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By all accounts, Samson could have become one of Israel’s greatest leaders, yet he turned out to be one of the worst. He learned the hard way that trust provides the foundation for all genuine leadership (check out my post summarizing Stephen M.R. Covey’s best-seller The Speed of Trust).
This impetuous, volatile, lustful, moody, emotional, and unpredictable man provides a very good example of a very bad leader. Since no one could trust him, no one followed his leadership.
When Leaders Lose Their Teachability
Samson’s self-centered, undisciplined, and arrogant nature made him unteachable. What happens when leaders lose their teachability?
1. They lean on their own strength and understanding.
Unteachable leaders lose touch with God and His people. They lean on their own strength and do not seek guidance from God or others. Samson repeatedly used brute force and violence to cope with difficulties. When embarrassed at his wedding feast, he killed 30 men. When the men of Judah turned him over to Philisita, he bludgeoned to death a thousand men. When caught with a prostitute, he ripped out the city gates of Gaza.
Samson didn’t heed the advice of his parents. In Judges 13:5&7, they were told, “For, see, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Samson didn’t take advice from his people and didn’t look to God for guidance. Worse still, Samson never acknowledged God as the source of his strength. He went from a man of anointing to a man of arrogance.
2. They fail to learn from their mistakes.
Maxwell says, “A person’s life runs uphill or downhill, depending on whether he fails forward or backward.” It’s a mistake only if you don’t learn from it. Samson’s life reveals no record of improvement…only a downward spiral.
For leaders to learn from their mistakes, they must be:
- Big enough to admit mistakes. Samson blamed everyone else for his problems. He never once admitted his sin or humbled himself before God. (Samson didn’t use his most powerful leadership tool – see my very first post for more!)
- Smart enough to profit from them. It’s one thing to know you’re wrong. It’s another to figure out why you erred.
- Strong enough to correct them. If you can’t implement necessary changes, you can’t improve yourself or your situation.
3. They react rather than lead.
While good leaders are proactive, unteachable people almost exclusively react. When Samson saw the daughter of Timnah, he immediately asked for her in marriage. When his wife married his best man, he burned down the Philistines’ fields. Samson reacted right up to his death—and left his people groaning under Philistine oppression.
4. They are easily defeated.
Unteachable people always lose. Even great talent (like Samson’s) can take a person only so far. Samson’s character flaw, left unrepaired because of an unteachable spirit, led to moral erosion and unchecked sin—and that led to his destruction.
Who knows what might have happened if Samson observed the Law of Solid Ground and humbly connected with God or sought the guidance and accountability of his people?
Samson possessed immense strength and godly anointing, but he took both for granted. Many times Samson exploited his God-given gift, intended for the deliverance of his people, for personal revenge. When a leader misuses God’s gifts, serious consequences inevitably follow.
Out of This World Leaders need to learn from Samson and heed the Law of Solid Ground, as they shoot for the stars!