Joshua's lessons on leadership - Results Matter

In a series of posts, I want to discuss what we can learn about leadership from Joshua ben Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, which would become known as the most militaristic of the tribes of Israel through Joshua's campaigns.  If this is the first post in the series you have read please do a quick review of the 30 March, 2009 blog titled  “Joshua's lessons on leadership - Intro”; that post highlights why I am looking into Joshua’s life.

In the last entry, I discussed the importance of “Inner Strength”.  In this post, Joshua shows us “Results Matter”.

Winston Churchill said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”  Results matter and for the leader, the ability to demonstrate results is a force multiplier.  People trust a leader that gets it done.  Joshua illuminates this principal during one of the more famous stories in his life - the Battle at Jericho.

Ancient Jericho is located at Tell es-Sultan, next to an abundant spring on the western edge of the Jordan Valley, just north of the Dead Sea. The site’s water supply and climate have made it a desirable place to live from the very beginning of settled habitation. A Neolithic settlement at the site goes back to about 8000 BC, making Jericho the world’s oldest city.

The site is strategically located. From Jericho you have access to the heartland of Canaan.  Any military force attempting to penetrate the central hill country from the east would first have to capture Jericho.  Therefore, Joshua must conquer and hold Jericho for the tribes of Israel to move into their new home. 

Joshua comes into the battle with a great track record.  Recall from the post on 13 April that he lead an important victory early in his career.  Then he was picked by the legendary leader of the tribes to bring the wandering population into their new homes.  He had also just led important victories against the King of Heshbon and the King of Bashan; these two cities lay just east of the Jordan river and their capture allowed the tribes to have a protected launching point for crossing into their desired homeland. Finally, right before the battle, he led the people to cross the Jordan River during a time of year when it should have been at flood stage, yet all got across safely. 

Joshua would need this track record because he asked his army to do something unexpected.  Joshua had in inspiration of how the Battle of Jericho would be fought.  “We will march around the city once with all the armed men and do this for six days.  Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."

Let me put this in perspective.  The Siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade from October 21, 1097, to June 2, 1098.  During those eight months battle engines were created, raised up against the walls and destroyed, hundreds of sorties were attempted; the crusaders were under continuous surprise attack.  In the winter months, they ran out of food and ate bark, drank the blood of their animals, suffered disease and famine.  In general, a siege of a walled city was really hard work and it lasted a long time with intense suffering on both the besieged and the attackers.

So I can only imagine the reaction of Joshua’s generals when he laid out his plan, “Guys, you will not have to fight and the siege will only last seven days – seriously”.  The generals look at Joshua and then look up at the walls of Jericho.

An earthen barricade surrounded Jericho with a stone retaining wall at its base. The retaining wall was 12–15 feet high. On top of that was a wall six feet thick and about 20–26 feet high. At the crest of the barricade was a similar wall whose base was roughly 46 feet above the ground level outside the retaining wall. This is what loomed high above the Israelites as they marched around the city each day for seven days. Humanly speaking, it was impossible for the Israelites to penetrate the impregnable stronghold of Jericho.

They looked back at Joshua, “Seriously guys, I am just saying that if we do this and then blow a horn and shout the walls will come down”.  Without a track record of results, I imagine Joshua’s generals looking at each other and raising their eyebrows.  Maybe one or two who are complete sycophants say, “Yes!! That is a great plan”.  Then the rest grumble to each other, “OK, the river is one thing, but shout at the walls and they fall down?  Let’s humor poor Joshua for seven days and then we can build our real siege plan”

Yet, the army followed his command; they were following a man who had delivered increasingly difficult results.  For six days marching and not attacking or even threatening the city probably lulled the defenders.  A change in pattern on the seventh day should have alerted the defenders. The silent marchers appeared as before, but this time marched around the city seven times. This completed, they turned toward the walls and the priests leading the column each blew a ram's horn and the multitude shouted. At this, the walls fell.   This created an easy slope up the earthen embankment between the inner and outer city walls, allowing the army easy access to an impenetrable city.  No description is given of resistance, only of results, “every man charged straight in, and they took the city and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it”

Joshua had an inspiration and asked his army to follow.  Without a track record of results would they have followed the plan he outlined?  Maybe or maybe not.  However it was far easier for them to follow with confidence and energy knowing their leader usually got it done.  Results matter - not just for the mission today, but also for the mission tomorrow.

Joshua's lessons on leadership - See the truth: but not for worse than it is

In a series of posts, I want to discuss what we can learn about leadership from Joshua ben Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, which would become known as the most militaristic of the tribes of Israel through Joshua's campaigns.  If this is the first post in the series you have read, please do a quick review of the March 30, 2009 blog titled  “Joshua's lessons on leadership - Intro”; that post highlights why I am looking into Joshua’s life.

In the last entry, we dug into a lesson about obedience, when Joshua “fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered”.  In this post, we learn the importance of “See the truth: but not for worse than it is”. 

After the battle with the Amalekites, Joshua becomes Moses’ aid de camp.  Moses took him everywhere, even up the mountain when Moses got the first set of famous stone tablets.  A little over two years after the battle where Joshua showed obedience, came the event that Joshua showed the importance of “See the truth, but not for worse than it is”

Moses selects twelve men to go explore Canaan, the land that the Israelites were supposed to settle in.  These twelve men were each selected as leaders from the original twelve tribes of Israel.  Joshua was among the men.  Moses gave fairly broad instructions to the men, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.  See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.  What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they un-walled or fortified?  How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land."  Essentially these twelve leaders were sent out on a reconnaissance mission; they were spies.

The twelve men spent time gathering information about Canaan, even bringing back examples of the fruit that existed.  Moses gathered advisors to listen to the reports, "We went into the land to which you sent us, and you were right, it would be a great place for us, however, the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.”  A man named Caleb, who would become a key partner of Joshua said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

Then all hell breaks loose, the rest of the men, except for Joshua start shouting over each other in the assembly meeting, “We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." Worse, they walked among the rest of the people telling them, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."  They created a truth that was worse than it really was.

Have you noticed there is always a group of people, when confronted with a challenge, who choose to see the worst of all the outcomes? Moreover, it is insufficient for them to be worried by themselves; they must bring people along with them.  This infection of worrying is actually easy to accomplish; worry can be more contagious than hope.  So their definition of “lead” is to get others to worry with them.  When it happens, they think they have followers.  In reality people are just following their fears not the person who speaks to the fear. 

Here is the interesting thing about worry vs. fear.  Fear we will all feel.  Fear will enter our journey often.  Worry does not have to be our companion.  Worry is fear not healed by belief.  If I believe in the team, their talents, their preparation, their effort, their sponsorship and their attitude I need not worry.  My belief in any situation can heal my fear.  So these “leaders” who were walking around the tribes were not sowing fear; they were creating worry.  This is not the job of a leader.

Dwight Eisenhower wrote to his wife from Algiers on December 30^th, 1942, “As pressure mounts and strain increases everyone begins to show the weaknesses in his makeup. It is up to the Commander to conceal his; above all to conceal doubt, fear and distrust”.  Eisenhower understood the leader's job is to heal fear through belief and not let worry take hold in the gut of the team.

What about Joshua?  Let’s look back at the rest of the story.  The night that the spies came back with their report, after worry had been sown all the people of the community raised their voices, wept and grumbled, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Our wives and children will be taken as plunder.  We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

 Joshua and his partner Caleb, stood strong in front of the entire community and said, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. Do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone…do not be afraid of them."

There was still conflict and argument, but this moment by Joshua, where he “saw the truth, but not for worse than it is” was a turning point in the Israelites history.

Or, in the words of Napoleon, “A leader is a dealer in hope”.  Joshua was dealing hope, not worry.

Joshua's lessons on leadership - Obedience

In a series of posts, I want to discuss what we can learn about leadership from Joshua ben Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, which would become known as the most militaristic of the tribes of Israel through Joshua's campaigns.  If this is the first post in the series you have read, please do a quick review of the March 30, 2009 blog titled  “Joshua's lessons on leadership - Intro”; that post highlights why I am looking into Joshua’s life.

In the last entry, we dug into the backdrop for Joshua’s leadership lessons, in this entry, I want to look the very first time we hear about Joshua, when he “fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered”.  When Joshua arrives on the scene, he teaches us an unforgettable lesson about obedience. 

The battle with the Amalekites occurred right after events that have provided idioms in almost every culture.  Have you ever heard, “like manna from heaven” or “get water from rocks”?  Well, the Israelites had just been led out of Egypt and through the parting of the Red Sea.  They were about six weeks out of Egypt and they were complaining to their leader Moses that they had nothing to eat – this is when strange bread like substance called manna started appearing every day.  Manna is cross cultural, it is also identified in three different places in the Qur'an, each mentioning the divine supply of manna as one of the miracles with which the Israelites were favored.  Then the Israelites started whining that they were thirsty and wished they had never left slavery and according to the story, Moses struck the rock at Horeb with a stick and caused water to flow from it.

It is against this backdrop that Joshua is ordered into battle.  The entire tribe is whining for food, which they are given, then whining for water, which they receive.  I can only imagine that going in to combat was not high on the list of things folks wanted to do - much whining was going on for sure.  All we know about this battle is that the Amalekites, aboriginal people of Canaan and the Sinai Peninsula that waged constant warfare against the Hebrews started it.   The Amalekites attack and in response Moses tells Joshua, “Grab some men and go attack the enemy, I will be hanging out on the hill watching you”

Joshua does it.  I am not sure I would be as obedient as Joshua.  I am not sure it was real easy to find folks in the tribe willing to go fight.  My response might have been, “What, I am going to battle and you are going up on a hill with a stick in your hand?”  But Joshua does it, and check out what happens next.  This is the narrative we have of the battle, “So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.  As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.  So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

Wow, to me that is obedience to a leader.  Joshua is down on the field of battle sweating, bleeding, suffering and he looks up and watches the ebb and flow of the battle depend upon his leader's arms rising and falling.  “I am down here swinging a sword and you are up there waving your arms?”  He has to give it all he has got, obedient to the task and dependent upon his leader’s actions.  

When you read the work ‘obedient’ over and over again, does the hair on the back of your neck stand up?  Mine does, I am not sure I want to be ‘obedient’.  Why?

“The strongest is never strong enough always to be master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty” - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French writer whose novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution.

What is Rousseau saying?  Turn obedience into duty?  Rousseau understood the very nature of humans that we take pride in duty and see it as strength of character.  Yet we scorn obedience allowing the mental image of a dog and master creep into our minds.  Obedience is the act of complying with authority.  Duty is something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation, the respectful and obedient conduct due a parent, superior, elder, etc.

Duty and Obedience are essentially the same thing; one noble and one mocked.  Why do we feel different about the two?  It is because with duty, we feel that we have had some choice in the matter and by choosing created a voluntary compact that is honorable.  Obedience on the other hand feels like it is laid over us like chains, we had no say in the matter and we are treated like slaves.

Alcibiades, Athenian commander in the 1st Peloponnesian War, said, “If force must be employed with a subordinate, take care that it be minimal.  If I command you, "Pick up that bowl," and set a sword-point at your back, you will obey but no part will own the action.  You will exculpate yourself, accounting, "He made me do it, I had no choice."  But if I only suggest and you comply, then you must own your own compliance and, owning it, stand by it.”

Obedience must be taught and learned.  But to teach it, you must first submit to it and experience it, the good type of obedience and the bad, so that you know the right way to install obedience in an organization.  Not with a sword to the back.

We see the making of a leader start with the obedience of Joshua.  Joshua showed us a key truth, how can you ask others to obey, unless you have first learned what it means to obey?

David's lessons on leadership - Take a Stand

In a series of posts I 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 blog titled  “David’s lessons on leadership – Intro”; that post outlines why I am looking into David’s life.

The previous blog dealt with knowing we all have flaws and being aware our flaws can lead us to join the ranks of “Tragic Heroes”.  This post deals with the topic of “Take a Stand”

There was a long period in David’s life when he was on the run from Saul.  Recall that Saul was David’s mentor and king, he became jealous of David and went through a bi-polar experience some days loving David and some days wanting to kill him.  It was in one of these ‘kill him’ moments we see David stand tall among his men and “Take a Stand”

Around 1000 B.C., Saul was chasing David through the Desert of Maon when he broke off his pursuit of David because the Philistines were raiding his land.  As Saul turned, David went up and “dwelt in the strongholds at En Gedi”, which is the largest oasis along the western shore of the Dead Sea. 

Saul finished his battle with the Philistines and took 3,000 men back to En Gedi to capture David.  Saul basically calls in the cavalry; he now outnumbers David 5:1.  Saul ends up having to relieve himself in a cave that turns out to be the very same cave that David and his men are hiding in.  David’s men encourage him, telling him, "This is your moment, go kill Saul, it is a sign from above”.  Six hundred frightened men, badly outnumbered convince their leader that in this moment he can deliver them from their weary travails.

David sneaks up to kill Saul and at the last moment spares him.  David merely cuts a piece of Saul’s robe (which he later shows Saul to prove that he does not want to kill him).  David comes back to his men and rebukes them.  He does not allow them to attack Saul.  He tells them, “Saul is my king and I made an oath not to lift my hand against him”.  David’s men see him “Take a Stand”

I look at this story and think “What are David’s men saying about him?”  Were they saying, “Look how great and glorious our leader is because he kept an oath and see how gracious he is toward Saul”?  Or were they saying, “What the heck has gone wrong with David?  We are on the run, tired, hungry, living in a rock, he has every chance to deliver us and yet he does not!”

We never know their reaction.  As you study this story you see the reaction of David’s men upon finding Saul, yet there is nothing about their reaction to David letting Saul go.  Why is there no record of their reaction in that moment?  Here I think is the lesson – it did not matter…

There will be moments in which you are publicly presented a situation where you have to either “Take a Stand” or please the people you lead.   Until people see you “Take a Stand” they will never know your values or be in a position to choose to accept your values or move on.

So here is a moment for David’s men; they see the choice that David made.  They know the sacrifice of this choice since David is on the run with them.  They see David have the opportunity to end it all yet choose to keep an oath and respect authority.  David’s men now know his values and can choose to follow him and his belief system or move on.

We do our people a favor when we “Take a Stand”; we let them know our value systems and ourselves.  We are no longer anonymous.  There is an old Chinese proverb - “A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion”

Show your values, don’t just talk about them; “Take a Stand”

David's lessons on leadership - Tragic Heroes

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 blog titled  “David’s lessons on leadership – Intro”; that post outlines why I am looking into David’s life.

The previous blog dealt with the impact of the support of one person, the change that occurs in our lives and leadership journey when we have a “Jonathan Moment”.  This post deals with the topic of “Tragic Heroes”

For this topic we go back to a time before Saul knew David, a time when Saul became king.  There came a point in Israel’s history when pressure emerged to centralize government into a kingship.  This pressure was largely from the threat of Israel's neighbors, especially the Philistines, whose victories had resulted in the destruction of the central sanctuary at Shiloh.  This reason for wanting a king is consistent with a well researched book called “Guns, Germs and Steel” in which author Jared Diamond points out that throughout history, amalgamation of smaller groups or tribes occurs for two reasons; merger by threat of external force or actual conquest.  Examples of merger by threat of external force include the Cherokee nation in the early 1700’s, the United States shifting from a loose set of states to a federal government in the late 1780’s and the central imperial German government of the 1870’s. 

So, the elders of Israel wanted and demanded a visible king be appointed over them.  They wanted to be like the well-organized nations surrounding them and have a leader who could take them to victory over their foes.  They petitioned Samuel and Samuel sat Saul down to tell him he would be king.

As Samuel is telling Saul he will be king, Saul, says to him, "But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?"

Saul starts off so well, asking a fair question, “Why me?”  He starts with the admirable trait of humility, which leaves him quickly as he becomes king.  We first see it leave him when his son Jonathan bursts on the scene and demonstrates the first of what will be a repeated ability to lead an attack.  “Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, "Let the Hebrews hear!" So all Israel heard the news: "Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost”.  Saul takes the credit for Jonathan’s attack on the garrison of the Philistines. We see the fatal flaw in Saul begin to take root.  We know it is pride.  We know it is vanity and the desire for glory.  Saul’s own sense of insecurity will not allow his own son to receive credit. Saul needs the praise.

Saul as king has all the traits that Israel wants in a king, he is taller than most, good looking, strong and comes from a prominent family.  But his pride is his flaw, Saul is like some of the men and women we see attain fame, fortune and glamour only to fall from grace with a character failing.  Saul is a Tragic Hero, the main character in a tragedy who makes an error in his actions that leads to his downfall.  The main characteristics of a Tragic Hero include:

• The hero is led to his downfall due to hubris, or excessive pride.
• The hero discovers his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him.
• The hero sees and understands his doom, and that his fate was revealed by his own actions.
• The hero is physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often resulting in his death.
• The hero is often a king or leader of people, so that his people experience his fall with him. This could also include a leader of a family.
• The hero learns something from his mistake.
• The hero is faced with a serious decision.
• The suffering of the hero is meaningful.

We see it around us today, in the failed institutions, the corporate leaders who forgot about leading, the athletes who disappoint us, and the public servants that betray our trust.  All around us are Tragic Heroes; we watch them fall and we see them suffer.  Here is what we must understand; they are not different from us.  In each one of us is a character trait that keeps us going and gives us fuel, but has the potential to be our downfall.  In each one of us exists a Tragic Hero.  For all are human and all have a flaw; the more the spotlight of the world pierces us, the more our flaw becomes known. 

Recall Polonius' advice to his son Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet, “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man”.

Know your flaw, be true to yourself and know what your flaw can do.  Know that without care we are each capable of joining the ranks of Tragic Heroes.