In Leadership: Consider the Cost

Luke 14: 28-30 "²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  ²⁹Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, ³⁰Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."
 
As leaders we must consider the cost of what it is we're doing.  We have people's lives in our hands.  It may not seem that drastic on a day to day basis but we are responsible for the livelihood of everybody that is subordinate to us.  We are responsible sometimes for their pay, education, training, discipline, advancement, and even whether or not they keep a job.  We cannot take this responsibility lightly. 
 
While I was task lead on one of the jobs I've had, I was responsible for making sure people's time-cards were signed.  If I didn't sign their time-cards then they wouldn't get paid on time.  Instead they would have to jump through hoops in order to get the pay they knew was coming to them.  Before becoming task lead I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I used it as a  learning experience.  One of the main lessons that I learned was that I needed more experience.  This was something new for me.  I was a leader in the military, but while in the military I wasn't a single point of failure.  There were always people that I could seek advice from on any problem that came up.  However it wasn't like this for me once I was out of the military.  People would come to me for answers that I would have to get from corporate, the problem with this was they were in a different country and didn't always get back to me in a timely manner.  However not getting an answer from corporate wasn't going to be an acceptable answer for the people that I work with.  As I said this was a learning experience.
 
We never fully know what we're getting ourselves into, but we must learn to be more aware of the costs involved.  As leaders you can't just jump into something blind because people will follow you into whatever disaster comes up due to your lack of planning.  In Matthew 15:14 it says "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."  No matter what our career is, if we as leaders are poor at planning then we are leading our people into disaster.  History is filled with examples of people dying as a result of poor planning on the part of leadership.
 
We cannot allow our subordinates to become victims of our laziness to plan.  If you want to be an example of what a leader should be or be somebody that people are willing to follow, then always have a plan.  As the saying goes, "He who fails to plan, plans to fail."  Without a plan you will fail, it's just a matter of time.