It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that as a leader, you need to surround yourself with other good leaders. Good, smart, strong leaders will compliment the other leaders in the team, and definately benefit the group or organization as a whole. Plus, each individual will bring their own set of specialties and insights to the group, making it stronger and smarter.
But, what happens if you don't have good leaders on your leadership team? I've certainly sat in on my share of board meetings that had individuals filling a leadership position, but they had very little leadership skills about them. The Bible gives us a great example of what can happen when unqualified people are placed in leadership positions.
In Numbers 13, we find the Israelites preparing to cross into Canaan to claim the land God had promised them. These people had witnessed some of the most legendary acts of God, had stumbled in their journey with God, been disciplined, returned to God, did this song-and-dance several times, and finally arrived at the Jordan River.
Moses had taken this rag-tag bunch of people, many of them true Israelites, but also a good number of "moochers," from the bonds of slavery through the desert and to the edge of their new home. In the process, Moses had offered some of the best leadership known to mankind. He had an amazing relationship with God. He had trained many of the leaders of the future nation.
Yet, we still arrive at Numbers 13. God tells Moses to send out twelve leaders, one from each tribe of Israel, to explore the land of Canaan. So, Moses chooses the twelve tribal leaders. Now, we're not told exactly how these men were chosen, whether Moses hand picked them or if the tribes chose the men. What we do know is that they were leaders among their people, and Moses sent them out to explore the land -- suggesting Moses gave them a final approval.
Had Moses thought they would give a dishonest account, he would've replaced them. These men were trustworthy. Or, so it was believed.
This chapter tells us that these dozen men did their job faithfully. They scouted the land, the cities and the people. They followed Moses' instructions entirely. After forty days, they finished their mission and returned to the camp.
Their report was pretty basic about their journey up until verse 28. That's where we find the description of the people who lived in Canaan. Hope and excitement get crushed by the giant size of some of the residents in the land. Optimism is replaced by pessimism.
We know from this story that Joshua and Caleb come out as the heroes of this bunch. These two stood out, because they saw Canaan through God's eyes, as a land belonging to them and easily conqured with God's help. Caleb, sensing the coming uproar, tried to calm the Israelites, and encouraged them to take the land.
And, it's at this point, at verse 31, where we learn what the ten other leaders are really made of:
But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
Their lack of backbone, wisdom, reliance on God and real leadership stirs up the people to the point they want to head back to Egypt and into slavery. The revolt gets to the point that the community even considers killing Joshua and Caleb.
There's more to this story in Numbers 14, but I think the point is made. Weak and inexperienced leadership is an automatic recipe for disaster. Poor leaders will tend to spread fear and doubt. They'll be quick to speak and slow to think. They'll give bad advice and make terrible decisions.
In any endeavor, leaders must prepare themselves to win. That process begins by surrounding yourself with the right leaders. You don't need "yes" men. You need people who can give an accurate assessment of the situations you're facing, weigh that evidence against what you have going in your favor, and provide wise counsel on how to deal with those situations.
Victorious leadership has no room for cowardace. So, who are you surrounding yourself with in order to win at what you're facing in life?
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