Fiction Has It’s Place

Fiction does have its place in leadership and the lives of leaders: in novels, parables, movies, dreams and tall tales that make you laugh. Fiction other than used for word pictures – parables, as it were – or the ability to motivate or otherwise teach and encourage a team is garbage in Christian Leadership.

On many a mission trip, I have purposefully started being a “stupid human being” just to get people to laugh. I have gone out to the edge creating silly games and using old mixer games that I found during my days in youth ministry. Stressful times mandate drastic measures to ensure laughter. Someone once said, “Anger turned inside is bitterness and anger turned sideways is laughter.” The value of fictional stories, tall tales and silly jokes cannot be underestimated in leading people. Laughter is indeed “good medicine.”

The power of the parable is incredible. The Bible records Jesus’ use of the explained, the mysterious and the very clear parable and I continue to be amazed at the “power of a well used parable.” Even the non-Christian leader will learn much about excellent education of and communication with followers through the Biblical parables. These fictional word pictures and stories have a well designed purpose that uses language and circumstances relevant to the followers’ lives to communicate a message to the follower. The parable overcomes the difficulties of communicating ideas that are more complex than the follower’s current understanding or overcomes the difference of perspective that exists from the leader to the follower.

There is a very fine line between using fiction to help communicate, motivate or rescue followers and using fiction because you do not trust, are hiding from, are scared of, are manipulating or are insecure in leadership. The classic misuse of fiction is for political gain in a situation. Such gain could include covering your butt, passing blame, not letting clients think you are the idiot that you were when you made that mistake, impressing the boss, impressing the peers and so on. In most of these cases, we would simply call fiction a LIE!

Your integrity is all you have at the end of the day. If your life, plans, management or leadership cannot stand the test of Fact, then you are doomed even if you can cover it for a little while. I have been there and know that you may get the big contract or keep the contract or keep your job but in the end Fact always wins over fiction because of endurance.

Fiction finds success in the parable or the tall tale because it is being used to communicate fact. Fiction finds success in motivation and the like because it is being used to get people back to a solid basis of Fact. One could say that Fiction used for Fact is most excellent while Fiction used for Fiction is a recipe for disaster – at least in the long run.