Poor Leadership Characteristics
Acts 26:1
"Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:"
When Paul was tried for the accusations against him, he faced several different leaders. Most of these leaders exemplified poor leadership characteristics. Paul was no doubt the greatest leader of them all. Paul should have been in their shoes instead of standing before them being tried. Let me show you the poor leadership characteristics of these men so that you can avoid them.
The first poor leadership characteristic is leading by ignorance. Acts 23:2 says, "And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth." Ananias responded out of ignorance and not by knowing the whole situation. Paul simply made a comment about living his life with a good conscience to which Ananias had someone smite him for that comment. Ananias should have listened to the truth about Paul's life instead of making a decision through ignorance. I have found there are leaders who don't want to know the whole truth about situations. This is sad because you cannot properly lead and make right decisions without knowing the whole truth. Part of being a leader is learning the whole truth about situations so that you can make the right decisions. Leaders who live in ignorance are poor leaders.
The second poor leadership characteristic is leading by convenience. Felix said in Acts 24:25, "...when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." Many leaders only want to handle situations that are convenient to their detriment. Leadership is not always going to be convenient. If you are going to lead, you are going to have to handle inconvenient situations. It's not easy to handle inconvenient situations, but good leaders will handle them.
The third poor leadership characteristic is leading by popularity. In Acts 25:9, Festus kept Paul bound because it made the people happy. You will often see politicians who lead by whatever the polls say. This is poor leadership. Leadership does what is right even when it is not popular. If you want to be popular and liked by everyone, then you best not hold a leadership position. Leaders will have to do things that are not always popular. Leaders will find there will be times of loneliness because of decisions they have to make. They will be second guessed, but good leaders will do what is right even when it is not popular.
The fourth poor leadership characteristic is leading by indecision. Agrippa said in Acts 26:28, "...Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." I have found there are some leaders who just can't pull the trigger and make a decision. They lead by indecision which frustrates their followers. Part of leadership is making decisions. Indecision is just as bad as making bad decisions. If you are going to be a good leader, then you must learn to make decisions, even if they are difficult.
The last poor leadership characteristic that we see is leading for gain. In Acts 24:26, Festus left Paul bound because he hoped that Paul would give him money to let him go. One of the greatest mistakes I see leaders make is to look for what they can get out of their position. You are not to lead to see what you can get out of your followers, but you are to lead to see what you can put into them.
Everyone is a leader in some area. Wherever you lead, don't let these poor leadership characteristics be indicative of your leadership. If you find yourself leading with one of these characteristics, then do your best to change that area so you can better help your followers.