You're Going the Wrong Way! Ugh.

Happy Monday morning! If you are reading this, you are truly blessed. (Not because you are reading this, but because you are breathing!) Remember that as your Monday cares begin to drown out the good memories of the weekend.

We have all been there. You're on a call, sitting in the board room, gathered around a table drinking coffee. The way is clear. Your team has been working on their approach for weeks or months. All signs point to Widget B. The customer prefers Widget B. The higher quality product is Widget B. Widget B is cheaper to make, easier to distribute, and offers more bang for the customer's buck. You have voiced your opinion, argued down the merits of other options, and supported it with facts. The direction the leader must choose is as clear as the nose on your face. The choice has to be Widget B. The profits are in Widget B. The volume sales are in Widget B. The company will make Widget B.

Then the group leader does the unthinkable. He announces, "Thank you for your great counsel and all of your impassioned arguments. We have decided on our new direction. We're going with Widget A."

And the sheep applaud.

You stand with everyone else and get ready to congratulate him for choosing Widget B when you realize, he didn't choose Widget B. Despite all the evidence pointing to the superiority of Widget B, despite the veracity of your arguments for Widget B, despite your experience and your track record of selecting the best widget, and despite overwhelming data supporting Widget B, he chose Widget A.

You look around the table or the room, whichever it is, and study everyone's faces. They're all ecstatic. Happy. Clapping. Praising the team leader's choice. Hurrah! Hooray! He chose Widget A!" is their battle cry.

In you mind you can see it. "You're going the wrong way!" you scream in your head. You speak up, "Can I ask why Widget A?" But in the team's jubilance nobody answers.

You, Servant Leader, have been sidelined.

As a professional, you start an internal post mortem. You run through the various arguments, remember your team's body language, retrace logical steps. Where did you go wrong? Where did the defense of Widget B go off track and why is everyone beguiled by Widget A?

Shortly after the production manager pulls you aside and asks the question you don't want to answer, "So what do you think about Widget A?"

"Well," ...

The fact is, Servant Leader, despite all the evidence to the contrary, despite all your hard work, despite the writing being literally on the wall, people will sometimes still make the wrong decision. Effective servant leadership isn't always about how we handle the wins or losses. Sometimes it isn't even about how we fit with our team when ours seems to be the only voice of reason. No. Sometimes, the importance of Servant Leadership is how we handle those little, seemingly insignificant moments when our character is tested even if nobody notices. Jesus said it perfectly in Matthew.

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt 7:13-14, NKJV)

This simple truth applies everywhere. In this passage in Matthew, Jesus is talking as much about being honest with a trusted co-worker behind closed doors when they ask a question you don't want to answer as He is about admitting your belief when someone asks if you truly believe Jesus is the only way to eternal life. Every little decision matters, not because we have to account for it in the Throne Room at the end of our days, but because the path to compromise is wide, but the path to living by Christian tenets is narrow.

Servant Leader, we don't get any points for fitting in. (In fact, we aren't collecting points.) Just as Jesus prayed to God the Father in John 17, we are in this world, but we are "not of it." Jesus paid the price so we don't have to. That means that when someone asks, servant leaders answer truthfully. Maybe the question is inconsequential, just a curious bystander. You may feel better if you just avoid the question altogether or just answer ambiguously. What's the harm in being evasive as long as you don't lie, right? Well, Servant Leader, maybe your answer won't cost you your job, but are you willing to risk your soul?

You'd be surprised how many people ignore you standing alone at the narrow gate while you scream, "You're going the wrong way!" But at least they can't claim nobody told them different.

Don't be afraid to be different.

Don't be afraid to take the narrow gate.

That's what servant leaders do.

(Photo from Flickr)