The beginning of this passage gives us the beginning of these failures for the priests.  The priests had failed to take the Word of the Lord to heart themselves.  The priests failure did not start in the phase of their interaction with the people they were to lead.  Instead, the problem was their own hearts and relationship with the Lord.  When the priests failed to fear the Lord, they then failed to lead others to do the same.

If anyone wants to be a good spiritual leader, they must first be a follower.  When our hearts are fixed on the Great Shepherd, we will then be on a course which can be followed by others.