The 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership: Sin #4 – Unnecessary Wars
December 16, 2014
“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war!” – John Adams
Our daily dose of lame stream media drenches us with constant updates of unnecessary wars that rage throughout the modern world. “If it bleeds, it leads” is an unspoken motto for corporate controlled media. At the time of this writing, Americans continue to be bogged-down in Middle East conflicts in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. And those are just the conflicts we know about. The last 60+ years of American foreign policy have resulted in foreign governments being secretly overthrown with the help of our intelligence agencies…often resulting in “blow-back” which means more enemies than we had prior. The Russians continue to be prodded by NATO and Ukraine. On the home front, daily battles between our Federal Government and the Mexican drug cartels are so often, that it’s virtually ignored by the American controlled press.
Visit your favorite sports website or watch ESPN and you’re eyes will eventually absorb pictures of St. Louis Ram’s draftee, Michael Sam, lip locked with his boyfriend rather than articles about his impending NFL season. The NBA headlines were recently flooded not with conference finals articles, but whether a private conversation of owner Donald Sterling and his girlfriend should destroy his 30+ year career as an owner. Performance enhancing drugs continue to reflect negatively not only in MLB, but across the board for all professional sports, including the Olympics.
It makes me want to scream, “where is the focus!?!?” Some days I wonder if anyone is actually focused on the actual sport or merely the drama that comes along with it? But it’s even worse when the lack of focus causes strife and unnecessary wars. Unnecessary war is a most deadly sin…for business, for a sports team, and for our nation. And many of these unnecessary skirmishes are a result of someone making himself/herself the issue or of being swallowed up in stubborn pride.
It is in the nature of man to fight. Perhaps it’s the DNA from ancient ancestors who had to fight for survival or fight off beasts in order to eat and live. And even though we are “tame and domesticated,” that DNA still reveals itself in close relationships, in our business pursuits – in every area of life. We still stake our turf, whether as a gang-banger in Los Angeles or a CEO of a Fortune 1,000 company. We mark our turf like a dog visiting the fire hydrant. Additionally, we want competitors to know we have staked our claim and they best leave us alone.
But the man who will succeed doesn’t allow himself to be drawn into every skirmish. We’re not gunslingers who must accept the challenger of a gunfight for honors’ sake. Dueling and gunfights make for good historical drama, but they are just plain ridiculous. A successful leader chooses carefully his battles.
Let’s list a few important lessons from this blog:
1. Understand the Big Picture of why you are in business.
2. Expect rivals, competitors, and the public in general to oppose you at times.
3. Make your decisions based on the big picture, not on your emotional reactions to the opposition.
4. Succeed through clear thinking and smart work, not by injuring or attempting to ruin your competitors.
5. Decide what hill you’ll “die on” and don’t attempt to fight for any other.
6. Stay out of other people’s skirmishes.
7. Don’t be afraid to fight, but pick your fights.
8. Lastly, make your decisions based not on the moment or the movement, but on how you want to feel about it 20 years later.
Just be sure you are the one who picks your fights. Don’t delegate that privilege to anyone but yourself.
