Friday, May 02, 2008

The burden is too heavy for me.

You can only 'do it all yourself' until you reach a certain size, then you need others. That's a decisive moment; it's also a test many of us fail, so we stop growing. Listen to Moses: "The burden is too heavy for me." So God says, "Bring Me seventy… who are known to you as leaders… and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden" (Numbers 11:16-17 NIV). It takes maturity to enlist the help of people who can do certain things better than you, to allow them to excel and get the credit while you rejoice in the knowledge that the job got done well. Bottom line, you have to be clear in your objectives and secure in your own identity to succeed - and keep on succeeding.

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins points out that the leaders of the best organisations have a tendency to avoid the spotlight. Ray Gilmartin of Merck: "If I were to put someone on the front cover of Business Week it would be… our team." Lou Gerstner of IBM: "I haven't created the company's turn-around. It's been 280,000 people who have done it. We took a change in focus, and a talented group of people… and changed the company." Dan Tully of Merrill Lynch: "It's amazing what you can do when you don't seek all the credit. I find nothing is really one person's idea."

Here's the score: If you'd rather be a big fish in a little pond, that's your choice. But if you want to be blessed and live in the ocean - learn to work with others!

---------------- The above is from The Vine ---------------------

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