I was flipping channels on the TV last week when I came across an airing on HBO of its 2003 Oliver Stone documentary, "Persona Non Grata," about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the documentary, Stone does an interview with former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who offers the following admonition about leadership:
You know how leaders are tested at the end of the day? They are tested by their willingness to lose the leadership for the right thing. That is the ultimate and only true test of leadership. Whether you're willing to stand up for your values, the things you believe, and to risk failing. That's the test of leadership.
I find Netanyahu's insight powerfully precise. The distinguishing characteristic of the real leader is an essential integrity that is fully realized in the moment of choice to act on fundamental values and beliefs, and informed by the awareness and acceptance of failure as a distinct possibility. There are many approaches, methods and techniques for leadership, but none of them can truly work unless there is first an unswerving belief in a core ideal, reinforced by a sustained and unshakable commitment to advancing that belief even if it means losing everything.
Does your leadership rise to this level? Does the leadership of your volunteers rise to this level? As Israel's prime minister, Netanyahu had to make choices with life and death implications everyday. We are fortunate not to be in that position in the association world, but even though what we do might not be brain surgery, it is very important that we succeed and increasingly difficult to do so. Associations need leaders, therefore, who are willing to embrace the true test of leadership everyday, for the good of their organizations and the community as a whole. Are you one of them?
