The Insecure Leader - Colonel Klink

In the old sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, German Colonel Klink was a very insecure leader. He so lacked confidence in himself and his ability to make right choices, that he often sought after and accepted the advice of his enemy - American Colonel Hogan.

Klink distrusted everyone – Sergeant Shultz, the Gestapo, General Bulkarter – except Hogan, which is why we won WW II.

But seriously, insecure leaders don’t know how to trust others because they constantly feel inadequate themselves, believing others are out to take away what they have – their position, job, wealth, etc…

In his book on leadership, Johnny Hunt writes:

A secure leader believes in others…a secure leader only increases in confidence when those around him succeed and become more secure themselves. They derive no pleasure from seeing others going underchallenged or kept under wraps. The secure leader’s desire is to see as many people as possible released for viable and effective ministry. They want for others what they want for themselves.

But it’s nearly impossible to believe in others when you don’t even believe in yourself. And when you don’t have confidence in others, you can’t encourage them in a genuine way.

So I say that as leaders we must believe in other’s capabilities and desires. We must encourage and direct those we want to see soar. At times we may need to correct them in some area, but we should never try to keep others down for fear of what their success might mean to us.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4

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