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Stop Failing: Lessons from Virgil and Lucas

Stop Failing: Lessons from Virgil and Lucas

Last updated on: December 9, 2016 at 8:52 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Stop Failing: Lessons from Virgil and Lucas 2016-12-09T08:52:33-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Don’t Rejoice in Failure

Dad knew a man who preached the same sermon every week. People left his church until only a few faithful were hanging with the congregation to try to save the church after the pastor would (hopefully) wear out and leave. Was Pastor Tedium worried? No. He had, from his point of view, weeded out the sheep from the goats. People who wanted a different sermon had “tickling ears” and were followers of trends. He was “preaching down” the congregation until only the true Christians remained.

This man was a failure, but what was worse, he embraced his failure as a sign of success.

I have worked for people who simply redefined their failure as success, declared victory, and gave themselves a raise. This works for a time, but failing is impossible to hide for long for the same reason that Napoleon could not declare Waterloo a victory. The British were in Paris and he was in exile.

Today at The Saint Constantine School, our college class discussed a masterwork of real leadership: The Aeneid. Virgil shows a man who leaves a burned out and defeated city and somehow creates something new.

Three Ways to Spot a Leader

We are an era that gives prizes for participation and Nobels for good intentions. A good leader does what he says he will do, while a great leader does more than he says. Virgil’s hero does more than he says and never asks anyone to do what he is not already doing.

A real leader makes allies where he can.

Losers find enemies where friends could be found, but leaders make peace wherever they can.

A true leader knows his enemies, but isn’t obsessed with them.

Aeneus did a big thing and so enemies naturally followed. Nobody bothers to oppose an imitation of an old thing, but do something new and enemies follow. Why? Envy mostly, guilt always. Bad people will envy the success in others, while very bad people will feel called to stamp out success. If misery loves company, mediocrity is miserable when one man refuses to fail.

A genuine leader doesn’t go into exile and build a miniature version of his last city.

Aeneas got burned out of Troy by the Greeks. He happened onto a city that exiles built that was mini-Troy. If pathetic, it was faithful, but Aeneas rejected mere imitation, because he was a genuine leader.

Aeneas wished to save the Trojan spirit, not rename a creek in Greece after a Trojan river. Too many of us want to rebuild the place where God was and not go to the place God is. As a result, we miss the move of God in our generation.

The great leader never sells the software.

Walt Disney refused to sell “Vault Disney,” his collection of films, even when it could have funded his business. He knew that once he lost his software, he had nothing. Disney understood that a creation is rare, but a distribution network is common.

Aeneus had one great asset: his DNA as a Trojan hero. He would not give this up to Carthage, even if the trade would make him rich. He wanted a new and greater Troy, not personal peace and affluence. The hard calling of a real leader is to do something new.

Failure is not success.

Jesus won, even though He was crucified, but the story did not end on the Cross. In three days, Jesus was alive. In a month more, He was in the Paradise of God as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He lost a battle to win the War.

Sadly, certain Christians miss the point. A martyr cannot lose, because he “fails” to win. Most of us think we are martyrs, when really we have just gotten ourselves killed. Leaders don’t lie to themselves about defeats and so they have a chance to win.

Let’s win.

————————

I am thankful for the first class of The Saint Constatine School for a great first semester.

Thank you Lucas.

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