Plaque…

Yesterday’s practice reminded me that we don’t have to get everybody aligned to build momentum.  Every team, remember, just needs a few that are aligned and engaged to energize the whole.  AND…

Yesterday’s practice  reminded me that there are two habits that are really toxic and really hard to break.

The hardest habit to break is the habit of lying.  Most of us don’t set out to lie about anything “big,” it just kinda builds slowly and silently like plaque in our arteries.  The pain comes, suddenly.   The second most toxic habit, I believe, is the habit of responding to adversity in anger.  Angry young men slowly morph into angrier old men.  Angry leaders can carry the day, just not much more.  Anger wears us out and eventually winds us down.  You can only “tune up” folks for so long before they tune you out, and even worse, turn you out.  High performers don’t last long under angry leaders.  They just don’t.

Overarching these two, however, is the umbrella habit to avoid.  This one plagues the nobel mind.  What is the most deadliest habit of all, you ask?

PRIDE.

Proud people simply justify living in “spin city” and are “angry as hell, and have every right.”  Pride is like a thick plaque that blocks any hope of seeing the truth.  Proud people are prone to protect their position  and prone to destroy your argument.   Proud people don’t see the lie and haven’t the need to bridle their anger.  Proud people look down on people.

Humble leaders, however, see their integrity gaps and work to close them.  Humble leaders understand their “triggers” and work to defuse them.  They understand that emotions are powerful and work to make theirs positive.  They regulate theirs and allow you to express yours.  They model the way, embrace pain and suffering, and embody truth in LOVE. They see their plaque and get busy breaking it up.  These leaders engage a few that are aligned, energized, and whole heartedly sold out toward the aim.  Momentum is underway.  Who knew it was this simple and this hard.

God, help me see my pride.

God, help me tell the unvarnished truth and simply bathe in truth in LOVE.

God, help me.