How to “Fall Up”

Restoration After Character Failure

Leaders are normally trained in how to succeed, but they are rarely taught how to fail effectively by learning from their mistakes and making changes to avoid repeating them in the future. They fall down, but they don’t know how to “fall up” after failing.

Remember that a leader’s ability to function successfully in his role of influencing others for a great cause in the interest of humanity is what I call the “trust factor.”

Trust is the currency of true leadership and is the power that is deposited into the leader’s influence account. The only way to protect this deposit of trust is to establish strong character

If an individual wants to secure his leadership, he must make protecting and maintaining his account of trust his principal responsibility. It can take years for a leader to build this account but only minutes of irresponsibility to deplete it and even cancel it.

The following are the steps to restoration, reconciliation, and reclamation after you have experienced a moral failure or otherwise “fallen” in your leadership role:

1.Admit your need for help.

2.Confess your violation of trust.

3.Identify a true and reliable authority in your life to be accountable to.

4.Practice complete submission to that authority without condition.

5.Obey the advice, counsel, and instruction of that authority without condition.

6.Accept full responsibility for your fall.

7.Agree never to attempt to defend yourself or your act of indiscretion.

8.Agree to allow the authority to represent and speak on your behalf to your constituency and the greater community.

9.Practice total submission to the discretion of the authority with regard to your readiness to return to public service.

10.Establish a permanent relationship with the authority for the purpose of ongoing accountability.

If a leader follows these steps, he can find healing and restoration. The safest course to take when you fall is to submit yourself to a qualified human authority.

Again, failure is not the termination of a leader’s call, assignment, gifts, or talents. It must be seen as a detour, an interruption, and even an attempt to cancel destiny. If you have fallen down, it’s time for you to “fall up” and seek restoration.

Make sure you take time out from your other responsibilities to evaluate what went wrong. Some leaders who fail keep on going as if nothing had happened. You will need to seek forgiveness from those you have let down, but then you must develop self-control, steadiness, maturity, and all the other values of principled leadership. Trust the Creator to restore you to leadership when you are ready for it. There is life after “the fall,” but you must follow the process of restoration in order to receive its benefits.