The Power of Seeing Beyond Faults

A note to young leaders.

“There, but for the grace of you, go I.”

That’s the brilliant, final line of Kathy’s Song by Simon & Garfunkel. It’s a surprising twist on the familiar proverb: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

But grace need not only be divine. It can, and must, be human too.

Grace is the ability to hold space for others, even in their imperfection. It says: “I see you. I know you’ve fallen short – but I won’t reduce you to your worst moment.”

Consider Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind. When Scarlett tries to confess her betrayal, Melanie refuses to hear it: “I don’t want to hear a word. Do you think I could remember you walking behind that horse almost barefooted and with your hands blistered – just so the baby and I could have something to eat – and then believe such dreadful things about you?”

In effect, Melanie says to Scarlett: “I have seen you at your best, why should I believe anything less of you now?”

That’s grace.

The best leaders possess this quality in spades. And when they do – they change lives, no less.

Every leader is tested. We will all someday be misjudged, misquoted, and eventually betrayed. The perpetrators will expect judgment, maybe even vengeance.

Surprise them. Offer grace instead.

Because … there but for the grace of one of us, go all of us.