Blame it on the Rain

Everyone leads something.  Maybe you lead the organization you work for.  Maybe you lead a small group.  If you are a husband and dad like me, you lead your family.  What we lead is our responsibility.  Not everything that happens in our organization / small group / family is our fault, but it is always our responsibility.  

I have found that our society somehow has fostered the idea that responsibility is an old-fashioned value...a thing of the past.  I see many people pass the baton of responsibility off to someone else on their team when something goes wrong, but when things go well they claim all of the success for themselves.  No leader will last very long acting in that capacity.

As leaders, we must realize that we need to lead out of love.  My friend, Johnny Roberts (you can follow Johnny here), told me recently, "Love well, lead well".  So how do we lead out of love?  Lets look at what our Authority says love is:

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I love the part about how love is not proud.  As leaders, we have to swallow our pride and take responsibility when things go wrong.  We have to stop blaming others.  It reminds me of a song that was popular when I was a kid.  Any of you that were born before about 1982 will have heard the song, Blame it on the Rain by Milli Vanilli.  The lyris said:

Blame it on the rain

Blame it on the stars

Whatever you do Dont put 

the blame on you

If you remember the song, they were obviously being sarcastic.  Great leaders dont blame others, they love others and take blame.  I want to lead well.  I want to lead strong.  I need to love more.  How about you?