Humility starts with a healthy sense of self-perception

A healthy self-perception is a good foundation for humility. If I know I am loved and accepted as I am, I become more ready to recognize others’ unique value as well. Humility is the quality that makes people so aware of their limitations that their sense of entitlement vanishes authentically. While being mostly reserved for those with reasons to boast, humility is enforced by deep spirituality. Being powerful creates conditions for one’s humility to be validated, and knowing God reveals one’s sense of worthlessness and catalyzes humility.

To demonstrate humility, a leader must be safe, confident, and connected to God. The Bible illustrates this in John 13: 3-5: In order to wash his disciples’ feet, Jesus first “knew that the Father had given everything into His hands”, second, had a clear sense of his origin and destiny. This combined knowledge of God and of self, made him safe and confident to wash His disciples’ feet. A competent teacher is confident to be receptive to students input to knowledge acquisition. A competent physician demystifies what he or she is doing and receives input from the patient. In the process of being down to earth, the leader builds followers’ confidence, and tells them: “you too can become like me”. The leader also connects better with followers and builds their competences. On the other hand, “pride or the loss of … humility is the root of every sin and evil” (Murray, 1900, p. 12).

Unfortunately, humility is far from being a universally shared leadership behavior. The contrary of it has gained popularity among leadership practitioners, to the detriment of shared well-being and success in communities and in companies. Bekker (nd) points to the fact that contemporary leadership authors have positioned self-promotion as a leadership quality. Only an intentional effort to create a climate of humility can overcome the natural human inclination toward preeminence. Such efforts include public rejection of arrogance, recognition and reward of humble behaviors, explicit inclusion of humility among organizational values, exemplification of humility by leaders, and hiring practices that look at prospects’ humility (Bekker, n d). Robertson (2007) also warns that God will allow “a messenger of satan” to persecute His servants whom he elevates, in order to keep them humble despite the great things God may do through them.

References

Bekker, C., J. (nd). Leading with the Head bowed down: Lessons in Leadership Humility from the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia. Inner Resources for Leaders, 1(3).

Murray, A. (1900). Humility; the beauty of holiness. New York, Revell [n.d.].

Robertson, P. (2007). The greatest virtue. Virginia Beach, VA: Christian Broadcasting Netwrok.

Purity is an idea for successful business people

It is unfortunate that one of the most popular beliefs in the corporate world is that seeking others' interest is naive. A twin belief that I have found as popular yet false it that treachery is a necessary evil for success in business. World wisdom assumes that the only way to get ahead is to have dirty hands (Sartre 1948). These ideas are popularized and embraced by people everywhere. The best such convictions can do is to serve those who embrace them for a relatively short time. When their effects fire back, they cost a lot much more that whatever they could have benefited their followers. Khan (2006) gives eight values that are correlated with long lasting success in business according to research: (1) Treat others with uncompromising truth, (2) lavish trust on your associates (3), mentor unselfishly, (4) be receptive to new ideas regardless of their origin, (5) take personal risks for the organization's sake, (6) give credit where it is due, (7) do not touch dishonest dollars, and (8) putt the interests of others before your own.


Let us elaborate on truth, empathy, and honesty. These values build and maintain trust. They keep their followers free and happy. They facilitates followership and make business relationships less constrained and costly. Biblical wisdom instructs: "Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another" (Ephesians 4: 25, Holman Christian Standard Bible). The reason the Bible gives for speaking the truth is that if I hurt my neighbor, I hurt part of myself. It seems evident to me that that in business, a stakeholder (partner, client supplier, government, employee …) cannot be hurt while I remain totally safe. His or her stability is tightly linked with mine.


Even if we imagined a possibility of remaining safe while cheating on stakeholders, we know that liars are constantly worried that their lies can be exposed. And when this happens, it splashes the reputation and kills trust. And there is no bigger asset a company has than its reputation. Take Tradex for instance, an oil retailer in Cameroon. In about 10 years Tradex has risen to become the largest oil retailer after Total in Cameroon. I recently talked with a gas station manager in my neighborhood. This man was happy that a new Tradex gas station in the neighborhood was built on a different street that his. "If they had built it on this street, we would be in serious difficulty" he said. This is because in a country where some oil retailers mix petrol with cheaper kerosene, Tradex has a reputation of selling unaltered high quality petrol. Purity is certainly not an idea for a yogi or a monk (Sartre, 1948). It is a smart idea for successful business people.

References

Khan, S. (2006). It is not so much What as How. Consulting to Management, 17(2), 62-63.
Sartre, J. P. (1948). Les mains sales [Dirty Hands]. Paris: Gallimard.

What future are you called to create?

Futurology seeks insight about the future by creating future scenarios, scanning the organization's horizon for signals of change, and projecting current trends. Eschatology on the other hand studies the end times or the “last things” on a theological perspective. These two are linked because “last things” are in the future, and they only occur after all other “future things” have happened. How do people of the Jesus Movement embrace the future?

Jesus’ mandate “ to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind … [and] to set free the oppressed” (Luke 4: 18,19, Holman Christian Standard Bible) is timeless. He framed this mandate in his time by envisioning a creative future (Gary, 2008) that transcended both the oppressive conventional future pursued by the Roman Empire, and the counter future of revolt schemed by Jewish nationalists. This example calls every disciple to fully embrace their own future and to use the lenses of Biblical wisdom to shape society. How then should one take a sit at the table of civilization, and lead the future (Gary, 2014)?

Emile Zola depicted the 19^th century’s world of contrasts and contradictions where some had plenty while others lacked all. In his famous fiction, Germinal, a poor old man complains: “this will turn out badly, for God does not allow so many Christians to be thrown on the street. We don’t have meat every day. But if one had bread! True, if one only had bread.” (Zola, 2013) Zola’s future envisaged “bread” for all. But according to Grant, (2014) research suggests that happiness does not necessarily increase with wealth; it increases when the gap between what one has and what he or she wants narrows. Unfortunately, people tend to want much more and to feel desperate about not having what they want as their wealth increase. Therefore, I am inspired to create neither a future of rich people who never have enough, nor one of poor people who beat drums and dance day and night in an illusion of happiness. I am inspired to help lead society toward a future of people and companies that are wealthy yet “poor in the spirit” (Matthew 5:3, HCSB). What future are you called to create?

References

Gary, J. (2008). The future according to Jesus: A Galilean model of foresight. Futures, 40(7), 630–642.

Gary, J. (2014, October 5). Review of 20th Century Eschatology [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/5Gp6FbCan5Q

Grant, M. (2014). Grant: 'inside out' coaching is the order of the day. Coaching at Work, 9(5), 7. Retrieved from http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.regent.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=97914040&site=ehost-live

Zola, E. (2013). Germinal: Start Publishing LLC. Retrieved from http://books.google.cm/books?id=ZubsAgAAQBAJ

There is good work and there is bad work

Jesus urges his disciples: "you are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14, Holman Christian Standard Bible). A Christian leader’s light must shine and show the way, and his or her salt must be tasty and make the organization an enjoyable place. To achieve this, he or she needs tap from global perspectives and use spiritual wisdom to sort and pick among the options available, the ultimate purpose being to serve the company and its stakeholders as Jesus himself would do. Pucik (2005) notes that the global competitive advantage of a firm is "the ability to tap global capabilities and skills to satisfy local customer needs" (p. 377). He goes on to posit that the real challenge might be to learn locally about the needs on the ground, then to coordinate the organization's global capacity to serve those needs. How can we be inspired to change "our world"?

Ellen Davis (2001) puts a challenging contrast before us by contending that there is bad work and good work, and there is the Sabbath. Bad work is portrayed by centuries of exploitation and slavery in Egypt. It destroys, devalues, and humiliates; it ruins and allows no rest. Good work is portrayed by the first "public work" Israel does, that of building God's tabernacle. Here we see talent and inspiration creating a place of reunion between humans, and between a people and their God. Good work liberates, rewards, unites and always leads to a Sabbath, a place and time of rest. We need to design organizations where people are engaged because they are given opportunity to contribute using their talent, to grow, and to enjoy life as they work.

It is a lack of understanding that makes some employers think they benefit from treating their employees poorly or being indifferent to their eventual struggles. When employees are not well treated or not protected, they become stressed and eventually unhealthy. Gallup (2012) argues that employees' wellbeing directly affects bottom line performance. And wellbeing encompasses all dimensions of the employee's life. Financial, physical, emotional, social, spiritual, etc. HR need to realize that it is the whole employee who comes to work. Once family, social life, health, finances, and other dimensions of wellbeing are out of balance, the whole company suffers: accidents increase, turnover increases, health costs and time off increase, production defects increase and productivity decreases.

References

Davis, E. F. (2001). Slaves or Sabbath-keepers? A biblical perspective on human work. Anglican theological review, 83(1), 25–39.

Gallup (2012, May). Unhealthy, Stressed Employees Are Hurting Your Business. Gallup Business Journal. Retrieved from http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/154643/Unhealthy-Stressed-Employees-Hurting-Business.aspx

Pucik, V. (2005). Global hr as competitive advantage: Are we ready. In M. R. Losey, S. Meisinger, & D. Ulrich (Eds.), The future of human resource management. 64 thought leaders explore the critical HR issues of today and tomorrow (pp. 370–377). Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

Being A Global Leader

Cabrera and Unruh (2012) describe a global leader as one with three characteristics: A global mindset, global entrepreneurship, and global citizenship. A global mindsets is cognizant of political and other strategic societal realities across cultures, and it is able to connect with people globally. A global entrepreneurship is able to provide solutions that respond to needs and taps from resources cross culturally, it is able to create “global solutions”. Finally a global citizenship is a responsible attitude of preserving the interests and benefits of people across the boundaries of countries and continents, it contributes to enhancing individuals and communities across cultures.

One example of a global leader could be Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix. Hastings was able to initiate a video rental and media streaming company in 1997 that is now aiming to conquer the world. Indeed, Lapoix & Silly (2014) report that after North and South America, Nordic counties, the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands, Netflix is now strategizing to enter the French and the German markets. Lapoix and Silly report that since last December, Hastings keeps sending strategic top managers to the French Presidency and Government with an objective: connect, explain, and listen. And it is not today that Hastings started cultivating a global mindset. After studying mathematics in the university followed by a short experience in the Marines, he spent three years teaching mathematics in a village called Hhelehhele in Swaziland. Global leaders indeed learn to see the world with the eyes of others, and learn from various perspectives.

The perfect example I find in the Bible is that of Jesus himself. His leadership perspective is more than Global, it is timeless and universal. He demonstrated a global mindset by coming to live with humans and share their condition and their emotions though being God. He also demonstrated global entrepreneurship because the salvation He offers serves “across cultures”. Finally, Jesus’ leadership is the perfect example of global citizenship and life enhancement. It saves humanity and gives Joy to God and to His kingdom. Indeed, the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24) clearly illustrates how God and his Kingdom on their side also rejoice when a human is saved. Jesus’ entrepreneurial initiative of salvation is the most value-adding business ever; it is life-recreating.

References

Cabrera, A., & Unruh, G. (2012). Being global: How to think, act, and lead in a transformed world. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review Press

Lapoix, S., & Silly, G. (2014, May). Ce Geek veut mettre une baffe au PAF [This geek wants              to give a slap to the French audiovisual landscape]. Le Nouveau Management, 22-26.

Biblical wisdom: a real compass for the leader.

Biblical wisdom can boast to inform every other field of knowledge, because it is from God the creator of life and existence. This postulate leads us to contend that the field of exegetical research in strategic leadership carries great potential to advance leadership theory and practice in the future. Exegesis helps to dig deep into the Word of God to bring out solid food for the edification of the exegete. When applied to the field of strategic leadership, exegesis becomes a great toll for exploring and explaining the leadership phenomenon.

Duvall and Hays (2012) use the metaphor of a five steps journey to explain the process of biblical exegesis:

Step 1: Grasp the text in their town. What did the text mean to the original audience?

 Step 2: Measure the width of the river to cross. What are the differences between the biblical audience and us?

Step 3: Cross the principlizing bridge. What is the theological principle in this text?

Step 4: Consult the biblical map. How does our theological principle fit with the rest of the Bible?

Step 5: Grasp the text in our town. How should individual Christians today live out the theological principles? (p. 47).

While this simple yet practical method of exegesis can be used for any biblical text, Robbins (2012) formulates another approach that is very original: Socio-rhetorical interpretation.

Socio-rhetorical analysis looks at texts from five different angles: (1)inner texture analysis, (2)inter texture analysis, (3)social and cultural texture analysis, (4)ideological texture analysis, and (5)sacred texture analysis. From each interpretive angle, socio-rhetorical analysis puts several lenses in the exegete’s hands for interpretation. A complete texture analysis through socio-rhetorical analysis may reveal the biblical text as a rich tapestry with several layers of patterns and meanings.

This method has been used to exegete biblical texts and apply their meanings to strategic leadership in rather impressive ways. For example, McCabe (2008) used patterns from repetitive and progressive textures, sensory aesthetic texture, and argumentative texture of John 21, to reveal Jesus as a master implementer of two models of organizational change: Nevi’s (1987) Gestalt cycle of experience and Lewin’s force field theory of change as explained by Schein (1999). This example shows that biblical exegesis has great contributions to make to the advancement of strategic leadership scholarship. And Ayers went on to propose a common language of convergence between theology and leadership.

Indeed Ayers uses sacred texture analysis of the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:5-11 to describe:

1.    The nature and being (the ontology) of God in Christ which is self-emptying

2.    The process and approach (methodology) of God in Christ which is humility and sacrificial centeredness on others

3.    The final purpose(teleology) of God in Christ which is reconciliation and harmony with humanity

The leadership lessons Ayers draws from his applied exegetical analysis for organizations are as follow:

1.    Leaders should be selfless, so that they can create all space needed in their world for the purpose of the organization and for the people of the organization

2.    Leaders should demonstrate humility and service to followers

3.    The consequence of such a leadership approach will be harmonious organizations where no energy is drained in strife and fights

These two examples of applied exegesis demonstrate how leadership and biblical interpretation are strongly intertwined. One may ask why invite the Bible in the science of leadership (Blanchard & Hodges, 2005)? But this question would be similar to Peter asking Jesus on that morning after spending a frustrating fruitless night fishing, as a response to Jesus’ command to let the nets down: “Jesus, we are seasoned professional fishermen. You are a moral and behavioral teacher, why do you dare intrude into such a complex field as fishing to claim to teach us what to do?” Peter rather said “… at your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5, New King James Version). The result was a memorable catch.

I am personally challenged to pay special attention to biblical wisdom regarding leadership. I will endeavor to always check with God, what instructions the bible may have for me in my leadership journey before taking action.  Leadership is not a function that is reserved for certain “important” positions in society only; it is an every day journey for any human being who wants to excel in the assignments given to him or her at every moment (Maxwell, 2007). To deepen my personal leadership journey, I will hence systematically use the great skill of sound biblical exegesis learnt from the applied exegesis course this semester as a habit.

 

References

Ayers, M. (2006). Toward a Theology of Leadership. Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership,1(1).3-27.

Blanchard, K., & Hodges, P. (2005). Lead like jesus: Lessons from the greatest leadership role model of all times. Nashville, TN: Thomas Neslon.

Duvall, S.J. & Hays, D. J. (2012). Grasping god's word: A hands-on approach to reading, interpreting, and applying the bible [Kindle edition]. Available from www.amazon.com

McCabe, L. (2008). Jesus as Agent of Change: Transformational and Authentic Leadership in John 2. Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership, 2(1) 32-43.

Maxwell, J. C. (2007). The Maxwell leadership bible (2^nd ed.). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

Nevis, E. C. (1987). Organizational consulting: A gestalt approach. New York, NY: Gardner Press.

Robbins, V. K. (1996). Exploring texture of texts: A guide to socio-rhetorical interpretation. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.

Schein, E. H. (1999). Kurt Lewin's Change Theory in the Field and in the Classroom: Notes Toward a Model of Managed Learning. Reflections, 1(1), 59-74. doi:10.1162/152417399570287

Biblical exegesis and leadership practice

Biblical spirituality is a relationship between humans and God, and relationships are usually developed through constant communications. This unique relationship between humans and their creator is not an exception. On a Christian perspective, the primary means used by God to communicate with humans is the Bible. But understanding its message today is a serious challenge for the reader. Indeed, contemporary readers are confronted with several barriers when attempting to access the biblical message. These include the big historical, literary, and cultural gaps that separate us today from the original audience. Petersen (2006) notes: “It is not sufficient to place a Bible in a person's hands with the command, ‘Read it.’ That is quite as foolish as putting a set of car keys in an adolescent's hands,... and saying, ‘Drive it’.” (p. 81) How then can current readers accurately exegete sacred scripture? What is the role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical interpretation, and why would leaders of today gain God’s wisdom through proper exegesis?

A practical approach to Biblical interpretation

Duval and Hays (2012) use a metaphoric picture of a journey, to explain the process of Biblical interpretation. To them, the original Biblical audience lived in “their town”, in a context that is different from ours today in “our town”. The first step in Biblical interpretation is to understand the meaning of God’s message in their town. This will require a good translation of the Bible. Like a laboratory technician using lenses to analyze her samples, the exegete will first scrutinize the text and try to bring out as many elements as possible from it, including significant words, language style, literary and historical context, and theological context. Kostenberg (2012) suggests a “hermeneutical triad” where history, culture and theology are used to understand the text in their town.

This first step ends with a formulation of God’s message in their town. But there is a river of contextual differences between their town and our town. According to the passage that is explored, the river is wide sometimes, and sometimes it is narrow. Based on the meaning of the message in their town and on the differences between the two audiences, the exegete will draw a theological principle that is relevant to both audiences. The theological principle must reflect God’s intent, be in line with the rest of God’s message in the Bible, and relevant to both audiences. The theological principle will help to cross the river of differences between their town and our town. Usually expressed in one or two sentences in the present tense, it is critical to “grasping” God’s message in our town and applying it properly by attempting to answer the question: “How can I respond to God in my situation today?” While the principle is not bound to time or culture or even context, application on its part varies from audience to audience. The application of the principle in our town ends the interpretive journey. One may ask what the role of the Holy Spirit is, if we are to use scientific techniques to interpret the Bible.

Biblical interpretation and the Holy Spirit

We have to acknowledge that understanding God’s instructions is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples: “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:13, Holman Christian Standard Bible) We only need to interpret because God used the human tool, our language, to communicate his will to us. Also, God will never contradict himself; therefore any revelation should be in line with the whole story of his relationship with creation.

Though human intelligence may help us to capture important facts related to Biblical text, the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to certain facts we had never noticed before. Because of the work of the Spirit, certain important details of the text that we had ignored before may draw our attention. While one may argue that Cartesian analysis is not the exclusivity of spirit-led exegetes, life-transforming application may actually be.

God sent his Word with intent to enlighten, to heal, to set humanity free, and to bring us back to fellowship with him. According to Petersen (2006), we must explore the Scriptures “in such a way that the Holy Spirit uses them to form Christ in us. We are not interested in knowing more but in becoming more.” (p. 59) And only the Spirit can connect the cognitive impressions of Biblical truths to real life situations, challenge us to grow, and give us the power of inside-out  renewal. It is only here, at the level of application, that exegesis becomes useful to our lives, to our homes, to our companies, and to our communities at large.

Exegesis and Leadership

In essence, leadership is a process whereby a leader mobilizes, equips, and challenges people to give their best in the pursuit of the best future for the organization and for every constituent of the process (Winston & Patterson, 2006). Understanding God’s message to us today is critical to successful leadership for two reasons. First, God is a leader and the Bible is about his leadership practice, including how he led while he lived as a human on earth. Leaders can learn a lot by observing the way God led. Second, God is the creator of humanity and he knows how we behave, therefore the best source of wisdom about human behavior is probably in his Word. In this sense, Biblical exegesis will play a central role in the life of the Christian leader. Petersen notes: “Spiritual leadership, spiritual direction, and spiritual formation require that we tend to the work of the Holy Spirit in our individual and corporate, public and political lives.” (p. 17). With proper understanding and application of the Bible, bosses can become a prophetic voice for their followers for more effective organizational processes.

References

Duvall, J. S. Hays, J. D. (2012). Grasping god's word: A hands-on approach to reading, Interpreting, and applying the bible [Kindle Edition] Available from amazon.com.

Köstenberger, A. J. (2012). Invitation to Biblical Interpretation & the hermeneutical triad: new hermeneutical lenses for a new generation of Bible interpreters. Criswell Theological Review, 10(1), 3-12. Retrieved from http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.regent.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001916811&site=ehost-live

Peterson, E. H. (2006). Eat this book: A conversation in the art of spiritual reading [Kindle Edition]. Available from Amazon.com

Winston, B. E., & Patterson, K. (2006). An integrative definition of leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(2), 6-66.