The 5 Faces of Pride in Leadership

In a recent article, I shared the four stages in the cycle of pride. Pride follows a predictable pattern: success, warning, deception and downfall. We see it in King Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament book of Daniel, and we see its destructive work in countless leaders (past and present).

So what did Jesus have to say about pride? Perhaps the best glimpse at Jesus’ view on pride is to look at his unflinching words about a group of religious leaders in his day called “Pharisees.”

Where the Pharisees Got It Wrong

The name “Pharisee” means “to separate.” These leaders were a separatist group who strictly interpreted the Jewish Law, and separated themselves from anyone who took a different perspective. While their intentions might have been good when they started, over time, they followed a deceptive path of pride. The Pharisees formed during the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. These 400 years are known as “the silent years” because God didn’t speak during this time in history. Since God wasn’t speaking, the Pharisees did. They didn’t just interpret the Law; they added hundreds of their own regulations to the Law. Here’s the real problem. The Pharisees began to view their man-made additions to the Law as divine. In other words, they confused personal preferences with divine inspiration. And when did this happen? During the “silent years.” Here’s an important truth for leaders to remember: When God stops speaking, don’t put words in His mouth. God’s Word has enough power and authority to speak for itself. God doesn’t need us to add to His Word or to take away from it. Any attempt to do so thrusts us into a danger zone of pride. That’s what happened to the Pharisees. Imagine what Jesus thought of these arrogant leaders. It doesn’t take much imagination at all, because the Gospel of Matthew captures his harsh words in detail. The Pharisees’ attempt to put words in God’s mouth precipitated them wearing five faces of pride. These expressions of pride are worn by many leaders today. All of us are susceptible. Jesus pointed them out and then gave us a strategy to deal with them.

The Five Faces of Pride

1. Pretending

Matthew 23:1-3 says, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 'The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach'” (NLT). If you read the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew, Jesus indicts the Pharisees as hypocrites six different times. Why? They didn’t practice what they preached. They were pretenders. The pretending face of pride says, “Do as I say not as I do.” The Pharisees’ man-made laws had become more important than God’s Law. They talked the talk, but their hearts were cold. They went from holy to hubris. 

2. Power

Jesus continues, “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden” (Matthew 23:4, NLT). What were these “unbearable religious demands” that Jesus was referring to? It wasn’t God’s Law. It was the hundreds of regulations added to the Law. You can only imagine how the Pharisees felt when Jesus came along and simplified everything down to only TWO Laws: Love God and Love People. That wasn’t good enough for the Pharisees. Their pride was manipulating their power to get people to obey their man-made laws. While the pretending face of pride says, “Do as I say not as I do,” the power face of pride says, “Do as I say, or else …” The power face of pride is based on self-serving, fear-based demands … completely opposite of a spirit of humility. Author John Dickson observes:

“Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself … the humble person is marked by a willingness to hold power in service of others.”

Nelson Mandela, the late president of South Africa, understood the importance of using power in service of others. Jessie Duarte, Mandela’s personal assistant between 1990-1994, noted of Mandela:

“He didn’t ever want to hurt people’s feelings. He never really cared about what great big people think of him, but he did care about what small people thought of him. That used to amaze me. He didn’t mind if he insulted a very important person, or said something to them that was unkind, because he said they could fend and fight for themselves. But he would never insult someone who did not have power.”

Nelson Mandela understood that with power comes great responsibility. The first responsibility of power is to use it to serve others, not yourself.

3. Perception

Perception may be the most deceptive face of pride, because perception is all about how I see myself, and how I think others see me. A prideful person believes they are better than everyone else. For them, life is a game of comparisons, and their goal is to make sure they’re better than the next guy. This perception invaded the thinking of the Pharisees.

“Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels” (Matthew 23:5, NLT).

In obedience to Deuteronomy 6, the Pharisees wore religious prayer boxes and robes. Yet, because they were consumed with pride, these religious ornaments were “supersized” so they could draw attention to their distorted perception of righteousness. The Message paraphrase sums it up well in our modern understanding: “Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next” (Matthew 23:5). The perception face of pride says, “Look at me. Aren’t I great?” There’s one problem: It’s not based on reality. Instead, it’s based on a version of ourselves that only exists in our heads. In our heads, we think we’re bigger and better than we really are. To everybody else, we’re just a jerk.

4. Perks

Jesus continues his detailed description of the Pharisees’ pride: “And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues” (Matthew 25:6, NLT). We love perks, don’t we? We love to be escorted to the seat of honor. We love to show our friends our awards, prizes and possessions. We enjoy mentioning in conversation that our office is in the C-suite. Perks and privileges make us feel important, but that’s when they simultaneously rob our identity. If who you are is based on what you have, then your life is nothing more than a hollow shell of deception. The Perks face of pride says, “I deserve it, and I’m entitled to it.” Here’s the truth: Nobody owes you or I anything. When we think they do, we are deceived.

5. Position

Jesus is quite particular about this final face of pride. He didn’t want a person’s position or title to go to their head. Jesus said:

“They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah” (Matthew 23:7-10, NLT).

Position says, “I’m more important than you because my position is higher than yours.” We like to point out our titles when we introduce ourselves to others. CEO, CFO and COO have a certain ring. President and vice president carry a tinge of prestige. We enjoy telling people we’re the director, owner, doctor, tenured professor or pastor. But like perks, if we’re not careful, our identity can get wrapped up in our position or title. Let me put things in perspective.

If you’re the CEO of something, the president of something, or the director, leader, organizer, owner or department head of something … all that means is that you have more people you get to serve. The higher up you go in leadership, the less you get to think about yourself.

Washington on Humility

One of the things that I most appreciate about George Washington was his ability to hold his position with humility. In his book The Five Levels of Leadership, John Maxwell tells the story of George Washington riding up to a group of soldiers during the American Revolutionary War. The soldiers were struggling to raise a heavy beam to a high position as their corporal shouted words of “encouragement.” After watching their struggle, Washington asked the corporal why he didn’t help his men. The corporal said, “Do you realize that I am the corporal?” Washington politely replied, “I beg your pardon, Mr. Corporal, I did.” At that moment George Washington dismounted his horse and helped the soldiers raise the beam into position. Upon completion, Washington looked at the corporal and said, “If you should need help again, call on Washington, your commander in chief, and I will come.” Washington refused to let his position get in the way of his ability to serve.

How to Unmask the Faces of Pride

Jesus concludes his instruction with a simple yet profound strategy to deal with the five faces of pride.

“The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12, NLT).

Here’s the lesson for leaders today: Humble service is the antidote to the faces of pride. When we choose to serve others—not so we can receive credit, praise, accolades or recognition—but when we choose to humble ourselves and come alongside others to serve them, we simultaneously unmask ourselves of pride. Which of the five faces of pride is your greatest leadership temptation? Are you willing to do the hard work of removing the mask? Are you willing to humbly serve those you lead? Servant leaders choose to lead by serving and serve by leading. That requires that we practice what we preach. It means leveraging power, perks and position for the wellbeing of others. And it means having a perception of ourselves that is grounded in humility.