Wise pastors and leadership teams know an important paradox of leadership: church harmony is inversely related to the amount of time spent oiling squeaky wheels. This is a lesson I was slow to grasp. In my zeal for maintaining peace and unity within the body and for holding on to everyone who came, I allowed a tiny group of chronic complainers to have an inordinate impact on our decisions and ministry. So did our board. In effect, we gave squeaky wheels a seat at the leadership table and veto power