Criticism of Leaders

 Criticism is likely the most devastating issue facing all leaders (not just the church) . . . and how leaders face criticism will make or break them. Seeing and accepting what we need to change can help us move through it to successfully deal with hidden issues - or what we might be blind to.

Thom Rainer's blog post helps identify critics and our response to them: 

First, realize that criticism is inevitable. Anyone in a position of leadership will face criticism. Deal with it prayerfully and courageously, but accept it as a part of your leadership that it will never go away . . . All criticisms sting, at least for most of us. But not all criticisms are bad for us. Indeed, in many cases our leadership and ministry can be more effective if we deal with critics in more redemptive ways. 

http://www.thomrainer.com/2012/09/five-types-of-critics-in-the-church.php

Demonstrating Donor Due Diligence

As a major donor to a large nonprofit charity or foundation, what due diligence do you perform to ensure the board leadership is making unbiased decisions as disinterested board members? If your answer is none, you are making poor investment judgments. Just as you would examine an investment prospectus, you should perform similar due diligence ensuring the board director's decisions are being made "at arm’s length." 

Especially during an executive search, directors may make decisions based upon their personal bias or connections, not solely on the ability and experience of the candidate who will best bring sustainability and move the organization forward.

As an "investor" in a nonprofit or foundation, ask for search committee and board minutes to examine their hiring policies, process and judgment. If the search committee is limited to too few members, lacks transparency, fails to include major donors, or other directors are told not to refer candidates, I would question the board’s process and lack of policy and transparency. If the evidence indicates any of these issues, at the least I would address these issues with the board - at the most I would immediately remove my investments.

As representatives of the public, 501(c)(3) corporation directors are ethically and morally bound to leave self-interest at the door, seeking only the interest of the organization, donors and those receiving public benefit. Your investments and your community deserve no less.

Rights of the Individual vs Community

In light of recent conversations related to various rights being questioned as being in the community's best interest, I will make a brief comment on the veracity of the individual over the community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer brings critical thinking forward for us today. Claiming one's rights is counter to the self-renunciation we find in the Sermon on the Mount (Discipleship) . . . but we are to fight for the rights of others (Ethics), which – rather than renunciation – is a form of transforming initiative. I think that's what America's founders had in mind with the Bill of Rights as they set forth protection from an oppressive government – in order to provide for free personal and corporate (community) responsibility. That individuals would act with respect toward the benefit of community was part of their ethic . . . an ethic which has been tempered in our post-modernism. (I will preemptively add here related to the slavery issue: some Founders were proactive for the inclusion of extending rights to all, while others surmised that it would cease of its own accord given time and economics). The question remains for us: how to balance the rights of the individual and community. Bonhoeffer’s writings may provide some clues. From “Life Together” to “Letters and Papers from Prison” we glimpse the possibilities of community.