Warren Bennis once said, “Leadership is like beauty. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.” Sadly, good leaders are seldom seen these days. From politics to pulpits and everywhere in between, we are in a leadership crisis. There is no shortage of people willing to lead, nor is there a lack of available positions of influence. Yet everything is out of balance. Rapid cultural change and uncertainty have led to a scattering of Christian leaders across a landscape of opposing extremes.
In volatile circumstances, leaders often feel obligated to do something (anything) fast, but wisdom is often found in slowing down to make sure you’re making the best decision. While many people react to chaos by choosing the decision that’s easiest in the short-term, wise Christian leaders respond to challenges by patiently observing the landscape and moving forward with the entire journey in mind.
It was rush hour (if there was such a thing) on Friday evening, Nov. 1, 1918, and everyone was hurrying home for the weekend. Over 650 passengers had paid their nickel fare and entered the train in Manhattan and enjoyed the view as they crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, heading home to Brighton Beach. Little did they know, 93 of them would never make it home. This seemingly normal ride would soon be remembered as one of the worst train wrecks in American history, the deadliest in New York City still to this day. The underlying cause of the crisis was the motormen’s strike at the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which temporarily placed most qualified operators on the sidelines.
You have likely never heard the name Edward Luciano, but he is the central character of this most historic story. Young Edward, just 23 years old at the time, had just finished a full shift in his normal position as dispatcher. He had moved trains around in the yard before, but he had never driven with passengers on board. He had received a total of three hours of training prior to this day, but he considered himself lucky to have overheard a conversation about a shortage of operators due to the strike.
Hearing of the need for an operator, Edward volunteered to step up and take the lead. Those in charge gladly agreed.
Because of the shortage of motormen, the train was 10 minutes behind schedule when it left the station, and all four cars were crammed with passengers. In addition to his lack of expertise, Edward had recently been seriously ill — and to top it all off, his three-year-old daughter had died of the Spanish flu only a few days earlier. Professionally unprepared, physically exhausted, emotionally distraught, yet personally confident he could succeed, Edward Luciano was the last one who should have been driving that day. As the train approached Melbone Street, he maintained a 30-mph speed around a curve with posted limits of 5 mph. He later testified that he was simply trying to make up for lost time. As the train approached Melbone Street, several cars slammed into the tunnel’s walls, turning the wooden cars into matchsticks. Debris came through the bottom of the cars, killing many (smithsonianmag.com).
This story still troubles us 100 years later because this was an accident that should have never happened. Tragedy came to a city because of organizational confusion, professional irresponsibility, and personal naivete. Could it have been prevented? Absolutely! This was a failure of leadership on multiple levels. There are always tensions to manage in any organization, and in this case the leadership of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company mishandled these tensions. Their decisions favored keeping the trains moving over keeping the passengers safe. Maybe they feared disappointing the customers by shutting down the railroad. Even so, their decisions were driven more by what the people wanted than what they needed. While keeping the trains running was a high priority, safety should have been elevated to an equally important level. There is always a need for balance in every decision we make.
We’ve all found ourselves between a rock and a hard place, when it seems there is no good option. The result can be fear, frustration, anger, and anxiety, but this is where solutions are found. Balance is often achieved between a rock and a hard place. Leaders often think they must choose between flexibility and consistency, risk and responsibility, quantity and quality. But we must embrace both, not one or the other. There are countless seemingly opposite options that we must begin to see as points of leadership opportunity. These are polarizing extremes that depend on each other for balance. Train wrecks have become common among Christian ministries in recent years. Countless churches and ministries led by godly men and women have gone off the rails. What if those leaders had a balanced effort to keep the train on the tracks? The best way to fix a derailment is to prevent it from happening. So, let’s get balanced.
I am currently scheduling meetings at various associations and churches across the state. I would welcome the opportunity to come and offer a time of encouragement and hope to the church leaders in your area.