When Charisse, my daughter, was five years old, she walked in the living room one evening,
looked up at me with really big eyes, and informed me that I was going to need to start
putting the toilet seat down because she had recently went to the bathroom and “fell in!”
It brought five things to mind...
1. When we get in a hurry as leaders, we tend to not pay attention to how our decisions
might impact others.
If we are going to lead like Jesus, we MUST be way more concerned about others than we
are ourselves!
2. If a leader will take a little extra time and make sure the details are covered, it makes it a
lot easier for those who are following him.
A person who does not take a little time now will have to take a lot of time later repairing
the damage from the “mess.” I can promise you she will not forget “falling in!”
3. Laziness as a leader will often result in unfortunate circumstances for those who follow.
I can promise she was not happy about “falling in!”
4. When unfortunate circumstances take place (falling in the toilet) a good leader will always
ask “What could I have done differently in that situation” (put the lid down) instead of
blaming someone else for the mess.
Sure, I could have told her to make sure the lid was down, but reality is that if I had taken the
extra time and did what a good leader/father should have done, then she would not have
gone for a swim!
5. Two of the MOST POWERFUL WORDS for a leader to say are, “I’m sorry” when they are
confronted with a careless mistake that they made rather than trying to rationalize the
situation.