Chanitz.org Greatly Appreciated

Chanitz.org submitted its annual report in front of the Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel Church members and was accepted with applause and appreciation for the great endeavor and success achieved.

During the session, Mr. Raffi Chilingirian, the Editor-in-Chief, surprised the assembly by appreciating the pastor of the church, Rev. Hovanness Svajian, with a gift, as a token of appreciation for his great help and support.

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: Compulsive Leader

Moses was a compulsive leader, his need to control caused his father-in-law to re-arrange his case load. Moses also was prone to occasional outbursts of anger.

A compulsive leader:
• needs to maintain absolute order
• pursues perfection to the extreme
• live rigid, highly systematized daily routines that they must follow meticulously
• are status conscious, as such they seek to impress their superiors with their diligence and efficiency
• they continually look for the reassurance and approval of authority figures
• these pressures cause them to become workaholics
• they see staff as slackers if they don’t keep pace
• there is little room for spontaneity, even recreation and relaxation time is planned well in advance
• on the outside they are pictures of absolute order, on the inside they are an emotional powder keg
• this rigid personality can come from rigid childhood environments where unrealistic expectation were place on
• this repressed anger can suddenly erupt
• attempts to exercise and maintain control of their lives and environments are efforts to keep repressed anger, resentment, and rebellion from surfacing

Mark the following:
5 = strongly agree
4 = agree
3 = uncertain
2 = disagree
1 = strongly disagree

• I often worry that my superiors do not approve of the quality of my work.
• I am highly regimented in my daily personal routines such as exercise schedule or devotions.
• When circumstances dictate that I must interrupt my daily personal routines, I find myself out of sorts and feeling guilty for having “skipped” a day.
• I frequently find myself conscious of my status in relationship to others.
• It is difficult for me to take an unplanned day off from work responsibilities just to goof around or spend time with friends or family.
• While away from work, I still find myself thinking about work-related topics, often sitting down to write out my ideas in length even if it disrupts family activities.
• I like to plan the details of my vacations so that I don’t waste time.
• I often explode in anger after being cut off or irritated while driving or over petty issues.
• I am meticulous with my personal appearance, keeping shoes shined, clothes perfectly pressed, hair carefully cut and groomed, and fingernails always clipped.
• I frequently comment about the long hours I keep and my heavy workload.
• When others make sloppy errors or pay little attention to detail, I become annoyed and judge that person.
• I am obsessive about the smallest errors, worrying that they will reflect poorly on me.

Next week: The Narcissistic Leader

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership

This is a book by leaders, for leaders, designed to prevent their readers from adding their names to the list of those who succeed greatly at spiritual leadership, only to have their "dark side" ultimately get the best of them and ruin their lives and ministries.

Nobody has to look very far to see spiritual leadership failures. Yet many wrongly think that these failings are merely the work of Satan:
Many Christian leaders have been taught to blame the "enemy" for their leadership failures. When a leader commits adultery, embezzles money from the church, or gets caught exposing himself, the most frequent explanation among the ranks of the faithful is "Boy, the devil sure is working overtime," with little attention given to the realities of human dysfunction. (p. 155)
The fact is, all of us have a "dark side" that consists of the unmet needs and "existential debts" that orient our lives and drive us from deep down inside. These often provide motivation to do good things-- such as spiritual leadership. But when these "dark side" characteristics continue to lurk in the darkness and are combined with spiritual leadership, we have a recipe for disaster. Pride, selfishness, self-deceit and wrong motives are identified as the tell-tale signs that the "dark side" is out of control.

Five different types of unhealthy leadership patterns are discussed:

* The Compulsive Leader
* The Narcissistic Leader
* The Paranoid Leader
* The Codependent Leader
* The Passive-Aggressive Leader

We will post about each type in the following weeks.