Two years ago, our city endured an extremely harsh thunderstorm. It was like we were in the movies. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed, trees fell down, some rooftops were ruptured, and power lines were out for days.

After the storm, several business owners made a smart move: they installed lightning rods. In case you’re not familiar with them, lightning rods are metal strips or rods, usually made of copper, used to protect buildings or structures from a violent lightning strike. The lightning rod is connected with a cable to the earth below, where it can channel the charge to a safe place. These rods are placed atop roofs to attract lightning and protect buildings from lightning strikes. In fact, they are needed most on structures that are tall or isolated. You see, lightning has a tendency to strike whatever is nearest or at the highest elevation.

“Lightning Rods” is one of our Habitudes which are images that form leadership habits and attitudes. Leaders operate like lightning rods. They naturally attract light and heat from others. They are most likely to be criticized when things go wrong, blamed if things don’t get fixed and honored if things go well. When a storm hits, they take the light and heat for the team. Both the perk and the price of leadership is recognition. People look to you. The downside of this is criticism. No one pays much attention to the crowd. If you’re leading others you’ll be criticized. People focus on the one up front. President Harry Truman said, “If you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen.” The key is to ground the heat in a positive way.

I don’t know of any leader who did this better than President Abraham Lincoln. It’s likely no president in American history received such criticism and dishonor, sometimes from those who worked closest to him. Lincoln received much grief and bitterness from War Secretary Stanton. Once, a clerk asked President Lincoln what he thought of Stanton. Lincoln said he felt he was a good leader, straightforward and almost always right. The clerk looked at him and said, “Mr. President, do you know that Mr. Stanton thinks you are an ape and criticizes you as a fool every chance he gets? How could you say such a thing?”

Mr. Lincoln just smiled at the clerk, and replied, “You didn’t ask me what Stanton thought of me. You asked what I thought of Mr. Stanton.”

Lincoln kept a level head and didn’t strike back. He took the heat for his team several times when Southerners lashed out at his cabinet. During the Civil War, Lincoln once encouraged a general to attack; but the general feared losing his reputation if the battle didn’t go well. Lincoln then did the unthinkable. He wrote the general and said: “I want you to go on the offense. If the battle goes well, you can take all the credit for victory. If it doesn’t go well, I will take the blame completely.”

Lincoln also found a way to build lightning rods in his own leadership; places he could vent and not damage team members. When angry with someone, Lincoln would occasionally write a hot letter to them. Then, he would set it aside until he cooled down. Inevitably, he would never send it. He had a drawer of angry letters he never sent.

Tomorrow, I will post Part Two on this topic and offer nine ideas on how to handle criticism as a leader. For now, I have a question for you:

How do you deal with criticism?

Tim

Last week, I had the chance to speak to three hundred athletes on the campus of Greenville College. Greenville is a small, private Christian college in the town of Greenville, Illinois, population 7,000.

What I loved most about the coaches and players at this school is that while they compete to win games, they are about something far bigger than W’s on a field or a court. Their scorecard is a bit larger than most teams. The athletic department is attempting to build men and women with character, leadership and the kind of virtues that make for great citizens once they graduate. I know, I know…this sounds so cliché. Isn’t every college program trying to do this?

Nope. For some, the only scorecard that counts is next Saturday’s.

May I give you an example of what good leadership looks like for student athletes? The Greenville College basketball team is led by Coach George Barber.

In order to cultivate responsibility:

1. When a player is called for a foul, they must raise their hand high for all to see, and for the scorekeepers to note without a referee running over to confirm. (We all did this when I played basketball in school, but we got away from it, thinking it wasn’t cool or might humiliate a player).

2. When the ball goes out of bounds or play is stopped, the player closest to the ball runs it over and hands it to the referee. This reinforces service and humility, as well as respect for authority. This is also a lost art today, as players seem to think it’s always someone else’s job to do that sort of thing.

3. Following games, the entire team gathers on the court for “Afterglow.” Family and fans can gather as well. In this brief gathering, players do “put ups” which are short comments of encouragement or affirmation, for what teammates did that night during the game. This reinforces big-picture vision among the players. Following the “put ups” players can introduce out-of-town family members.

4. Finally, after each game and Afterglow, players lock arms and sing the school alma mater as a team. While they don’t claim to be a choir, this reinforces team spirit and camaraderie for everyone. It reinforces unity before heading to the showers, even if the team lost the game.

Whether you’re a coach, teacher, youth worker or some other leader, the patterns you reinforce send messages to your students. Do you reinforce the big picture with your leadership style? Or…is it just about next week’s game?

Tim

At the 2011 Chick-fil-a Leadercast, I had the opportunity to sit down with John Maxwell, Dave Ramsey and Suzy Welch to discuss the topic of influence. It was an incredible conversation and I hope you gain some practical take-aways from the wisdom they share.

Tim