The Value of Accountable Leadership

“Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!… Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?  You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.’”  — 2 Samuel 12:7, 9

Do you have accountability in your life and business?  What dangers are there when leaders are not accountable?  How do you ensure proper accountability for yourself and your business?  Are you engaged in accountable leadership?

No matter how sanctified our mind and heart, how holy our ambition, and how honorable our cause, without active accountability in our lives and business we will either shipwreck the organizations we lead or fail to achieve our fullest potential.  Accountability is the willful submission of our business or life to someone else to serve as a sounding board, a tool for correction and affirmation.  To sustain effective transformational leadership, there must be active accountability.

King David became the second King of Israel when he took over for King Saul whose leadership ended in disgrace.   King David was selected by God Himself while he was still a young man to be King Saul’s successor.  He was identified by God as a man after His own heart, a worshiper who had a unique devotion to God.   David knew firsthand the dangers of abuse of power and was even a victim of such abuse.  Yet, with all these great spiritual attributes and experiences, he too abused his power.  David’s actions support the familiar saying that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

David’s abuse of power began during the season of his life when he had gained total control over the Kingdom of Israel and had achieved complete victory over all his enemies.  Due to his confidence in his army and generals, he sent them to battle and stayed back at the palace.  One lonely evening, King David happened to walk up to the roof of his palace and saw a beautiful woman bathing.  He sent a messenger to inquire about the woman and found that not only was she married, but she was married to one of his own soldiers who was currently at war.  He invited her to his home and slept with her.   She became pregnant, and King David immediately attempted to conceal the matter by bringing her husband back from battle.  David hoped that her husband would sleep with his wife so that he would think that it was his own child.  When that plan failed, David had her husband killed.

At the height of his fame, this great king of Israel, a man after God’s own heart, commits a heinous, grievous act of murder.  Who will confront the king?  How will God expose this sin and cleanse the kingdom of Israel of this unrighteousness?  Thank God for His system of accountability created for His leaders during this time in history.   In addition to a council of elders, every king had a prophet to whom he was accountable.  God spoke to these prophets concerning His will for the nation and the king.  At the time of David’s rule, Nathan was the prophet.  He paid a visit to King David, exposed David’s sin, and advised him on how he should rectify the situation.  Not only did David invite Nathan to speak into His life, he followed Nathan’s instructions. As a result God forgave David and cleansed him of the unrighteousness. Though he still paid the consequences of his sin, his kingdom was preserved.

Do you have a system of accountability around you to protect you from yourself and to help restore you back to righteousness when necessary?  Accountability systems vary from person to person depending on your type of business, the issues you are predisposed to, and your personality type.  No matter what systems you are most comfortable with, here are some key things to consider:

1. You are ultimately accountable to God
2. Your mate is your primary accountability partner
3. Consider your pastor
4. Consider an advisory board or board of directors
5. Consider a business/personal coach
6. Consider a mentor
7. Consider good friends who you can be transparent with
8. Consider your business partner(s) or investors
9. Consider your staff or vendors you work with

Your system of accountability may include some or all of the things listed above.  However, regardless of what you include, make sure your accountability system is holistic and includes different types of people who know you in a number of ways and have various types of relationships with you.  This enables you to cover your blind spots as well as bring to light different perspectives and insights.  This will help to either prevent issues from occurring or help you quickly uncover and deal with various matters.  You may still have to face the consequences of your mistakes, but they may not be as bad.

Had Nathan not gone to King David and confronted him about his moral failure, the sin may have never been discovered or would have taken longer to come to light.  As a result, a dark cloud would have hovered over Israel for a long period of time, representing the fact that the nation was under judgment until repentance took place.  Whenever we commit a moral failure, we bring ourselves and the institutions we lead under judgment until there is complete repentance and restoration. 

My prayer for you today is that God will give you the wisdom to build a system of accountability around you that will protect His call for your life and will provide you with the grace to submit yourself to His will no matter how painful it may be.