“Leadership cannot become part of the group” Lessons from the Phil Roberson Situation

At the time of this writing I have been very busy working on projects for consulting clients and the holidays. I had not been on Facebook or checked my email in several days, and when I did log on it was like a bomb with Phil Roberson’s picture had exploded on Facebook. Thousands of post of support for Phil, the show, and outrage directed at the A&E network for suspending him.

So I took the time to actually read the GQ article to see what all the fuss was about. Quite frankly I was in shock that such a stink had been raised by someone who shares simply shared his personal beliefs while quoting the Bible.

This facebook post kinda says where we have landed as a country.

I understand that you are never make good business sense to talk about politics or religion. However those of you that read my books and order my training CD’s expect me to not pull punches. However this article is not really about politics our religion.

I have two main points.

#1 Leadership cannot become part of the group (Especially Special Interest Groups)

#2 Leaders cannot make decisions in attempt to silence a squeaky wheel, when a decision does not benefit the masse, it is the wrong decision. Unfortunately in network marketing sometimes you see small groups of leaders that try to convince corporate to add a bonus or make a change to the comp plan that will benefits them, but hurts the majority of distributors. This is common practice in corporate America, but it should never happen in our industry, after all 100% of Zero is Zero.

We see this type of shallow decision making all over America. I for one am sick and tired of “special interest groups” who attempt to shove their agenda’s down the throat of main stream America. Every time I say America, I have those from other countries that say Dale, you do realize you have a lot of readers outside the United States, don’t you? Yes, but most countries I cannot personally speak to even though human nature is the same, worldwide.

Regarding special interest groups, I am all for these groups to have the opportunity and right to share their beliefs and opinions in public, but to think main stream American’s should be “politically correct” and support their agendas is getting tiring. I for one, don’t have a politically correct bone in my body. I personally believe that the 10 commandments should be posted in public schools. I would much rather my grandkids attend a school that has the 10 commandments posted than one who doesn’t, and I believe main stream America feels the same way, so how did some special interest group convince us this is a bad idea and against the law?

I am going to say what I feel. I will never try to offend anyone. I learned a long time ago, if I let someone offend me, it is usually MY PROBLEM, not theirs. In general I try not to give other people the right to control my emotions and feelings.

When I read that the powers at be at A&E decided they are indefinitely suspending Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty after he quoted the Bible and said that the homosexual act is sinful was one of the most “out of touch” decisions I have seen in a long time. I get it, guys. I do. You punished the Christian guy for being a Christian because you got some angry emails from a bunch of whiny gay activists who lack the spine and maturity to deal with the fact that there are still people out there who have the guts to articulate opinions that they find disagreeable. In so doing, you’ve caved to a pushy minority of vocal bullies who don’t even watch your channel, while alienating the massive fan base of the one show that keeps your entire network above water.

What GQ reading executive at A&E made this decision?

You try to convince yourself that A&E has standards, after all. You wouldn’t want to be associated with tasteless and inappropriate things. The people on Duck Dynasty can’t be allowed to run around being all Christian-like. It might ruin the reputation of the network whose other shows include Hoarders and Intervention — programs that invite viewers to gawk at drug addicts and the mentally ill for their own amusement.

Disney-ABC Television Group owns 50 percent of your network, were they involved in this decision? They must have been. They’ve got a brand to protect. They can’t allow a bearded right winger to spout beliefs. BELIEFS, of all things. The horror! We must shutdown beliefs, opinions, and ideas, and get back to the serious business of subliminally selling sex and debauchery to children. They can’t deal with these distractions, don’t they have another season of The Bachelor or Desperate Housewives or Trophy Wife to produce?

Wake up, these militant neo-liberal thought police are better at brainwashing than I ever realized. They just convinced you to bomb your own network. You just pulled the pin on the grenade and then put it in your pocket. This is incredible. Didn’t you see what happened with Chic-fil-A when GLAAD crusaders tried to shutdown an entire business just because they disapproved of the owner’s opinions? Where was your GQ reading executive when that happened? I’ll refresh your memory: their “boycott” resulted in an enormous sales spike for the company, as millions of people like myself went out of our way to eat there just to ensure that the anti-free speech fools on the left didn’t win. A week after the anti-Chic-fil-A campaign began, their restaurants across the country were overflowing. It was, officially, the least effective boycott in the history of mankind.

Now it’s all going to happen again, except it will be the opposite effect, and A&E be on the losing end this time around.

If you don’t bring Phil back immediately, and publicly apologize to him and to his viewers for attempting to censor his Christian faith, Duck Dynasty will leave your network, find a new home, and all of those record setting viewers will go somewhere else. Then you’ll be stuck with the stragglers who feel like spending a Saturday rubbernecking at mentally disturbed elderly women with compulsive hoarding addictions. That’s how this is going to play out. Congratulations for bulking to small mouthy special interest group.

Did you think the “gay rights” crowd would stick around and “support you” for meeting their ransom demands? No, silly A&E, that isn’t how this works. The speech-controllers on the left are like a black hole. They can only suck you in and obliterate you. They’re like the devil — they ask for your soul and offer nothing in return. Am I coming on too strong?

This is the worst decision A&E has ever made. You have proven that you are totally out of touch with who your audience really is. I have said from the beginning that the show should not be aired on Wednesday evenings, because believe it or not many of your potential viewers are at church on Wednesday evenings.

So, OK. A Wholesome loved family man quotes the Bible during an interview with GQ — UNACCEPTABLE. Is that really the message you are trying to send?

Just to be doubly clear: you guys hate the Bible and find it to be offensive, right? Or is it just parts of the Bible? Or is it just Christians? Or is it just Christians who have the audacity to believe in the entire Bible, rather than a select few segments that pass the modern Politically Correct litmus test? Do you even watch your own show? The comments where in a magazine that most of your viewers could care less about and don’t even know exist. Suspending a guy simply for quoting a passage from their Holy Book? To bad it wasn’t a special interest group with their Holy Book, then there would have probably never been a second thought.

You made your bed. You decided to stand against free speech, against open expression of ideas, against Christians, against the Bible, against the views of a majority of humanity and main stream America. You just bombed the most profitable show in the history of your network, and against almost all of your viewers. But, hey, at least you put a smile on GLAAD’s face. That must make it all worth it, right?

When will the TV Networks, Hollywood , Corporate American, Politicians, and everyone else in leadership positions learn that trying to please those left wing extremist and oddballs is never a good idea. Making this move always offends main stream America which is your primary customer base and for the record when going to a move, we don’t need to hear a cuss word every other sentence. FYI most of mainstream America doesn’t talk like that. Foul language is a sign of poor self image and inferiority complex which most people in mainstream America DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH! As the Roberson’s have shown us all, good family values and support overcomes a lot of those.

It is not that difficult to figure out! America wants to see good people, being themselves, being real and treating others, the way they want to be treated!The majority of us don’t care to waste a minute of our time, listening to obnoxious, self-centered people cussing out each other at the top of their lungs. We want real people, real stories, and could care less about the East Coast and West Coast fads.

#2 You have always heard me say “Leadership, cannot become part of the Group”. As a leader you must lead based upon what is in the best interest of the masses of people, and you don’t make those decisions, your people do. A wise man learns from their own mistakes, but a really wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I hope in the future, companies will look at the outrage that has been created in mainstream America when special interest groups try to dictate their own agenda’s.

When you are building teams you will be faced with different levels of this. I have said many times the higher you rise in leadership the more of a a psychologist you have to become. When it is all said in done, you need to be true to your personal beliefs and learn to speak your mind, because while people may not agree, secure people always respect those that are not just telling them what they want to hear.

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