So I've been reading a lot of Quinn's (2008) Deep Change book because I am working on my leadership philosophy paper and his ideas are the ones I resonate with the most deeply. I've been reflecting on some of his ideas. Quinn tells a story that I would like to discuss:
Some years ago, I was invited to a meeting of senior officers at one of the military academies. The officer in charge talked at length about the moral decay in society. There seemed to be no focus to his discussion, and I could not figure out what problem was actually concerning these men. Eventually it was revealed that some of the students at the academy were cheating on their exams. The cadets were not following the academy's honor system. The officers' explanation for the cadets' behavior was corruption in society. They felt that by the time an eighteen-year-old arrived at the academy it was too late; the cadet was irredeemable.
After a long discussion about the corruption in society, I attempted to turn the topic around. I asked if anyone in the room had served in Vietnam. Most had. I asked if any of them had participated in the phenomenon known as the body count. (This was a measurement system used to determine how American forces were performing in the war. At the end of each battle, the number of enemy dead were counted, and the number was reported. As this process unfolded, vastly exaggerated numbers were routinely reported.)
From the atmosphere of discomfort in the room, it was clear that some had participated. Why, I asked, would an officer and a gentleman man (as opposed to an uncommissioned cadet) engage in such behavior? Answering my own question, I suggested that when an impossible objective is given to people in a large hierarchy and when it is accompanied by immense pressure to produce, the people in the organization will also experience growing pressure to engage in unethical behavior. An invisible form of corruption at the top, the exercise of authority without concern or demand without out support, results in a very visible form of corruption at the bottom.
I then suggested that perhaps the problem with the cadets did not take root "out there" in society. Maybe large numbers of students were cheating because the system demanded and taught them to cheat. Were the arrangement of classes, the design of assignments and workloads, and traditional military values like "cooperate and graduate" combining to teach, require, and reward cheating? Was the problem in the cadets alone, or was it in the relationship between the cadets and the authority figures who were condemning and externalizing the problem?
There was a long silence. Finally, the man in charge spoke. He turned to the man next to him and, as if I had never said a word, resumed the old discussion about the moral decay in society. For the rest of the day they ignored me-I simply did not exist.
When I read this story, I recognized myself in the author. This is exactly the sort of thing I would do. People are complaining. I see their hypocrisy. I point out said hypocrisy in a way that is almost impossible to refute, and people kind of hate me for it. My sister sometimes tries to make me see this as a character flaw. She says that God doesn't do this, that he is more diplomatic and gentle. She says that he woos us--not come crashing down with some ugly truth we are unable to face. I have a hard time accepting her perspective though. For one thing, Jesus wasn't very careful with people's feelings, especially regarding hypocrisy.
Of course I recognize the value of diplomacy. I think I am actually quite capable of being diplomatic. It's just that when I am being diplomatic, I am not being my most caring self. I am being passive and disengaged. It's kind of a brutal gift to have, though, this truth telling. People are much more likely to appreciate one if one has the gift of service. Maybe I should stop caring so much about how people react though. Quinn doesn't seem too concerned by the mental fallout that he left behind him. Is that loving? Where is the line between loving through telling the truth and loving through protecting someone ego? I'd be interested in your perspective.
Social Justice
Truth telling can be used in the service of social justice. Jesus did that. He called out the Pharisees for laying burdens on the people that they were unwilling to carry themselves. Quinn's conversation with the senior officers was also a challenge to the oppression and hypocrisy of leaders.
I think this is perhaps the place that I am the most called to use my gifting. I think in my context, the students are also villianized for the way that they respond to the academic culture. It is my job, at countless dining room tables, to be their advocate and defense attorney in front of teachers fresh from the States who are struggling with culture shock. I think my job is easier than Quinn's though. When people are surrounded by evidence that their paradigm isn't working, they are much more open to my kind of truth. Maybe that is yet another reason that I am grateful that God has put me where I am. It is easier to exercise my gift here, much easier than in our program at APU, for example. It's also harder to speak up in this way when the people concerned are in authority over me. That is really scary.
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