Page 223 - The Bible On Leadership
P. 223

Leadership Development                                        209


                  ❖ Playing for high stakes (Moses and the ten plagues, Esther risk-
                     ing her life to save her people)
                  ❖ Facing extremely harsh business situations (Noah and the flood;
                     Joseph and the famine; Job, who lost seven thousand sheep,
                     three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five
                     hundred donkeys yet who maintained his integrity and rose to
                     prosper once again)
                  ❖ Struggling with complexity of scope or scale (Solomon build-
                     ing the temple)
                  ❖ Having the wrong background or lacking a needed skill or cre-
                     dential (David, poor shepherd boy, defeating Goliath and then
                     becoming the king of Israel)
                  ❖ Having to make a sudden, stark transition (Moses having to
                     leave Egypt with little notice and no clear map to his destina-
                     tion; the disciples giving up their nets and following Jesus)

                  Former chairman of British automaker Rover, Sir Graham Day, con-
                curs that difficult experience is often the best teacher. His organization
                had become too complacent in a turbulent market and was beginning
                to lose ground. ‘‘Rover’s need to establish what we now term a learning
                organization came from the imperative to secure the company’s sur-
                vival. Executives reported significant learning experiences stemmed
                from hardships and learning from other people, both the revered and
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                the hated.’’ Moses learned a lot from his father-in-law, Jethro, but he
                learned even more from his joustings with Pharaoh; without a Pharaoh,
                there would never have been a need for a Moses.
                  Manfred Kets De Vries has referred to developmental assignments as
                ‘‘doing a Timbuktu’’—sending an executive in need of development to
                a remote outpost with a number of difficult challenges. If De Vries
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                had been writing in biblical times, he probably would have referred to
                ‘‘doing a Crete,’’ ‘‘doing an Egypt,’’ or ‘‘doing a Babylon.’’ Most of the
                Bible’s leaders were shaped not by theoretical learning but by challeng-
                ing, often harrowing experiences in which they were forced to take
                dramatic actions to preserve lives and achieve group goals. They and
                their mentors intuitively knew that ‘‘the only real training for leadership
                is leadership.’’
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