A Lesson Learned
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When Ego Trumps Accountability
Last week, one of the most brilliant scholars I've known and a dedicated
public servant, Paul Wolfowitz, resigned from the presidency of the World
Bank, ending a scandal that had riveted Washington.
But even if it wasn't a big deal where you live, there are still lessons
about human fallibility we could all stand to learn.
When taking over as Bank president two years ago-a plum job which pays
$300,000 in salary and $140,000 in expenses-Wolfowitz disclosed his
"personal relationship" with his companion Shaha Ali Riza, a Bank
employee. He consulted the Bank's ethics committee but didn't like their
advice, which he said could injure her career.
So he ignored the ethics committee and directed a Bank vice president to
reassign his companion to the State Department, avoiding the appearance of
conflict. But it was at a substantial raise, more than Bank policy would
allow, to $180,000 a year tax-free. Not bad.
But I know Wolfowitz, and I'm certain that he believed that just moving
her out of his sight was safe. He couldn't affect her job, but the fact
is, he didn't clear it with anybody because it probably never occurred to
him that he could do something wrong. He knew what was best, he thought.
Well, that lasted only until-Washington-style-the press got hold of the
story. Then it became a matter of when, not if, Wolfowitz would leave.
It's easy to dismiss this as an "inside the Beltway" story that has
little, if anything, to do with the "real world," and is all about the
corruption of political power. But the truth is, we're all capable of this
same kind of arrogance and folly. Convinced of our own rightness, we don't
often listen to others.
I speak from experience: When I was in the White House, the President and
others sought my advice. I was surprised by my apparent persuasiveness and
how it came naturally to me. Combined with my own self-righteousness and
my belief in the rightness of my cause, I became dangerous, both to myself
and others.
We all have, I discovered, an infinite capacity for self-justification. I
knew I could do no wrong, and I could persuade anyone I was right in any
event. Well, I went to prison.
People who are successful are particularly vulnerable. Nobody tells us
"no," and if we think we're doing the right thing, as Wolfowitz thought he
was, we are really then in peril.
That's why, after I got out of prison I committed to always have a group
of people I respected around me and to submit to them for any major
decision I had to make. For thirty years of ministry, this has protected
me from myself.
I've seen Christian leaders, sadly, without accountability, and often they
fall hard. Everybody, at every level of life, needs an accountability
group-people you can turn to and lean on and trust yourself to. The heart
is infinitely deceitful.
I suspect that the world will continue to produce men like
Wolfowitz-brilliant men who go astray because they're so confident of
their own abilities, they become blind.
The Wolfowitz story is a cautionary tale. Every Christian in authority,
from a parent to a boss in the office, needs to find people who care more
about God than our egos and who will tell us whether what we're doing is
advancing the Kingdom or our vanity-no matter how great we think we are.
By Chuck Colson
5/23/2007
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For Further Reading and Information
"Wolfowitz to Resign From World Bank," New York Times, 17 May 2007.
Al Kamen, "Little Calm in Wolfowitz's Wake," Washington Post, 23 May 2007.
"The Right: Down, but Maybe Not Out," New York Times, 20 May 2007.
Stuart McKelvie, "By the Book: Lessons from the Enron Scandal," BreakPoint
Online, 19 May 2006.
BreakPoint Commentary No. 060501, "Empty Monuments to Human Ego: The
Scandal of Congressional 'Earmarking'."
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