WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

Everything rises and falls on leadership. John C Maxwell

In this week’s newsletter, I am taking a deep dive into the area of leadership. As I have been considering the various challenges in the world it was clear that the issue of leadership is central to many of the problems that we face today. President Biden’s weak and ineffective leadership has led to his minions gaining control and directing him like a puppet. Boris Johnson’s fall from power is a great example of character flaws destroying goodwill. Whether it be dictators in North Korea and China or Napoleonic aggrandizement of the President of France, leadership is critical to our future and freedom itself. So, I have not written a world events summary this week but have focused on some ideas about leadership, using the example of Moses. I look forward to hearing your views.

I have been interested in ideas around leadership for the last 25 years and have made a detailed study that has included most of the key leadership books. My journey started in the late 1990s with a church weekend seminar and during one of the breaks I visited the bookshop to look for a good spiritual book. My eyes alighted upon a remarkably titled book by John C. Maxwell -  “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” - What a ridiculous claim I thought and so I started to read the book so that I could refute what surely were preposterous ideas. To my shock, I found that the book was outstanding and the central thesis was: “everything rises and falls on leadership” and that “leadership is influence: nothing more, nothing less”. The book was remarkable in its simplicity and depth of understanding of leadership. I decided there and then that I must read the book and so I bought it. In subsequent years I must have read more than 100 books on leadership but none managed to highlight the important areas of leadership as well and simply as the “21 Irrefutable Laws”. I found an excellent 15 min YouTube summary of Maxwell’s book and it is worthwhile for my readers to take the time to view even if you haven’t time to read the book:

The issue of leadership came to the fore this week as the UK Conservative Party found itself in a battle with their leader, Boris Johnson. Johnson had come up against Maxwell’s first law: The Law of the Lid. Boris is a charismatic leader who is articulate, cunning, witty and intelligent. He also is undisciplined, unfaithful, chaotic and untruthful. The Conservative Party was prepared to forgive many sins but when he sent supporters out lie about what he knew and also advocated breaking international trade agreements in relation to Northern Ireland, to get the outcome that he desired, his support dropped away. There were so many resignations by government ministers that the Opposition Leader remarked that instead of rats leaving a sinking ship, the ship left the sinking rat!

Boris had encountered Maxwell’s law of the lid – his undisciplined and chaotic mode of leadership had negatively impacted many of his previous supporters. Boris’ view was that he was elected with one of the largest Parliamentary majorities in Conservative Party history and he should carry on to lead with this mandate. However, he discovered after several days had passed, that he had almost no-one following him. His fatal flaws had revealed that he was not a man of principle and already his followers had seen that conservative values had been ditched by Johnson when he thought it expedient. Boris had reached his “lid” because although he considered himself a visionary with a mandate to govern, he no longer had key supporters to carry out his vision – which he had articulated after Brexit as a successful, wealthy and independent Great Britain. His supporters no longer trusted him and so the Conservative Party now has descended into chaos with former Ministers rushing to promote themselves to be the next PM. One of the frontrunners, Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer (UK Treasurer) released a slick promotional video 

within moments of Boris’ resignation speech and now others have come out with their videos and “manifestos”. As of the time of writing, there were initially 12 Conservative MPs who had put themselves forward. In a bizarre “knockout” competition, 7 have been eliminated and the 5 left will be involved in a series of television debates this weekend. There will then be a vote by Conservative Party members to determine who will be PM. It seems that the supporters of each MP are trying to stick the knife or knives into the other competitors.  It is a great example of a quote from a former Australian state leader, Jack Lang, who said in the 1920s “always bet on the horse called self-interest, because you know it is always trying”. To appreciate this quote you have to know a bit about horse racing as that there may be times when jockeys or in harness racing, drivers, may not want their horses to win. Many years ago, when I was working as an equine veterinarian, one of my clients, Bruce, who was a well-known owner and driver of trotting horses, brought one of his horses for examination. Bruce was on crutches with a cast on one leg, another on his arm, cuts all over his face – he was a mess. “What happened Bruce?” I asked. Bruce replied “I thought that my horse could win but the odds weren’t long enough so I paid another driver 20 bucks to run me off the track. The bloke pushed me over the rail, out of the cart and I almost died. It’s a good thing I didn’t pay him 50 bucks or the mongrel would have killed me”.

So horses – or at least their owners and handlers - may not be trying in their races but in contrast, politicians are always betting on themselves. Rishi Sunak is another in a long line who are promoting themselves for leadership and who knows if Rishi understands the law of the lid? He may have reached his “lid” in his time as Chancellor. He certainly understands the law of self-promotion, which may be enough in these times when a media presence and a smart hashtag (in this case #Rishi4Leader) means everything.

I recalled a previous Conservative Party leadership contest in 2016 after the then UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, resigned. Boris Johnson wanted to be PM but his friend Michael Gove, one of the Conservative Party Brexit advocates had said: “I came to the conclusion that ultimately Boris could not build that team, could not provide that leadership and that unity.”

It looks as though Gove was correct.  

Of course it is not just in UK politics there are problems. In the US, there is a leader who has taken the country into a series of disastrous policies and it is clear that he is not in control, even of the teleprompter! In Australia a Prime Minister was recently thrown out of office because many in the electorate thought he was a liar. In Sri Lanka, the President has fled the country after overseeing a complete collapse of the economy and agriculture. In Canada, an evil World Economic Forum stooge has taken the country to the far political left and demonstrated totalitarian capabilities. Leadership is a force for good and for evil.

As John C Maxwell says: “everything rises and falls on leadership” - so what is good leadership? This is an important question for us today in politics, in business and in the family. Everyone has to lead someone - even if it's only oneself! In considering this issue, my mind was drawn to the remarkable story of Moses, one of the great Biblical leaders. After all, this was a reluctant leader who ended up taking about 3 million difficult people on a 40 year camping trip in the desert near Egypt. The story of Moses is outlined in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers and it is worthwhile reading the whole story. Here are a few of the key details:

• The family of Jacob (also called the children of Israel or the Hebrews) who had moved from Canaan to Egypt because of famine, had grown from a family of around 70 at the time of Joseph to several million. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, realised that these descendants of Jacob could take over the country unless he put them in their place.

• The whole nation were enslaved and the Bible tells us “their cry came up to God because of the bondage”. God is not an impartial God who looks on without interest but a God who hears the cry of His people and acts in history.

• Pharaoh ordered a genocide with the killing of all the male children of Israel. We don’t know how many babies died but the Bible tells us that the midwives did not carry out the command. One particular child, Moses, was put into a basket or ark (תֵּבָה – teva), and providentially ended up being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter. It is significant that the Hebrew word teva תֵּבָה  is only used twice in the Old Testament. The rescue of Noah and Moses have significant parallels.

• We don’t know any details of Moses’ early life which must have been a privileged one. Nevertheless he knew that he was one of the Hebrews because some years later when he saw an Egyptian striking one of his countrymen, he killed the Egyptian. Pharaoh heard about this and sought to kill Moses but Moses fled to Midian, which today is probably in north-western Saudi Arabia.

• God’s hand was on Moses and he ended up with the family of Jethro, a priest of Midian and a wise man who later gives excellent counsel to Moses.

• Moses is 40 years in the desert and one day was moving sheep when he came to what the Bible calls Horeb (also called Sinai), the mountain of God. It is on this mountain that God later gives Moses the un-editable 10 Commandments.

• A mysterious figure (called the Angel or Messenger of the Lord) appears to Moses in a burning bush  and the bush is not consumed. Moses turns aside to see this wonder and his life direction changes as God speaks to him from the burning bush.

• God Himself sees leadership potential in a man who has been wandering around on the back side of the desert for 40 years and must have been wondering if his life was finished, having been raised as a prince in Egypt.

• God calls Moses to go to the most powerful man in the world at that time and ask him to deliver the Hebrews (what God calls “my people”) out of the hand of Egyptians to bring them to a “good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey”(Exodus 3:8).

• It’s clearly an impossible job and the rest of the story in Exodus covers Moses challenges with Pharaoh, his success in taking the Hebrews out of Egypt through remarkable miracles, the rebellion of the Hebrews against Moses and God, and 40 years of wandering around the desert because of the children of Israel’s disobedience.

It's difficult to do justice to the whole story because there are so many elements in Exodus that teach us about God, His character, and His sovereignty when everything looks impossible. I will return to the story of Exodus in later issues because there is so much for us to learn. However, in this newsletter, my focus is 10 leadership lessons that I thought were significant from the story of Moses.

10 Leadership Lessons from Moses

1.     In leadership, it doesn’t matter if the mission looks impossible, if it has the backing of God. Too often, we can stumble at the first hurdle of life because it looks too difficult. This didn’t appear to be Boris Johnson’s problem because as a child he had indicated that he wanted to be “world king”. It seems unlikely that Boris heard this from God, in contrast to his hero Winston Churchill, whom biographers note had a sense of divine destiny to save Britain, many years before he became Prime Minister. A just cause that has the backing of God can overcome the greatest rulers and kingdoms. Of course, you need to know that you have heard God’s call. History tells us that rather than a call from God it could be a call from satan that results in a megalomaniacal sense of delusion and evil. This certainly is the story of evil dictators, who often see themselves as gods.

2.     Past mistakes and sin need not exclude us from leadership. Many of us make bad decisions in life  but God can use our mistakes and awareness of our own brokenness, to teach humility. Moses killed an Egyptian in an act, apparently, of righteous anger. This resulted in him fleeing for his life and during 40 years in the wilderness, he must have learnt many lessons from the natural order and God’s providential intervention. It may be that an elderly man, washed up and without hope is sometimes what God needs to achieve His purposes. We can feel disqualified from leadership because of our past failures but with God there is always hope because His speciality is redemption.  

3.     A desert experience can be the right ground for leadership preparation. This was certainly the case with Moses and although we don’t know what happened in the desert, it must have toughened him and he learned obedience to his father-in-law Jethro and serving as a shepherd to sheep. For each of us there are times when we are driven into the “wilderness” but often this is God’s gift to us, to mature us and make us ready for His purposes. In our day when there are so many distractions with various media vying for our attention, time out to seek God and His direction is important. The Bible tells us that sometimes God speaks in a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), like with the prophet Elijah. We may need a desert experience to hear the “still small voice” of God.

4.      Leadership involves obedience. God’s greater purpose is to teach us obedience to Him and His ways.  He says to the prophet Isaiah “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8). God’s ways are often difficult to understand. He called on Jonah to proclaim the destruction of the great city of Nineveh but Jonah headed in the opposite direction. Eventually God had His way and remarkably, the whole city repented, an unexpected result for Jonah (Jonah 3). Moses did not want the job of leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt and had many excuses. During Moses’ return to Egypt, he learnt obedience to God through 10 miraculous and terrible signs, the last of which was the death of all firstborn that were not under God’s protection. Ultimately, without obedience there is lawlessness. Obedience to godly authority is critical and starts with the family where obedience to parents is a training ground. The widespread breakdown of families is the precursor to lawlessness.

5.     Leadership involves being able to articulate a clear vision and mission. God tells Moses to go to the “sons of Israel” and that God will “bring them up out of the affliction of Egypt…to a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:17). God is clear about His intent to Moses and Moses is given authority – a staff that has miraculous properties. He also has support from his brother Aaron. It must have seemed fanciful to the elders of Israel at first, to hear that God was arranging their release from captivity and that they would leave with great gifts from the Egyptians. However, the brothers clearly had the authority of God and the Bible tells us that the elders of Israel “bowed their head and worshiped”. For each of us, bowing our heads and worshiping the One who is the God of eternity is an important response when something good happens as we can sometimes start to think that we are really special. Moses also had a simple request of Pharaoh “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Let My people go that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness”. Out of complexity, comes simplicity. God says – His own people must be released. “Let My people go” is a great example of a simple mission statement. I remember an excellent talk by a former member of President Reagan’s administration. He said Reagan was a great President because he had a simple mission that all the staff knew: “cut taxes and cream the commies”. Most complex tasks can be simplified and this is the job of a great leader.

6.     Leaders discover that there are dissenters along the road and these can include your own family. Moses had a Mission from God and having led the Israelites out of Egypt, he must have thought that all would go smoothly. However it wasn’t long before there were complaints. Despite the mighty work of deliverance including parting the sea for the Israelites to escape Pharaoh’s troops, the children of Israel soon said to Moses: “Oh, that we had died by the hand$ of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Exodus 16:3. These complaints did not cease despite God’s miraculous provision of food and water. Even Moses’ brother and sister stood against him. Moses response in most situations was humility. When you receive criticism as a leader you need to concede that it could be correct and so you need to check if you are on the right path. God Himself vindicated Moses but at one point Moses lashed out and changed his future.

7.     Leaders need to learn how to manage anger. In the book of Numbers there is the strange story of the children of Israel having no water in the Wilderness of Zin at Kadesh (Numbers 20). It’s a tough location, Moses’ sister dies and the Israelites cry out and say “why did you bring us out here to die”? Moses, not unreasonably, is angry with them and in his anger disobeys God by striking a rock to obtain water rather than speaking to the rock as God has instructed. To us this seems not a big deal but it was a big deal to God. Moses is one of the greatest in the kingdom of God but in his anger he disobeyed God’s instruction and struck the rock twice rather than speaking to it to obtain water. This disqualified Moses and Aaron from entering the Promised Land. The Bible tells us that this was because of their disobedience and failing to uphold the holiness of God. Anger is one of the most dangerous emotions for leaders because it can lead to actions that mostly later are regretted and can destroy people’s trust.

8.     It is important for leaders to delegate authority to others. Leaders often have the sense that “only I can do it”. Moses was one of these and spent his days from dawn until dusk sorting out disputes amongst the people. His father-in-law Jethro, who was not an Israelite, saw this and realized that Moses’ role was unsustainable. His advice to Moses was

“Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.” Exodus 18:21-23.

One of the biggest failures of leadership is the area of delegation. Leaders find it difficult to delegate but then also it can be challenging to find “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, lacking covetousness”.

Ultimately, success is determined by the people that leaders attract and then to whom they delegate authority and responsibility. Moses appointed good men and gave them authority because they were men he could trust.

9.     Leaders must take care if they go on a long road trip. Moses didn’t actually go very far but God called him up onto the holy Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24). On the mountain, God gave extraordinary and detailed instructions for a special tent to be built where He would dwell amongst the people and also garments for the priests that would serve in this tent, which was a type of mobile temple. These instructions last for many chapters of the Bible and were delivered when God met with Moses on the Mt Sinai. The elders of Israel thought that Moses may have gone forever – after all 6 weeks is a long time to be away from your team when they have no idea about your plans. The elders came up with a terrible idea – to melt down the jewellery and make a golden calf, to which they could attribute their deliverance out of Egypt (Exodus 32:4). This idea had the support of Moses’ brother Aaron, who chose fear of man rather than fear of God. Idols come in many forms but are widespread in the corporate sector today and one of the idols is the Twitter storm and social media avalanche that can distract leaders from their real business – focus on their mission. Many leaders now also worship at the altar of “social justice”, which has nothing to do with their company’s mission and like the recent case in the Disney company, has the potential to destroy the company’s value.

10.  Leaders prepare successors. Moses had a remarkable young man as an understudy who had the fear of the Lord and a heart for worship. Joshua, the son of Nun, “shadowed” Moses during the time in the wilderness. After construction of the worship centre, the tabernacle, the Bible tells us that the Lord spoke to Moses as a friend and then adds that Moses “would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.” - Exodus 33:11. Joshua was a man who sought the Lord and was able to be under authority. It is clear that Moses prepared Joshua for the extraordinary challenging task of leading the people of Israel into the Promised Land. After Moses’ death, the Bible tells us that

“Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.” (Deuteronomy 34:9).

Succession planning is not something that many organizations do well but it is clear that Moses had prepared Joshua through the highs and lows of life in the desert, so the children of Israel recognized his authority.

Conclusion

The study of Moses is instructive and is important, not only to understand leadership but also to understand the character of God. As John C Maxwell says “everything rises and falls on leadership” and the story of Moses provides some excellent leadership lessons. If we move forward in time about 1,300 years to the time of Jesus, we find a lesson from the kingdom of God that turns on its head our idea about leadership. Jesus spoke to His disciples and the crowds that had gathered to hear Him and said:

“he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles (in Greek - ταπεινόω transliterated as tapeinoō - to bring oneself low) himself will be exalted.”

Jesus gave further detail about His ideas of leadership when the mother of two of His apostles, James and John, came to ask that her sons be given great authority (to sit on His right and left) in His kingdom. It’s great to have a mother who wants her sons to go to the top! Jesus tells her that she doesn’t know what she is asking. He says:

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28.

It is clear that we would have less people vying for leadership if there was a commitment to be servants of those that they lead and to lay down one’s life in such service. This is the hidden quality that we should be looking for in our leaders.