...The mother of all humiliated-leader-stories is that of a Middle Eastern peacock whose splendor got cracked in front of a whole muster of clucking sycophants. A delegation from Tyre and Sidon, cities needing to stay hooked to King Herod's welfare, came to grovel before the haughty ruler, who was miffed with them.
Herod frocked himself in the most spectacular garb possible, and ascended to his throne where he droned out a speech. Hubris no doubt swam through the potentate's soul as the quivering fawners cried, "The voice of a God and not of a man!"
Acts 12:23 describes the blitz of Herod's humiliation in blunt terms: "And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died."
It's bad enough to have slimy crawlers feast on your innards, but to have the strategic moment of the big bite in front of adoring masses has to be the epitome of humiliation. One doesn't want to contemplate what Herod's hubris-revealing robes looked like at that moment.
Why is humiliation so often the sequel to hubris? Mathew Hayward, who characterizes himself as "a student of destructive egos," pondered that dynamic. He studied CEOs who led their companies to spectacular failures, and wrote a book, Ego Check: Why Executive Hubris Is Wrecking Companies and Careers and How to Avoid the Trap.
In a review, the Denver Post's Al Lewis noted "the paradox of success" is that the "very traits that launch people to the top… can also send them to the bottom."
But, as many have learned, humiliation may be the best place for a previously hubris-afflicted leader. Those who get over hubris and humiliation have the willingness and courage to go on to the next stage – honesty.
That begins the recovery that leads to hope. And everyone down the chain can breathe again.
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Leadership - Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. ~ Pro 16:18.
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