A Typical Week

Episode 27:  Radar’s Report

Henry:      You never let me read anything I’m signing. Sometimes I get the feeling you’re trying to hide the war from me Radar.

Radar:      No, Sir, no… 

Henry:    I’ll just be the judge of what’s here.  “Chinese Communist prisoner berserk in OR, wounds Lieutenant Erika Johnson and contaminated one surgical case.  Psycho examination…Corporal Klinger…Lieutenant Johnson reassigned, Tokyo.  Dr. McIntyre lost patient due to complications, OR incident.  Wounded Chinese prisoner recovering.”  Well, every week can’t be exciting.

Radar completes his weekly report, highlighting the unpredictable nature of the war through the incidental events that impacts the lives of the 4077 personnel.  A typical week becomes anything but typical through a series of unrelated, extra-ordinary events.

Anybody who has led for any length of time will know that there rarely is a “typical” week.  While there are routines and responsibilities that may be predictable, the very nature of life is that it is filled with unpredictability.  Systems can be managed, programs planned, but people are complex beings who are subject to the ebb and flow of life.  Despite our best planning, scheduling or organization, people’s lives get in the way.  But, because people matter, and are to be led, not managed, leaders need to exercise flexible and responsive leadership.  Life is fluid, so it stands to reason that leadership should also be fluid.  It has been my experience, even with a type-A personality, that this sort of fluid leadership equips me to more effectively respond to people’s needs and circumstances that make most weeks far from typical.

Fire Draws Fire

Episode 26:  5 O’Clock Charlie

Frank:    It ill behoves us to show such a frivolous and 

          flippant attitude in front of our Korean allies.

Hawkeye:  Come on, Frank, don’t you understand?  Fire draws  

          fire. You shoot that thing and the next day we’ll have

          real planes, MiGs, throwing bombs at our wounded. Maybe 

          you haven’t noticed in the operating room, but we have 

          wounded.

Trapper:  The combination of malpractice and flop sweat makes 

          it hard for him to see.

Frank:    I know what my duty is and I intend to do it.

A wayward North Korean pilot on his daily attempt to blow up the ammo dump near the 4077 becomes an attraction for the camp.  Frank appeals to the General for an anti aircraft gun to deal with the problem, evoking concern by Hawkeye and Trapper for the safety of the wounded.

One of the tensions for leaders experiencing opposition, whether from competitors or colleagues, is to know when to react and when to hold back.  Sometimes to react draws unnecessary attention to the problem, which is like throwing fuel on a fire.  Other times a delayed response allows the problem to grow out of proportion, when an immediate response would have extinguished the fire.  I have erred on both sides of the equation where a misjudged response has created more problems than it has solved.  John Maxwell talks about the importance of timing and motive in reading and responding to leadership situations, “Successful leaders make the right move at the right moment with the right motive.”  This wisdom provides a helpful framework to ask three critical questions when discerning the best response:  Is this the right move?  Is this the right moment?  What is my motive?  I am sure these three questions could have helped avoid drawing unnecessary fire on those occasions when I have made the wrong call.

Unity In Adversity

Episode 25:  Divided We Stand

General:    You had a mission here, Captain.

Hildebrand: I’ve done it.  I can give you your report.  In my short stay here, I have seen textbook examples of neuroses, psychoses.  I have seen voyeurism, fetishism and a few “isms” I’ve never even heard of.  And let me tell you this, General:  these impossible people are in an impossible place doing totally impossible work.  They’re mad, quite mad, all of them, and the only act I can think of that would be madder still would be breaking them up.

General Clayton sends a psychiatrist on a secret mission to the 4077 to assess whether the stress of war is having an adverse effect.  Concerned by the possibility of the unit being broken up, Colonel Blake tries to get the troops to be on their best behaviour.

There have been seasons of leadership when I have most valued having a team who have shared the burden that comes with leading through difficult circumstances.  As I reflect upon these times of adversity when we have faced seemingly impossible challenges, it was the unity of the team that enabled us to overcome such adversity.  When teams are united in adversity, there is clarity of purpose when the way seems unclear.  When teams are united in adversity, there is cohesion between leaders when others are divided.  When teams are united in adversity, there is confidence in shared wisdom and experience instead of insecurity.  Staying united during times of adversity reveals an unshakeable resilience that makes the impossible seem possible, empowering leaders to overcome their circumstances instead of being overwhelmed by them.

Who Deserves The Credit?

Episode 24:  Showtime

Father:   For some time now, I’ve been comparing the disparity of our callings.  Doctor versus priest.  You fellows are always able to see the end result of your work.  I mean, you know immediately if you’ve been successful.  For me, the results are far less tangible.  Sometimes – most of the time – I honestly don’t know whether I’m doing any good or not.

Hawkeye:   I used to have a professor in med school who always said:  “God cures the patients but the doctor takes the fee.”

Father:    Do you think that’s true?

Hawkeye:   I’m able to do a lot of things in surgery that I’m not really good enough to do.

During the visit of a troupe to entertain the 4077, we gain insight into a number of significant moments in the lives of the key personnel, including a moment of vulnerability where the camp priest is questioning the effectiveness of his work.

Despite my training and experience as a leader I am acutely aware that there are many things I am called upon to do that I am not really capable of doing alone.  By myself, I bring a limited set of skills and knowledge to my leadership roles, but together with a team there is a collaboration of shared wisdom that increases my leadership capacity.  As a Christian leader the capacity of the team is also given a spiritual dimension through divine wisdom and strength.  It is, therefore, true to say that any success I experience as a leader is never mine alone.  In this context of leadership there is no place for ego driven leaders who hog the credit for themselves.  Quoting Dino Rizzo, Craig Groeschel emphasizes this point by stating, “It is amazing what gets accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.”  In saying that from a team point of view, God always deserves the credit for empowering us to be the leaders He has called and equipped us to be.

Hopefulness

Episode 23:  Cease Fire

Trapper:  You should have listened to me, pal.

Hawkeye: If the same thing happened all over again, I’d still  

         make the same bet.

Trapper:  On the level?

Hawkeye: It was a glimpse of daylight at the end of the tunnel, 

         it was worth it.

Trapper:  You paid a pretty heavy price.

Hawkeye: So I blew 1500 bucks in IOU’s…Gave up three nurses for 

         an imaginary wife and family.  Clayton’s got my butt in 

         his gun sight.  My hopefulness remains intact.

The 4077 hears a rumour of a ceasefire, prompting premature celebrations and plans for going home.  Trapper doubts the rumour, while Hawkeye gets a little carried away leaving him in trouble with some nurses and General Clayton when they find out the rumour was false.

Leadership without hope is to abandon a vision for a preferred future and capitulate to the present reality.  Hope dares to believe for what could be, even when what is seems overwhelming.  Hope sees the possibilities, not the barriers.  Hope gives leaders the faith to lead in the tension between the now and not yet now. Pastor and author Erwin McManus says, “A life of expectation is the result of living in the dynamic tension that exists between faith and hope.”  It is this dynamic tension that makes the present reality untenable and drives a leader to step out in faith to pursue even greater things.  In this pursuit, a leaders hopefulness remains intact when their faith exceeds their circumstances.