When Are Leaders Only Human?

“I am merely human; this makes my god-forbidden action understandable”. 

Aha! 

How many times has this phrase come out of our mouths? Well, maybe not this exact phrase per se, but some similar version of it. You guys get the idea. We do something considered wrong and then blurt out these words hoping it might make the situation slightly better. Or maybe we say this to ourselves so that we feel better of that horrible thing we just did… like getting French fries instead of vegetables at the cafeteria. How dare we participate in such atrocious acts! 

Anyway, what I’m trying to do is understand when this line is acceptable. When can we really judge ourselves or others based on our inevitable human instincts? 

“I’m sorry I breathed, I’m only human and don’t know better”, or maybe “I’m sorry I spent all night on Facebook and Twitter and didn’t do my homework. I’m only human and therefore can’t fight Mark Suckerberg”.

Ok, so these might be slightly dramatic examples, but when is it really ok to cut ourselves or others some slack? And even more importantly, when is it ok for leaders to use this? I mean, they are human, right? As far as I know I’m not traveling with Doctor Who inside his TARDIS heading to Dalek Land where leaders in fact aren’t human (although that would be pretty cool). 

Oh well, if any of you have an answer for this, please let me know! 

- Karla Boza, Manhattanville College Leadership Conference Committee Member