of August, I’d like to ask your permission to stay in Europe to pre-
pare for the meetings and avoid the jetlag back and forth.’
“I was impressed that he wouldn’t even spend the money for
something like that without board approval. That’s just an example
of the way he has conducted himself in submission to authority.
“Graham’s no milquetoast,” Pollard explained. “He has strong
convictions and views about many things. But at the same time,
he demonstrates his genuine desire to serve under the authority
of those who will keep him from stumbling financially.”
A corporate vice president once observed about business real-
ities, “The farther you climb the corporate ladder, the harder it is
to get honest feedback. The more influential you are, the harder
it is to find people willing to tell you the truth.”
Billy knew the importance of overcoming temptation by find-
ing people who could tell each other the truth.
“The test of Graham’s soul, indeed, lay not in adversity, but in
how he coped with success,” wrote former Timemagazine corre-
spondent David Aikman. As countless leaders can confirm, the
greatest spiritual challenges can come not from the times of con-
flict and deprivation but during heady days of triumph and
reward. From the biblical King David and King Solomon to the
more recent Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and executives at
Enron and Tyco, the temptations associated with success have
been the undoing of many a leader who had overcome lesser
temptations on the way up.
LEADERSHIP
LESSONS | Temptations
Applying the Principles
Those who observe leaders soon conclude that talent and charac-
ter are measured separately. Talent can take a leader far, but the
accomplishments that talent brings also produce great tempta-
tions. And talent is not sufficient to sustain a leader’s effective-
ness if the ever-present human flaws are not addressed.
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham