Managing Well - Name Reality

We only lead well when we name reality. Walt Wright – with whom I worked at Regent College – used to say that a leader only has two responsibilities. Name reality. Say “thank you.” Saying thank you is an imperative – daily and often. But for now, consider the need to name reality.

For your own sake and for the community for which you are responsible: truth telling. All discernment about the way forward; all strategic initiative: it all begins with speaking to the reality of what is actually the case. To this end, we resist three propensities:

Nostalgia: looking back to the good old days. Rather than naming today, we long for a previous time and place . . . how it used to be. Nostalgia is often nothing but a projection from a supposed past. But the real issue is that we are not facing the present. We are not naming reality.

Wishful thinking: planning in light of what we wish was the case. Rather than speaking to what is actually the case. Discernment and leadership that spends time wishing for a different set of circumstances is wasting intellectual and emotional energy; yes we will lead to a preferred future, but we always begin with where we are rather than where we wish we were.

Propaganda: as a third obstacle to naming reality – thinking here of the more ideologically driven vision for a particular agenda. Propaganda is typically a partial truth – naming the parts or aspects of reality that fit one’s agenda.

But leadership resists all three. We may have enjoyed a previous time; we might wish the circumstances were different; we might have a preferred agenda. But effective leadership resists all three. We name reality. To this end, we depend heavily and intentionally on the eyes and ears and expertise of others. Here are three voices -- there are more, of course, but here are three that are in some respects indispensable.

A finance officer who speaks to the economics: whether it is a church or a school or the city, a finance officer who has a good read on the economic picture. They sit across from you with the numbers – often on spread sheets in front of them and between you and them. They name reality; and if they are very good at their job, they also provide interpretation. “These are the numbers”; “this is what they mean.” They see trends; they see implications of choices that have financial ramifications. When you might want to save money by cutting this or that expense, they alert you to the unintended ripple effects: “if you do this, then this is the likely outcome.”

A historian. The present is always understood in the light of the past: the story that got us here. And more, historians help us interpret our current reality – to get beyond nostalgia. You can sing “Britannia Rules the Waves” all you want, but it has been a long time with Britannia “ruled” the oceans. Then also, a historian reminds us “well, we tried that before and it did not turn out so well” or variations on that theme.

Sociologists. They give us an analysis of social and cultural trends. I do not know of any nostalgic or sentimental sociologists; they are at their best when they tell it like it is.

And there are others. Yes, we need journalists who are on the ground in war zones or distressed communities, keeping us informed. We need scientists who without any ideological agenda, provide solid data on health risks, environmental developments and weather patterns. We need people in back rooms who go over the reports and give us the data. The number crunchers. They do the research; they comb through the records; they tell us what is actually the case.

We all need this: police departments, hospitals, the mayor’s office, the school principal, the church pastor and denominational leadership. All of us. And for all of us, we only lead well if we know the facts. No nostalgia; no wishful thinking; no vulnerability to propaganda.