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Andy Stanley - Leading Through Part 2 Leading With Moral Authority · Andy Stanley Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Hi everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I
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  Speaker 1: sure look forward to being together again. But until then,
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  Speaker 1: thanks for joining us from wherever you are joining us from,
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  Speaker 1: and for those of you who've allowed us to be
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  Speaker 1: your church while your local church is gearing up to reopen.
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  Speaker 1: We've enjoyed having you, and we hope that you will
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  Speaker 1: continue to join us from time to time. We will
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  Speaker 1: be here as long as you need us. Now let's
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  Speaker 1: jump in to today's message. We're actually in part two
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  Speaker 1: of a four part series entitled Leading Through Leading Through
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  Speaker 1: Three Essentials for Navigating Uncertainty. As we talked about last time,
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  Speaker 1: the past several months have been challenging for all of us.
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  Speaker 1: They've been brutal for most of us, right financially, socially, mentally, relationally.
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  Speaker 1: So consequently, there's a sense in which we're all picking
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  Speaker 1: up the pieces, trying to move forward the best that
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  Speaker 1: we can. But many of us, perhaps you, many of
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  Speaker 1: us are responsible for helping other people move forward as well, right,
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  Speaker 1: family members, employees, team members, maybe some students, members of
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  Speaker 1: the community. So if you're a parent, a manager, a
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  Speaker 1: business owner, a coach, a mayor, maybe a member of
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  Speaker 1: a city council, people are looking to you for direction,
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  Speaker 1: they're looking to you for inspiration, and most importantly, they're
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  Speaker 1: looking to you for hope. And here's what we know
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  Speaker 1: as leaders leading under normal circumstances. That's tough enough, right,
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  Speaker 1: but leading folks through what we've just come through, not
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  Speaker 1: for the feint of heart. And I won't tell if
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  Speaker 1: you won't. But the people who are looking to us
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  Speaker 1: for leadership, they have no idea, They have no idea
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  Speaker 1: how unprepared we really are, right, we said this last time.
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  Speaker 1: We don't have all the answers right, and we don't
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  Speaker 1: always know what to do. And there's a sentence in
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  Speaker 1: which we're all just kind of making this up as
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  Speaker 1: we go along. At least I know I am. So
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  Speaker 1: there's no point in kidding ourselves, and there's no point
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  Speaker 1: in kidding the people who are looking to us for
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  Speaker 1: leadership that uncertainty makes leadership uncertain. But uncertainty is a
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  Speaker 1: permanent part of life. In fact, it's a permanent part
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  Speaker 1: of the leadership equation. Uncertainty is why the world needs leaders.
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  Speaker 1: Uncertainty is why your family, your company, or your city
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  Speaker 1: needs you. So here's what we're doing in this series.
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  Speaker 1: We're discussing three essentials for leading through times of uncertainty
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  Speaker 1: and disruption. These are non negotiables. I think they're irreducible minimums.
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  Speaker 1: These are always important, but in times of uncertainty they
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  Speaker 1: are more important than ever. So last week we kick
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  Speaker 1: things off with a narrative from the Old Testament that
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  Speaker 1: presented us with the big picture as it relates to
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  Speaker 1: our role as leaders and influencers. And we were reminded
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  Speaker 1: of this that leadership is a stewardship. Leadership is a stewardship.
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  Speaker 1: It is on loan, it's an opportunity, it's a responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: We don't have people. We are responsible to people and
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  Speaker 1: four people. Leadership is the stewardship. And remember the second
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  Speaker 1: part of this, and it is temporary, right the clock
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  Speaker 1: is ticking. Time will eventually run out on our influence,
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  Speaker 1: on our authority. Eventually we either give it away or
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  Speaker 1: it'll be taken away. It's temporary because well we're temporary,
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  Speaker 1: and knowing that there's an expiration date should inform our
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  Speaker 1: posture and our tone and our humility as leaders. Leadership
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  Speaker 1: is a stewardship. It's temporary. And then here's the third
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  Speaker 1: part of our equation. We are accountable. Every leader is
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  Speaker 1: accountable to somebody. Every leader is accountable to somebody for
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  Speaker 1: how they steward or manage their influence. So if you're
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  Speaker 1: a fist, or more specifically, a Jesus follower, here's what
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  Speaker 1: we know. There's actually a divine component to this as well.
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  Speaker 1: So if that is the broad context, I want us
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  Speaker 1: to dive into the first of our three non negotiables
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  Speaker 1: for leading in times of uncertainty. So here we go.
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  Speaker 1: Every leader, every leader exercises authority on two levels. Two levels.
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  Speaker 1: On one level is immediately apparent, one level becomes apparent.
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  Speaker 1: One level determines a leader's influence within a defined context,
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  Speaker 1: and the other level determines their influence beyond that context.
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  Speaker 1: Now immediately apparent is our what we're gonna call our
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  Speaker 1: positional authority. Positional authority is like father, mother, a manager, owner, boss, executive,
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  Speaker 1: police officer, teacher, coach. We pay attention to those people
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  Speaker 1: because they have a position or a role in our lives.
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  Speaker 1: The second level of authority has nothing to do with
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  Speaker 1: a position. It has everything to do with influence. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: the people who have the most influence in our lives
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  Speaker 1: often they have little to know, actual official authority over us. Right,
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  Speaker 1: it's something, well, it's just something about them that gives
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  Speaker 1: them influence in our lives. They have an authority that
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  Speaker 1: extends beyond a title or even a timeframe. They have
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  Speaker 1: what we're gonna call moral authority, moral authority. They have
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  Speaker 1: moral authority because there's a line you've seen, there's alignment
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  Speaker 1: between what they say and what they do. There's alignment
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  Speaker 1: between what they expect of us and what they expect
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  Speaker 1: of themselves. Moral authority is the credibility they've earned by
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  Speaker 1: walking their talk. It's the alignment between who they claim
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  Speaker 1: to be and who we discover that they really are,
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  Speaker 1: and moral authority. This is why this is so important.
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  Speaker 1: Moral authority equates to influence when there's a difference. You
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  Speaker 1: know this, When there's a difference between what somebody says
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  Speaker 1: they're going to do and what they do, what they
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  Speaker 1: expect of us and what they expect of themselves, what happens.
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  Speaker 1: What do we lose? We lose respect, and consequently, when
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  Speaker 1: we lose respect, they lose influence. We are far more
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  Speaker 1: easily influenced. We are far more easily influenced by people
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  Speaker 1: we respect. And moral authority, moral authority creates respect. It
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  Speaker 1: makes a person more respectable, it makes you more respectable.
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  Speaker 1: And when someone lacks moral authority, it's hard to hear
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  Speaker 1: what they're saying, not because of what they're saying, but
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  Speaker 1: because of who's saying it. For example, and this may
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  Speaker 1: be a bit painful if you grew up with a
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  Speaker 1: parent who struggled with substance abuse, or maybe you grew
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  Speaker 1: up with a parent who had a gambling habit that
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  Speaker 1: undermined the stability of your home. You understand this, right,
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  Speaker 1: It was it was hard to take their advice, It
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  Speaker 1: was hard to take their discipline seriously, not because of
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  Speaker 1: what they said, but because of the decisions they'd made.
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  Speaker 1: So the bottom line is simply this positional authority. Positional
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  Speaker 1: authority provides a person with influence within a specific context
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  Speaker 1: for a limited time supervisor, coach, boss, parent, officer. Right,
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  Speaker 1: but moral authority moral authority provides a person with influence
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  Speaker 1: and a variety of context for an indefinite period of time.
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  Speaker 1: Moral authority, or the influence that we get from walking
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  Speaker 1: our talk, is always important, right, but it is more
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  Speaker 1: important than ever during times of uncertainty in this up now,
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish scriptures what we call the Old Testament provides
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  Speaker 1: us with a ringside seat to the story of a
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  Speaker 1: leader well whose moral authority gave him extraordinary influence during
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  Speaker 1: a time of national instability and uncertainty. Neemaiyah, who you're
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  Speaker 1: familiar with. Neemiyah was a Jewish exile who was living
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  Speaker 1: in Persia in the fifth century BC. He was the
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  Speaker 1: personal servant or attendant to King art Exerxes of Persia,
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  Speaker 1: King art Exerxes the First, and by this time when
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  Speaker 1: this story takes place, Israel had been a vassal state
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  Speaker 1: for about two hundred and fifty years. They had had
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  Speaker 1: no independence as a state for over two hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty years. On first it was under the Assyrians than
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  Speaker 1: the Babylonians, and now they're paying taxes to the Persians.
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  Speaker 1: And about one hundred and thirty years before the incident
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  Speaker 1: we're going to look at today, about one hundred thirty
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  Speaker 1: years before this incident, Cyrus the Great who conquered Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: And you'll remember Cyrus the Great from last week. Cyrus
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  Speaker 1: the Great, when he took over, he actually encouraged all
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  Speaker 1: the Jews living in Babylon to go home if they
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  Speaker 1: wanted to. He just said, hey, you can go back
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  Speaker 1: to the homeland, and a lot of them did, but
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  Speaker 1: a lot of them chose not to. And here's why.
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  Speaker 1: The Jews that had grown up in Babylon, this is
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  Speaker 1: two or three generations they'd been there, they just didn't
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  Speaker 1: feel much connection to the homeland. And Neemiah's family was
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  Speaker 1: actually one of those families. So many decided to stay
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  Speaker 1: put in what was now Persia. But those families that
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  Speaker 1: did return to Judah, they had a terrible time. The
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  Speaker 1: nation had struggled economically and militarily for decades. The walls
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  Speaker 1: around the city hadn't been repaired since Nebukanezer invaded the
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  Speaker 1: city like one hundred plus years earlier. Israel's neighbors constantly
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  Speaker 1: took advantage of their weakness. They did everything in their
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  Speaker 1: power to stop Israel from becoming a superpower once again.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're familiar with Neimiah's story, you'll remember that
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  Speaker 1: his heart was broken. His heart was broken over the
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  Speaker 1: plight of his people back in Judah, and so he
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  Speaker 1: began to pray. Even though he had this very prestigious job,
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  Speaker 1: he began to pray for an opportunity to go back
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  Speaker 1: and to do something for the people of Judah, and
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  Speaker 1: eventually an opportunity presented itself. Actually, he presented his opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to his boss, King art Exercities the first and he
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  Speaker 1: asked the King for permission to travel to Judah to
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  Speaker 1: restore the economy, specifically in the city of Jerusalem. And
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  Speaker 1: the King not only granted his request, the King actually
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  Speaker 1: funded it. He even gave Neemiyah an official title. He
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  Speaker 1: would go back to Judah as the Governor of Judah. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you grew up in Church, you know that Nehemiah
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  Speaker 1: is best known for how quickly he was able to
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  Speaker 1: get the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around
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  Speaker 1: the city. And he certainly gained a measure of moral
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  Speaker 1: authority in the process, because, if you'll remember, he actually
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  Speaker 1: worked on the wall himself. He didn't expect other people
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  Speaker 1: to do what he wasn't willing to do. But that's
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  Speaker 1: not the aspect of his story that I want us
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  Speaker 1: to focus on for the next few minutes. Broken the
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  Speaker 1: broken down walls around the city of Jerusalem. That was
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  Speaker 1: just one of many problems facing the citizens in the city.
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  Speaker 1: After Niamiah was there for several years, he discovered something
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  Speaker 1: even more insidious, even more dangerous than a few gaps
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  Speaker 1: in the wall. It took a while, but he eventually
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  Speaker 1: uncovered the root cause of the city's economic woes. Here's
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  Speaker 1: what he discovered. Before he got there, wealthy landowners and
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  Speaker 1: merchants from the regions surrounding Judah had loaned money to
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  Speaker 1: the Jews at exorbitant interest rates exorbited. This decimated the economy.
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  Speaker 1: So when Neamiyah shows up, he actually used his own
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  Speaker 1: money to purchase and cancel and pay off almost all
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  Speaker 1: of those loans. So suddenly the people of the city
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  Speaker 1: they've got money to spend, and it kind of jump
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  Speaker 1: started the economy. These impoverished citizens had cash on hand right.
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  Speaker 1: But as time went by, Neamiah began to hear disturbing rumors,
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  Speaker 1: disgusting rumors, and after some investigating, here's what he discovered.
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  Speaker 1: Wealthy Jews, many of them living in the city, began
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  Speaker 1: doing the very same thing that the outsiders had done.
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  Speaker 1: They began to do this to their own people. They
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  Speaker 1: were making high interest loans to the poor, and then
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  Speaker 1: they were requiring the poor to put up wives and
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  Speaker 1: children and farms as collateral for the loans. And then
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  Speaker 1: they would foreclose on the farms, and then they controlled
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  Speaker 1: the grain prices. And when all of this came to
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  Speaker 1: Nehemiah's attention, he was furious. In fact, the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: Book of Nehemiah, which is kind of his diary, describes
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  Speaker 1: exactly how he responded when he found out what had
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  Speaker 1: been going on. Here's what he wrote. He said, when
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  Speaker 1: I heard when I heard their outcry, the outcry of
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  Speaker 1: the poor, and I heard these charges, I was very angry,
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  Speaker 1: and I pondered them. I pondered them on my mind.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't respond to react immediately. I pondered them in
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  Speaker 1: my mind. And then I accused the nobles and officials,
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  Speaker 1: the most wealthy people in the city, and I told them,
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  Speaker 1: you are charging your own people interest. So I called together.
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  Speaker 1: I called together a large meeting to deal with them.
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  Speaker 1: And here's what I said. He said, as far as possible,
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  Speaker 1: we talking about he and the folks that had come
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  Speaker 1: with him from Persia. We have bought back our fellow
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  Speaker 1: Jews who were sold to the gentiles. He said. When
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  Speaker 1: I got here, the people of this city were in
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  Speaker 1: so much debt to outsiders. I used my own money
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  Speaker 1: to get them out of debt. I use my own
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  Speaker 1: money to do this. And now I find out that
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  Speaker 1: you are selling your own people. You're selling your own
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  Speaker 1: people only for them to be sold back to us.
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  Speaker 1: He'd already spent a fortune buying Jewish citizens out of
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  Speaker 1: slavery to foreigners, and now he's having to do the
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  Speaker 1: same thing all over again, but this time he's having
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  Speaker 1: to pay off these loans that had been made by
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  Speaker 1: Jewish citizens, people right there in the community. He goes on,
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  Speaker 1: and he says this, and this won't come as a surprise.
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  Speaker 1: They kept quiet. I bet they did. They kept quiet
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  Speaker 1: because they could find nothing to say. So I continued,
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  Speaker 1: He went on, and he said, so, I continued, What
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  Speaker 1: you are doing is not right. You shouldn't you walk
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  Speaker 1: in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach
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  Speaker 1: of our gentile enemies. He said, do you not realize
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  Speaker 1: what you've done. Our neighbors are laughing at us. You've
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  Speaker 1: made us a laughing stock. You know, in the region
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  Speaker 1: surrounding us. We're not even keeping our own laws. We're
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  Speaker 1: undermining our own economy, we're undermining our own security. But
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  Speaker 1: he's not done. He said, I and my brothers, the
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  Speaker 1: people that came with him, and my men are also
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  Speaker 1: lending money and grain. But let us stop charging interest now.
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  Speaker 1: According to Torah, Jews were actually encouraged to loan money
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  Speaker 1: to other Jews, especially to the poor, but they couldn't
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  Speaker 1: charge interest, and that were not allowed to take important
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  Speaker 1: property as collateral like land or work animals. But these
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  Speaker 1: wealthy Jews were guilty of doing all of that. So
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  Speaker 1: Nia Mayah points his finger and he says, look, give
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  Speaker 1: back to them. Give back to them immediately, their fields
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  Speaker 1: and their vineyards, their olive groves and houses, and also
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  Speaker 1: the interest that you are charging them. They were basically
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  Speaker 1: just taking everything they could from these citizens. And how
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  Speaker 1: do they respond, Well, here's what they said. We will
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  Speaker 1: give it back and we will not demand anything more
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  Speaker 1: from them. We will do as you say. Now, Nehemiah
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  Speaker 1: is no fool, and he does not trust them. So
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  Speaker 1: here's what happened next. He says, Then I summoned the
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  Speaker 1: priests and I made the nobles and officials take an oath. Basically,
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  Speaker 1: he made them swear on the Bible. That's kind of
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  Speaker 1: the modern day parallel to this. I made them take
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  Speaker 1: an oath to do what they had promised. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: I also I shook out the folds of my robe,
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  Speaker 1: and I said, in this way, may God shake out
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  Speaker 1: of their house and possessions anyone who does not keep
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  Speaker 1: this promise. And the people did as they had promised,
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  Speaker 1: just like that. They returned everything they'd taken, everything they'd stole,
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  Speaker 1: and canceled all of those loans. Now, if their response
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  Speaker 1: seems a little bit unrealistic, a little bit idealistic, like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's what I would expect from a Bible story, you
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  Speaker 1: would be correct. But when you know the backstory, what
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  Speaker 1: was going on for all the years leading up to
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  Speaker 1: this encounter, their response makes a lot more sense. The
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  Speaker 1: reason Nehemiah's words carried so much weight was the way
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  Speaker 1: he had conducted himself for the twelve years he'd been
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  Speaker 1: back in the city of Jerusalem. His reputation preceded him,
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  Speaker 1: and his reputation stood in start contrast to all the
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  Speaker 1: previous governors. Here's the reason his words carried so much weight. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: he says. Moreover, from the twentieth year of King art Exerxes,
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  Speaker 1: when I was appointed to be their governor in the
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  Speaker 1: land of Judah, until he says, until his thirty second year,
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  Speaker 1: that is twelve years this is the way he's helping
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  Speaker 1: them understand the context. For twelve years, neither I nor
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  Speaker 1: my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. Now
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  Speaker 1: this is important. As the governor of Judah and as
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  Speaker 1: the governor of the city, basically, Nehemiah actually had a
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  Speaker 1: legal right to collect taxes for personal income. Plus he
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  Speaker 1: was guaranteed a free allotment of food from the farmers
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  Speaker 1: in the region. And in his twelve years as governor.
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  Speaker 1: Get this, and the twelve years as governor, he never
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  Speaker 1: wants exercised those rights. He never wants exercised that entitlement.
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  Speaker 1: He paid out of his own pocket. And this was
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  Speaker 1: again it was in stark contrast to the governors who'd
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  Speaker 1: come before him. In fact, this is what he says.
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  Speaker 1: He says, but the earlier governors, the governors before me,
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  Speaker 1: those preceding me, they placed a heavy burden on the people,
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  Speaker 1: and they took forty shekels of silver, which was a
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  Speaker 1: fortune from them in addition to food and wine. And
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  Speaker 1: not only the governor, their assistance, the assistance to the
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  Speaker 1: governors also lorded it over the people that the previous,
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  Speaker 1: the pre his governors had abused their authority and the
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  Speaker 1: wealthy citizens, of course, had taken their accues from who
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  Speaker 1: from the previous governors. But I love this next statement,
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  Speaker 1: he says, but out of reverence, out of reverence for God,
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  Speaker 1: I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself
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  Speaker 1: to the work on this wall. All my men were
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  Speaker 1: assembled there for the work. That is. I didn't ask
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  Speaker 1: anyone to do what I wasn't willing to do myself.
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  Speaker 1: And we did not acquire any land. Now why does
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  Speaker 1: he throw this in property ownership? In those days it
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  Speaker 1: was a sign of power, and Neamiah saying, Look, I
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  Speaker 1: didn't go there either. I did not enrich myself at
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  Speaker 1: the expense of the people. He did exactly what he
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  Speaker 1: came to do, rebuild the wall and restore the economy.
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  Speaker 1: He says, I never once, I never once demanded the
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  Speaker 1: food allotted or entitled to the governor, because the demands
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  Speaker 1: were so heavy on these people. So twelve years of
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  Speaker 1: walking his talk added weight to his words. Twelve years
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  Speaker 1: of expecting of himself what he expected of others gave
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  Speaker 1: him influence he otherwise would not have had the life
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  Speaker 1: he'd lived, the decisions he'd made, his genuine concern for
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  Speaker 1: the people, his lifestyle, his lack of entitlement. All of
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  Speaker 1: this shamed the nobles into submission. Now, that is good leadership,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the kind of leader we would like to follow,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the kind of leader we should all become.
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  Speaker 1: And it really goes back to this one idea moral authority.
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  Speaker 1: Moral authority, it's a tricky thing. It's a tricky thing
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: because it takes years to acquire, but it only takes
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: one unguarded moment to lose. We're always one decision, one word,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: one reaction away from damaging the thing, well, the thing
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: that gives us influence, the thing that gives us influence
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: beyond our position. It's always important. Moral authority is always important,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: but it is an essential. It is absolutely an essay
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: during times of disruption and uncertainty. Here's why, because the
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: people who look to us, especially right now, they want
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: to know they can trust us. And you know this
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: trust is earned and trust is influence. Now, to bring
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: this into sharp and perhaps uncomfortable focus, I want you
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: to think about this. You don't respect your parents because
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: of what they required you to do. Your respect, or
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: your lack of respect, is determined by what they required
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: of themselves. Right, the life they live, and the same
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: is true for you, and the same is true for me.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Our lives, our lives always speak louder than our words,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and our lives add weight to our words. So with
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: all that in mind, I want to give you three
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: gauges to keep your eye on. Three gauges to keep
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: your eye on that will help you protect your influence,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: that will help you protect and guard your moral authority.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Three areas that may indicate you're on the verge of losing,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: losing what is virtually impossible to regain once it's lost.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Number One, pay close attention. Pay close attention to your
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: internal and external response to authority. How do you respond
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: to authority? How do you respond internally and externally? A
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: lot of people have lost their moral authority, have lost
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: their entire reputation by how they responded or responded inappropriately
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: to authority. And here's why I say that if you
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: consider yourself, if you consider yourself too important to be under,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: then you are probably too immature to be over. So
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: pay attention, pay attention to how you respond to authority.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: The second thing to keep your eye on is this
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: your sense of entitlement. Your sense of entitlement listen to
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: the excuses you make to justify behavior, behavior that you
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: would not approve of another people. Imagine, imagine someone you respect.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Imagine someone you respect doing or saying what you're contemplating
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: doing or saying. That has stop me in my tracks
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: more times than I can remember, and honestly, more times
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: than I even want to admit. Along these same lines,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: many years ago, probably thirty plus years ago, author and
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: financial advisor Ron Blue, some of you are familiar with
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Ron Blue. He gave me some extraordinary, extraordinary advice. Here's
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: what he said. He said, Andy, never do anything. Never
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: do anything you wouldn't want people to find out about,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: or that you wouldn't want to have to stand up
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: and explain to your congregation. Never do anything you wouldn't
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: want people to find out about, or that you wouldn't
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: want to have to stand up and explain to your congregation.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you that one piece of advice has called
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Sandra and me to walk away from numerous opportunities and investments,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: none of which were illegal. But here's the thing. I
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: don't want to do anything. We don't want to do
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: anything that undermines our influence, our influence with our children.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Our influence with you, our influence to our broader audience,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: all of which is a studarid lordship. And here's the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: thing about entitlement. You know, this entitlement is a slippery slope.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Maybe think about it. Maybe you do deserve it, whatever
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: it is. Neemiah deserved it. But here's the thing. If
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: taking if taking what you deserve, don't miss this. If
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: taking what you deserve undermines your influence, your moral authority,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: think twice, Because odds are whatever it is that you deserve,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: whatever it is that you think you deserve, the day
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: may come when you would be willing to return it
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: for the influence and the respect you surrendered in order
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: to get it. Last thing, last thing to pay attention to.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Pay attention to those imaginary conversations, your imaginary conversations that
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: are an expression of frustration and anger, your anger and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: frustration with people. It only needs to leak one time
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: for you to lose your credibility forever, right, because come on,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry doesn't erase any by memory. And
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: when you do mess up, fess up quick own it.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: That's the only way to rebuild moral authority. Come on,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: we trust people who make mistakes. We do not trust
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: people who make excuses. We don't trust them because we
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: know they have their own best interest in mind. Moral authority,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: it's an essential during times of disruption and uncertainty. Now,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to be clear, this is important. Moral authority is not
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: an essential for leadership. You can lead without it, you
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: can parent without it, you can manage without it, but
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: you cannot be a leader worth following without it. You
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: will not maintain your influence without it. Never forget this.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: People are usually defined we talk about this last week.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: People are usually defined by their final chapter, not necessarily
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: their finest chapter. And here's why. Because people are generally
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: celebrated and remembered for their moral authority, not their positional
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: and the same will be true for you. Now, to
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: help you remember this, here's a prayer that I've prayed
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: for again twenty five or thirty years. I bet I
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: prayed this prayer at least once a day, sometimes multiple
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: times a day. I just made this up. These are
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: my words, but maybe this is something you want to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: carry into the week. Here's what I pray all the time.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, give me the wisdom to know what's right
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and the courage to do what's right even when it
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: costs me. Heavenly Father, give me the wisdom to know
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: what's right, and the courage to do what's right even
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: when it costs me your accomplishments. Your accomplishments may make
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: your name known, but your character, your moral authority, will
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: determine what people associate with your name. So guard it
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: at all cost, and we will pick it up right
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: there next time. In Part three of Leading through assass