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The Proactive Approach to Prevent a Leadership Fall Starts With the Leader (Part 2)
Brian Kreeger 1:11 • Jun 24, 2021
The leader’s role in preventing their own possible fall is very complex...or is it?
I submit to you my belief that it is hard and sometimes gut wrenching, but not very complex. Prevention starts with acknowledging the possibility of a fall, progressing to the desire to be cautious and alert, and then asking courageous questions needing courageous answers. The action of prevention then starts with a plan.
A fall starts small—taking some office supplies home, putting your lunch on the expense account, a glance, an extended look, a temporary fantasy, daydreaming, cutting out an hour early, or clicking an ad on the Internet. These are all small things in and of themselves, but can also be sinful in their own right and context. Absent of healthy accountability, self-judgment, and evaluation, any of these can trigger a downward spiral to disaster in the life of a nonprofit executive.
Each individual has different triggers. Perhaps none of these, or maybe one of many others, could trigger a disaster in your life. Maybe your trigger is something totally different. One thing I am absolutely certain of is that the enemy knows which one will get it started, no matter how small. And his game is long.
Many times a trigger that leads to a fall is similar to the genesis of a disastrous avalanche. Please allow me to explain. And remember, keep the potential fallen leader in mind as you read this.
(This article is the eleventh in a series that focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at
briankreeger.com. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the Introduction and the Appendix (My story) to my upcoming book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders.)
Many skilled skiers conquer the most challenging slopes at ski resorts across the world. But sometimes they find themselves bored, even on the black diamond slopes, and move onto uncharted mountains without the ski patrol to fall back on. This allows them to recapture the adrenaline rush they once had as they honed their skills and overcame challenges to get to their current level.
Are you following with the Christian leader in mind?
According to Avalanche.org, nearly all avalanche deaths in North America are something called “dry slab avalanches.” They explain, “If you’re looking for the killer, the slab avalanche is your man. This is the White Death, the Snowy Torrent, the Big Guy in the White Suit.”
Does this sound like the description of a nonprofit executive fall?
A “slab” is a cohesive plate of snow that slides as a unit on the snow underneath. Picture tipping the living room table up on edge and a magazine slides off the table. Now picture yourself standing in the middle of the magazine. The crack forms up above you, and there you are; there’s usually no escape, and you’re off for the ride of your life.
To those Christian nonprofit leaders who have fallen, this will sound familiar.
The bonds holding a slab in place typically fracture at about 220 miles per hour, and it appears to shatter like a pane of glass. It’s typically about the size of half a football field, usually about one to three feet deep, and typically reaches speeds of 20 miles per hour within the first three seconds and quickly accelerates to around 80 miles per hour after the first, say, six seconds.
Now, catch this, also from Avalanche.org:
“Dry slab avalanches can lie patiently, teetering on the verge of catastrophe, sometimes for days to even months. The weak layers beneath slabs are also extremely sensitive to the rate at which they are stressed. In other words, the rapid addition of the weight of a person can easily initiate the fracture on a slope that would not have avalanched otherwise. A slope can lay in waiting like a giant booby trap—just waiting for the right person to come along. The crack often forms well above the victim, leaving little room for escape. Does any of this sound dangerous to you?”
Personally, I have experienced this metaphorical avalanche in my own life.
One more fact: the consensus seems to be that the speed of Olympic downhill skiers tends to fall in the 80 miles per hour range, with some exceeding even 90 miles per hour on the fastest sections of the course. Recreational downhill skiers often average a speed somewhere between 20 to 40 miles per hour.1
Can a skier outrun an avalanche? It seems that the likelihood is better that the same skier might win the lottery. The odds are very similar when a catalyst triggers a leadership fall.
Do you see the parallels between the fall of a onetime solid Christian leader and the fatality of a solid skier in an avalanche? I will limit my observations
to just 10:
- Preparation: Both spend a lot of time in preparation, starting with no knowledge or skill, having to learn from the ground up.
- Focus: Both focus intently on the skill, many times making it their highest priority.
- Training: Both pull people more experienced than themselves into their world in order to learn the skills needed. Many become the trainer.
- Development: Both spend many years honing their skill, continually reaching for the next level.
- Drive: Both have a drive that many people do not understand.
- Control (always an illusion): Both have difficulty regaining control after the disaster has started.
- Confidence: Both can get to a level where they feel invincible.
- Disaster potential: Both have a disaster potentially waiting just below the surface for that one relatively small catalyst to start the disaster.
- Adrenaline: Both know the dangers that are possibly in front of them, but go on anyway. Some are even attracted to the danger.
- Collateral Damage: Huge for both.
Executive, are you paying attention?
Without proper identification and acknowledgment of catalysts that can activate potential disasters currently lying just below the surface, the likelihood of a disaster, a leadership fall, happening is increased greatly.
Again, take note that there are two factors I mentioned above that are needed to facilitate a disastrous fall in the life of a nonprofit executive leader, as well as a skier:
1. A potential disaster below the surface, and
2. A catalyst to activate that potential.
Most executives, in the deepest part of who they are, can identify potential temptations in their lives just below the surface that can lead to a disastrous fall. As is human nature, especially in the life of a confident leader, they think they have it under control.
But, little do they know that there is a catalyst that just might come along to activate that disastrous temptation and take it beyond their control. I know this because it is what happened in my world.
In a Breakpoint article in March 2021, authors John Stonestreet and Maria Baer write, “Great sins are often the product of many little decisions and are driven by internal rebellions that are finally offered the opportunity.”2
You may want to read that quote again to absorb the biblically based truth.
So very true. Leader, have you identified the temptations living just below the surface waiting to be activated? Have you identified the potential triggers that will activate those temptations? Do you make little decisions that are pulling you from your called upon path? Are you internally rebellious?
Again, I believe most leaders know the answers to these questions and will find little trouble in answering them. Hopefully, those answers leave you with a feeling of peace, security, and comfort that only God can provide.
No matter how your answers fall, it is time to bring some others into your fold if you have not already done so. Remember, as Chuck Colson often said, “There is no limit to the human capacity for self-rationalization.”3
Simply, you need other people in your life. Sometimes we don’t allow it for any number of reasons.
Next week, among other topics concerning the leader’s role in preventing a potential fall, I will write about the temptation to “speed bump” those that are trying to help them on their journey, and making sure the estimations we make of our life are accurate.
1Cody Benjamin, “How Fast Do Downhill Skiers Go? A Guide to Lindsey Vonn’s Best Event,” CBS Sports, February 13, 2018, https://www.cbssports.com
/olympics/news/olympics-how-fast-do-downhill-skiers-go-a-guide-to-lindsey-vonns-best-event/.
2John Stonestreet, Maria Baer, “Gripping Grace, Avoiding Sin,” Breakpoint, Colson Center,
https://www.breakpoint.org/gripping-grace-avoiding-sin/
3Ibid
Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at
briankreeger.com. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the Introduction and the Appendix (My Story) to my upcoming book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders.
Brian@briankreeger.com
#Leadership Fall #Leadership Survival #Nonprofit Relationships #Proactive Approach #Leadership Struggles #Leadership Battles #Christian Executive Leader #Christian Leader #Avalanche #Temptation #Trigger #Avalanche Trigger #Colson #Breakpoint #Potential Disaster #Shatter #Skier #Shatter
Executives -pastors or nonprofit executives in our context- are put on a pedestal. It’s not that the typical person necessarily believes they belong there or desires to put them there. But it is human nature that this happens. The general public often places much higher expectations on leaders than they do on themselves. Sometimes it is appropriate, and the leader has put themselves in that position. In some cases, it is simply scriptural. For instance, James 3 points out that those who teach will be judged more strictly, thereby heightening the expectations of those who lead and teach. But what about when we accept, and enact, those elevated expectations and forget the humanity of our leaders? Often a community heaps on a leader the expectation that they are to perform with the perfection of Jesus and not simply be a Jesus follower and disciple just like them, but with a unique calling and heightened responsibility. Too many times when a leader shows human imperfection, the respect we have for them is damaged. Leaders fall under strict judgment, and we forget they are no less fallible than us. The imperfection they have colors any positive experience we would have had with them otherwise. While most of us acknowledge this strict, hypocritical judgment and recognize it as not being how we want to treat our leaders, it is a difficult battle to fight in our own attitudes and minds. No matter who the leader is, they are not Jesus. But please allow me to reverently make some comparisons. (This blog focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com as well as taking a look at previous blog articles. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My story) of my book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders. )
You are the community, no matter what formal role you play in a particular organization, or if you play any role at all. My blog articles typically focus on the roles the leader and the board have in preventing the fall of Christian nonprofit leaders. But I contend that the community that exists around organizational leaders and boards has a role as well. In fact, a community’s role can many times be much bigger. My next few blog articles will focus on the role of the community in preventing the fall of Christian nonprofit leaders. (This blog focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com as well as taking a look at previous blog articles. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My story) of my book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders. )
