vladimirgrebenar 
One of the phenomena of leadership that is rarely written about and talked about is the attachment of many people to leaders because of individual interests. This phenomenon happens all the time whether it is in the political, sports, business or some other field. One of the most important characteristics of the behavior of ethical and professional leaders is that they protect the interests of the organization they lead and this selflessness and commitment has a great and positive impact on the majority that makes up some kind of collective.
Most members of the collective are looking for a leader who will lead them towards mutual success. However, a leader’s path to success with people goes through many selfish interests that need to be balanced and kept subordinate to the interests of the organization. Such interests are different, and could be grouped into several categories. There are people who are afraid of what tomorrow will be like, but the determination and faith that a leader has gives them relative security in business.
There are people who are looking forward to new challenges that come through changes initiated by leaders, so they see change as an opportunity for self-realization. There are people who are lazy and reactive and whose pay and benefits come through the results of a leader-led organization. There are people who are professional and who will calm down and do for some time what is in the interest of the business organization, and in fact wait all the time for the opportunity to realize their own ambitions that are above the interests of the organization.
There are people who are (co)owners of the organization and who need a leader to solve their problems. Finally, there are people who themselves have the capacity for leadership and see in the leader an opportunity to learn. Opposite all these people stands a leader who needs all these people for a business venture and common success, but is aware of all the shortcomings, ambitions and intentions of the individuals around him. Many people around leaders conceal their true intentions and feelings, but true leaders easily recognize them. What distinguishes a leader from all these groups of people is his ability to see in everyone first the good for the interest of the collective, knowing that the success of the organization brings success to all.
What distinguishes all these people from leaders is their dependence on the leader and that they do not see personal success without him. The difference between top leaders and other people is in the leadership capacity, which is determined by the ability of leaders to adapt to the needs of the team and the environment and take responsibility, and put themselves in some other priority list. Leaders have a strong vision of success, i.e. the belief that the end result will be good, and they choose harder paths. Such an endeavor requires the trust of those following the leader. Where there is no trust, the result cannot happen.
The time in which this article should be published is the Holy Week. The Holy Week events are a special time to reflect and perhaps make important life and business decisions. The climax of Lent brings special grace to the faithful. Just as Christmas brings joy, fellowship, and goodness that come from people as good children of God, so the climax of Lent brings sorrow, betrayal, or disappointment that come from people as disobedient children of God. The period of the Holy Week, especially the Holy Triduum, is the most difficult period of the Lord’s life on earth, so all those who want to follow Christ will feel in those days part of the anxiety and spiritual struggle that the Lord had.
It is exactly this spiritual anxiety and compassion in the mystery of suffering that can purify us to be able to make excellent life decisions and understand some of the disappointments we have experienced. Jesus’ mission on earth was to defeat the evil one and establish the kingdom of heaven versus the kingdom of darkness. The culmination of Christ’s mission takes place during the Holy Triduum, and as it is a mystery it can always be experienced if man is open to the grace of God to experience it as much as he can bear it.
There is no pain that Jesus did not feel in those days, especially from the moment the Lord’s Supper ended on Good Thursday until His death on the cross on Good Friday. The pain was spiritual, mental and ultimately physical, and in all respects extremely intense. No one has ever experienced such pain and death as Jesus Christ. The amount of rage that erupted from the underworld and leading men of religious and political power gripped all who were under the rule of the evil one, and manifested itself in physical torture by a horrific death. However, the amount of fear that came out of those who followed Jesus and then denied Him hurt His heart perhaps as much as physical pain. Jesus was rejected by all, despised and tormented by the wicked, and denied by those closest to Him.
It is astonishing that most of them had triumphantly shouted “Hosanna to the Son of God” five days earlier, and then shouted: “Crucify Him!” The people sided with those people who had dominance in the given circumstances. When Jesus used the divine power and performed miracles, the people followed Him, and when he consciously surrendered to the wicked and renounced that power for only three days, the people sided with the stronger and shouted: “let Barabbas go, condemn Jesus.”
The drama I have described can be of great help and comfort to many entrepreneurs, leaders and those responsible for the many disappointments they have experienced in their work when they have done good for the collective. Jesus had His own collective and that organization had a certain structure. Jesus was a teacher who had His own narrow team consisting of three apostles: Peter, John, and James. Then followed the other nine apostles. Finally, the next row in the hierarchy were seventy students.
The apostles and disciples followed Jesus because they expected some good position for themselves. Peter disagreed with Jesus’ statement that He would be killed. James and John together with their mother were looking in front of everyone for special places next to Jesus at the royal throne. Judas insidiously followed Jesus for three years to hand Him over to the secular authorities, counting on an important political position. The people followed Jesus away from their homes to be healed. The Pharisees sent their people to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah who would free them from foreign rule so that they could rule more strongly and have more influence and privileges.
All who followed Jesus had some plans of their own and an opinion that Jesus could help them in this.
Only Jesus and Mary did not have their own plan, but carried out God’s plan.
Jesus and Mary adapted in great trust and in all the will of the Father. When Jesus healed and performed miracles, He always asked, “Do you believe?”
In other words, “do you trust me to do this?”
The question “do you believe?” requires the respondent to express his or her sincere trust. Where there is no sincere trust among people, nothing new can be created. Jesus did not perform any miracles in Nazareth because they did not trust Him. Jesus would not have established the kingdom of heaven on earth if He did not trust all the apostles, and He knew that one would betray Him. We have now come to the important law of leadership: trust leads to results, but also betrayal by those for whom personal gain is more important than the good of the community. Trust always leads to the result of the good and betrayal by the evil. Leaders know this and that is why faith in the good and success is stronger than expected lies and betrayals. A leader is able to overcome all this with faith and lead the team to success knowing that there will be betrayals and failures along the way.
Entrepreneurs and many managers when in the role of leader must be prepared that they will have to give more than they will receive. Many others around them will look to receive more than what they give. There is no leader who selflessly ran a business organization and looked the interest of others ahead of his own interest without experiencing what the word betrayal, failure, and false accusations meant. That is why this text is intended for many good directors, entrepreneurs and managers who testify to the disappointments they experienced from their closest associates due to egoistic and selfish intentions that at one time led to false accusations and slander, because they could not give up their interests.
Nothing hurts so much in business as when someone you trusted because of your interest in everything responds to you with excessive accusations, suspicions, and slander. Leaders in these moments need to know that this is exactly part of the agony the Lord experienced during the Holy Week when He was forsaken and denied by all to whom He did good. Why are good people being accused? They did not meet the selfish expectations of others! Leaders know how heavy the burden of other people’s attachments is when others have plans and expectations that leaders need to achieve.
Leaders who are rooted in the Lord and faith know that these attachments are unhealthy and a form of idolatry, so they must renounce them at all costs and immediately. That is why the best leaders do not succumb to populism and do not necessarily try to please everyone. Excellent leaders know that they must be fair and equal in their standards to all. That’s why leaders don’t have problems in relationships with other people, but many others have with them. Many others will therefore despise the leaders, because chaos, sloth and false manipulations come to the surface. The yokes and fetters that oppress righteous people will be broken. True leaders in business organizations do this, and Jesus called entrepreneurs and managers to such example of leadership.
Leaders need to know that all these negativities are part of everyday work and that these trials are given to them so that they could come out of them stronger, purified, and more determined to continue to fight for justice and good. Leaders who, for the sake of justice, had to leave business organizations under false accusations experienced a greater grace of suffering with the Lord and the strength to start some new and better story.
Righteous leaders must always keep in mind that traumatic accusations, crucifixions, and possible abandonment of the collective are followed by Easter and a new and blessed beginning whose seeds have fallen on the most fertile ground. Jesus’ death on the cross is a defeat for unbelievers, but a victory for believers, because Jesus is risen! The most beautiful lilies grow on soil soaked in feces. The most successful business ventures arise from experiences of disappointment and accusations from people.
Even the best business schools cannot give a leader the competence he acquires through accusations, slander and envy from the people. That is why the time of Lent is a precious time for strong growth and something new for all who want to do the will of God. God’s rules and laws are above human and they can be known by faith, knowledge that leads to success as God desires it, and eternal life. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” (Matt. 5:11-12).[1]
[1] The article was published with minor changes in: Veritas. Glasnik sv. Antuna Padovanskog. Croatian Province of St. Jerome of the Franciscan Conventuals. Zagreb. Sveti Duh 31. No. 4. April 2020. P. 34.