The Loser


"It is one thing to make a mistake,

and quite another thing not to admit it."

Stephen R. Covey (bb)


Renald Hennig

No one seriously doubts that leaders do make mistakes, and, as quoted in "Ben Hur", the larger the organization, the larger the mistakes. But rare is the leader to actually and even publicly admit those mistakes. To do so might blemish the image of the pure, white, infallible knight.

The person without weaknesses.

This was different with Jesus, and actually validates the record. Though doubtlessly written from a followers perspective, the gospels contain quite a number of experiences where Jesus was in doubt, impatient, hurt. Including those instances where he lost in the public opinion polls.

And finally lost it all.

"A man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 'Lord, have mercy on my son,' he said. 'He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.' 'O unbelieving and perverse generation,' Jesus replied, 'how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?'" (38)

While impatience may be viewed by some as a desirable trait, how about this one:

" 'Where have you laid Lazarus?' he asked.

'Come and see, Lord,' they replied. Jesus wept." (39)

The public display of emotion, while certainly more common in those days and in that culture, was a given for Jesus. There was no fear for his image whatsoever. In fact, it may be deduced that he wanted his image to include that facet. But the record continues sometime later:

"He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.' " (40)

But even that outcry was dwarfed the next day, when he hung on the cross.

"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?'-- which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' " (41)

His home town turned against him. (42)

His brothers deserted him. (43)

One of his best friends died doubting him. (44)

Many of his disciples deserted him. (45) (cc)

The people turned against him. (46)

His designated successor betrayed him. (47)

And now, in his final moments, even God deserted him. (41)

To any outsider, he had lost. Lost big, including his very life. Lost publicly (for those concerned with public image).

For the inside view, there is a difference between the external perception, the internal perception of the external perception, and the internal perception. He recognized what happened to him, since there was no way to ignore it. He accepted it, sometimes anticipated it. But he continued on. It was only in the final moments when his internal perception changed, too - however long that may have been. (41)

There is very little in modern business literature that would address our point. Reference is made to the need to bring across emotion:

"One of the essential qualities of a leader is the ability to convey his or her strong feelings about a subject." (dd)

But the examples chosen reflect the notion that this should be to defend and communicate - not to portray what might be termed weakness.

In Goleman (ee) can be found a definition of self-awareness - the first of his five components of Emotional Intelligence at work - that at least somewhat reflects the issue, though from a different perspective:

"Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one?s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives . . People with high self-awareness are able to speak accurately and openly . . about their emotions . . ."

This is not the same as weeping openly, though. Not to mention the fact that a quote found does not necessarily indicate general acceptance of a principle.

Here is one major difference.

Jesus was emotional and he was not ashamed of what he knew his enemies would publish as his weaknesses. (48)

He wasn't even concerned about losing public approval - the share price was not his focus.

He accepted loss, even loss on a major basis, as part of his mission.

Something to think about.

"Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.' " (49)


Next: The Mover