Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” “So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.” Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘this is your god, O Israel; that brought you out of the land of Egypt!'” (Exodus 32:1-8 NKJ).
If you have been reading the Bible for a while, it will not take you long to realize what Aaron did. But who was this Aaron? Aaron was the elder brother of Moses. He had grown up in Egypt and he, together with his sister Miriam, had raised Moses. He witnessed the miracles that God performed in Egypt as God launched the Exodus of the Israelites. He always received information from God through Moses before any other person did. Aaron sometimes heard from God directly. Aaron was the spokesperson of the camp and of God himself. He was a leader, the second in command.
However, when faced with a concerned mob of Israelites, he immediately appeases their wishes, even ordering the men to remove gold earrings from their women in order to mold an idol. There are or even could be many theories about the choice of Aaron before this angry and anxious mob. Some would say that his compromise was a calculation and others would prophesy that he knew how it would end. But whatever theory, I look at Aaron and his decision in the lens of a leader and all I see, is a cowardly leader.
As leaders we must cultivate Courage not Cowardice. Cowardice is a leadership shortcut that might get you there but not keep you there. There is no better virtue for a leader than Courage. In fact, love is great but to love is to be courageous. We need courage at the battlefield face to face with the enemy but we need the same courage in the house back at home as well as in the boardroom at our work places.
Peter Voyer once said:
“The art of influencing people to do willingly what is required in order to achieve a goal is the essence of leadership. This definition applies to a wide spectrum of circumstances, ranging from the military battlefield to corporate/business situations. Its premise is valid in virtually all contexts of human endeavour where leaders and followers interact to achieve a desired objective”.
Aristotle said that:
“Courage is the first of human qualities because it’s the quality that guarantees the others.”
When Susan Pearse was asked what really courage was she said:
“Without courage you can’t make a difference. Without courage you can’t have the right conversations that lead to change. Without courage you won’t even get off the starting block as a leader. But it’s how you show courage that’s the important point here. For some leaders in the past courage has meant showing up in their armour, protecting and perfecting. That’s not courage, that’s hiding. And people don’t connect with a leader like that. Rather courage is acting in the face of fear. Sitting with the discomfort but working through it, not around it. Showing up fiercely and completely, bringing your vulnerabilities, imperfections and inadequacies, but not being driven by them.”
Aaron wanted the camp to be comfortable and as a leader he preferred safety at the expense of what is right.
You cannot be a good leader if you still want to be friends with everyone you lead. To be a leader means being assigned and married to the goal which you and those you lead have agreed upon. When I was at the university, I had many friends before I became the University Guild President. The University Administration was against my candidature for I openly disagreed with their belief system and their philosophy.
Throughout the University campaigns, the University administration indirectly fronted a candidate they agreed with and they did this by sponsoring him with staff vehicles and all the machinery he wanted. One day to the voting day, the third candidate joined the University Candidate and pressure mounted on me, since it was two against one. Voting was done and I was just 15 votes ahead of my opponent. This caused controversy and, for the first time in the history of this University, the National Police was involved to calm down the students. Tension filled the School and the Vice-Chancellor ruled a re-count of the votes the next morning.
In the meeting where the government police officials were, I openly told the Vice-Chancellor that re-count or not, I was not willing to back-down or even accept a different winner from the winner the Guild Electoral Commission had declared. Him also being a bold man, looked into my eye and said: “You will either agree or leave this University”. I quickly responded to him, that as I leave, I will go with him. The police man intervened and they recounted the votes. Thank God nothing changed. I was still the winner.
But throughout my leadership, it was always me against the entire university. The administration through the Vice-Chancellor made sure that my journey was bumpy. It even came to a point when all my entire cabinet, from the Vice-President to the Ministers, were opposed to me. The entire students Parliament, except three guys, were opposed to me. At one moment, I found myself standing alone in front of the Student’s general assembly where every leader was booed and I had to speak.
I picked up a microphone and courageously spoke and the entire school went silent to the extent that you could hear a coin fall to the floor. I don’t know where I got the courage from but I did. Some of my friends who were in one way or another involved in my campaigns fell-out with me because I did not give them leadership positions but appointed strangers. I mean, it was a ruckus and from then, I knew what it meant to be a leader.
While I learnt that COURAGE is the greatest virtue for a leader, I also realized that COWARDICE is the worst vice for a leader. The University Administration was afraid to have a controversial leader like me sit on the University Council. The friends whom I lost over this leadership could no-longer afford a president friend. You see, some people are too weak to be associated with giants. You just can’t fit in their tiny minds and heart anymore. You just become an elephant and rabbits run even though you are a vegetarian.
I could say much about Cowardice, but Pastor Ron Edmondson states seven characteristics of a cowardice leadership and am convinced that they shade a picture of the danger of cowardice in leadership. Here are the seven cowardice leadership characteristics:
- Say what people want to hear. They might say, for example, “I’ll think about it,” rather than “No”—even if no is already the decided answer. I get it. It’s easier. But the ease is only temporary. These leaders are notorious for saying one thing to one person and another to someone else. They want everyone to like them.
- Avoids conflict. In every relationship there will be conflict. It is necessary for the strength of relationships and the organization. When the leader avoids conflict, the entire organization avoids it. Hidden or ignored problems are never addressed.
- Never willing to make the hard decisions. This is what leaders do. Leaders don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. They don’t even have to be the one with the most experience. Leaders make the decisions no one else is willing to make.
- Pretends everything is OK—even when it is not. When everything is amazing, nothing really is. Cowardly leaders gloss over the real problems in the organization. They refuse to address them either because they fear they don’t know how or their pride gets in the way.
- Bails on the team when things become difficult. I’ll have to admit this has been me. I’ve written about it before, but when I was in business, and things were difficult, it was easier to disappear than face the issues. The learning experience was that once I checked-out or when I was disappearing, so was my team. Great leaders are on the frontline during the most difficult days, leading everyone through the storm.
- Refuses to back up team members. No one wants to serve someone who will not protect them or have their back. People need to know if they make mistakes there is a leader who still supports them and can help them do better the next time.
- Caves in to criticism. Make any decision and a leader will receive criticism. Even if it is unfounded, cowardly leaders fall apart when people complain. They take it personally and refuse to see any value in it. These leaders see every criticism as a threat against their leadership rather than another way to learn and grow.
Courage and comfort will never be friends. If you are comfortable, chances are you aren’t learning, growing or forging a new path. If you are comfortable you are probably not really leading. So say yes to something that makes you uncomfortable every single day. It might be a project that you would normally say you are too busy for. Or it may be as simple as sitting in the front row when your preference is for the back. Because when you say yes to discomfort, you are saying yes to true leadership. When you say yes to courage, you are saying yes to your team. And most importantly when you say yes to sitting with discomfort rather than avoiding it, you are saying a big yes to yourself. A yes to living an inspired life.
N.D. Wilson once said:
“Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they will walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in itself”
I don’t care how scary the decision is or what, speak out the truth even with a shaking body. It is okay to have that stage fright, but preach it as it is. Courage is not just physical bravery, it is also mental and spiritual integrity. Being beaten and killed but on course and cause. History speaks of social activists, such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, who chose to speak out against injustice at great personal risk. In fact Mandela once said:
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
Entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, who took financial risks to follow their dreams and innovate. The greatest of all was the Jesus of Nazareth who was misunderstood and doubted even by his biological mother, but the man was courageous enough to die. He died on the cross before anyone believed in him, by the time he died, he had no one who believed he was right, even his disciples denounced him eye to eye. Guess what, Jesus still had the courage to die. He had a goal and His goal was salvation.
That is what it means standing up for what it is right, you don’t do it for a personal gain but for a public goal. JESUS DIED AND OFFERED EVERY SINNER, A SECOND CHANCE. Aaron was a coward and the Problem with Cowards is that they are right, and them being right keeps them in the same place and die with no scars and no scores. Will you take-on Jesus today, or you will just shy away? DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE, YOU COWARD!!!
Courage is about doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared. Have the courage to act instead of react.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
Let’s be leaders of courage. In fact, I believe courage should be in our definition of leadership.
God Bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON, and FAITH
Am Pr. I.T.WHITE
The Gospel Hawker
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iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 