In his book Why Smart Executives Fail Sydney Finkelstein identifies seven habits of unsuccessful people:
They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environment;
They identify so completely with their company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their corporation's interests;
They think they have all the answers;
They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who is not 100 percent behind them;
They are consummate company spokespersons, obsessed with the company image;
They underestimate major obstacles;
They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past.
Finkelstein discovered four destructive patterns of behavior that set it, without anyone noticing them well before the business goes under.
Flawed executive mind-sets that throw off a company's perception of reality;
Delusional attitudes that keep this inaccurate reality in place;
Breakdowns in communications systems developed to handle potential urgent information;
Leadership qualities that keep a companies executives from correcting their course.
Long before there are obvious danger signs, several of these syndromes can take hold of executive's behavior. While the business might appear outwardly healthy, the inner mechanisms are breaking down.
The folks around Sadaam Hussein did not tell him the truth out of concern he would kill them. The folks around Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley would not try to dissuade them from some action out of concern he would fire them after all Michael and Elvis were their meal ticket. Do the folks around Al Behel not tell him the truth out of concern they will hurt his feelings?
People in the public after years of doing what they do get to the point where they believe "their audience" actually cares what they think on any given subject. "Their audience" is only interested in what the individual does, sings, tells jokes, preach, teach etc.
There is a woman at the Smoky Mountain Opry, who for some reason, thinks the audience cares how much she loves and appreciates her husband. Anita Bryant thought people cared what she believed about God. James Rogers thinks people care about his family. As does Al Behel.
There are plenty of examples of people who once they stop taking advice go down hill quickly.
Sunday evening Al mentioned that a woman told him that morning he should preach more bible. When he told the story he laughed after all as he explained he had used 40 or so verses in his morning sermon. He has used that number before so I do not believe him. He did talk on John 17 so my guess is he is including every verse in his count. I am not sure why he tells us that story unless he is looking for validation that he uses plenty of bible verses in his talks. Eventually you will be able to listen to the sermon on the Internet and judge for yourself. Linda is behind some weeks. As for me, I heard it and he spent the first ten minutes as well as periodically during his presentation talking about himself and how great he is and how he knows everyone and how all success if because of his involvement. You have heard it all before. He repeatedly refers to the church as an audience (spectators and listeners to a performance). I understand preachers have to be egotistical just to do what they do but at some point reality will set in. At some point Al's friends will be honest with him.
Years ago when Herman suggested the men discuss the quality of Al's sermons and the entire meeting agreed with the exception of Dan and Bud who detonated the meeting Howard in his way talked to Al. Al accepted the comments but made clear to Howard that Al would have to be himself stories and all. If and when we have elders my guess is they will have their work cutout for them.
Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179 cell
Gatlinburg, TN
Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
http://alumcave.blogspot.com/ "It is enough the people know there was an election. Those who cast the vote decide nothing, those who count the vote decide everything." ---Joseph Stalin
