David's lessons on leadership - Everyone Matters

In a series of posts, I am going to reflect upon what we can learn about leadership from David, King of Israel.  If this is the first post in the series you have read, please do a quick review of the January 2, 2009 post titled  “David’s lessons on leadership – Intro”; that post outlines why I am looking into David’s life.

The previous post dealt with a detail on how leaders should treat their team titled “Care for your crew”.  For this post I am going to stay on the topic of the team with a discussion on “Everyone Matters”

In a particularly difficult moment of David’s life, he provides a great lesson for how leaders should treat everyone that is part of accomplishing a goal or pursuing a mission.  However, before we get to this lesson, I need to set it up with a brief back-story.

David was running from Saul (his former boss and king of the Hebrews) and getting quite weary of it.  So he broke with his own people and started serving Achish, who is the Philistine king of Gath.  David brought with him a large band of well-trained men and was assigned a city to live in – Ziklag.  For a year and a half David raided other people on behalf of Achish and the Gath king became so convinced of David’s loyalty that he assigned David and his men to be bodyguards during Achish’s planned attack on Saul and the Hebrews.  At Achish’s request David and his men pack up their gear and prepare to go to battle alongside the Philistines.

In a twist of fate, the princes and nobles that surround Achish fear that David is a spy and make Achish choose between David and themselves.  Achish chooses his own and sends David back to his adopted city of Ziklag.

Here is where we pick up the story and arrive at David’s lesson for us that Everyone Matters. 

David and his men get back to Ziklag and find it a smoking ruin.  One of the tribes that David has been raiding, the Amalekites, have come into town while David was gone, crushed the city and stolen everything; wives, children, cattle and goods.  Their entire adopted city is destroyed; David and his men are at their lowest point, they wept aloud until they had no strength to weep (1 Sam 30:4).   It got so bad that some of David’s men even starting talking about executing David for convincing them to follow Achish.  David is now dealing with a potential mutiny along with the loss of his own family and household.

David, always a man of action, takes six hundred men and goes after the Amalekites.  When they get to the Besor Ravine, two hundred of the men become too weary to go on.  They are left at the ravine and the rest of the men carry on the raid on the enemy.  The raid is successful; they retrieve their families, all of their possessions and a large amount of the enemy’s wealth as well.  On the way back to Ziklag they arrive at the ravine where the weary men had encamped.  Some of David’s men start going over to the dark side (Star Wars reference) saying, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go” (1 Sam 30:22).

David replies, "The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." (1 Sam 30:24).   David made this command, given at the end of a battle, into a statute and ordinance for Israel.

I have long believed that for extraordinary performance to occur in an organization, three things must be in the minds of each individual; 1) they know their role 2) they believe it matters and 3) they are able to be proud of their work.  David sets the tone for his leadership early saying, ‘each will have a role in my kingdom and no role is more important than any other’.  We need to take this lesson and extend it into our team and our organizations.  If you are like me, you probably always say ‘thank you’ to each who are serving, but may not mean it with the same level of intensity for every role that is being performed.  We have to constantly ask ourselves, in our hearts do we think some roles are more important than others?  Malcolm Forbes said, “People who matter are most aware that everyone else does, too”.  The guy who had a private 727 jet named ‘Capitalist Tool’ and published Forbes magazine; the ultimate capitalist realized the same thing David taught us 3,000 years ago – Everyone Matters.

David's lessons on leadership - Care for your crew

In a series of posts, I am going to reflect upon what we can learn about leadership from David, King of Israel.  If this is the first post in the series you have read, please do a quick review of the January 2, 2009 post titled  “David’s lessons on leadership – Intro”; that post highlights why I am looking into David’s life.

The previous post covered the broad topic of David’s Last Words.  This post will go into an important detail; how do you treat the people on your team?  For this lesson, let’s go to an interesting event in 2 Samuel 10.  First a little background.  While David was wandering, trying to evade Saul, he was shown kindness by a king named Nahash (by the way there are two different kings named Nahash).  Much later, Nahash dies and is succeeded by his son Hanun.  At this time David has become king and decides to send a delegation of ambassadors to Hanun.  David wants to express sympathy to Hanun for losing his father, thinking, "I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me."

Instead of accepting the delegation, Hanun cuts off half of each of their beards, removes the bottom part of their garments and sends them home; clearly poking his finger in David’s eye.  David has an interesting response, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”

What is the big deal?  So they cut a little hair, why is David going through the effort to keep them in Jericho rather than just bring them home?  Why let them grow their beards back? Turns out the beard is a big deal.

The Sikhs consider the beard to be an integral part of the male human body as created by God and believe that it should be preserved, maintained, and respected as such.

The Hindus keep beards depending on caste and Dharma.

Because scissors have two blades, halakha (Jewish law) permits their use to trim the beard, as the cutting action comes from contact of the two blades and not the blade against the skin. This is important since Talmudic tradition explains Leviticus to mean that a man may not shave his beard with a razor with a single blade, since the cutting action of the blade against the skin "mars" the beard.

In Eastern Christianity, beards are often worn by members of the priesthood, and at times have been required for all believers.

Many Muslims believe that growing a beard is required under Islamic law due to the saying of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that Muslim men should grow their beards and trim their mustaches.

Whatever your religion throughout history there has been value universally set upon the beard, sometimes as man’s greatest adornment; a symbol of virility and wisdom. Cutting off of one-half of it was the greatest insult that could have been offered to the ambassadors, and through them to David their king.

So we learn that this act by Hanun, shaving off half the beard of the men in the peace delegation was no small matter.  David’s response was instructive; he showed his men tremendous respect.  David could have brought his men back and paraded them in front of his army to whip his army up into a frenzy in preparation for battle (later they did go defeat Hanun and his army).  However, he chooses not to sacrifice the dignity of his men.  In this moment David shows that a good leader looks after the whole person, not just the parts that the leader needs.  A good leader does not use and discard his people as pieces of a war machine; he cares for them as people first.  Or as my good friend Mike Kilbane told me, "Mission first, people always".  One can imagine the goodwill this action brought David among those who remained in Jericho and those he lead back home.

Once you put a person first, you can ask them to sacrifice and they will be happy to do it.  As I told a friend the other day who was preparing for a difficult speech; there is no greater compliment you can pay someone than to ask them to make a sacrifice for you  and/or the mission.   Assuming of course, that you put that person first in your heart before you ask them to sacrifice.  Admiral Grace Hopper said, “Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect for one's superiors; care for one's crews.”

David’s leadership lesson for us today is ‘care for your crew’

David's lessons on leadership - Last Words of David

In a series of posts, I am going to reflect upon what we can learn about leadership from David, King of Israel.  If this is the first post in the series you have read, please do a quick review of the post titled  “David’s lessons on leadership – Intro”; that post highlights why I am looking into David’s life.

Here is a paraphrase from 2 Samuel 23; These are the last words of David, “the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.'"

I want to hear from people who have been through the pressure of leadership.  I want to learn what has worked and not worked for them.  I especially want to listen when they say, “It has been a long life, and here is what I discovered”.  So when a guy like King David says, “here are my last words” my ears perk up.  David is reflecting toward the end of his life and he gives us two simple but thoughtful maxims to lead by; rule with righteousness and rule with the fear of God.

Rule with righteousness - Righteousness is a condition that has been mangled by association with self-righteousness, and both are thrown out after many correctly discredit self-righteousness. As a result people do not know what righteousness is.  Being self-righteous is being confident of one's own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.  Being righteous is acting in an upright, moral way. 

So we have a challenge; the more we become aware of righteousness and attempt to act in a righteous manner, the greater the odds are that we become self-righteous.  How do we follow David’s advice and cut through this Gordian Knot?  We have to create a set of standards by which we will act and constantly compare ourselves to that standard without worrying about credit or glory.  For example David gave us some of his standards:

• Walk blamelessly
• Speak the truth from your heart
• Have no slander on your tongue
• Do no wrong to your neighbor
• Cast no slur on your fellow man
•  Despise a vile man
• Keep your oath
• Lend money without usury
• Do not take a bribe

Those may not be the right standards for the group you lead, but you must establish something.  For those of you that read the “Boundaries” section of my Passion blog you know I argue for Getting it Done and Doing it Right, where Doing it Right includes these standards:

1.  Team Player - Do they place the team's needs above their own?  Do they willingly share expertise with others?  Do they respect, seek and embrace input from others?
2.  Integrity and Accountability - Do they accept blame as well as glory? Are they ethical, trusted by customers, partners and their team? Do their actions match their words?  Do they demonstrate through action that self-improvement is a priority?
3.  Optimism and Enthusiasm - Are they a source of energy vs. a use of energy within the team? Do they see the truth, but not for worse than it is? Can they argue their position, but support the organizational decision?

A young man who worked for me several years ago called me the other day and we talked about his transition to management.  He was reflecting upon the things he had learned about managing his sales team.  There was a lot of value in what he had learned although it was still at the functional level; the tasks necessary to get the job done.  I challenged him with this question, “What is your brand?”  What do people know is from you?  Basically what are your standards that you establish and model?  Establishing those standards and publicly living up to them without pride or boasting is how we can rule with righteousness. 

Rule with the Fear of God – This one is a bit more complicated for leadership in a secular environment.  How can we apply David’s advice to a multi-faith situation?  What value can it have for a leader who is not religious?  First let’s define what “Fear of God” is.  I read this from a guy named Graham Barker who lives in Perth, Australia, “Over the years I have learned to deeply respect God, both for who He is and what He has done. I have a healthy reverence for His standards, and His right to judge each of us. I admire His attributes, such as power, patience, love, mercy, and the way He respects our free will.  All of this sums up what it means for me to fear God; the acute awareness of the presence of God's power that produces in me a sense of awe and calls forth from me honor, respect and reverence.”  

Too often the word 'fear' is paralyzing for many people.  There are two very different definitions of the word and it is important to apply the right one.  The first definition is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger; the second is a reverential awe. Fear of God is much more about a reverential awe than a distressing emotion; and reverence at its' core is a feeling of profound respect for someone or something.

Here is how I interpret Graham's comments.  There is someone or something out there bigger than me, that entity is aware of my actions, has a set of standards for me, but is also forgiving and understanding.  Therefore, I am compelled to respect their authority and conduct myself accordingly with a deep sense of accountability.  All of us, regardless of our personal belief systems can apply this principle to mean that our power and influence as a leader should never be absolute.  We need to establish some type of authority over ourselves.  There must be someone or some group that we are connected to who we trust, who knows us, will be truthful to us and we respect and honor. Leadership cannot exist in a vacuum; it is irresponsible to put ourselves in that situation.  Consider these wise words from Abraham Lincoln, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power”

'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise’.  I might summarize David final words to say; “When you lead others, do the right thing and act knowing someone else bigger, stronger and wiser than you is watching”.  If we could just do these two things, our character would encourage our teams; and they would get would get the benefit of David's last words.

David's lessons on leadership - Intro

In a series of posts, I want to discuss what we can learn about leadership from David, King of Israel. 

I should acknowledge there is a major question about whether David really existed or is some type of Arthurian legend.  For example, the November 21, 1997 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education contained an article, "Debunking Ancient Israel: Erasing History or Facing the Truth?" Here was the synopsis: "Biblical scholars get nasty in a transatlantic debate over whether King David existed." I do not intend to step into the fray and try to resolve something that biblical scholars cannot even seem to figure out.  Arguing the reality of David’s existence is not the point of this series.

That said; over 3.8 billion people belong to an Abrahamic religion, these are the monotheistic faiths that recognize a spiritual tradition identified with Abraham.  The term is mostly used to refer collectively to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.   Each of these faiths sees David as an important person and leader in the ancient world. 

In Judaism, David's reign represents the formation of a coherent Jewish state with its political and religious capital in Jerusalem and the institution of a royal lineage that culminates in the Messianic era.

In Christianity, David is mainly important as the ancestor of the Messiah. Several Old Testament prophecies state that the Messiah will come from David's line; the Gospels of Matthew and Luke trace Jesus' lineage to David to fulfill this requirement.

In the Quran, David is known as Dawud, and considered one of the prophets of Islam, to whom the Zabur (Psalms) were revealed by Allah. As in Judaism, he is said to have killed Goliath (Jalut) with a rock from his slingshot. In his reign, he is generally believed to have laid the foundations of the Dome of the Rock.

So I figure if 3.8 billion people think David is important, that is good enough for me to look at some of the experiences written about David from his upbringing, to his leadership in war and his actions as a king of a large group of people.  Turns out there are several good lessons in David’s life for those of us struggling to become better leaders.

Here is a quick history lesson for those unfamiliar with David’s life.  Tradition has it that David was born around 1035 BC.  In 1020 BC he kills Goliath at the age of 15-17 years old.  He is sent out to battle for the first time by the king commanding a thousand warriors in 1010 BC at around 25 years old.  In 1005 BC, David liberates Keilah from the Philistines.  Around 1000 BC, David with the help of his allies assumes control of Judah, and is anointed its king with Hebron as his capital.  From 998 BC to 993 BC, David is in a five-year battle with Ishbosheth (who liberated the remainder of the Western territory from the Philistines and was declared king over the northern kingdom of Israel).

That war ends when two cutthroats murder Ishbosheth and David is publicly anointed king over all of Israel, north and south.  In the middle of that war, David conquered Jerusalem, rebuilt it and moved there from Hebron.  After several years of consolidating his empire, his fourth son Solomon is born around 979 – 975 BC.  Solomon would become the heir to the throne.  It is during this time that David goes through the experience of seeing one of his sons kill another one of his sons.  Right before the fratricide occurs, David has his own personal moral failure which leads to the death of a good man.  In 969 BC David suffers through two revolts, one led by his own son.  He fights his last battle personally in 965 BC where he almost loses his life.  Finally in around 960 BC he calls an assembly, provides the blueprints for the temple to Solomon and publicly hands him the throne.  David likely lived 70 – 75 years.

Quite a life, through which he is born a common man, develops into a warrior, becomes king and consolidates Israel.  In the next post, I will start at the end of David’s life and look at what we can learn from “the last words of David”.