Loyal To A Fault

Episode 60:  A Full Rich Day

Hawkeye:   Smithy, I’m going to have to go serious on you about this thing.  We have a different perspective on the war as a whole than I think is possible for you.  To a line officer with 30-40 guys lives depending upon him, and your life depending upon them; the war is not some big geo-political conflict between nations and ideologies.  It’s not just China and America sticking their tongues out at each other.  To you there’s maybe 30-40 guys in that high grass out there trying to kill me and my 30-40 guys.  It’s that concentrated.  To you that’s the entire war…But it’s something else in our little heaven.  To us the war is trying very hard to control chaos.  We are up to our bottoms in other people’s bottoms here.  We can’t afford the same kind of fierce personal loyalties that you and Sergeant Brian feel for each other.  Can you understand that?...It’s the size of the wound, who’s bleeding the most buckets who we give priority to.  It’s the only place I know that being the worst is the best.

Hawkeye records a message to his dad about the events of a very eventful day.  Among the variety of casualties presenting to the 4077^th is an infantry soldier who demands the doctors treat his friend first by threatening them at gunpoint.

While loyalty to a leader or a team is a highly valued virtue in any organisation, there are times when blind loyalty can distort our view of reality and become a liability.  I’ve worked in teams where loyalty to long standing relationships has compromised right decisions or covered-up wrong behaviour.  In both cases truth and integrity became casualties of blind loyalty.  In contrast, John Maxwell says “loyalty means giving me an honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not.”  From this position loyalty becomes more about faithfulness than friendship and the priority of leadership stays focused on the grander vision rather than allowing personal agendas making us vulnerable to being loyal to a fault.

Professional Reputation

Episode 52:  Iron Guts Kelly

Colonel:    Is the General ill?
Trapper:    He’s a little past ill.
Hawkeye:    He’s dead.
Colonel:    He was fine a little while ago.  What happened?
Trapper:    Myocardial infarction….
Colonel:    He died in action at the front.  Leading his troops 
            against overwhelming odds, with shells bursting all 
            around him, until that one shell with his name on it  
            caught up with him.  That’s how General “Iron Guts”  
            Kelly died….I got a pretty good idea how he really 
            went.  It’s got to appear as though he died more  
            meaningfully.  There’s a Zen saying:  Just as a clay   
            jar will sooner or later crumble while being lowered  
            into a well, so old generals must eventually perish in  
            battle.  All you have to do is sign the death 
            certificate.  I’ll fill in the details….History demands 
            that the general die a glorious death.

When General Iron Guts Kelly visits the 4077 and dies in Major Houlihan’s tent, his aid creates a cover story to hide the real cause of death and contrive a more heroic death for the General by organising for his body to be driven to a front line battle.

How much is your reputation worth?  What would you do to protect it?  What values would you compromise to maintain a professional image?  These are challenging questions for leaders and organisations who want to protect their personal or corporate brand.  Make no mistake, reputation is important, but is it important enough to pursue at the expense of core values and character?  Consider these notable quotes that place a good reputation in the right context of sound character:  “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” (Abraham Lincoln); “The way to gain good reputation is to endeavour to be what you desire to appear.” (Socrates); “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” (John Wooden).  Character trumps reputation every time!

For The Love Of Money

Episode 22:  Major Fred C Dobbs

Hawkeye:   I think I have what just might be an idea.  Three of 

           the basic human emotions are greed, fear, and greed.

Trapper:    So?

Hawkeye:   Frank Burns is crazy about money. He married for money. He became a doctor for money. If there was money in dying, he’d throw himself under a truck in a minute.

Trapper:    All of which means what?

Hawkeye:  Remember that story Radar said about there being gold in Korea?...If [Frank] thought he could get rich staying here, he’d never leave.

Hawkeye and Trapper go too far with their pranks on Frank and Margaret, pushing them to request a transfer out of the 4077. Realising the impact of their constant harassment, they trick Frank into staying by appealing to his greed, planting fake gold around the camp.

The bible teaches us that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).  When the pursuit of money becomes our primary purpose and the bottom line of our leadership we are exposed to all types of risks and temptations.  Many leaders have been derailed by allowing the love of money to allure them away from fundamental values like integrity.  It is not that money itself is inherently evil, but the elevation of it to a place where it leads to a compromise of character.  I remember meeting a man at the Melbourne Remand Centre while Christmas Caroling one year whose love of money led to a gambling addiction that cost him his job, family and freedom.  With his head bowed low he lamented how he had thrown his life away because his love of money cost him everything of true value in his life.

Hypocrisy

Episode 11:  Germ Warfare

Frank:      Isn’t that the POW?

Hawkeye:    That’s right.  He’s in my c-o-t.

Frank:      I ordered him shipped out. What’s he doing here?

Hawkeye:   Easy Frank. Henry okayed it. He’s not taking up anybody’s space but mine. Why don’t you buzz off, Frank? Go review your hypocritical oath.

When a North Korean POW arrives wounded and in need of blood, Hawkeye discovers that Frank Burns is the only person in camp with the same blood type.  Frank expresses his disapproval of the 4077 caring for the enemy and tries to have him shipped out, while Hawkeye and Trapper arrange for a midnight caper to swipe a pint of blood from Frank.

Hypocrisy is the ugly side of humanity where stated values and beliefs are out of alignment with actual behaviour.  It is one of the biggest challenges of my leadership to discern what is real when the face of the people I lead hides a contradicting attitude of the heart.  It is also a big challenge for the Church, as hypocrisy is one of the biggest accusations that are levelled against the body of Christ.  Christian leaders have the enormous task of not only setting an example after Christ of authentic leadership, but to recreate a culture in the Church where what we believe consistently defines the way we behave.  While the Church may be the context for my leadership, authenticity and integrity are coveted values in every arena of leadership.