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.