Transfer
"Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall."
- A Psalm of David
I heard yet another story of a significant spiritual leader falling last week. I am embarrassed to say that there was a season in my life where the failures and mistakes of others almost brought me joy. My legalism had me trying to hold to an impossible standard that actually curated more brokenness…in me and in others. The fall of others, in some twisted way, made me feel better about myself.
In this season, however, I just felt incredible empathy. With his leadership over thousands of disenfranchised children and the intense opposition and warfare he faces on a daily basis, I wasn’t really surprised. I am grieving what he did and the consequences it will bring, but I am brokenhearted for the man as well.
I interact with so many leaders. The intense sense of responsibility, the incredible pressure, and the vulnerability and isolation that senior leadership almost inevitably brings, is an incredible burden to bear. If the folks sitting in the cubicles really knew all that came with the corner office, I don’t think nearly as many of them would really want the job.
We shouldn’t be surprised when leaders fall, we should be surprised that it doesn’t happen more often. It should also inspire and invigorate us to come alongside, empathize, and help shoulder the load.
It is also the thing that motivates us so deeply about owner-to-team conversions. The latest numbers say that 12,000,000 “small” businesses will need to experience some kind of transfer in the next 10 years.
- Owner to team.
- Owner to the next generation of the family.
- Owner to outside ownership.
Regardless of which way they are going to transfer, they all need to take a very similar journey.
So, there is a practical need to figure out the next step for millions of business owners, but I am probably more concerned about the philosophical one. Unless we help leaders transfer the weight of their leadership to both their God and a broader team, we are going to see an increasing number of leaders fall in these desperate and challenging times.
The good thing is that making this kind of conversion is really simple…it just isn’t easy.
There is a logical, tried and true path. It starts with an invitation, which leads to the transfer of responsibility and authority, and ends with measurable change. The transformation from everything as it is to everything that it could become.
Are you at the place where making an owner-to-team conversion is important from either a practical or philosophical perspective? If so, let me know if you’d like to talk.
Consider
- Are you aware of the weight of the immense responsibility you are carrying?
- Who is helping shoulder that load?
- Are you able to hand it over to God or a group of capable leaders in your organization?
- How are you medicating all that pressure and pain?
- What does the inevitability of that responsibility look like if you don’t transfer some of what you are carrying?