I have been lucky to know and work for great leaders, one of them being my Dad. He is good, humble, loyal, and manages from love.
Not everyone is so blessed. The worst case of a leader in the twentieth century may be Stalin.
Stalin was the Apostle of Fear and, sadly, many in authority are his disciples.
Read Stalin, the first volume of the best autobiography of the Russian tyrant, because too few people know Stalin was one of the worst human beings who ever lived.
Amongst those who do know this fact, there has been an odd tendency to make excuses for him. Stalin was utterly wicked because of his father, a particularly bad childhood, or terrible schooling. This book takes down all those excuses: Stalin had a tough life, but he also had a great many chances to do well. He chose badly and so became bad, but he had choices. Stalin chose atheism, the amoral worship of power, and selfishness. He was very good at all of them.
Most will never have a chance to reek monstrous havoc on a global scale, but a great many managers aspire to tyranny matching their petty powers. They don’t kill millions as Stalin did, but they make every day at work horrible. Thank God such managers would never become as monstrous as Stalin, but they emulate his leadership style and evil follows . . . even if the evil never becomes so historically terrible.
Sadly, we can see some of these control freak notions in our present political leaders. Liberty can never be safe if we elect tyrants, even petty tyrants.
I don’t think we minimize Stalin’s evil by pointing out that if we are not careful, then we are like him in some terrible ways. I do not have to be monstrously bad to be bad. So for those who wish to avoid being their local Stalinesque figure, here are six (the number of evil!) principles to avoid:
Be afraid, be very afraid that everyone is betraying you.
Stalin was fearful enough to be effective. Nobody can betray you if the minute someone gets close, you cut them loose. The best way to survive Stalin was to be far away from Stalin.
The converse is the Christian leadership principle of love: love knows no fear. Love consideres the good of others in the team and so has less time to fear for self.
Manage by fear.
If you have to be fearful, make sure everyone else is. Secure employees consider the future. Employees who consider the future might consider the future without you, Mr. Stalin.
Or you could manage like Jesus and leave those around you secure in your loyalty to them. Stick by your teammate even when it costs.
Kill the talent.
If a general was good, he was dead. If a speaker too eloquent, he was silenced. Stalin understood that if the survivors are mediocrities, the last standing genius, Stalin, would have an easier time winning. Put Biblically: David irritates Saul.
Instead a Christian says with John the Baptist: “He must increase and I must decrease.” We rejoice in the gifts God has given the teammate and seek to associate with those better than we are.
Rotate your favorites quickly.
I had a teacher who would favor a student and then after the student began to flourish, she would tear that student down. By making what it takes to stay on her good side hard to discern, she kept students thinking about ways to curry her favor.
Stalin made sure that everyone near him knew that they could be gone tomorrow or more powerful than they dared dream. It all depended on his will.
Against this, we see Jesus: He emptied Himself of all the treats and treasures of Heaven. He picked twelve and knew one would betray Him. He stuck by that team even when they let him down. He was closer to some than to others, but everyone knew their role.
If you messed up, as Peter did, Jesus gave his followers a chance to be restored.
Create a cult of personality.
Nobody is indispensable, but nobody needs to know this in your company. Stalin turned Russia into Stalin’s Russia the way the House of Saud has claimed Arabia.
We are not talking Walt Disney here, but Walt Stalin. A company can build around a spokesman or charismatic leaders, but only if the leader is willing to hire and promote talent as capable as himself and step out of the way of change and innovation when needed. Did Steve Jobs tolerate another Steve Jobs or did he leave Apple in the hands of a group that still, obviously, needs him?
Jesus is indispensible to us, but He hides from us to help us mature. Jesus could do everything better than any of us, but the King of Kings lets us learn to be kings with Him.
Rewrite the history of your project constantly to maximize your role.
If you did not do it, make sure everyone believes you did. Stalin airbrushed his enemies out of historical pictures and increased his own role in every event. He made sure he won all the prizes and nobody was ever sure when they could stop applauding his “brilliant speeches.”
Jesus was willing to let Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell His story in their own ways. He let their personalities shine forth in their writing. He was secure enough to give them power and send them forth. He let’s us pray for one another and gives us gifts of ministry.
I want to manage like Jesus, as is demonstrated to me daily, and not like a cut-rate Stalin!
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