Weakness and Community

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about weakness and leadership.  We all have weaknesses as individuals, even the best leaders -- though some of the less self-aware of us won't admit it and may not know what those weaknesses are.

It seems to me that the remedy for lack of self-awareness is community.  I suppose I can sit and reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses and figure some of it out, but to really see myself truly I need the reflection I can only get from the mirror of community.

As a simple example, think about a performance review for a job.  I've received and given many, and I am always struck by the interaction of reviewer and reviewee.  In good reviews, there is trust on both sides and willingness to listen and to speak by both parties. This is community: the ability on the one side to speak into someone else's life a truth that may be unrecognized or unwelcome, and the willingness on the other side to hear what is being said and to ingest it, to see whether it rings as true, why or why not, and what if anything I need to do about it.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is when King David has been beaten in a battle and, as his army is walking past a hill, a man named Shimei calls out curses on him.  (Not the best method or timing for a performance review, you might say.)  David's men want to go kill Shimei, but David says, "No, let him speak.  It may be that he is speaking God's will to me."  Wow.  In the depth of despair, David has the willingness not just to listen to someone he respects, who he knows loves him, but even to listen to one who hates him and calls out curses upon him.

It is only when we have this attitude, when we are willing to listen to others in community, that we really come to know our weaknesses and how we should compensate for them.  And then we must take those steps, the first of which is generally to have someone near us who is strong where we are weak, and we must let them operate in that strength.