In this course, Rev. Samson dwells on one of the pitfalls of successful leadership. He carefully highlights practical checks every individual should note in order to overcome the ensnaring trap of appluse.

1. OVERCOMING THE
TRAP OF APPLAUSE:
AVOIDING PEOPLE PLEASING
LEADERSHIP
Samson Aderinto Adedokun
New Dawn Baptist Church, Victoria Island, Lagos
Certified John Maxwell Trainer I samdokun@gmail.com
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2. QUESTIONS TO ANWER
• Introduction
• What Is Applause?
• What Is The Trap Of Applause?
• What Did Jesus Say About This?
• What Did Paul Think?
• What Are Some Signs Of The Trap of Applause?
• What Are Some Effects of The Trap of Applause?
• How To Overcome The Trap of Applause?
• Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION
• Maslow’s hierarchy of human
needs
• Five layers of what is important
to every human being.
• On level four is the need for
acceptance.
• Every human being desires to
be esteemed to feel fully human.

4. • Maslow’s submission
• seeking applause is a legitimate human
need.
• However, when this need rises
above the normal level of self-
worth and esteem, then it descends
into a trap with the imminent
danger of destruction.

5. WHAT IS APPLAUSE?

6. Ovation

7. •To receive claps of
pleasure publicly or
privately.

8. •Commendation

9. Acknowledgement or
Praise.

10. To Obtain
Approval

11. • Evidence of
Satisfaction

12. • It conveys a
perception value
for expectation

13. Confirmation of
Achievement, fulfillment
or accomplishment,
satisfaction

14. WHAT IS THE TRAP OF APPLAUSE?

15. • A consistency of doing
and acting to guarantee
praise from followers.

16. • The desire to
always make people
happy by doing the
things that they
want.

17. A tendency to crave
actively or subtly the
attention of people
around them.
It is a hunger
and thirst for
acclaim.

18. • “Man-Of-The-People”
Mentality
•“Aaronic Attitude”
Exodus 13
•“Saul Syndrome” 1
Samuel 13:8-9.
•“Herodic Habit” Acts
12:3

19. Herbert
Bayard Swope
American Editor And Journalist
First Recipient Of The Pulitzer
Prize
I cannot give you the formula
for success, but I can give you
the formula for failure -
which is: Try to please
everybody.

20. It is a continual threat to pastors
(pleasing people rather than
pleasing the Lord).
Elmer Towns
co-founder of Liberty University

21. Dr. Susan Newman
People pleasers want everyone around
them to be happy. And they will do
whatever it takes to keep them that way.
They put everyone else before themselves.
For some, saying ‘yes’ is a habit. For
others it’s almost an addiction, it makes
them feel like they need to be needed. This
makes them feel important and like they
are contributing to someone else’s life.

23. One who takes decisions
based on the desire for
popular acclaim.

24. One who acts with the desire
for acceptance irrespective
of the implications.

25. One who sometimes fails to
act so long as it will earn
them approval from some
people.

26. WHAT DID JESUS SAY ABOUT THIS?

27. I do not
receive honor
from men.
John 5:41
(NKJV)

28. JOHN 12:42-43
Yet at the same time many even
among the leaders believed in
him. But because of the
Pharisees they would not openly
acknowledge their faith for fear they
would be put out of the
synagogue; 43 for they loved human
praise more than praise from God.

29. WHAT DID PAUL THINK?

30. Galatians 1:10 ESV
For am I now seeking the
approval of man, or of God?
Or am I trying to please
man? If I were still trying to
please man, I would not be
a servant of Chris

31. WHAT ARE SOME SIGNS OF
THE TRAP OF APPLAUSE?

32. a) Consistent Desire for Approval
b) Inability to Say No
c) Inability to Be Assertive
d) High Sensitivity to What People Think and Say
e) Difficulty in Establishing Boundaries

33. f) Regular Concern About Rejection
g) Excessive Commitment to Appeasement
h) Lack of Confidence
i) Fear of Criticism
j) Unwillingness to Admit That People Can Be
Deceptive and Manipulative
k) Avoidance As Best Form of Dispute Resolution.

34. WHAT ARE SOME EFFECTS OF
THE TRAP OF APPLAUSE?

35. Low Confidence
Compromised Decision Making
Confused or Loss of Vision
Little or Loss of Momentum
Poor Convictions

36. Conflict Shyness
Loss of Respect
Loss of Leadership Authority
Tendency to Live in Denial
High Occurrences of Hurting People

37. HOW TO OVERCOME
THE TRAP OF APPLAUSE

38. 1. Place God First
Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and
exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have
received of us how ye ought to walk and to please
God, so ye would abound more and more.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 (KJV)

39. 2. Follow Divine Purpose
Ephesians 5:10
(LB)
Learn as you go
along what
pleases the Lord.

40. 3. Control Your Desires
James 4:1 (NIV)
What causes fights and quarrels among
you? Don’t they come from your desires
that battle within you?

41. 4. Understand
Your Worth
1 Thessalonians 2:4 (NIV)
On the contrary, we speak as
those approved by God to be
entrusted with the gospel. We are
not trying to please people but
God, who tests our hearts.

42. 5. Accept Your Responsibility
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NIV)
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to
win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those
under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the
law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like
one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s
law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the
weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might
save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

43. 6. Be Consistent
Acts 4:19 NIV
But Peter and John replied,
“Which is right in God’s
eyes: to listen to you, or to
him? You be the judges!
Acts 5:28-29 (NKJV)
…saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to
teach in this name? And look, you have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring
this Man’s blood on us!” 29 But Peter and
the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to
obey God rather than men.

44. 7. Consider Consequences
There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of
others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them.
Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many
scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task
is to be true, not popular.
Luke 6:26 (The Message)

45. CONCLUSION

46. • Pleasing those we love is rewarding
•This may not be wrong in and of itself.
• But pleasing God is a higher calling and much more fulfilling.
•We are headed for trouble when our desire to please people
and gain their approval becomes as important as pleasing
God and sensing his approval.

47. • E. M. Bounds, in his book, Power Through Prayer, noted that disciples who are
“…timid time servers, place seekers, if they be
men pleasers or men fearers…they cannot
take hold of the Church nor the world for
God.”
E. M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer

48. • Living for God’s approval is better
than living for man’s applause.