Issue 080
They say that structures are flat now; command and
control is out of date; the age of the consultative team
is here. But they haven’t told every manager this yet and
they certainly haven’t told your boss.
Many bosses still operate using fear as the weapon.
Some are just naturally intimidating without even trying:
power is a plaything; people are mere pawns or
expendable images in some gigantic computer ‘beat-‘em-
up’ game. It couldn’t be called harassment or bullying,
just a regime of fear and incompetence.
Managers who resort to using fear are too incompetent to
imagine what it’s like to be somebody on the receiving
end. As far as they’re concerned the world revolves
around them.
But ironically the Boss of all bosses has been on the
receiving end. When Jesus Christ stood before Pontius
Pilate, one had all the appearance of power and the
other the trappings of weakness. One was calling all the
shots and the other was in a vulnerable position.
Pontius Pilate snorted, “Don’t you realise I have the
power either to free you or to crucify you?” to which
came the reply, “’You would have no power over me at
all except what has been given to you from above.”. John
19: 8-10
Jesus saw through the abuse of power to the source of
power, and he saw that the source of power was in his own
Father. He knew his Father would allow power to go
only as far as he decided.
So who do you think had the most to fear? Who was
really in control? Next time your boss tries it on see if
you can see what Jesus saw.
1 John 4:16-18
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
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Geoff Shattock
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