Vice-President Harry Truman walked into First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s private study at about 5:30 pm on April 12, 1945 not knowing why he’d been called. Mrs. Roosevelt rose to greet him with the following words: “Harry, the president is dead.” Truman was too stunned to speak. Finally he managed, “Is there anything I can do for you?” To which Mrs. Roosevelt responded after looking at him for a moment. “Is there anything we can do for you?” She replied. “For you are the one in trouble now.”[1]
A few things I’ve discovered about leadership.
1. Leadership is not easy at any level. Consider the last time you tried to organize anything involving people. A trip to an amusement park, the family’s order at a fast-food restaurant, or any backyard game become complicated when one person is trying to organize others.
2. The weightier the matter at hand, the more difficult the leadership journey. It’s why leading a major organization and/or a family is so difficult. Ultimately, decisions about what ride the group is going to go on first at Six Flags doesn’t matter. People can go their own way and still have a great day. Not so when a company, community, family, or church are faced with leadership decisions.
3. If you think a new leadership role means you’ve arrived, you’re correct, but what you’re arriving at may not be what you expected. Think of it as moving a piano up stairs. Don’t rush or get sidetracked plunking out a tune. This is serious business. Be sure you establish why the piano must go upstairs to begin with?
4. Leadership is both the greatest opportunity and the heaviest weight you will be asked to carry. Avoid it when it calls and you’ll miss your destiny. Underestimate the challenge in front of you and your front teeth will meet piano keys.
5. The weightier the matter at hand, the more it’s not about you. There is a difference between a career and a calling. From the moment you accept a calling you cease to be the focus. It’s about the matter now. You have decided the matter is more important than your comfort and career. This piano is going upstairs even if it kills you, and it might. These are stairs you’re willing to die on, and you might. Anything less is not a calling.
6. When God wants to move a weighty matter he most often chooses to partner with people to do it. Simple, ordinary, people become great movers when they spend time with Jesus. Think about it. God sent angels to announce the birth of Jesus, but he sent a man (JTB) to prepare the way.
7. The weightier the matter at hand, the more important the why of the move becomes. Why this? Why now? Why does the move matter? What will be lost if the move doesn’t happen? What will be gained?
8. The weightier the matter at hand, the more difficult decisions will be. Gone will be the days when everyone loves you and when you can bring everyone along. According to Dr. Edwin Friedman, one of the prerequisites for a healthy system shutdown is an “unreasonable faith in being reasonable.” [2]
9. The weightier the matter at hand the more numerous the voices demanding your ear. Everyone around you will become experts on moving pianos though few of them have ever actually done it. The issue is which voices should you listen too? Ignore them all and the piano will stay right where it is. Listen to them all and you’ll move the piano all over the room but return it to its original place.
10. The weightier the matter at hand, the more help you’ll need. You will not have the knowledge, wisdom, courage, or resilience you need to answer a calling. You’ll have the knowledge, wisdom, courage, and resilience you need to arrive at the calling; that’s why you got the gig. But upon arrival you will soon discover those immortal words, “What got you here, won’t get you there.” The wells of knowledge, wisdom, courage, and resilience you have drawn from over the years will likely dry up. When that happens you have two choices.
a. Wait and pray for God to move the piano Himself.
b. Get some help.
Let me encourage the former and insist you plan on the latter. Pray while you read books, listen to experts on piano moving, and build relationships with people already at the top of the stairs. Find people who agree pianos need to be on the second floor and learn. Don’t think just because you are currently in charge you are actually qualified. It will take time. (Exodus 4:10,
11. The weightier the matter at hand, the more opposition you will face. You will face it in the very people you’re trying to help. You will face it in the spiritual realm. You will face it within yourself. People who love the piano at ground level will tell fight you. Gravity will fight you. There are a lot of people who would rather gather round the piano and sing instead of move it. Egos will fight you. Especially your own.
12. The weightier the matter at hand, the more God is involved. God doesn’t tinker. If it matters, it matters to God. His favorite weighty matter is people. For some reason He loves them. All of them. Weird huh? I mean, I understand why He loves me, my family, a few friends, and my dog Tucker, but those folks? Go figure? But it’s true. Just about anything involving helping people step up, stand up, get up, or look up is important to Him and He doesn’t owe any of us an explanation.
13. The One who calls you is faithful. He will provide. Directly, through His Word and His Holy Spirit much of what you need to be faithful will be directly provided. Go there and return there often. This will be more difficult than you think. The voices will call you away. Pray there. Linger there. Occasionally, you will raise your head from lingering in His Presence and discover He has made a new way, but most of the time you will raise your head with a new idea, new courage, renewed resilience or just knowing He loves you. Somehow, that is enough.
Indirectly, through the people He brings around you help will arrive. Some will help lift, some will help understand, some will encourage, some will challenge, some will remind you of the reason you’re moving the piano in the first place, some will suggest, some will listen, and some, who have moved pianos all of their lives, will be a gold mine of wisdom and knowledge.
I know the burden is heavy. I know sometimes it feels like there is no way through, and you are all alone. There really isn’t a much more lonely place than leadership, but don’t give up. There are unseen hands supporting you and a faithful God who has chosen you.
Peace.
Brian
* Special shout-out to wilmingtonpianomovers.com for use of their logo. If you actually need a piano moved these folks seem like pros.
[1] Wallace, Chris. Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World (p. 4). Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
[2] Friedman, Edwin H.. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. Church Publishing Inc.. Kindle Edition.
