melted the wax in his wings, falling to his death) illustrates that lesson. Working hard for the right things is always best. Working – no matter the job -- is really a mind-game; it is an attitude that must flow from seeking “first the kingdom of God" to one of stewardship - how we think about what we have. The daunting challenge for many leaders is, paradoxically, the very thing they aspire to achieve - a successful life and career and all that comes with them -- can be fleeting if they find they are working for the wrong reasons.

Fly like an eagle: work for God, not yourself.

Copyright © 2006 P. Griffith Lindell

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