Is there a place for faith in leadership? Or as Nicholas Carr would put it: Does Faith Matter?
I have to admit, there are few things that shock me these days. So when Ms. Coulter made this statement last night, I was a little perturbed by my own, well, shock and disbelief. What is she smoking?
For those of you who do not know Ann Coulter, she is a “political commentator” who craves attention to such an extent that she will go to any limit getting it. Bereft of any talent, she had to sell her turret’s to get that attention. Well, true to her brand, she has all the attention in the world now! For the record, Mr. Deutsch, on whose show she had this verbal barf, deserved what he got. What did he think when he invited her? What was her unique talent that got her to that stage? What was her distinguished accomplishment that had to be recognized on that podium?
But we digress. My interest, and perhaps yours, in this discussion is: What is the connection between leadership and faith?
This incident got me thinking of all the instances where I have encountered nut jobs in business settings. Not just Christians but Zionists and Hindus etc. who are over the top – fruit loops come in all colors you know. Most have been careful to hide their ailment but a few just cannot help themselves.
Should we make up our mind about the role of faith in leadership on the actions of this fringe? I don’t think so!
I have always considered faith to be an intensely personal issue – something between me and my god. Any discussion of “your faith” with “me” gets my antennae up with a red alert: you are either an intensely disturbed sociopath who is hiding something big behind the book or a politician who wants my vote. Either way the “faith based” person has lost all credibility in my eyes and defeated the very purpose of that discussion.
My leadership principle is simple: keep your faith – or lack thereof – to yourself!
However, does faith factor in the decisions a leader makes? Absolutely. Isn’t the whole idea behind faith to influence the believer in every possible way? How can you believe in something and willingly take actions contrary to that belief?
One might make protestations to the contrary. One might want to make you believe that they are “objective” in all their “business” dealings and their “faith” is for personal issues only. Baloney!
Our faith is ingrained in us. Everybody has one. Our faith may or may not be based on fact. Indeed, beliefs are formed to substitute for facts in situations where we do not have them!
To me, faith is our entire belief system. But do not confuse faith with religion! It may or may not be based on religion – more often than not, it is based on our “interpretation” of our religion’s teaching which may be at odds with the teachings themselves – Ms. Coulter argues that the new testament is proof of the need to perfect the Jews who follow the old testament! Who knew she was a technologist who thought that Bible 2.0 was quite obviously better than Bible 1.0?
It might appear that I am arguing against faith. Nothing could be farther from the truth. One’s faith is their strength. Without faith there is no human being.
I am saying that wearing “faith” on one’s sleeve or projecting it on others or making value judgment on others based upon their “faith” being the same as yours is a serious subversion of the concept and as leaders we should refrain from it.
In this context, our actions are obviously important but our words have equal meaning. If you chose to wear your faith on your sleeve then you do take a risk of losing your team. What are your team members thinking when they hear about your “faith”? How does it impact those who confuse faith with religion? How does it affect those who then conclude that since they believe in a different religion they are disconnected from you? How does it affect those who are agnostic or perhaps atheists?
Now, here is the real shocker. For a team to succeed all members must be of the same faith! What are the chances of success of a team taking a hill where some members thought going left was better than going right? Where some believed that the enemy should be taken alive and some wanted to kill it? I wouldn’t bet on the success of this team.
Again, the idea behind faith is to have everyone on the team believe in the same things. It is not to have everyone of the same religion or race or whatever other homogeneous grouping. The idea is also not to stifle dissent – you will seriously hurt the team’s chances and your career if you do not know how to work with dissent – but to channel it. Debates are good before action begins – they make your action plan more robust. However, once you are en route everyone must be onboard. Believing in the mission and the means i.e. having faith in the same thing!
As a leader, you must not only have “faith”, it is your job to instill a common faith amongst your team members!
