Over the last few decades, we have become increasingly preoccupied with security issues. Governments and private sector organizations around the world spend enormous resources trying to keep us safe from various dangers including identity theft, terrorist attacks, and environmental degradation.
While the foregoing security issues affect everyone, marketplace leaders face their own very real security issue: keeping their job in a competitive, unpredictable economy. Many believe that the more senior one becomes in business, the more secure one is. From personal experience over many decades, I would disagree. While it may be true for some, it is not true for many.
We usually put on a mask and present the person we believe others expect us to be. These hidden insecurities often result in enormous stress.
For a lot of senior executives, insecurity is a reality. We are acutely aware that we do not have a monopoly on wisdom. We also live with the certainty that others are gunning for our positions. Many variables affecting our performance, such as commodity prices, lie outside our control. To show weakness by admitting to being unsure of the right course of action, however, is usually not an option in the competitive environment of the twenty-first century.
As a result, many marketplace leaders have few if any close friends with whom they can be completely transparent about their lives and their struggles. As every marketplace leader knows, we are not immune from big professional and personal challenges. Notwithstanding, we usually put on a mask and present the person we believe others expect us to be. These hidden insecurities often result in enormous stress.
I have discovered that true security does not lie within myself - my business knowledge or my performance. Rather, my ultimate security lies in my relationship with the only one who is perfect. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the only one who is perfect in every way. He is all-powerful, all-knowing and always with me. When I make mistakes, he forgives me and restores me. When I am going through a big challenge (and my family and I have had our share), he is always there for me. I can be totally open with him knowing that he is trustworthy and nothing is hidden from him anyhow.
The security that flows from my relationship with Jesus Christ enables me to be more transparent with others and thereby become more effective as a leader, husband, father, and grandfather.
