The Message of LeadershipSample

STANDING ON HOME PLATE

"The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity."
-Zig Ziglar

A famous Christian couple invited me to be a guest on their television show several years ago. Toward the end of my visit, I was told that one very attractive staff woman was the former wife of another staff member on the program, who was now sporting a new wife. I was very disturbed by the nonchalant manner in which this had been shared with me—as if it were no big deal. Months later we all discovered this was only the tip of the iceberg as news came out of the fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s PTL Club.

What a person does in his private life is a strong indication of what is going on in his heart. And what could be more private than the sexual relationship you have with your spouse? If a leader is unfaithful to his spouse, he is unfaithful to all who would follow him. This is so because the marriage relationship is the foundation for all other relationships we form in society and it mirrors our character.

Marriage is a promise that puts someone else’s interests ahead of your own. Leadership, like marriage, is as much a responsibility as it is a privilege and is based on trust earned over time through hard work. If a follower cannot trust you, will they follow you?

Essential Insight 5: Integrity starts at home. Learn to be a person of your word and stick with your commitments even when you no longer feel like it.