Antiaxioms: Effective Misleadership in Five Easy Steps

Over the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to lead in different capacities, as a father, a husband, a manager, and a pastor.  What I’ve learned is that I’m weak and frail.  At times, I can give in to what is easy or comfortable rather than what is best.  To keep myself in check, I started compiling some of my thoughts on paper.

Back in August, I was inspired by Bill Hybel’s excellent talk on leadership axioms at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.  Prompted by his brilliance, I began to classify some of my thoughts into “antiaxioms.”  The result was a completely sarcastic recipe for leadership.  I will be sharing these over the next few posts, and I hope that others will find them as helpful as I have, even though they’re painful to read.

Antiaxiom #1: Avoid Decisions at all Cost

Avoiding decisions is one of the most important aspects of misleadership because decisions can lead to actions, and actions lead to change.  Always remember that few things are as painful as change.  It throws off our equilibrium and gets us out of our ruts.  It disturbs the normalcy of life.

Besides that, there is always the chance that the change will end up negative.  What if we accidentally make a mistake and end up worse off than we were before?

I always say that it’s better not to try at all than to try and come away looking like a fool.  In the words of Tolkien’s Treebeard, “Do not be hasty, that is my motto.”