Leaders, Insecurities, & Their Impact on Community

I'm alarmed when people with influence get defensive & cling tight to power when challenged or critiqued. No one likes to be wrong but not being willing to admit you've messed up signals to me that either you're insecure or don't trust your community.

Both are problems.

Leaders should always be looking to share in power, access, & resources & grow in praxis. We don't always get it right & critique pushes us to be better when we're wrong.

Defensiveness signals that we're afraid to lose these things or that we may lack the skills to bounce back.

I get defensiveness bore from insecurity because some people honestly do lack the ability to feed themselves or provide for their families if they lose their bag & that's terrifying.

Imagine doing something for decades & folks tell you do better & you don't know how. It's scary.

Some people cling tight to power because it is literally their liferaft to security & provision.

That's honestly an indicator that they don't have solid ties to their community because they don't trust people to grant them grace or hold them down.

Sometimes the lack of trust between a leader & community has something to do with people but a lot of the time this exists because someone is going about leading wrong & lacks the humility to name it or course correct.

I say this from knowing because it's a hard lesson to learn.

When a leader gets to the place where they won't stand down, apologize, invite the people to suggest what change/restitution might be necessary for repair, or they suggest only God can move them, the community needs to assert power.

Cause leaders can't lead without the people.