How Unselfish Leaders Lose Focus (Why a Clear, Compelling Mission is So Important)

The CEO has called another “Team Alignment Meeting”. The players are all in the room. John, the VP of accounting is across the table from Donny, The VP of marketing. Michael, the VP of HR, is somewhere in between, and can almost hear the voice in the center of the room saying, “Let’s get ready to rumbllllle!”

The issue for Donny and John is not that they don’t care about others, but that they care about different people. Donny is trying to help his team have all the tools necessary to grow the company, while John is trying to keep the numbers in the black and keep cash flow moving.

In these meetings, John almost always comes off as the selfish, gruff, and mean spirited jerk; while, Donny, handles the discussions with grace and dignity. People like Donny, he is caring and giving, he honors others well, but which leader is thinking about the organization first?

A good leader, even an unselfish leader, may lose sight of the goal because he loses sight of “submission.”

Donny is not trying to build himself up, but he is protecting his team before everybody else. In the end, this mindset will destroy the organization, not because Donny is bad, but because the mission of the company must be what drives every leader first.

The bedrock choice that every leader must make every day is submission. The willingness to set aside my needs, agendas, hopes, and plans to further the mission of the organization. Unfortunately, too many leaders forget that the mission of their team, their department, and themselves must be in submission to the mission of the organization, and therefore subject to the needs, agendas, hopes, and plans of the other departments.

For many organizations, this happens because the individual leaders lose sight of the organizational mission; often, because the organizations mission is not clear, concise, and memorable. Every other daily choice a good leader makes is held up by this one. The choice of submission.

Right now, this issue is being played out in America, as we silo to defend our own group and perspective. If we are unwilling to set aside the needs of “our people”, to protect, fight for, and defend what is best for all people, we too will fall.

Churches face this same issue, as so often particular leaders defend particular groups or just their own families “right” to be served in a particular way.

If we don’t stay focused on a clear and compelling vision, i.e. “A more perfect Union…to secure the Blessing of Liberty for ourselves and our posterity,” or “To seek and save that which was lost,” we will find ourselves defending our group instead of achieving the mission.

Good leaders become unfocused when they don’t choose to submit.

Thank you Austin Distel for photo on Unsplash