APRIL 1, 2019
LEADERSHIP, VISION & HELPERS
Today we will consider the 8th principle out of the twelve (12), which every transformational leader needs in order to fulfil their vision namely, “Recognize People's Influence on Vision”.
The greatest leader of all time is God and when he was tackling His vision of creation, he did not do it alone, hence statements like “Let US make man …”. It is same for human leadership. No man is an island unto himself without need for any other human being, interaction or assistance. During the creation story of chapter one of the book of Genesis, everything God created or restored, he said of it that it was GOOD in verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31. But in 2:18, for the first time in the scriptural account, God said something was NOT GOOD.
Genesis 2:18 (AMPC) Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him.
How did God rectify this, “not good” of Genesis 2:18? The answer is He formed another human being to relate with and assist Adam in fulfilling the vision. The vision is Gen 2:18—expanding this perfect Eden until it covered the entire earth. In like manner, no one can fulfill their vision alone. We need people. But how do we select the right people to assist us with our vision?
SELECTING HELP
God said it was not good for man to be alone and that man needed a helper who was suitable or adaptable to him. This is key in human resource management. In every human resource planning process, the strategic apex identifies specific jobs necessary to fulfill a vision. They analyze and design these jobs. After the job analysis and job design phase, the leader or organization recruits and selects people who fit the jobs designed in order to fulfil a vision. These employees are helpers. In other words, they help the organization through their assigned job roles to fulfill its vision. But for them to be effective and efficient, the recruiting and selection process targets only individuals who are suitable, adapted and complementary to the leader and his or her vision. A person who hates the President of the USA for instance cannot be selected as his Chief of Staff.
For a vision to be fulfilled, leaders need others who are suitable, adapted and complementary to them. Two can only walk together if they are in agreement. The great prophet Moses thought he could accomplish the vision of leading the people of Israel alone but his father in-law corrected him. In that correction, there is great wisdom to be gleaned about the recruiting, selecting and very importantly retaining vision helpers.
Exodus 18:1-24 (AMPC)
1 NOW JETHRO [Reuel], the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
19 Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him,
20 Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do.
21 Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people--God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain--and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers.
22 And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So, it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
23 If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace.
24 So Moses listened to and heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
LESSONS FROM REUEL
Leaders require a mentors’ counsel or consult, someone to guide them, someone with whom to deliberate on decisions about the recruiting and selection of helpers / staff (verse 1, 19). Moses needed a mentor to advise him on what type of people would enable him to fulfil the vision (verse 21).
Reuel advised him to select or choose able men from all the people--God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain. This is a compacted selection criteria for leadership which we will soon unpack. Because of the nature of leadership role of governance that these men would fill, Reuel advised the following three qualities or qualifications or selection criteria be met:
- Able men: The Hebrew word which is transliterated as able is chayil and refers to men of strength and ability, men of force, resources and wealth, efficient men, men of virtue, valor, might, power, riches, substance etc. This has to do with not only ability but capacity and competence.
- God fearing: This refers to men who have a moral compass, and are governed not by a fear of man or the devil but a fear of God. Literally they are not only reverent of him but are afraid of him as a terrible God. This fear is what enabled Joseph, a future ruler of Egypt, to avoid sleeping with his master’s adulterous wife, leading the way to him becoming the substantial ruler of Egypt. It will keep leaders from evil traps.
- Men of Truth or ('emeth): Harvard University’s original motto, was Christo et Ecclesiae ("For Christ and Church" or for Christ and His Assembly). It was later changed to Veritas ("Truth"). Truth as used in Reuel’s selection criteria for the leaders who would govern under Moses is verity. In its fullest meaning, Jesus is Truth but from a leadership selection criteria perspective, we are referring to people who are one with Jesus and as a result of that union have the following characteristics as seen by the meaning of the Hebrew word 'emeth: trustworthiness, assured, established, righteous, firmness, faithfulness, sureness, reliability, stability, continuance etc. This also refers to men who are conversant with and agree with the testimony and judgment of God’s Word, truth of divine instruction, truth as a body of ethical or religious knowledge.
- Men who hate unjust gain or covetousness: Covetousness or unjust gain here in the original Hebrew refers to men who hate unrighteous profit, unjust gain, acquired by violence, plunder, or dishonesty. Such men find such gain or profit odious and revolting. They hate bribes and twisting of justice.
CONCLUSION
From the advice of Reuel, there are other selection criteria but we will consider that another day. The focus of this post today is the fact that none of us can go it alone. We need people by in selecting people to help us with our visions we must make sure that these people meet the basic criteria stated by Reuel. These are:
They must be suitable, adapted, complementary to us and must buy into the vision and its relevance and importance.
They must also meet the 4 criteria stated in the previous section. That criteria looks like a high bar but the people selected were going to be entrusted with the lives of many people, the Kings creation and people. The King has a right to demand for these standards. It is not advisable to aim low. Let us stick to the standard that the scripture espouses.
His standards of leadership are not high. It is man who has fallen and needs to rise up to the standard of God for leadership.
