Mid-Valley Updates: How Not to Lead

Kim Jong-il was the repressive leader of communist North Korea for seventeen years. He died in December 2011. At his death, his son Kim Jong-un took over as the new leader. The country observed days of official national mourning. National sorrow took the form of open expressions of weeping and mass hysteria. Newscasters openly sobbed on camera. The Korean Central News Agency noted that even a bear and her two cubs were observed standing by a roadside weeping at the death of "Dear Leader." In a repressive county where trust levels are already low, the new regime did little to elevate trust levels with their people. North Korea provides a stark example of how not to build trust among those you lead:

· Compel people to feel emotions they don't actually have.
· Command them to express these faux emotions publicly.
· Punish them when they fail to adequately feel or express these emotions.
· Tolerate no alternate points of view.

This was the actual strategy of the North Korea's new leadership:

North Korea's hardline regime is punishing those who did not cry at the death of dictator Kim Jong-il, according to reports. Sentences of at least six months in labor camps are also apparently being given to those who didn't go to the organized mourning events, while anyone who criticized the new leader Kim Jong-un is also being punished.

An informant from North Hamkyung Province reported, "The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn't seem genuine."

While Kim Jong-un was an extreme example of repressive leadership, he serves as a reminder to mission leaders to release those we lead rather than restrain them. This style of leadership must never inflict the people of God. Saul was afflicted with some of this same leadership malady, "And when Saul saw that [David] had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him" (1 Samuel 18:15).

On the other hand, trust is developed by leading yourself and others with integrity over time. Paul modeled the type of leadership that build trusting relationships, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Timothy 2:2). Paul was able to say with confidence to those he lead, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

One more suggestion: if you truly want to engender trust among those you lead, never refer to yourself as "Dear Leader."

Rich Johnstone, DOM