W.I.N. Wednesday: Beware Hero Worship

All humans are flawed. 

The great leaders of today and throughout history all have flaws. The great historical figures all had flaws. The great stoics were flawed. We have a bad habit of getting caught up in hero worship and putting those people on a pedestal. When their flaws get exposed, often years or eve decades later, some people become outraged and want to wipe out anything that person ever accomplished or created. They want to throw out the books they wrote. They want to tear down the statues. They want to erase their names from the history books. 

If we got caught up in hero worship we are angry with those we put on a pedestal for betraying us, and we are angry with ourselves for being gullible. 

You can admire people’s work and accomplishments. You can admire the traits that make, or made them successful. You can admire the work they did and their writings. Just understand they too are human. They too have flaws. They too will make mistakes and poor decisions. That is part of being human. 

Most people are doing the best they can. Sometimes that will be enough, and sometimes it will not. Sometimes it will be enough at the time, but with the bias of hindsight, it will not be enough. 

All human are flawed. There is no such thing as the perfect leader. There are no perfect humans. Lets have compassion for others and self-compassion. Lets learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. 

What’s Important Now? It is ok to admire, but you also have to be willing to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean that you condone a wrong someone else has done. It means you forgive them for being human, for being flawed. (Simple; not easy.)

P.S. Something else to consider is that without flawed human beings we would not have Blues or Country music.

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com. Maximizing human potential through Life's Most Powerful Question - What's Important Now?

www.daretobegreatleadership.com The online Dare to Be Great: Strategies for Creating a Culture of Leading workshop was created to help aspiring leaders and frontline leaders on their leadership journey. Subscribe to the weekly blog while you are there. 

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