The Five Sins of a Leader
Sun Tzu said, “1- Recklessness, which leads to destruction; 2- Cowardice, which leads to capture; 3- A hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; 4- a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; 5- over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.”
Recklessness
Business leaders have the same problems. Look at the recent financial crisis in America. There were many reckless leaders that put short term profits above the good of the company and the nation. These reckless leaders were able to take down huge companies. And, if it weren't for the strong arm bailout plan, there would have been a lot more carnage from reckless leaders. The leaders at least did one thing right. They had infiltrated the entire government and economy so that they had the power to save themselves from their own behavior that they knew was reckless.
Cowardice
The coward will not fight. They will sit back and avoid conflict. What will happen is that the enemy will eventually figure out their position. In business, some companies hold back. There are also bright people with great ideas that just keep holding back out of fear. One day the enemy advances and the coward is not ready and afraid to fight. The coward will wait so long that they will get surrounded and have no option other than to surrender.
Hasty Temper
The boss doesn't always have a good reputation. The boss has a job to do and wants to do it well. A good boss should be strict and discipline the employees. This doesn't always make people feel friendly. The employees may resort to insulting the boss to “get their goat”. The boss with a hasty temper is an easy target. The employees can easily throw the boss of in a tirade. When the boss is upset, the work suffers.
Honor
Some leaders are insecure. They need constant reassurance of how wonderful they are. People can sense that and do not like it. People want to be real and connect in an honest way. They get tired of having to “play games” to make the boss feel good. A leader that is too sensitive to honor will get flustered easily and may cry. In the game of Survivor, on CBS, one of the main characters Coach actually cried because someone said something mean to him. He has this real sense of pride and honor. He wants people to respect him and he needs that. Some people see this as a bit weird and so they attack him with insults. The result is that he is too sensitive to handle leadership well.
Worry
Having a business is hard. There are a lot of employees to take care of. You may want them to do well and feel bad when you can't pay people a lot. The leader that worries too much can make themselves crazy. They may not get enough rest at night as they worry. They may try and do nice things that are good for employees, but not good for the company.
A strong leader knows that employees are taking risks by working for you. They may make and may not. The strong leader accepts these risks and moves forward in faith. It it doesn't work out, it wasn't meant to be. It if does, that is even better. Worrying about things all the time is really a lack of faith in your ability. The strong leader knows they are strong and can succeed.
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